AT&T has started a slow but decisive countdown on the copper phone network that powered the original American landline, and the company is now working toward shutting off most of those traditional lines by 2029. That shift will push millions of homes and businesses toward fiber, fixed wireless, and cellular alternatives, while regulators and communities race to make sure no one is stranded without a dial tone. The clock is ticking loudest in places where landlines still double as lifelines, from rural fire zones to high-rise elevators.
AT&T’s 2029 deadline, in plain terms
AT&T has told customers and investors that it plans to retire the bulk of its old copper-based phone network within the next few years, effectively ending most traditional landline service tied to those wires by 2029. The company has framed the move as part of a broader shift toward fiber and wireless, saying that legacy copper services no longer meet modern expectations for speed, reliability, and always-on connectivity, and that it wants to stop being obligated to provide those copper lines by law in many areas. Public-facing materials on AT&T’s own site emphasize newer internet and phone products, while industry analyses describe a copper retirement that is projected to be completed by 2029, with The AT&T Copper Network Retirement described as a multi-year effort to fully retire those facilities.
Technical briefings on the transition note that AT&T plans to fully retire its copper network and that this Copper Network Retirement is expected to be completed by 2029, which would end remaining plain old telephone service for most residential and business users that still depend on those lines. One overview of the shift explains that AT&T plans to fully retire its copper network by 2029 and migrate customers to digital alternatives, a timeline that aligns with separate reporting that the company aims to eliminate landlines by 2029 as part of a wireline transformation and supply chain overhaul. Those details appear in analyses of the Copper Network Retirement and in coverage of AT&T’s plan to eliminate landlines, which together sketch out a clear end date for most copper-based phone service.
Why AT&T wants out of copper
From AT&T’s perspective, the copper network is an aging, expensive asset that no longer fits how people communicate, and the company has been blunt that it wants to move customers to fiber and wireless instead. Analysts who have reviewed the plan say AT&T argues that legacy copper services are not keeping up with customer needs for speed, reliability, and always-on connectivity, and that the company is seeking relief from rules that require it to maintain those lines even as usage declines. One detailed look at the strategy notes that AT&T has told regulators that these legacy copper services are no longer meeting customer needs and that it wants to stop being required to provide them by law, a position that underpins its push to phase out traditional landlines tied to copper loops.
At the same time, AT&T has been pitching the copper exit as a way to free up money and labor for newer infrastructure, particularly fiber-to-the-home and 5G-based fixed wireless. Industry reporting on the company’s wireline transformation describes a plan to eliminate landlines by 2029 while ramping up investment in fiber builds and wireless-first offerings, with executives tying the shift to supply chain changes and a desire to simplify the network. Coverage of the company’s public statements explains that AT&T is already in the process of shutting down copper-based home phone and DSL services and that it is positioning the move as a necessary modernization, even as it acknowledges that some customers will need help migrating. Those arguments are laid out in analyses of how AT&T plans to eliminate landlines by 2029 and in reporting on its wireline transformation and legacy copper services.
Who stands to lose when copper goes dark
The most obvious impact of AT&T’s timeline will fall on people who still rely on a traditional landline as their primary phone, especially older residents and those in rural areas where cell coverage and broadband remain spotty. Reporting on the company’s plans notes that AT&T intends to eliminate copper wire phone lines to most users and that this raises sharp questions about who stands to lose, with specific concern for older residents and rural communities that may not have reliable alternatives. One detailed breakdown points out that elevators, security systems, and fax machines still depend on those copper lines, and that the shift will force building owners, medical offices, and small businesses to retrofit equipment or risk losing critical connectivity. That analysis explicitly highlights elevators, security systems, and faxes as examples of systems that rely on copper and that will need upgrades as AT&T phases out traditional landline copper phone service.
In states like Oklahoma, local coverage has already framed the change as a major test of digital equity, noting that AT&T plans to phase out landline services over the next five years and that the move will push residents and businesses toward fiber-optic internet and 5G. That same reporting stresses that the transition has raised questions about accessibility for older residents and rural areas, and that AT&T is looking to eliminate traditional landline services in favor of newer technologies. National coverage of the company’s announcement echoes those concerns, explaining that AT&T’s plan to eliminate copper wire phone lines to most users will affect people who still depend on a landline they cannot easily replace, and that the company’s own framing of who stands to lose includes vulnerable groups. Those stakes are spelled out in analyses of who stands to lose and in coverage of what the change means for Oklahoma’s older residents and rural areas.
