Retiring Business Landlines and POTS Line Replacement

The End of Copper Business Lines

If you are an office manager or owner of a business on the coast from Charleston to Savannah paying for copper business lines, you may be wondering what to do when the phone company retires copper. POTS means plain old telephone service: the analog copper lines that carry desk phones, fax machines, alarm diallers, elevator phones and gate call boxes. On 2026-03-26 the FCC adopted an order easing the process for carriers to retire copper networks and grandfather legacy copper services. AT&T, the incumbent phone company in South Carolina, has filed 2026 FCC discontinuance applications for legacy services that include South Carolina. AT&T says it plans to exit copper across most of its wireline footprint by the end of 2029.

Carriers usually offer a replacement service, but each analog device on the old line still has to be moved somewhere. Whether you need a POTS line replacement or a full business landline replacement, planning now prevents disruption.

Comparing UniFi Talk and Microsoft Teams Phone

CloudCentric is a managed IT provider in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, serving businesses across Charleston and the Lowcountry. You can reach us by phone at (844) 422-7000. Microsoft Teams Phone is the other phone system CloudCentric installs, and the two are offered as equals. Teams Phone costs more per line each month and needs no hardware on site. UniFi Talk costs less per number each month and needs a console and phones bought once.

UniFi Talk is Ubiquiti's phone system, consisting of desk phones and an analog adapter managed from the same UniFi console as the network and cameras. As an added benefit, Talk desk phones can view cameras and unlock doors on the same UniFi system.

UniFi Talk Pricing and Features

Based on the published price, checked 2026-10-26 on ui.com, UniFi Talk Plus is $9.99 per number per month in the US, with 3,000 monthly minutes, 50 SMS and 60 transcription minutes per number. Minutes on the Plus plan are pooled across all numbers; usage beyond the pool is $0.02 a minute. The published price, checked 2026-10-26 on ui.com, for UniFi Talk Pro is $24.99 per number per month in the US, with unlimited voice and SMS, 600 transcription minutes and caller name lookups. Ubiquiti states that UniFi charges no additional licensing fees for Talk beyond the number subscriptions and the hardware.

Each Talk number supports unlimited concurrent calls. Calls between extensions are free and need no subscription, so phones that do not need their own outside number can share one. Talk subscriptions are available in the US, Canada and the UK; elsewhere Talk phones use a third-party SIP provider. Ubiquiti offers a 15-day free trial of up to two Talk numbers, and porting existing numbers into UniFi Talk is free. The old line keeps working until the port completes. Additionally, Talk 5.2 added native call queues and call recording with optional transcription; recording needs a hard drive in the console.

Moving Fax Machines, Analog Phones, and Gates

Fax machines and analog phones move to the UniFi Analog Telephone Adapter (UT-ATA), which has two analog phone ports. Based on the published price, checked 2026-10-26 on store.ui.com, the UniFi Analog Telephone Adapter (UT-ATA) is $99 (US list). CloudCentric installs UniFi Talk ATAs where analog adapters from other makers such as Grandstream were used before.

The UT-ATA passes fax over G.711 and does not list T.38, so fax reliability depends on a clean internet connection. If your property relies on gate call boxes on a phone line, those are replaced with a UniFi intercom that rings phones or an app.

Requirements for Fire Alarms, Elevators, and Burglar Alarms

Life safety devices require specialized connections. Fire alarm lines stay on a carrier or a listed cellular communicator. NFPA 72 requires a fire alarm dialler to use a managed facilities-based voice network, and ordinary internet phone service generally does not qualify. Elevator emergency phones stay on a carrier line or a listed cellular elevator line. ASME A17.1 sets requirements for two-way communication, line checks, backup power and rollover to a second location.

The fire marshal and the elevator inspector decide what is accepted for those lines, so the fire alarm and elevator contractors are part of the change. Burglar alarm diallers on internet phone adapters are a known failure point; the usual route is a cellular communicator through the alarm company, or replacing the old panel.

911 Compliance and Emergency Preparedness

Kari's Law requires a multi-line phone system to dial 911 without a prefix and to notify a central point, such as a front desk, when 911 is called. RAY BAUM'S Act requires 911 calls from a multi-line system to carry a dispatchable location: the street address plus floor, suite or room where needed. The installer must configure the phone system so it can send that location.

UniFi Talk's terms state that 911 can fail in a power or internet outage and that the Talk mobile app cannot send a caller's precise location, so staff call 911 from a desk phone or their own mobile. On each Talk install the console, switch and modem go on battery backup, each location gets its emergency address, and a cellular backup internet line is recommended.

How CloudCentric Starts Your Transition

To begin your transition away from copper, CloudCentric starts from the current phone bill: every line, what is plugged into it, the carrier and the contract term. Each line is then sorted into one of three groups: moves to Talk, moves to the analog adapter, or stays on a carrier or listed cellular line.