Monitored security and fire alarms
Many older alarm panels use a built-in dialler to report alarms, faults and low batteries to a monitoring centre over a copper phone line. When the line stops, the panel keeps sounding its siren locally, but the monitoring centre hears nothing. You may not find out until a break-in is discovered the next morning, or until your insurer asks why the alarm did not report.
Ask your alarm company whether your panel reports over copper, what replacement communicator they recommend, and whether it has its own battery and a secondary path. Most offer cellular communicators, sometimes with an IP connection as a second route. After fitting, ask them to send test signals for alarm, fault and power fail, and get confirmation from the monitoring centre that each was received. Fire alarm panels in commercial buildings are usually the building owner's responsibility and have compliance requirements. If you are a tenant, ask the landlord or building manager for confirmation that the fire panel's monitoring path has been moved and tested.
EFTPOS and payment terminals
Older countertop EFTPOS terminals sometimes connect over a dial-up phone line. Most current terminals connect over your network or a built-in mobile connection instead. Check every terminal: look at what is plugged into the back, and ask your payment provider which connection type each one uses. Mobile and portable terminals used at markets, on deliveries or at the table usually connect over the mobile network or Wi-Fi already, so they are rarely affected. Still list them, because they share the same payment account and the provider may suggest updating several terminals at once.
If a terminal connects over your office network, it depends on your internet. Consider whether you want a terminal with a mobile backup, or a backup internet connection with automatic failover, so you can keep taking payments during a fibre outage. Test a transaction on the new connection before the copper goes, ideally during a quiet period.
Lift emergency phones
Lift cars have an emergency phone that connects trapped passengers to a monitoring service. Many still use a dedicated copper line. Once that line is withdrawn, the lift phone stops working, which is a safety and compliance issue for the building. The lift maintenance contractor normally fits a replacement, often a cellular unit. This is almost always arranged by the building owner, body corporate or property manager. Tenants should ask in writing whether it has been done. Owners should ask the lift contractor for a test call from each lift car and keep the result on file with the building's compliance records.
Intercoms, gates and door entry
Gate intercoms and door entry systems that call a phone when someone presses the button may use a copper line or connect into an older phone system. When you move to cloud phones, these may need a new IP or cellular module, or replacement with an intercom that rings a mobile app.
Ask the intercom installer what the current unit connects to and whether a compatible upgrade exists. Many modern intercoms can ring desk phones on your cloud system or the mobile app, which is handy when nobody is at reception. Any new mains power for gate equipment is work for a registered electrician.
Faxes and other odd devices
Fax machines rarely work reliably over VoIP. If you still receive faxes from a few senders, a fax-to-email service gives you a fax number that delivers incoming faxes as PDF attachments. You can usually port your existing fax number to that service, so senders do not need to change anything. Look for other devices that dial out: building management systems, water or pump station telemetry, medical alarm pendants for staff who live on site, franking machines and older credit card machines in back rooms. Ask the supplier of each whether it uses a phone line and what replaces it.
Test, record and then cancel
For each device, record the supplier, the replacement method, the date fitted and the test result. Keep this alongside your copper switch-off plan and building records. Only when every item has passed should you agree to cancel the copper lines. Revisit the list annually. Cellular communicators rely on mobile networks that also evolve over time, and older 3G-based units have already needed replacing in many places. Asking each supplier once a year whether their device is still on a supported network keeps you ahead of the next change.
In short
- Alarms can keep sounding locally while silently failing to report.
- Ask each supplier for a replacement communicator and a confirmed test.
- Lift phones and fire panels are usually the building owner's job.
- Replace fax machines with fax-to-email and port the number.
- Record every device, its fix and its test result.