Fios and Regular Phone Service

Verizon also offers analog service, or POTS, over FiOS.

The common model optical network terminal has 4 analog phone jacks. Verizon does not do anything that would affect or disable the pre-existing copper lines that carried phone service or DSL, though the official company policy is that customers cannot retreat back to copper service without higher level management approval. However, there have in fact been reports in various markets that Verizon has physically deinstalled the copper lines at the time that FiOS was installed, effectively removing any "path of retreat" to copper based services. Verizon is required by law to share copper media with competing service providers, but none such requirement exists for fiber media. Verizon states that the transport method of providing local service is a corporate decision and they are committed to fiber optic transport. The pricing of POTS over FiOS is identical to POTS over traditional copper. No differences exist as far as billing methods are concerned, as only the delivery system changes. The same packages, rates, deals and telephone taxes exist on FiOS POTS and copper wire POTS. The phone pricing on traditional copper will migrate to FiOS phone when FiOS is installed.

While FiOS phone service offers digital audio quality compared to standard copper phone lines, power outages may affect service availability. Unlike standard phone lines, the FiOS service depends on power at the customer premises. The FiOS backup battery will power the phone lines for 4 to 8 hours of call time (reports vary). This may be an issue for sites that experience extended power outages that depend on analog phone lines for remote monitoring, alarm systems, and/or emergency calls. Verizon claims that the video and Internet streams are disabled during outages to conserve power for emergency dial tone use, but many FiOS users have observed that the Internet stream is still operational when power is removed.

--Wikipedia