ALERT AT&T shutting down your rural line?

[Samot]

Because the phone companies spend millions in lobbying politicians to loosen regulations.

Look, you want to blame someone blame USTelecom not the lobbyist.

-- 2017 FCC is already looking at shutting down legacy copper networks.
-- 2018 USTelecom makes the petetion for POTS/TDM/legacy copper relief, i.e. shutting it down.
-- 2019 FCC deregulates copper completely. All price caps are removed (allowing ILECs to raise costs on CLECs), carriers are free to retire copper at their own pace
-- 2022 The deadline in August, which people thought was a hard deadline but it wasn't.
-- 2024 The decommissioning of copper happens at the rate of 434% YTD
-- 2025 USTelecom wants to change testing and replacement requirements. Standalone voice replacement is no longer required. Carriers can bundle the replacement for POTS with other offerings and does not need a standalone product for it.
-- 2026 No longer requires FCC approval and can now shut down services with a 90 day notice vs 180 day notice.

ATT, Verizon, CenturyLink, etc all of them have been talking about this since 2013. None of this is a surprise. None of this has to do with lobbyist. 20 some years ago we peaked at close to 175 million POTS/PSTN copper lines. In 2024 that count was around 11.5 million so roughly a 93% reduction. Now with the increase since 2024 of shutting down copper and today, there's no way that 11.5 million is still 11.5 million, it's probably well under 10 million.

There's anywhere from 5-6% of POTS/PSTN copper lines left in service from the peak of 175 million 20 years ago. That works out to 200,000 lines per state but that's average considering that Vermont may have 20,000 while California still might have a million. Again we averaged 3.5 million POTS/PSTN lines per state at our peak, that same infrastructure has to be maintained for the last 200,000 lines per state...a 94% decrease.

Its all about more revenue, less expense and stock-holder dividends.

ATT freed up billions in capital from shutting down copper networks in various areas over the last 1-2 years. This is simple business logic. I mean seriously would **you** continue to pay more than the generated revenue for a product/service that you provide? Product X makes you $3K/month but costs you $5K/month to operate it, you would be looking at ways to off load that.

I don't understand how providers get away with reducing service in the name of progress.

You do understand that Mobile made the biggest blows to the copper based services, right? We all understand that? By the time people were switching to VoIP based services, numerous people jump ship on having a "landline" at all. The copper network has being dying a slow death of a thousand cuts since it peaked and the smartphone boom happened.

Based on the FCC in 2018 before a single retirement was done the break down for retail voice service was
Mobile: 70% of the market
VoIP: 14% of the market
CO Copper: 10% of the market

FCC in 2024 reports:
Mobile: 82% of the market
VoIP: 14% of the market
CO Copper: 4% of the market

So the thing that was announced almost a decade ago that it was going to end is finally ending but it's the lobbyists and share holders fault, right? No, it's naturally dying has it has been for the last almost 20 years and this is the final death throes.

 

[wardmundy]

History is a bitch. The companies you are defending made billions in many cases bilking homeowners to make calls across town. So shedding tears for them because it's no longer profitable is rich indeed. And guess who owns most of the mobile market that you're now touting as stealing their business... the same a$$holes. Verizon and AT&T are the original Bell Sisters.