Say goodbye to your landline phone.
In 2024, AT&T announced its plan to eliminate its traditional landline phone service across nearly all U.S. states, including Florida, in its service area by 2029. Customers will be transitioned to newer services such as cellular networks or fiber options. AT&T officials said that customers will not lose voice or 911 service.
An AT&T spokesperson said in a July 7 email that the change was necessary because aging copper-based technology was unreliable and expensive to repair, and not many people were still using it.
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“In Florida, we have seen a 91% decline of customers using copper-based landlines in the past 10 years,” the spokesperson said.
In most states, AT&T can simply move forward. But in California, the telecommunications company has been battling state law and the California Public Utilities Commission. On June 29, the Federal Communications Commission approved a petition by AT&T to end the service, although there are still procedural hurdles and a federal court case in the way.
Here’s how this upcoming change will impact customers in Florida.
Why is AT&T eliminating its landlines?
Age and money.
“Copper based networks are outdated and unreliable due to aging technology, increased copper theft and disasters,” AT&T said, “Repairs take longer than fiber and wireless technology, leading to prolonged disruptions for customers.”
Susan Johnson, the company’s executive vice president of wireline transformation and supply chain, told USA TODAY that copper wire does not do well in water or during storms. The company is also “experiencing a lot of copper theft.”
What are landlines?
Landlines are telephones that connect to a global communications network by a physical wire or cable. It was the default phone for more than a century.
From the time home phones became commonplace in the 1920s until 2015, when smartphone sales started booming, if you were on a phone, you were almost certainly tethered to a wall somewhere.
Why don’t people want to give up landlines?
Some people in rural areas without reliable cell service are concerned about not having a working phone for emergencies or 911 calls. And cellular companies sometimes fail or may be targeted by cyberattacks. An hours-long Verizon outage in January impacted more than 1.5 million customers.
It’s also an issue in areas prone to power outages — such as, for example, coastal Florida during hurricane season. Landlines continue to work and provide phone service without power and under harsh conditions, unless the phone lines themselves are damaged.
“We are only upgrading customers in areas where there is reliable connectivity available from AT&T,” the company said.
Some landlines are also dedicated for fax machine usage, alarm systems, medical monitoring and other analog data uses, things that some users may fear they’d lose.
How common are landlines in Florida? Less than 7%
By the end of 2024, more than 80% of Americans lived in homes without landlines, according to a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics. The percentages for people with landlines increased as the age ranges got older.
In Florida, more than 91 of adults were wireless-only or wireless-mostly, 3.5% used both wireless and landlines, and 3.7% were landline-only or landline-mostly, according to a 2023 survey.
AT&T has not announced how many landline customers in Florida have been affected to date.
When will AT&T eliminate landlines?
AT&T is aiming to eliminate landlines by 2029, the company said.
The company allocated five years for the shift to give customers and the Federal Communications Commission proper notice, an AT&T representative told USA TODAY. Mobile carriers must get permission from the FCC before discontinuing landline services for both new and existing customers.
“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,” Johnson said.
Don’t want to give up your landline? Here’s what Florida AT&T landline users can do
For customers who don’t want or need a fiberoptic broadband connection, AT&T offers “AT&T Phone – Advanced.” AP-A works as a landline alternative that can be used to connect your existing landline phone to AT&T’s wireless network or most broadband connections. The AP-A antennas add a gain in signal to what’s already available in the home, the company said.
You can even keep your old phone number, and AP-A works for fax lines, alarms, medical monitoring, and other analog data services.
Floridians are also free to switch over to another mobile carrier. Vonage, Spectrum, Verizon, and Community Phone all still offer home phone services, although, like AT&T Phone – Advanced, they all work by connecting to a wireless or broadband option. Be sure to check their websites to see if coverage is available in your area.
Will I be notified if AT&T is taking my landline?
AT&T will reach out to affected customers by mail, email and phone calls before updates are made, the company said.
C. A. Bridges and Samantha Neely are journalists for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: AT&T to end Florida landline service. Here’s why, when
Reporting by C. A. Bridges and Samantha Neely, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By C. A. Bridges and Samantha Neely, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
