POTS Replacement - Elevator Emergency Voice Communications Through VoIP

Traditional Elevator Phone Service

Traditional elevator phone service used to only run on copper analog telephone lines. The existing wiring is run from the machine room through a travel cable into the elevator cab and then linked to the central monitoring station.

An elevator phone is designed to provide a direct line of communication to a central monitoring station, allowing people to call for help in case of an emergency. Most elevator phones are equipped with a speaker and a microphone so that the person on the other end of the line can hear what is happening in the elevator.

When someone in the elevator needs assistance, they can use the phone handset or a hands-free push button to initiate the emergency call to the 24-hour staffed reporting center. The center will be able to speak to the person in the elevator, assess the situation, and dispatch the appropriate help if needed.

Challenges to Using VoIP in the Elevator Phone System

With POTS line costs continually on the rise by telecom providers and a lack of maintenance for existing POTS lines, it is harder and harder to keep elevator emergency service running without interruption. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is becoming increasingly common, particularly for commercial use. While potentially ideal for your building’s general telecommunications, there are a few challenges when trying to use VoIP with emergency phone systems.

Regularly people inside the elevator cab could not hang up the phone, because only one push button to initiate the call, and once an emergency was released, the 24-hour staffed reporting center terminated the call and expected the elevator phone to end the call as well. This behavior works well with old POTS lines because a dedicated circuit is established between the two phones, no matter which party hangs up, the circuit is closed.

When we replace the POTS line with an ATA gateway that connects to a hands-free speakerphone, the call might not be terminated as expected when the remote end hangs up. This problem might not have existed on IP phones or ATA work with analog phones, both devices have "hook" to manual end the call and redial, but the elevator speakerphone unit doesn't.

In this case, ATA needs to send a WINK signal and tell an automated phone device such as a speakerphone or an answering machine to hang up the call correctly.

Furthermore, the traditional POTS line will maintain phone service when the elevator cab power goes out and 911 can easily identify where you are calling from cause location information is published through phone calls.

Benefits of Flyingvoice POTS Box

Fortunately, Flyingvoice brings a POTS Box solution for transitioning elevator phones to VoIP. Flyingvoice has years of experience on the part and our partner in North America proved that our ATA is working well in elevator phone communication. The box also contains two power banks for 24-hour backup to guarantee talk time for use in power outages.

Meanwhile, there is a service called Enhanced 911(E911), which is the part of the 911 system that automatically ties a location to the call. VoIP service providers enable E911 by having customers set a physical address to show up when they dial 911 on their VoIP phone or device.

Flyingvoice POTS Box offers features and benefits which are not available with a traditional landline. And reduce the monthly cost with VoIP solution. Now upgrade your elevator phone lines with Flyingvoice technology. Choosing a reliable and compliant system and working with experienced manufacturer to ensure a smooth transition is essential to a successful business.

For more information about POTS Replacement, please visit Flyingvoice POTS replacement solution.