5 Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Copper POTS Lines Systems

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) lines were once the backbone of business communication. But today, they’re an aging, costly, and increasingly unreliable infrastructure that’s actively being phased out. From rising maintenance costs to compatibility issues, clinging to copper lines could be holding your business back in multiple ways.

How The Copper Sunset Will Affect Your Residential Community

The technology behind traditional landline phones is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Known as POTS lines (Plain Old Telephone Service), these analog copper phone lines have been the backbone of communication systems in homes and residential communities for decades. But that era is ending, thanks to what’s being called the copper sunset.

FCC Fast-Tracks Copper POTS Line Retirement in 2025

On March 20, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made a bold move that directly impacts any business still using copper analog POTS lines. In a press release titled “FCC Cutting Red Tape to Unleash New Infrastructure Investments,” the FCC announced that it would streamline the process for retiring outdated copper networks. The FCC is making a concentrated effort to move away from legacy copper analog networks toward a modern, cellular infrastructure. This is creating urgency for businesses of all industries that still rely on POTS lines for their communications systems to make the switch to cellular. 

What Is The Copper Sunset & How It Affects Your Business

The ‘Copper Sunset’ marks the nationwide decline of traditional copper analog phone lines, known as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines. For decades, POTS lines connected homes and businesses to the outside world. However, these copper lines are being retired with the rise of internet-based and cellular communication. This shift, driven by industry demand and regulatory change, forces businesses to explore POTS replacement solutions that keep their critical systems running.