by In a small town at the foot of Mount Rainier, about 45 miles southeast of Seattle, the views are epic, but the cell reception is spotty.
Susan Reiter has had a land line in her town of Enumclaw, Wash., since 1978. The power goes out several times a year, Reiter says, usually due to high winds and other weather events. But the landline always works, she says, making it her best option if there’s an emergency and she needs to call 911.
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“There are people out in rural America who need this service,” says the 77-year-old Reiter. “It may not be a large number, but for those people it’s a safety issue.”
The number of landline users has declined with the rise of mobile phones, and the days of 19th century technology seem numbered. Providers like AT&T are trying to get out of business by moving customers to cell phone or home phone service over broadband connections. But for many of the millions of people who still cling to their copper-based landline phones, newer options are unavailable, too expensive, or unreliable when it matters most: in an emergency.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, only a quarter of adults in the United States still have landlines and only about 5 percent say they rely on them mostly or only . The largest group of people who keep their landlines is 65 and older. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of adults are using cordless phones only.
The copper lines used for traditional landlines carry electricity over the wires, so as long as a corded or charged phone is plugged in, it will work during a power outage. Land lines are separate from cellular and broadband networks and are unaffected by outages, making them an essential backup in rural areas. Many of those same areas have inadequate cellular or internet coverage.
“In three, four, maybe five years a lot of states are going to say ‘OK, it’s permissible to discontinue service if you, the telephone company, can demonstrate that there is another viable service,'” says Rob Frieden, Academy and Emeritus Professor of Telecommunications and Law at Pennsylvania State University.
AT&T recently asked the California Public Utilities Commission to end its obligation to provide landline service in parts of the state. The Federal Communications Commission, which must approve a request to terminate service, said it has not received one from AT&T.
“We spend more than a billion dollars a year in California maintaining our legacy network and services used by 5 percent of households today and this is rapidly decreasing,” said Susan Johnson, AT&T’s head of wireline transformation. in an email. “That’s as effective as cooling an entire high-rise building in the summer heat with residents only occupying one floor.”
Hundreds of California residents attended CPUC public meetings last week to share their opinions on AT&T’s request. The vast majority said maintaining landline service was a safety issue, citing power outages, wildfires and floods as times when landlines are the only way to reach 911 or get evacuation information. Many said eliminating landlines would disproportionately affect the elderly, disabled and low-income people.
The callers, mostly elderly people, also said they could not get or receive reliable cell or internet service where they lived. Some struggle to learn how to use new technology or don’t like mobile phones – one woman called mobile phones “the decline of civilization as we know it”.
Despite the request, AT&T says it is not cutting off landline copper customers at this time, and people can still sign up for a new landline. However, like other landline companies, those customers are expected to move to other options.
One option is cellular service, but coverage is inconsistent for people in less populated parts of the country and there is a risk of outages. AT&T’s cellular outage on Feb. 22 left millions of customers across the United States without service for hours, according to the FCC, which is investigating the incident.
Another option is VoIP, or voice internet protocol, phone service. It’s a telephone line carried over the internet instead of copper, and can be used with a traditional, cordless or cordless home phone.
That’s how Liz Bleakley, 39, runs her business, Good Hands Creamery. Bleakley only used a cell phone in her old life working in health care in Atlanta. But three years ago, when she moved to the Windsor, Vermont, area with her husband to become an artisanal raw-milk cheese maker, she realized her cell phone wasn’t going to cut it.
“We had the amazing experience of moving into our house and looking at our cell phones and there’s the moment of horror: There are no bars,” Bleakley said in an interview on her home phone after she lost cell service. “It’s terrible – your calls drop and you have to plan times and situations where you can have a conversation with someone.”
In a mountainous rural area where blizzards are common, she wanted to have an option to deal with emergencies and business. Instead of getting a regular landline, Bleakley signed up for cable internet and got a VoIP number.
The Biden administration has pledged tens of thousands of dollars to expand broadband service across the United States, which could help people get off copper lines. But even if everyone had reliable access, there would still be issues like power outages, software glitches and affordability.
Some cable phone lines come with backup batteries that can last a few hours in the event of a power outage, but when the power is out for days the home will need an alternative like a generator.
Victor Lund, 57, has a more reliable, if expensive, backup plan. The technology consultant from Arroyo Grande, Calif., bought satellite phones for his family. The small devices look like an old Nokia phone with an antenna, and can hold a charge for months or a year if turned off, says Lund. He prepaid $300 for 200 minutes and has yet to use any.
“There are a lot of places where a cell phone won’t work in what I would call civilization in California,” said Lund, who regularly four-wheels and explores around the state.
Alternatives are coming out regularly. Apple added a satellite-connected emergency response service to the iPhone 14 in 2022 and is not yet charging for the feature, although it may in the future.
For people who have had a landline for years, the promise of new technology does not compete with the security of something that has worked for a long time.
On their 123-acre timber farm in Longview, Wash., Lisa and Robert Sudar have all the options. They have cell phones that work if they walk up a nearby hill, internet connection, VoIP phone and Starlink satellite service. And in a drawer in her hall, Princess’s old phone is connected to a land line – the only thing that works during a power outage.
“It gives us a lot of security as a population to have landlines available,” said Robert Sudar, 70. “It’s another way to communicate with people when the power goes out, and it’s a matter of national security in my opinion.”
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