How I escaped the POTS treadmill, thanks to Ooma

I’m the resident manager of the Village Homes of Grandview Square II, a community of 51 condominiums in Edina, Minnesota. Because I live here as well as work here, I want all the systems I manage to be affordable, reliable and effective.

Last year, the analog copper-wire phone lines we depended on for essential services, including burglar alarms, door-entry panels and elevators, stopped being affordable. The local phone company was about to push through a 50 percent increase for the seven Plain Old Telephone Service, or POTS, lines we used.

Fortunately, I had already started looking into POTS replacement. I did online research and talked to several providers, but didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling until discovering Ooma AirDial®. AirDial, I found, could replace our existing POTS lines with a wireless connection at a significant cost savings.

Informal audit of POTS lines

Before setting up AirDial, I did an informal audit of the seven POTS lines in my complex. I realized that three – in the fitness center, the club room and a guest suite—weren’t mission-critical and could be replaced by standard VoIP phones. I’ve since learned it’s common for property managers to find they’re paying for POTS lines that are no longer in use or can be switched to VoIP, because POTS lines are often so old that managers have lost track of what they’re paying for.

I then ordered an AirDial for the remaining four POTS lines. These were for our burglar alarm, door-entry system, an elevator emergency phone, as well as a combination voice and fax line in my office.

I was nervous about cutting off the POTS lines because our residents wouldn’t be happy if any of these systems went offline for more than a minute or two. But Ooma sent an installer who knew what he was doing. Ooma’s support team also helped resolve a compatibility issue for the door-entry panel and I very much appreciated their “stick-to-itiveness” in getting my problem solved.

Dramatically lower phone bill

AirDial has been working flawlessly for six months. And our monthly phone bill is now half of what it was for the POTS lines—and just a third of what we’d be paying if we hadn’t jumped off the POTS treadmill in time to avoid that 50 percent price increase.

Village Homes of Grandview Square II is one of many residential communities overseen by a professional property management company. I’ve recommended AirDial to my colleagues, even though I find they often don’t pay attention until they get a notice of a big upcoming rate hike. Then they’re suddenly eager to learn all about POTS replacement!