Disconnected: Is this the Beginning of the End of Landline Services?

[Image created by Kym Kemp using AI]

AT&T customers received this letter from the CPUC notifying them of the proceedings.

AT&T customers in California recently received notification from the CPUC of AT&T’s application to not only relieve the corporation of its obligations as a Carrier of Last Resort (COLR), but also its designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC). The applications were filed by AT&T on March 3, 2023; however, many customers had no idea that their landline service was at risk until January of this year.

Throughout California, telecom companies are obligated to provide Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) to all areas, ensuring connectivity even in remote or underserved regions. The petition by AT&T seeks to remove their obligation to their designated COLR areas, allowing the telecom company to discontinue copper-line phone service in their service areas if other voice service options are available. However, advocacy groups like The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT), and the Advocates Office at the California Public Utilities Commission (Cal Advocates), to name a few, are opposing the applications.

Click map to enlarge.

Tracy Rhine, Senior Policy Advocate with RCRC, who represents forty rural counties within California, engaging at the federal, state, and administrative level on issues such as wildfire, safety, telecommunications issues, and housing policies, is opposing AT&T’s petition that Rhine says will impact over 580,000 customers. Though AT&T promises to continue service to around 1400 customers that have been determined to have no other voice option, she says they too could face disconnection. “AT&T is not currently asking to be relieved of its obligations for those [1400] customers, however, in their petition, …they …put forth a streamlined process for future release of that obligation which would affect those other 1400 customers [too].

The Utility Reform Network, a statewide organization that advocates on behalf of residential and small business customers on key utility issues …at [CPUC], the legislature, the Federal Regulatory Commission, and Congress, has also officially opposed AT&T’s petitions. Regina Costa, the Telecommunications Policy Director for TURN, stated, “Universal telephone service is really essential for society. Being the Carrier of Last Resort means that everybody that AT&T serve[s], is entitled to have a service that will work, that you can use to communicate with your family, your friends, your job, your kids’ school, and people in Humboldt County know this very well.”

The petition submitted by AT&T would relieve them of a century-old obligation to the residents within their designated territories, leaving those within their service areas without guaranteed reliable communication access, leaving AT&T free to put profit over service, Costa said. “[T]hey could stop [service] within six months, and they could do things like picking and choosing …a part of town they think is more lucrative [to] put new facilities in and start offering their more advanced services in those areas. [T]hey could focus on the more affluent neighborhoods. They can even deny people service by running credit checks.”

Advocacy groups aren’t the only ones paying close attention to this matter, Costa said. If the CPUC approves AT&T’s requests, it will set a precedent that would allow other telecommunication companies to fast-track relief from their COLR designation, leaving many without the option of landline services. “I think all companies are watching with interest. [W]e are paying very close attention to this, not just from the standpoint of AT&T, but also from what the broader implications [are] … for companies like Frontier,” Costa said.  

With the rise in wireless usage, high speed internet, and broadband services, some, including AT&T, claim that landlines just aren’t necessary any longer. And it’s true that many California residents have been ditching their landlines in favor of the freedom and convenience of wireless devices. However, advocacy groups, emergency service providers, and residents wanting to retain their landline services, warn of the inadequacy of the newer technology compared to POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service).

Rhine stated that in rural areas where large gaps in cell and broadband services are prevalent, a common occurrence like a power outage or a cut line to a wireless cell tower, can leave residents cut off for days due to the lack of redundant services available.  “Though there may be wireless for some of those customers as an alternative, it doesn’t mean it’s reliable or sufficient service,” said Rhine.

Map of impacted customers in Humboldt County and east, submitted to the CPUC by AT&T. Click map for an interactive map to search your area.

According to Costa, AT&T has been wanting to sever ties to its POTS lines for a while, neglecting the network, and encouraging their customers to ditch their copper landlines for either wireless service or the VoIP line (Voice over Internet Protocol). Though VoIP service may look like a traditional telephone service it is serviced by internet capabilities, dependent on power, one of the first utilities to fail in emergency situations.

A northern Humboldt resident who has Starlink internet and cell service in addition to an AT&T landline wrote in an email interview, “[W]e use the landline if we want to reliably be able to have a phone conversation.” Additionally, the resident stated that though Starlink can be used for internet calling, when a power outage occurs, their landline is the only means of communication, including to PG&E.  “We sometimes use Wi-Fi calling. We use Starlink for internet but no power means no internet, so it’s good to have our landline which has reliable reception.  For example, we use our landline to report outages to PG&E and to get updates and notifications.”