California’s fight to keep a dial tone
Nowhere has the backlash to AT&T’s landline exit been more intense than in California, where regulators and residents have pushed back against efforts to shed obligations to maintain copper-based phone service. California regulators rejected a bid by AT&T that would have ended landline phone service in many parts of the state, with one decision describing the company’s proposal as “fatally flawed” and emphasizing the importance of reliable communication during emergencies. That rejection preserved landline phone service for now and signaled that the California Public Utilities Commission is not ready to let AT&T walk away from its role as a safety net provider in areas where alternatives are not yet robust. The decision is detailed in coverage explaining how California regulators rejected a bid by AT&T and preserved landline phone service.
AT&T has not given up on changing the rules, and the fight has now shifted from regulators to lawmakers. Reporting from the North Coast explains that Last year, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously shot down a massively unpopular proposal by AT&T to stop being the default landline provider, and that AT&T, ordered to keep providing land-line service, has taken the fight to the Legislature. That coverage notes that the California Public Utilities Commission has been under pressure from residents who rely on landlines during disasters such as fires and floods, and that the political debate now centers on how to balance modernization with public safety. At the same time, the commission is running a broader Carrier of Last Resort rulemaking, described in official documents as Recent Activity in This Proceeding, with an Administrative Law Judge issuing rulings On February that shape how companies like AT&T can exit copper. Those regulatory details appear in the commission’s Carrier of Last Resort materials and in coverage of how Recent Activity in This Proceeding is reshaping obligations.
Regulators nationwide race to rewrite the rules
California’s battle is part of a broader national reckoning over what it means to guarantee basic phone service in an era when copper is being ripped out of the ground. In that state, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting has chronicled how rural communities are watching the California Public Utilities Commission’s Carrier of Last Resort rulemaking, with residents testifying about outages and the need for reliable backup during wildfires. One report, labeled Mendocino County Public Broadcasting | By Elise Cox and Published May at 1:36 PM PDT, describes how Elise Cox covered public hearings where people argued that landlines still matter when cell towers fail, and notes that the commission aims to finish the proceeding by the end of 2025. That same coverage includes an illustration credit to Midjourney and underscores that the outcome will determine whether AT&T and other carriers can shed their last-resort duties in large swaths of the state.
Other states are watching closely, because the Carrier of Last Resort concept is embedded in many regulatory frameworks that assumed copper would always be there. Official documents from the California Public Utilities Commission’s rulemaking explain that the proceeding is examining how to update obligations in light of new technologies, and that Recent Activity in This Proceeding includes proposals like the CalBroadband Revised Initial Proposal, which would reshape who must serve which areas. As AT&T moves ahead with its copper retirement, regulators elsewhere are likely to borrow from California’s approach, weighing whether to require fiber or fixed wireless coverage before allowing copper shutoffs. The tension between modernization and universal service is captured in the commission’s rulemaking record and in local reporting that tracks how Mendocino County Public Broadcasting | By Elise Cox has framed the stakes for rural residents.
The copper shutdown timeline is already underway
Although 2029 sounds distant, the practical wind-down of copper is already in motion, with key milestones that will limit what customers can do long before the final shutoff. Industry trackers report that AT&T’s plan to retire the bulk of its copper network by 2030 has been endorsed by federal regulators, and that the company is already deep into the copper phase-out, with some describing it as the copper phase-out party. One analysis notes that AT&T’s plan to retire the bulk of its copper network by 2030 was recently blessed, and that the company is moving aggressively to decommission lines where it has built fiber or has strong wireless coverage. That context appears in coverage of how AT&T’s plan to retire the copper network is plowing ahead.
More granular timelines show that the first big constraints will hit customers as early as 2025, when AT&T plans to freeze changes to many copper-based services. One detailed briefing explains that October 2025: The Service Freeze will begin, and that Beginning in that month AT&T will stop accepting new orders or processing adds, moves, or changes for copper-based lines in large parts of its footprint, steering customers instead to fiber and fixed wireless networks. A separate notice aimed at enterprise and government agencies states that On October 15, 2025, AT&T will stop accepting any moves, adds, or changes to copper-based phone lines across 18 states, signaling that the company is locking in the existing copper base ahead of retirement. Analysts who track the business market add that AT&T’s copper line shutdown has begun and that the first big milestone hits in 2025, affecting about 10% of its footprint as copper lines disappear and emergency systems may be at risk. Those specifics are laid out in briefings on The Service Freeze, in notices that start with the phrase On October 15, 2025, and in analyses of how AT&T’s copper line shutdown has begun.
