For most of the past century, copper land lines carried the nation's phone conversations. As technology advances, however, those copper lines are fading into history, either being replaced by optical fiber or simply being ignored and no longer serviced.
Last summer, Illinois became the 20th state to authorize the end of copper land line servicing to allow telecom companies to devote resources toward developing VoIP (Voice over IP) and other new technologies. Additionally, the
National Regulatory Research Institute reports that a whopping 41 states have either reduced or eliminated oversight of wired telecom.
Certainly, the finish line for copper telephone lines has never been closer.
VoIP, which converts voice, video, and data into digital packets that can travel easily across fiber, cellular networks, and WiFi, is now the number-one telephone service choice for businesses in the U.S.
For more on the expansion of VoIP services and the demise of copper lines, check out Business 2 Community's recap
here.