Hundreds of thousands of households in the Bay Area and millions around California would lose landline service, consumer group estimates.
Jennie Dusheck holds her landline phone that she has kept as a backup in case of emergency on Feb. 6, 2024. In her high-fire-risk neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where internet and cell service are unreliable, power outages are frequent and mudslides sometimes occur, not having a landline is “very scary” says Dusheck.
Thanks to its earlier monopoly status and state law requiring voice communications for all who want them, AT&T is for large areas of California the “carrier of last resort” — the utility required to provide phone service to anyone wanting it in its service area. In its proposal to the utilities commission to escape that obligation, the company said it is seeking to stop landline service only in areas “where there is a demonstrated voice alternative.
AT&T said in a statement that fewer than 7% of households in its territory use traditional landlines, “and a great number of those households also have alternatives available where they live.” AT&T described landline service as duplicative to its wireless and fiber-based internet offerings that the company says it could expand faster if it did not have to expend money and resources to support landlines.
“During such crises, when power outages are prevalent and cellular and VoIP services are unreliable, landlines have remained the sole means of communication for emergency services, medical consultations, and disaster-management efforts.”2 wrongly convicted men sue California sheriff’s investigators for allegedly framing them
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