Access Lines

An access line is a telecommunications link or telephone line connecting the central office or local switching center of a telephone company to the end user. Access lines are sometimes referred to as local routing numbers (LRNs), wireline loops, or switched access lines, and they do not include telephone numbers used for wireless services. Access lines provide access to a residence or business over twisted-pair copper wire, coaxial cable, or optical fiber. The Federal Communications Commission reported that as of December 31, 2005, there were approximately 175.5 million switched access lines in the United States. Access lines are normally assigned in prefixes or 1000-blocks classified by Telcordia as POTS ("Plain Old Telephone Service"), and most frames used for generating telephone samples are restricted to POTS ...