The long, slow death of the landline phone
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
With apologies to Alexander Graham Bell, the old-fashioned copper-wired landline phone is not long for this world.
Why it matters: Tens of millions of Americans still rely on landlines to communicate, especially in rural areas where internet access isn't as reliable.
Catch up quick: AT&T quietly announced this month that it is phasing out copper-based landline services over the next five years.
- "We expect to no longer provide copper-based services across the large majority of our footprint" the end of 2029, the company said in a statement. "We're working with our customers through this transition. No customers will lose voice or 911 service."
- California customers are an exception, with regulators there pushing back on plans to phase out copper landlines.
- The process has already started -- the FCC recently approved replacing some copper lines in Oklahoma with wireless service.
The big picture: Most people can get by without a landline.
- About 98% of Americans own a cell phone in 2024, up from 81% in 2015, according to Consumer Affairs.
Yes, but: Nearly 3 in 10 adults still lived in households with a landline as of 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Zoom in: Copper landlines are "incredibly inefficient," are experiencing "declining reliability with storms" and are being targeted for theft, according to AT&T.
- Copper landlines use considerable energy and increasingly unreliable.
Flashback: New Yorkers were unintentional guinea pigs for the switch away from copper after Superstorm Sandy devastated the city's infrastructure.
- At the time, Verizon put in thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable to replace damaged traditional lines.
- But as local media have reported, some customers who weren't upgraded struggled with poor service quality for years afterward.
- Many locals also pushed back on wireless alternatives to landlines, prompting Verizon to shift its plans.
How it works: Customers who currently pay about $80 monthly for copper landlines will be offered services such as AT&T Phone - Advanced, "which works just like traditional landline but connects over our wireless network or a broadband connection" and costs about $45 monthly, a spokesperson said.
