The copper is being retired. How much of what you run still depends on it?
A ten-minute self-assessment across the seven areas that decide whether a POTS replacement goes smoothly or becomes an outage, a failed inspection, or a bill nobody expected. Check what is true today. Your score updates as you go.
Rather work on paper? Download the Blank PDF (PDF, 13 pages).
What POTS is, and why it is on your desk
The old phone lines
POTS stands for plain old telephone service: the copper telephone lines that have run into buildings for a century. Most organizations moved their desk phones off them years ago and assume that was the end of it.
What still runs on them
It usually was not. Fire alarm panels, elevator emergency phones, fax machines, alarm dialers, and gate and door intercoms often still ride on a copper line, sometimes one nobody has on a list.
What the carriers are doing
The phone companies are retiring the copper. They are raising the price of the lines that remain, stretching out repairs, and in some areas ending support altogether, on a schedule they set.
What this assessment does
It walks you through the seven areas that decide whether that retirement is a planned project or an outage: what you have, what it costs, what depends on it, and whether there is a plan. You get a score and a written read of where to start.
What leaders need to know
Carriers are retiring copper, raising the price of what remains, and reducing maintenance on the rest. Many essential systems still depend on analog lines. Four numbers set the stage.
of organizations have not selected a POTS replacement plan, even though the copper sunset is well underway.
Industry survey dataper line per month in some regions, for analog lines that once averaged forty dollars, as carriers accelerate cost recovery.
Carrier pricing dataFire panels, elevator phones, security systems, HVAC controls, and emergency call boxes still rely on copper, creating hidden points of failure.
NFPA 72, ASME A17.1Carriers are raising prices, reducing maintenance, and in some regions no longer maintaining copper networks at all.
FCC copper retirement orders
A note from the founder
Our focus is simple. Help organizations make clear, confident decisions when operational risk is high. POTS replacement is one of those moments. Across our advisory work the same pattern shows up: most organizations know modernization is necessary, but few have a clear inventory of where analog lines still exist. Those blind spots drive cost increases, outages, and compliance problems. This assessment exists to surface them early, and if it highlights gaps, we are here to review your options. The solution that fits your environment comes first, including the ones that pay us nothing.
Will DeadyFounder, The Deady Group
How to use this assessment
Quick and practical. About ten minutes if the inventory exists, longer if it does not, which is itself a finding.
Check what is done
Leave anything unfinished or unknown unchecked. An honest zero is more useful than a generous four.
Watch the pattern
A cluster of unchecked items in one area tells you where the exposure sits.
Weight life safety
Fire panels, elevator phones, security systems, and emergency call boxes carry the highest operational impact.
Use the result
Your section scores shape the timeline, the budget conversation, and which replacement paths fit.
Section scores, weakest first
Where to start
Want us to walk the results with you?
We review your section scores, identify the lines that cannot fail, and outline a path that fits your environment. Independent, and the options that pay us nothing are on the table.