Rural residents aren’t the only ones opposing or potentially impacted by AT&T’s petition of relief. On the CPUC website, residents from all over the state, including Oakland and Los Angeles, have voiced concerns.

TURN’s Costa said that urban residents can also be impacted though they have more service redundancies built into their areas. She said, “I think rural communities have it the worst, [but] I think urban communities would also suffer from this.”

Cell service can have dead zones even in cities or a person could have a service contract with a carrier that doesn’t work at their residence. She also stated that when emergencies strike, power outages often occur simultaneously, depowering cell towers, and overburdening those remaining.  “This is what happened in Marin County during the fires in 2017. And I think it was also 2019, where a lot of the cell sites went down, and the ones that were left, you could barely talk because there was so many people trying to use the system,” Costa stated.

Other agencies are also concerned with the implications to emergency situations including county sheriffs on the North Coast.  Mendocino County Sheriff, Matt Kendall, said, “It’s really concerning for all of us who have rural counties, because honestly, we don’t have cell connectivity in the largest portions of our counties.” The phone interview with Kendall was, itself, delayed forty-five minutes while he traversed a portion of Highway 20 that had no cell service. “I couldn’t have called you if I needed to,” he stated.

Map of impacted customers in Mendocino County and east, submitted to the CPUC by AT&T. Click map for an interactive map to search your area.

Kendall, along with sheriffs from Humboldt, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties recently discussed the CPUC proceedings and how, if approved, the loss of landlines would impact their counties. The Mendocino Sheriff said that loss of landlines in emergency situations would mean an increase in welfare checks on the counties’ residents to assure their safety instead of relying on contacting them via telephone, adding to the heavy workload the rural sheriffs are under. 

In Humboldt County, Ryan Derby, Program Manager of the county’s Office of Emergency Services, is also concerned about the impacts during emergencies. “The big problem with this proposal is that landlines in rural California, oftentimes, are maybe the one and only method of communication between residents and emergency services providers as a beneficial service for emergency management, because landlines can still work during power outages.”

Power, a looming issue for northern Mendocino and Southern Humboldt residents due to grid capacity issues, also seems to be an area of concern for communications reliability. Due to wildfire concerns, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are scheduled for high-risk weather incidents leaving some without power for days. The lines themselves are vulnerable to wildfire and extreme weather events, the situations when residents are most likely to need to contact emergency services.

However, when power is lost, the tried and true, oft times deemed antiquated, service of POTS, remains the most reliable source of communication–a source that those opposed to AT&T’s attempt to move away from copper-line services, say is a necessary service especially during emergencies.

“The first rule of managing any disaster is communication. And the two things that we do not lose during that time is local radio, and our copper telephone lines,” Sheriff Kendall said.

Humboldt County’s OES Program Manager stated, “Some people may argue that it’s antiquated, but it doesn’t put that strain on our electric grid, and similarly, when there is prolonged power outages, those landlines are often the only thing that is still working. If you have cell towers that are working, but you don’t have an ability to charge your cell phones, it’s not gonna work.”

Jeannie, a Trinidad resident, relayed, “I have a heart condition, …and if I don’t have a landline, and my cell service is not functioning well, which is common here, …I have no way of calling 911.”

“[Having] my AT&T landline is really a matter of life or death,” the 73-year-old resident stated.

AT&T’s petition to relinquish their ETC (Eligible Telecommunications Carrier) designation, according to Costa, goes hand-in-hand with the much more concerning COLR relief application. “We see these two things as interrelated,” she stated.

A carrier in California with an ETC designation meets certain regulatory requirements and obligations, that receives federal and state funding to provide reliable and affordable telephone service to customers without discrimination. In its application, AT&T argues that a federal Lifeline funding expiration makes their release of ETC designation a non-issue. However, Costa says that the expiration on funding may not happen.

“It’s not exactly true that the federal funding will stop. The FCC made, what we thought, was a very bad decision a few years ago, assuming that all service was going over to the broadband or advanced services, and it was no longer going to support voice service offered by itself, called standalone voice service. Under federal law, [the FCC is] not really supposed to be supporting broadband service with those monies, because those monies are from surcharges on voice, telephone service, both landline and cellular.”

