Still Relying on Home Phones? Service Providers are Attempting to Cancel Landlines
(Medium)- AT&T wants to end landline service, which may cause disruption and struggle for rural customers and senior citizens who’ve relied on landline services to call 911. Customers who disagree with AT&T’s request for landline cancelation are protesting while the company itself still awaits approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for changes to be finalized.
In 2024, AT&T submitted a waiver application requesting permission to end landline services. You know those AT&T phone jacks in your home or business with its company’s logo on it? That might soon be a thing of the past to where newly constructed homes wouldn’t need it if landlines aren’t serviced anymore. According to one person on AT&T’s community forums page, customers were informed as early as 2022 about AT&T ending landline service but didn’t know when it would happen.
One of those fewer options will be no access to 911 calls. “Alternative services, such as VoIP and wireless, have no obligation to serve a customer or to provide equivalent services to AT&T landline customers, including no obligation to provide reliable access to 9–1–1 or LifeLine program discounts.” It’ll be up to customers whether to give up their landline services or face the negative consequences of their decisions not to switch service types.
Some may wonder how many customers could the possible change affect? “If approved by the CPUC, over 580,000 affected AT&T customers would be left with fewer options in terms of choice, quality, and affordability,” warns the Rural County Representatives of California. “Alternative services, such as VoIP and wireless, have no obligation to serve a customer or to provide equivalent services to AT&T landline customers, including no obligation to provide reliable access to 911 or Lifeline program discounts.”
According to one source known as Wired.com, a decision for AT&T’s application is scheduled to be made in September 2024.
In some parts of the country, people have little to no cellphone service at their homes or businesses but in the same locations that are strong for landlines’ service. Which also depends on the location and amounts of cellphone towers that each provider has nearby. For example, those with Xfinity Mobile don’t necessarily need Xfinity towers because they also get service from Verizon towers.
In October of 2022, one customer posted, “My dad received a call about AT&T ending their landline service. From my online research, it does look like they are ending it but I don’t see anywhere where it talks about timing or options for seniors who need a landline vs. cell phone.” AT&T’s cancellation of landline service is an initial step towards the company’s goal of transforming its equipment and speeds to modern-day technology of fiber optic and away from copper-wired service lines, also referred to as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).
The CPUC would like to hear from current AT&T customers whether they agree, or disagree, and what the customers’ frustrations are regarding AT&T’s landline service discontinuation. So CPUC has scheduled 3 in-person meetings and one virtual meeting via Zoom in February and March, while the company’s application for service discontinuation still holds in pending status during its hearing for the customers’ side of the story. The last in-person meeting is scheduled for March 14 from 2 pm-6 pm at Indio City Hall Council Chambers located at 100 Civic Center Mall in Indio, California.
The Zoom meeting will be scheduled at this link on March 19, also from 2 pm-6 pm and the virtual meeting will require a passcode of 6032788#. The two previous in-person meetings were held at Clovis City Counsel Chambers in Clovis, CA on February 6 and February 22nd by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in Ukiah, CA.
Law enforcement agencies are also sharing their frustrations. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office of California mentioned in a Facebook post how they also disagree with AT&T’s request and decision.”Sheriff Shannan Moon strongly opposes AT&T’s application to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in which they seek to abandon their duty as Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation.”
Some may ask, what does Carrier of Last Resort mean? One source mentions, “Carrier-of-last-resort means that a carrier is obligated to build to reach anybody in the covered area that requests telephone service.” So by law, AT&T is required to reach out to people who request or need telephone services but don’t know that AT&T services are available in their area.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line.”
An organization known as the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) has warned that, if approved by the CPUC, over half a million AT&T customers will be negatively impacted, “left with fewer options in terms of choice, quality, and affordability.”
According to one website known as arstechnica.com, AT&T landline holders are sharing their frustrations by starting and commenting on a circulating protest titled, “Don’t Let Them Drop Us.” If you type the name of the protest into the Google search bar, that source might be the first link to pop up as some people experienced.
This link shows and describes a map where AT&T is hoping to cancel landline service with blue shaded regions meaning where AT&T requests to remove from as a carrier of Last Resort and violet meaning where the company may request to withdraw from as carrier of last resort in the future via a streamlined process.
In the United States, the drift from landlines to cell phone-only services will impact senior citizens the most as not all senior citizens know how to operate the most up-to-date cell phone devices or services. A lot of senior citizens have grown up using flip phones or copper landlines but may not know anything about current wireless technology. The service cancellation will also impact hospitals, healthcare businesses, or public education schools that are government-funded but use landline phone services possibly from AT&T.
AT&T themselves may be eliminating landline services for their customers, but there will still be other providers who offer the same service like Xfinity. It’s just that if AT&T’s request gets approved by CPUC, this can be the end of landline service for many people if another company doesn’t extend their service locations to the same areas once covered by AT&T
According to CNN, ‘Unfortunately, some regions don’t have effective cell coverage or broadband internet yet but do have landline coverage,” said Blacklock, of the rural California representatives group.”
If you want to share your voice or frustrations regarding AT&T landline cancellation, you can contact the California Public Utilities Commission on the phone by calling 1 (866) 849–8390 or by emailing public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov. Another form of public comment can be made by filling out the form at this link.
Photo: California Public Utilities Commission public comment online form.
Photo: Statement from a California congressman in the 30th district, explaining the impact of AT&T’s landline cancelation request including time of natural disasters.
Photo: Description of colors on map site where AT&T might cancel landline services.
