(POTS) - An acronym identifying the traditional function of a telephone network to allow voice communication between two people across a distance. The early phone network consisted of a pure analog system that connected telephone users directly by an interconnection of wires. Beginning in the 1960s, the telephone system gradually began converting its internal connections to a packet-based, digital switching system.
The POTS network is also called PSTN or Public Switched Telephone Network, which refers to the international telephone system based on copper wires carrying analog voice data. In most contexts, POTS is synonymous with the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
In the U.S., most of the remaining analog lines are the ones from your house or office to the telephone company's central office (CO). The main distinctions between POTS and non-POTS services are speed and bandwidth. POTS is generally restricted to about 52 Kbps (52,000 bits per second).