[cisco-voip] [External] Copper plant

[Hunter Fuller]

We have all our in-building analogs for elevators, etc. on VoIP. There
is a University policy where if a building is without power for 30
minutes we close the building. I highly recommend this. Why are people
still in the building without power - presumably they aren't getting
much done, and it's going to get cold/hot after a while. In the case
where there is no option (aka dorms), we have one analog gateway per
building and ensure we throw enough UPS at it to last 2 hours in a
power outage.

For our more remote locations we are actually decommissioning the
emergency call boxes etc. If that isn't an option, I recommend you
pick up some of these. http://janus-rc.com/LTE_POTSwap.html You don't
replace the analog device, you just connect it to this and it converts
it to VoLTE.

--
Hunter Fuller (they)
Router Jockey
VBH M-1A
+1 256 824 5331

Office of Information Technology
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Network Engineering

On Fri, Feb 4, 2022 at 12:09 PM Lisa Notarianni
<lisa.notarianni at scranton.edu> wrote:
>
> 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.
>
>
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> This is complicated for Higher Ed.
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>
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> 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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