AT&T to eliminate copper wire phone lines to most users. Who stands to lose?

(This story was updated to add information and clarification.)

AT&T plans to eliminate its traditional landline phone service across nearly all U.S. states in its service area by 2029, according to an official announcement.

The telecom company has said its copper wire infrastructure is antiquated, maintaining it is costly and better service is available through fiber and wireless broadband networks.

However, consumer advocates nationwide have objected to the removal of traditional phone service. They say access to basic landlines is important for the country's most vulnerable people, including senior citizens who don't want to use cellphones, consumers who can't afford cell service and those in rural areas who may not have good access to cell or broadband internet.

Elevators, security systems, faxes rely on landlines

"Customers may be losing a choice for reliable service," said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in California.

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Costa, who also chairs the telecommunications committee for the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, said copper wire technology landline service is the most reliable format for calls because the phone lines still work when there is a power outage, earthquake, or other natural disaster.

Many residential landline customers also rely on copper wire lines to connect services such as security systems, and businesses use them to connect things such as elevator phones to landlines, Costa said. Businesses would likely incur significant costs if they upgraded their equipment to be compatible with newer phone technology, she said.

Costa said she doesn't oppose telecommunications companies creating new, modern networks.

"But if you're going to replace the old network, you have to make sure the new network will work when people need it the most and that it is reliable, that it doesn't die in a power outage," Costa said. It's essential, for instance, that people in an emergency have direct access to emergency responders so they can share their location, she added.

Alternatives to landlines, such as cellphones or Voice Over Internet Protocol (voIP) phones, cost more than the traditional basic phone service and require good cell or internet service and electricity, advocates have said.

Costa said AT&T's announcement that it has set a date to eliminate its copper wire network is a "slippery slope."

"AT&T is one of the two largest telephone companies in the United States and they are about to launch a full-court press to get support for this," Costa said. She anticipates other telecommunications providers who still provide copper wire services to follow suit.

'Every single customer' will have access

The carrier provides traditional landline service in 21 states, excluding some states in the northwest, mountain region, Northeast and parts of the Midwest. AT&T's decision to eliminate landline service would affect all but one state in its service territory, California, an AT&T spokesperson told USA TODAY on Wednesday. Regulators there earlier this year rejected a proposal from AT&T to be relieved of its "Carrier of Last Resort Obligation," which requires them to maintain their copper-based network.

"We’re working with our customers through this transition," a spokesperson said. "No customers will lose voice or 911 service."

"We've been working at the state and federal level to update the regulatory frameworks," the spokesperson told USA TODAY. "While the work has been underway with the states, we've also been working with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)."

The FCC declined to comment on AT&T's news, but a spokesperson said carriers must seek permission from the FCC to discontinue offering landline service to new customers or stop providing it to existing customers. The carrier must also provide notice to the FCC when it retires a copper facility, which provides service to the network.

AT&T is providing five years' notice about eliminating its copper network to give the company, the FCC and consumers time to prepare, said Susan Johnson, executive vice president of wireline transformation and supply chain for AT&T.

"We've announced it years ahead of time to make sure that we do that hand-holding with our customers," Johnson said in an interview with USA TODAY. "This is a multiyear process to ensure that every single customer has voice and 911 and access to an alternative before we are able to discontinue the copper-based landline service."

"AT&T has got the broadest wireless coverage out of any carrier, but there's no way we're leaving any customer stranded," she said. "AT&T has made a pledge that every single customer is going to continue to have access to 911 and voice connectivity."

Why does AT&T want to eliminate its copper wire network?

The AT&T copper wire network is 70 years old and it's becoming increasingly unreliable, said Johnson. It doesn't do well in water or during storms and "copper value is up, so we are experiencing a lot of copper theft," she said.

The network is also expensive to maintain and uses a lot of electricity and energy, Johnson said, adding it is not good for the environment to expend resources on a technology that only 5% of residential customers and 5% of commercial customers use.

AT&T's modern network is more reliable, she said.

AT&T had previously set a 2020 deadline for eliminating the copper wire network, but the industry wasn't ready, said Johnson.

The company has a new product called AT&T Phone – Advanced, which Johnson said is a landline alternative for customers who don't want or need a broadband connection. It can be used with an existing landline phone, plugs into a jack and connects to AT&T's wireless network as an alternative. The cost is $45 a month and an average residential landline package typically costs about $80 a month, she said.

The product is compatible with equipment that needs a landline, like fax machines, medical monitoring devices, alarm systems, and elevators, Johnson said.

Do people still use landlines?

Fewer telephone companies are offering basic landline service because the utilities say the copper wire infrastructure is old and expensive to maintain and the demand for landlines is low as consumers shift toward mobile and other services.

The number of households nationwide with landlines is dwindling, as USA TODAY previously reported.

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Since 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey has tracked estimates of how many U.S. households have wireless services and nothing else. 

More than three-quarters of Americans live in homes without landlines: 76% of adults and 87% of children, as of the end of 2023, according to the agency’s most recent report.  

That data also corresponds with findings from the research firm Gartner, which estimated that in 2024 about 80% of all individual voice connections would be through mobile phones and 20% through landlines. That 20% represents about 88 million lines nationwide, Lisa Pierce, Gartner research vice president, has told USA TODAY. 

What does AT&T plan to do?

In a press release Monday, AT&T said it would expand what is already "the largest fiber broadband network in America." The company said by the end of 2029, it expects to reach more than 50 million locations with fiber.

An AT&T spokesperson said copper wire services are inefficient, wasteful of energy and no longer meet the "speed, reliability and always on-connectivity."

Other companies are also moving from copper networks to better and more efficient networks, said Jonathan Spalter, CEO of USTelecom, the trade organization for broadband providers, which includes companies that still provide copper wire networks.

AT&T's decision is great news, he said.

"It's really looking to the future," he said. Providers like AT&T are trying to make sure that "everybody everywhere can get the best connectivity possible and continuing the march toward universal connectivity with high-speed broadband and the most modern networks possible."

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.