The short answer
POTS line costs rise because carriers are deregulating and de-investing in copper simultaneously. Legacy analog rates are largely unregulated, maintenance is expensive across a shrinking customer base, and surcharges compound the base rate – so a single line commonly bills between $75 and $150 per month.
Reading an analog line bill
The advertised rate is rarely what you pay. A typical analog line invoice stacks a base rate, a network access charge, federal and state surcharges, 911 fees, and taxes on top of one another. The base rate can be a minority of the total.
- Base line rate – the only number the carrier quotes
- Subscriber line and access charges – often 20%–40% of the bill
- Regulatory recovery and USF surcharges
- Long distance and per-minute charges on lines that dial out
- Inside wire maintenance plans that quietly renew
The lines nobody can identify
Almost every audit we run finds lines paying monthly for equipment that was removed years ago: a decommissioned alarm panel, a fax machine that left with a former tenant, a modem line for a system replaced in 2014.
These are pure savings. Disconnecting them requires nothing except confirming what they served.
What replacement costs instead
The comparison is per site, and it improves as line count rises toward the eight-line capacity of a single box.
| Scenario | Typical monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 8 copper lines at $95 | $760 | Rising annually, unmonitored |
| 8 lines on one managed box | $242 | $90 hardware + 8 × $19 connectivity |
| Savings | $518 / month | $6,216 per year, per site |
How to cap the cost permanently
- Audit first – eliminate lines before you replace them
- Consolidate remaining lines onto the fewest devices possible
- Choose a fixed per-line rate rather than tariffed pricing
- Lock a term if the estate is stable; stay month-to-month if it is not
Last updated 2026-08-20.