It’s the end of the road for POTS/PSTN
Filed under: Technology
It may not seem like news to anyone now as many of us have already moved from PSTN/POTS services to VOIP and cellular telecommunication providers, but AT&T has stated that it is now time to cut the cord and allow this technological relic to finally rest in piece. For many consumers, this will not affect anything. So who does this change affect? Most people most affected by this change will be those that live in rural areas where there are no broadband ISPs willing to provide service. People in these types of situations may have to rely in satellite service which is most of the time cost-prohibitive. Many security systems also rely on an active telephone service, however the good news is that there are a few companies out there that provide alarm services over a GSM connection and existing systems can be retrofitted at a cost.
Before AT&T can cut the cord on POTS, it is my opinion that cellular service still has to improve significantly to ensure there is sufficient network capacity and coverage to make sure that in case of an emergency, a person can definitely reach that 911 dispatcher. As the article states, there are some kinks to work out and hopefully a cost reduce for cell service will be in the plan as well.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/185649/atandt_tells_fcc_its_time_to_cut_the_cord.html
Posted on December 31st, 2009 by Andy Yiu
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