Case Study
Improving Healthcare Communication: The Benefits of POTS Link
Positively Impacting Patient Care, Staff Productivity, & Operational Effeciency with POTS Line Replacement
Details
Industry: Healthcare
Use Case: POTS Line Replacement
Solution: POTS Link
The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, with advancements in technology driving significant improvements in patient care. Behind the scenes, many healthcare facilities have relied on outdated POTS lines, which limit their ability to provide efficient and integrated communication. That’s why RCN offers POTS line replacement to healthcare facilities with a better, safer, and often more cost-effective solution.
Challenge
Most hospitals are comprised of various departments spread across numerous buildings, including emergency services, inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and administrative offices. Most of these buildings, barring those built within the last few years, rely on traditional Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) lines. This outdated technology hampers the ability of healthcare professionals working within these buildings to provide the highest level of patient care possible.
Solution
Thankfully, there is a solution for aging POTS lines. POTS Link addresses every challenge faced by organizations still relying on copper lines – including the risk of line damage and the lack of support. By leveraging an LTE signal from any of the nation’s top carriers, POTS Link delivers a more secure, compliant, and efficient management system.
Benefits
POTS Link comes with its own set of benefits for the healthcare industry, including:
Efficient Call Routing
Enhanced Mobility
Cost Savings
Redundancy
Streamlined Operations
By deploying POTS Link through an all-in-one provider that is RCN, customers receive additional benefits like:
Project Design & Management
Hardware Procurement Assistance
Asset Tagging if Needed
Nationwide Installation
Proactive 24/7 IT Support
All of these benefits make up RCN’s Wireless WAN Ecosystem that reduces the number of vendors a customer needs to work with to deploy their solution. Other companies will simply provide hardware while another provides support and another only provides installation. RCN does it all to save customers their most valuable resource of all – time.
POTS Line Replacement for Healthcare
Call Routing
Traditional POTS Lines
To put it simply, a POTS line works by establishing a dedicated connection between two points. These points are connected via a copper line that can be ran underground or through telephone poles.
To establish the connection, the call is routed over one or more switches that transmit the sound waves into the receiving telephone.
With physical lines, the signals transmitted through them get weaker the further they travel and are generally susceptible to interference caused by a wide range of things like:
Inclement weather
Car accidents that strike telephone poles
Line degradation over time
POTS Link
POTS Link works by establishing a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection. This uses an internet connection to transmit voice and data between two points. With POTS Link, the internet connection comes from a SIM card inserted inside the device.
By using an internet connection rather than trusting a physical line, healthcare organizations can connect multiple branch locations or buildings across a larger campus.
This method also enables features that make routing or forwarding calls easier, such as:
Interactive voice response
Call forwarding
Dynamic caller ID
Mobility
Traditional POTS Lines
Physical lines offer near-zero mobility. Once the lines are installed, they are stuck there unless an organization has the time and budget to hire professionals to reroute its lines.
In a healthcare setting, this can involve shutting down wings while the work is being performed and disconnecting devices the lines run to. Elevator call boxes are the most common use case for POTS lines, which could cause real issues if they were to be deactivated and a patient or employee became stuck with no way to call out.
POTS Link
Because it operates using a digital connection, once POTS Link is deployed at the 66 block (also known as the demarcation point), it offers customers the ability to skip the copper lines and operate wirelessly.
Not only does this make deployment significanly faster, but it also makes any necessary repairs a breeze compared to the copper counterpart. The best part is that a single POTS Link unit can replace up to 8 physical lines.
Costs
Traditional POTS Lines
Since the FCC’s ruling in August of 2022, prices of traditional POTS lines have skyrocketed. This ruling effectively gave providers the go-ahead to transition away from copper lines so they can focus all of their resources on newer technologies.
To “encourage” customers to move away from these lines, providers have raised prices two, three, and sometimes even ten times their original price.
POTS Link
POTS Link offers customers not only a more affordable option but one that is worth the price of admission thanks to the several features and benefits included with it.
The RCN team has routinely helped customers who switch from traditional to POTS Link save anywhere from 20% – 40% on their monthly bill.
Redundancy
Traditional POTS Lines
The communication-related needs of healthcare organizations don’t go away during emergencies. Often times they’re compounded by power outages or natural disasters. That makes having a reliable solution all the more important.
With a wired connection, devices can be knocked offline or damaged so that they don’t transmit a clear signal. There isn’t another backup optional available unless an organization prefers to run a second line to the same location – further increasing costs.
POTS Link
By relying on a digital signal, POTS Link is able to integrate with RCN’s Failover solution to ensure the connection never drops. This works by inserting a second SIM card in the router built into the POTS Link. In the event the primary SIM goes offline, the second SIM automatically activates until the first is brought back online.
For further redundancy, each device comes with a pre-installed battery backup for several hours of connectivity even during power outages.
Operational Efficiency
Traditional POTS Lines
Devices like fax machines are commonplace in the healthcare industry because they comply with HIPPA guidelines and make it easier for staff to send and receive official medical documentation for patients.
When these are connected via traditional POTS lines, they can lose connection or not even work at all. The biggest problem is that if a machine doesn’t work, the only way to confirm the POTS line is down is to manually test it. This often requires IT staff to visit the location and trace the line looking for damage or anything that could indicate a bad signal.
POTS Link
Remote monitoring capabilities enabled by POTS Link allow IT staff to monitor the status of a line at any time – without ever having to leave their desk.
Not only does this cut down on the need for truck rolls, but it also saves medical and IT staff time by allowing easy identification of a problem.
Benefits
Efficient Call Routing
Quickly improve communication efficiency and reduce wait times
Enhanced Mobility
Medical staff gain mobility through the use of VoIP enabled by POTS Link
Cost Savings
Eliminate hidden fees & overcharging from providers
Redundancy
Built-in battery backup with failover capabilities
Streamlined Operations
VoIP makes paperwork and the documentation process easier
Proactive 24/7 Support
IT staff can request RCN’s in-house team of RF specialists at any time.
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