Additionally, there’s also ongoing funds through the California LifeLine program used in tandem with the federal Lifeline program to ensure that landline services are affordable to low-income households. If either the ETC or COLR relief applications are approved, the state’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged may be impacted the most severely, losing both access to a landline but possibly the ability to have an affordable source of communication altogether.

California residents can comment on the CPUC proceedings as they consider AT&T’s petitions. As of the writing of this article, the petition of relief from COLR obligations had 2,133 comments in opposition, and the petition to relinquish their ETC designation had 587 opposing comments. Many of the comments were from older, and rural residents that reiterated the concerns voiced by advocacy groups and emergency response personnel.

A Willits resident described the isolation during wildfire events six years ago, “During the fires in October of 2017, Willits had no cell phone or internet service. That meant for 3 days we had no ATMs for money, no social media for news (we are not covered by any TV news station despite them being on our cable/antenna) and no contact with anyone you were not staring at.” Through the resident’s AT&T landline service, she was able to contact her daughter who was being evacuated from Sonoma State, providing critical information in an emergency situation. “Technology has not made the landline obsolete…if anything technology’s vulnerabilities have shown how important it is to have old-school redundancies in place,” she shared in the public forum.

Connectivity during a wildfire was a common topic in many of the comments submitted. One Santa Rosa resident wrote that when the deadly Tubbs Fire broke out, cell towers were down, leaving the residents, sleeping and unaware, until their landline rang in the middle of the night with the alert to evacuate immediately, very likely saving their lives.

A Fort Bragg resident wrote, “I would like to reiterate the previous sentiment that “landlines are lifelines”. True figuratively and true literally. A very very important necessity of rural life here on the Mendocino Coast.”

“I understand in the electronic world that most people live with all the modern electronic devices. I even have some myself.” A 77-year-old Blocksburg resident wrote in her comment to the CPUC. Since her husband’s passing, the AT&T customer said she lives alone, an hour from town. “[L]iving rural like I do as do many of my neighbors we are last to get service when power goes out and the landline is our only LIFELINE for communication.”

For some, the loss of a landline is a loss of connection in more ways than one. A Eureka mother urged the CPUC to decline AT&T’s requests, writing, “My landline has been my main-stay my entire life. My son is still missing, and this landline must remain intact, or he will not be able to find me since I had to move twice.”

If approved by the CPUC, over 580,000 AT&T customers in California stand to lose access to guaranteed landline service. Click map for an interactive map to search your area.

Highlighting the widespread need for landline services, even those in charge of responding to emergencies said they’d be impacted if AT&T discontinues their POTS copper-lines. Mendocino County’s chief emergency official, Sheriff Kendall, said, “I don’t have cell service where I live. I was able to get internet at my place where I can actually now make a call if I have power to the internet, but if the power goes out, I need my landline.”

Many opposing residents commented on what they claim is greed on AT&T’s part, ditching landline obligations now that POTS are not as profitable as the wireless and broadband networks.

A Eureka resident wrote to the CPUC, “Those that are less fortunate economically, or in isolated locations where cell phones or internet don’t work, should not have to suffer because of the greed of a few at the top of the AT&T corporate ladder.”

“AT&T takes our money but doesn’t want to do the job they signed up for,” stated a Fort Bragg resident.

TURN’s Costa agrees, “They do have an obligation to serve, and they have benefited from the fact that they are the dominant provider of service in local communities. They get tremendous benefits from that – they get access to public rights of way, they co-own many of the utility poles that they use to provide their service, and that any other competitor would need access to, in order to offer service. They control all of that, and they get that as this bonus, but they think that they can just throw up their hands and walk away. It’s not that easy. And we hope that the Commission doesn’t let them do that.”

As residents, along with emergency personnel, speak out about the necessity of landlines, advocacy groups continue to oppose and draw attention to AT&T’s proceedings within the CPUC.

In addition to posting comments on the CPUC website, interested parties can attend public meetings to be heard. Costa emphasized, “It’s really important for the public to make themselves known in the public participation hearings.”

There are four public hearings scheduled over the next two months. We’ve included the schedule and additional information on these proceedings below.

Public Hearing Schedule 

To view and/or comment on AT&T’s relief of Carrier of Last Resort application, click here.

To view and/or comment on AT&T’s relinquishment of Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation application, click here.

This article is written by Lisa Music, a local freelance journalist. To reach Lisa about tips, questions or comments, email her at [email protected]