What Security Dealers Need to Know About POTS Retirement, VoIP and the Opportunity Ahead
For decades, traditional copper phone lines provided a reliable communications path between alarm systems and monitoring centers.
That infrastructure is changing.
Telecommunications providers continue to move away from legacy copper networks in favor of fiber, IP-based and wireless technologies. At the same time, maintaining traditional POTS — Plain Old Telephone Service — is becoming increasingly expensive and, in some areas, increasingly difficult to obtain.
For security dealers, the concern isn’t simply whether a customer still has a working telephone. The real question is whether the alarm system still has a communications path you can depend on. A dial tone doesn’t guarantee an alarm signal gets through.
The real question is whether the alarm system still has a communications path you can depend on.
The Risk: Yesterday’s Phone Line Is Becoming Tomorrow’s Problem
Many alarm systems installed years ago were designed to communicate over traditional analog telephone lines. Those systems may still be operating exactly as they were intended to.
The network around them, however, may have changed.
As carriers retire copper infrastructure, customers may be transitioned to newer communications technologies. A traditional-looking phone connection can ultimately travel over an IP-based network rather than the original analog copper path.
For an everyday voice call, that may work perfectly well.
For a legacy alarm communicator, it can be a different story.
Why VoIP Can Create Alarm Communication Concerns
Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, was designed primarily to transmit voice communications digitally.
Legacy alarm communicators use tones and data to transmit detailed information to a monitoring center. Depending on the equipment, network and configuration, the conversion, compression and timing associated with VoIP communications can affect how those signals are transmitted and received.
That creates an important distinction:
A customer can have working phone service while the alarm system has an unreliable communication path.
The panel itself may be functioning properly. The monitoring center may be operating properly.
The problem can exist somewhere in between.
In other words, what appears to be an alarm system problem may actually be a telecommunications problem.
What Happens If Dealers Wait?
The challenge with legacy communications is that the problem may remain invisible until something changes.
A carrier transition.
A network upgrade.
A service interruption.
A change in equipment.
Suddenly, an account that communicated successfully for years may require troubleshooting, service or a new communications solution.
Potential consequences include:
- Failed or incomplete alarm transmissions
- Intermittent communication problems
- Additional service calls and troubleshooting
- Higher costs associated with aging phone-line service
- Customers discovering a communications problem at the worst possible time
For systems protecting people and property, waiting for the communication path to fail is not an ideal transition strategy.
The Opportunity: Don’t Just Replace the Phone Line
There is another way for dealers to look at the transition away from legacy phone lines.
It creates a reason to talk with the customer.
An account that hasn’t required attention in years may be an opportunity to evaluate not only how the system communicates, but whether the entire security solution still meets the customer’s needs.
Instead of treating POTS replacement as a service problem, dealers can use it as the beginning of a broader technology conversation.
Modernize Communications
Start by moving the account to a communications technology better suited to today’s security environment.
The goal isn’t simply to restore the connection.
It’s to create a more dependable path forward.
Evaluate Existing Equipment
If the communicator is outdated, other components may be as well.
A communications upgrade creates a natural opportunity to review panels, sensors, keypads and other hardware that may have been installed years ago.
Introduce New Capabilities
Technology available today may look very different from what was available when the original system was installed.
Depending on the customer and application, the conversation could expand to newer monitoring capabilities, mobile interaction, video, improved notifications or other services that provide greater value.
Strengthen the Customer Relationship
Perhaps most importantly, dealers have an opportunity to be proactive.
Instead of waiting for the customer to discover a problem, contact them before there is one.
That shifts the conversation from:
“Your phone line stopped working with the alarm.”
to:
“Your communications technology is changing. Let’s make sure your security system is ready.”
The second conversation reinforces the dealer’s role as a trusted security advisor.
A Necessary Upgrade Can Become a Growth Strategy
The transition away from legacy copper communications is ultimately going to require action on many existing accounts.
For dealers, that effort can be viewed as an expense and inconvenience.
Or it can become a business development opportunity.
Every account reviewed may create an opportunity to:
- Upgrade communications
- Replace aging equipment
- Introduce additional services
- Improve system reliability
- Strengthen customer retention
- Generate new hardware, service and recurring revenue
The same technology transition that creates risk can also create growth.
Start Before the Signal Fails
Dealers don’t need to wait for a customer’s telephone provider to make the first move.
Begin identifying accounts that may still rely on traditional phone-line communications. Review the technology in place. Talk with customers about what is changing. And develop a plan to transition those accounts before a network change becomes a service issue.
Because the disappearance of the traditional phone line doesn’t have to mean the disappearance of the customer connection.
It can be the reason to strengthen it.
Protect the Connection. Strengthen the Account. Create the Opportunity.
CMS works with security dealers every day to support the reliable communication and monitoring their customers depend on.
As legacy communications continue to change, now is the time to evaluate your accounts and plan what comes next.
Talk with CMS about preparing your monitored accounts for the transition away from legacy phone-line communications.
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