A quasi-TEM analysis using the method of lines is implemented to calculate the electric field anywhere within a layered guided wave structure at appropriately low frequencies. The analysis provides the electric fields and transmission-line parameters for a shielded structure having any number of coplanar electrodes within an arbitrary number of anisotropic dielectric layers, the principal axes of which are parallel to the axes of the structure. The practical application considered is the calculation of the phase shift of a guided optical wave within an electrooptic modulator that has a dielectric buffer layer between the electrodes and electrooptic substrate. >