OT: POTS Lines Going Away

[Ed Snape]

Closed Captioning and the Elimination of POTS Lines
March 4, 2015
The SBE was recently contacted by representatives of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) over its concern about the telephone industry's process of phasing out POTS lines. POTS lines are used by many stations to receive closed-caption data. In many cases, this work is performed remotely by members of the NCRA, who are hired by the stations.

The NCRA wants to be sure that TV stations are aware of the phase out of POTS lines and, since it's the station's responsibility to be in compliance with captioning regulations from the FCC, prepare to change to an alternative delivery method. For more information on this topic, the NCRA has provided a short white paper on this subject to the SBE, which follows.

[Dave Labrecque]

Closed Captioning and the Elimination of POTS Lines
March 4, 2015
The SBE was recently contacted by representatives of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) over its concern about the telephone industry's process of phasing out POTS lines. POTS lines are used by many stations to receive closed-caption data. In many cases, this work is performed remotely by members of the NCRA, who are hired by the stations.

The NCRA wants to be sure that TV stations are aware of the phase out of POTS lines and, since it's the station's responsibility to be in compliance with captioning regulations from the FCC, prepare to change to an alternative delivery method. For more information on this topic, the NCRA has provided a short white paper on this subject to the SBE, which follows.

Has this phasing out been mentioned anywhere else?

Why do they need POTS lines do send their close-caption text to the stations? That sounds very odd. Or is it a real-time process? Maybe that's it.

[Brent Evans]

POTS (or rather, PSTN lines) won't be going anywhere anytime soon. More and more of the backbone is being switched to digital and IP, which may (at some level) slightly degrade QOS for PSTN customers, but nothing will prevent voice calls from going through. If the PSTN goes away or is transitioned to something else, EVERY HOME PHONE IN THE COUNTRY would have to be replaced with something else.

At some point, we may find that the "last mile" of copper gets switched to some form of digital link, but the cable companies (and some wireless companies) are doing this already with no issues. Time Warner's phone service is far superior to the service offered by Windstream in this area. It works fine for fax and alarms (data signals) and it sounds great with voice.

There's no reason to be alarmed about any of this. It's a percieved problem that doesn't really exist. And... if it were to exist... VOIP is now to a point that replacing a PSTN line with a VOIP or SIP trunk is not a big deal, and any data that needs to be returned could be returned via IP as well. The equipment cost is minimal for each user, and if it were a real danger to something like Closed Captioning, there would surely be government assistance just like there was during the DTV transition.

Didn't you guys know that access to free TV is now apparently a human rights issue?

[CurtZHP]

ISDN lines are few and far between too. The radio station I work for finally ended up dumping theirs because we'd heard from Verizon that, not only were they not doing any new installs, they weren't going to move existing lines. We're planning on a new building in the near future, so we would have been asking to move them.

And where we're located, Verizon only has two technicians who even know how to fix ISDN covering a 200 mile radius!

[Dave Labrecque]

ISDN lines are few and far between too. The radio station I work for finally ended up dumping theirs because we'd heard from Verizon that, not only were they not doing any new installs, they weren't going to move existing lines. We're planning on a new building in the near future, so we would have been asking to move them.

And where we're located, Verizon only has two technicians who even know how to fix ISDN covering a 200 mile radius!

New ISDN installs from Verizon are no longer officially available in new England, I believe. Although, Dave Immer at Digifon says there's a way to get it by playing with paperwork and ordering a different thing that ends up being ISDN, IIRC.

I ran a dedicated CAT5e line up to my attic at the house we're renovating with hopes of using my Zephyr up there when I build the new studio; but, alas...

Speaking of which -- can anyone suggest the best route for me to sell my Zephyr? I imagine fair market value isn't too high right now, but it's the highest it'll ever be, I imagine, so I should really get on this.

[CurtZHP]

Speaking of which -- can anyone suggest the best route for me to sell my Zephyr? I imagine fair market value isn't too high right now, but it's the highest it'll ever be, I imagine, so I should really get on this.

There's still a demand for those units in the professional VO industry. I just sold a couple not that long ago. Throw it up on Ebay and see if anyone bites. If not, try this: www.vo-bb.com. It's a VO discussion forum.

[Dave Labrecque]

There's still a demand for those units in the professional VO industry. I just sold a couple not that long ago. Throw it up on Ebay and see if anyone bites. If not, try this: www.vo-bb.com. It's a VO discussion forum.

But I'm guessing I won't be getting the $3500 (or whatever it was) that I bought if for.

OK, good. Thanks for the suggestions. I figured it would be to a VO person. I suppose VO-type studios might still have a need, too.

[CurtZHP]

But I'm guessing I won't be getting the $3500 (or whatever it was) that I bought if for.

OK, good. Thanks for the suggestions. I figured it would be to a VO person. I suppose VO-type studios might still have a need, too.

I was surprised I got $1000 for one of them.

[Dave Labrecque]

I was surprised I got $1000 for one of them.

And if you're in the market for an ISDN modem, I think I have two.

[Jon R]

I do VO work for remote studios on a regular enough basis that I still need the ISDN lines and my Prima unit. The phone company (ATT) has really jacked up the rates in the last few years. I just hope nothing happens to my lines that would require repair. Not sure if anyone could help. I am hanging on as long as possible. BTW, does anyone have need of a minidisc recorder? Just asking.