Copper-based phone lines are soon to go the way of the dinosaur. The world has moved on to cellular and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections, but where does that leave all those legacy devices that rely on copper phone lines?
These are critical devices, like those blue public emergency phones you see on college campuses. So what can they rely on? Well, how about Ooma AirDial®, a POTS (plain old telephone service) line replacement solution. Let’s take a look.
Why do public emergency phones need a POTS line replacement?
College campuses are institutions for learning, but they can also be dangerous places—especially at night. If, for whatever reason, someone can’t quickly access their own phone and stay on it to relay information, the blue phones come into play.
Blue public emergency phones are critical pieces of communication infrastructure on campuses. They give people an easy way to alert campus security if anything goes wrong, and security can use the phone’s location to quickly determine where the caller was last.
But the public emergency phones are useless if they don’t connect to someone who can help. Plus, with copper phone lines getting more expensive to maintain, it’s time to consider other options. POTS isn’t a priority for big telecom service providers, who act as if they’d like to be rid of the whole thing so they can move on to newer telephony services that make them more money.
However, it’s not all about money. Some areas are unable to get traditional phone service because the FCC doesn’t require carriers to offer and maintain POTS lines anymore.
Simply, this all means that your public emergency phone lines need a different connection path. Otherwise, you could have a dire security failure.
Public emergency phone replacement options
The first and most obvious option is to rip out all your copper line infrastructure and replace your system with something new and fancy. That, unfortunately, is extremely expensive—especially on a large college campus.
Luckily, Ooma has developed a solution that’s both affordable and easy to set up. That’s AirDial, a turnkey solution for emergency phones. It runs on a secure and reliable network, enabling it to imitate a standard POTS line. However, it’s actually a digital connection designed to support legacy equipment. This means ripping and replacing your copper line infrastructure and blue light phones is no longer a necessity.
AirDial is also a complete package, combining hardware, software, remote management and a wireless connection.
Benefits of public emergency replacement phone lines
AirDial reduces the complications of replacing emergency public phones, has a battery backup that lasts for up to 16 hours in emergencies. Plus, it was developed with compliance regulations in mind.
Ooma can even help you every step of the way, from assessment to installation, to hardware and data and phone service. You’ll even get a handy online remote device management portal, all for one low monthly charge. Here, take a look at how Ooma AirDial’s Remote Device Management puts you in the driver’s seat.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes
We may be in the midst of the copper sunset, but that doesn’t mean your blue emergency public phones have to disappear into the horizon with it.
Ooma AirDial can help you save the day by keeping your critical emergency infrastructure in place so the real heroes can jump into action when needed.
Mike Butts, director of product marketing for Ooma, Inc., has more than 20 years of experience helping launch and market services and products for the telecommunications and contact center industries. Throughout his career, he has created and implemented strategies to build awareness for cloud-based unified communications, contact centers, AI technologies and smart security solutions.
