Throughout the last hundreds of years, copper-based networks have continued to play a large role in the telecom industry, allowing for reliable home landline phone access. 

But with today’s rapid technological transition, there has been a massive decline in need for copper-networks. Younger households are opting out of using landline home telephone services and more businesses prefer media phones that have multi-functionality. 

In response to these changes, the FCC has made the decision to retire copper from the telecom industry.  

How Telecom Companies and Customers are Impacted

As the need for more broadband, faster speeds and data-intensive technologies continuously grows, telecom companies are forced to expand their services to keep up with competition. 

This transition will occur gradually, depending on each individual telecom company’s desire to maintain the network. Once a telecom company plans to retire their copper-based network, their customers must be informed as changes may impact the customer’s service and billing in the following ways:

• Residential services are often sold as a bundle, which can increase overall costs
• IP phones do not work during power outages like traditional landlines
• The FCC will require telecom companies to offer backup power
• Sparse rural areas may suffer poor network quality

Telecom companies will need to offer solutions that can fit their customers as this transition can be costly and inconvenient to both business and residential customers.

Transitioning from Copper to Virtual Networks

With technology gearing more towards data and cloud-based services, it has become too costly for telecom companies to manage their aging copper-based networks. Some telecom service providers have even made the choice to turn off old services that no longer meet modern standards.

To offer a solution to customers, telecom service providers are moving to more cloud-based networks. With the rapid growth of fiber and IP technologies, telecom providers are able to transition to SD-WAN for virtual circuits, allowing companies to create and host networks virtually.

To make it easier for businesses that are transitioning from copper to IP technologies, most SD-WAN services are broken down into service tiers. The best approach is to assess how much data your company uses and navigate which tier fits the company’s needs best 

This information was provided by Utility Telecom, a California-based telecom company that partners with Versa Networks in providing SD-WAN services to businesses.