[cisco-voip] Copper plant

[Lisa Notarianni]

Hello -

We are planning future projects and would appreciate input on what others have done with analog lines.  We currently use Verizon for over 500 analog lines on campus.  They provide service to call boxes, alarm lines, elevator lines, house phones etc...  We also don't have network cable runs in some areas so we just kept the analog service running.

The idea behind all of this was to rely on Verizon Centrex service if our premise based VOIP phones or power went down and all phone service was lost on campus.  When we transitioned years ago to VoIP and moved the majority of lines away from Centrex, our General Counsel felt it would help with safety if we provided these phones in case of emergency.  I recently passed this by General Counsel and they still feel we need to continue to use this service for the same reason.  But I think the clock is ticking and from what I understand Verizon is abandoning copper.  They have suggested we transition to their VoIP service but it wouldn't make sense to do that since they rely on our power. So, we would just switch to VoIP if we were to do that.

I know there is also an LTE option but many callboxes are in fields or parking lots and the equipment is dated.  So, on top of needing to address this, we really don't have funding to replace expensive callboxes to accommodate LTE service.  I know we really need to evaluate and rethink the need for this equipment.  We have considered transitioning the funding to a safety app that students, staff and faculty can use but again we would put the onus of safety on the user and their wireless phone - not preferred.

This is complicated for Higher Ed.

Any solutions or steps anyone has taken?   Is Verizon really abandoning all copper?

Thanks,

Lisa

Lisa Notarianni
University of Scranton
Telecommunications Engineer
Infrastructure Services
800 Linden St.
Scranton PA 18510
570.941.4325

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