What replaces a traditional landline
As copper recedes, AT&T and its competitors are racing to sell replacements that promise landline-like reliability without the old wires. AT&T has already unveiled a cellular home phone service that uses the company’s wireless network instead of copper, positioning it as a way for customers to keep a home phone number while the company shuts down its traditional copper phone service by 2029. In that announcement, AT&T said it is bidding farewell to its aging copper-based home phone and DSL services and highlighted the new cellular home phone as part of a broader push to modernize its network, with an Executive VP of Wireline Transformation explaining how the product fits into the company’s strategy. That framing appears in coverage of how AT&T is bidding farewell to copper-based home phone and DSL.
Third-party vendors are also stepping in with devices that mimic a landline over cellular or broadband, often marketed to businesses that cannot easily rip out legacy equipment. One guide titled AT&T Copper Retirement: What It Means for You explains that AT&T plans to retire most copper services by 2029 and that in wireless-first environments, customers can use specialized adapters to keep analog devices like fax machines and alarm panels working over digital networks. That same resource lists options such as Advanced: Landline Functionality Without Copper, describing how businesses can plug existing phone systems into a box that connects to LTE or fiber instead of a copper loop. Vendors that specialize in this transition stress that planning ahead is crucial, because once the Service Freeze begins and copper orders are blocked, customers will have fewer options and less time to test replacements. Those details are laid out in the guide on Copper Retirement: What It Means for You and in broader analyses of the The End of an Era: AT&T’s Copper Wire Network Retirement, which describe how maintaining the aging system has become costly.
The one big exception, and what it signals
Even as AT&T moves to shut down most copper-based landlines, it has carved out at least one major exception that underscores how much state-level rules still matter. Detailed coverage of the company’s plan notes that AT&T aims to retire a majority of its old-school copper landlines by 2029, Except in This State, where regulatory obligations and political pressure have slowed the transition. That reporting explains that AT&T to Retire Traditional Landlines by 2029 (Except in This State) reflects a compromise in which the company continues to operate copper-based service longer in that jurisdiction while it negotiates new terms and builds out alternatives. The exception is framed as a sign that even a national carrier must adapt its timeline to local rules, and that customers in that state will see a slower, more regulated shift away from copper.
For everyone else, the exception is a reminder that the 2029 target is not a uniform cliff but a patchwork of deadlines shaped by regulators, lawmakers, and infrastructure realities. Analysts who have reviewed AT&T’s filings say the company is prioritizing copper retirement in areas where it has already deployed fiber or strong wireless coverage, while moving more cautiously where it faces strict Carrier of Last Resort obligations or intense political scrutiny. The fact that one state has secured a different path underlines how much leverage regulators still have if they choose to use it, and suggests that other states could push for similar concessions if they believe vulnerable residents would be left behind. Those dynamics are captured in coverage of Retire Traditional Landlines and in broader reporting on how AT&T is phasing out landline services over the next five years while facing questions about accessibility for older residents and rural areas, as described in local analysis of what the change means for older residents and rural areas.
How to prepare if you still have a landline
For households and businesses that still depend on a copper landline, the most practical step now is to treat AT&T’s 2029 goal as a hard deadline and start planning a replacement on their own terms. Consumer explainers about the phase-out stress that AT&T is aiming to eliminate landlines by 2029 and that the company is already in the process of shutting down traditional copper phone service, so waiting until a disconnection notice arrives could leave you scrambling. One widely shared video segment on the topic shows a family holding onto a landline phone they just cannot bring themselves to toss, even though they admit they have not really used it in the last couple years, and uses that image to illustrate how sentimental attachment can mask the practical need to move on. That scene appears in a clip about how AT&T to phase out landline phone networks by 2029.
For businesses, the stakes are higher, because a single copper line might be tied to an elevator phone, a fire alarm panel, or a credit card terminal that cannot simply be unplugged. Technical guides recommend conducting a full inventory of every device connected to a copper line, then working with vendors to migrate those systems to cellular or IP-based solutions well before the Service Freeze locks in existing configurations. In California, local outlets have reported that 36 public speakers lined up at one hearing to describe how landline outages affected medical devices and emergency calls, a reminder that the transition is not just about nostalgia but about safety. Those concerns are echoed in coverage from Mendocino County Public Broadcasting | By Elise Cox, which notes that the commission aims to finish its rulemaking by the end of 2025, and in reports that AT&T, ordered to keep providing land-line service, has taken its fight to the Legislature after the California Public Utilities Commission rejected its earlier proposal. Together, those accounts underscore that while the copper network’s days are numbered, the responsibility for a smooth landing is shared by AT&T, regulators, and every customer who still relies on a dial tone.
Supporting sources: AT&T, ordered to keep providing land-line service, takes fight ….
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