In this post I talked about the death of the land line. Sure, land lines will be available for years to come, but the tide is clearly shifting. Many companies are eager to transition to cost-saving, Internet-based telephony services but are unsure how to get off of those old analog lines. Whether you are using them for modems, credit card terminals or fax machines, you probably have at least a few legacy analog lines at your facility. Let’s talk about how you can begin to transition those devices and kick your analog habit.
The Post-Mortem Modem
Walk into your local office supply store or electronics warehouse and you will still find analog data modems on the shelves. Why? Because people still use them. Businesses still use them. It’s a little-known, dirty little secret. For example, companies like ours use modems to remotely access the equipment we support. Newer systems, of course, have Ethernet network connections. But there are still many legacy systems out there that were designed to be accessed via modem. These systems will typically have an external RS-232 port that ‘speaks modem language’ to allow it to answer a modem call and establish remote communications. So, it is not unusual for a business to have an analog line dedicated to a piece of equipment they own for remote maintenance and service. How can you eliminate this analog line? By using a device called a terminal server.
The terminal server is a network-attached device that looks like a modem when connected to a serial (RS-232) port. The legacy equipment thinks it is still talking to a modem, but it is now remotely accessible via the Internet (or more appropriately via VPN). One option we have used is the Ipocket232. It is fairly inexpensive and it has lots of options that help it work with many different types of legacy equipment. If you have equipment vendors that require you to use an analog line and modem to support their devices, talk to them about using one of these instead and eliminate the analog lines.
Your Credit Card Terminal is Terminal
There are still millions of credit card machines and point-of-sale (POS) terminals out there that rely on analog lines to dial up and confirm transactions. However, replacement devices have been available for many years that use the Internet via either wired or wireless connections. Of course, you have to make a decision based on the cost of the replacement device, but being able to eliminate your analog lines may help you cost justify an upgrade. A networked terminal may have (significantly!) lower transaction fees and may be much quicker as well, so include those factors in your analysis.
The Fax Machine Faux-Pas
In my ‘Kicking the FAX Habit‘ post, I covered this subject in detail. I talked about several good options here, from fax servers to IP fax services to scanning and emailing. The conclusion is that getting rid of your fax machines can take some planning, some investment and some change in habits, but it is worth the effort to move away from this dying technology.
The Lone Backup
Even if you can eliminate all of these analog line requirements, you may want to keep at least one analog line. Typically, this line might be used for your alarm service or as a 911 line in case of power failure. (That is still one of the advantages of an analog line; since they are powered from the telco central office, they continue to work in the event of a local power failure.) These may be required by local safety codes, so consult your vendor.
Kick the Habit
Internet-based telephony services can provide your company significant monthly savings, while adding great flexibility and many new features. Don’t let your requirement for analog lines hold you back. Begin planning today to kick the analog line habit so you can take advantage of these new services.
How many analog lines does your company have? Do you even know? What are you doing to get rid of these costly lines? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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