The End of Rural Landlines?

Patricia Pereira, an 80-year old woman living in Camp Seco, California, is cut off from 911 and other essential services. At the beginning of 2023, Pereira asked AT&T if landline service could be transferred from a neighboring home to hers. Instead of transferring the service, AT&T cut the copper lines dead on both properties. Pereira lives in a dead zone and barely receives cellular signals. This is happening in rural AT&T areas across the country. AT&T is walking away from rural copper facilities that provide landline telephone and DSL broadband. I’m sure that the rural AT&T copper networks are old and in poor condition, but that's not the whole story. State regulatory commissions have not been doing their job. AT&T and other telephone companies have been operating under regulations that include the concept of carrier-of-last-resort, which means that the telephone companies are obligated to provide customers with voice service. If the California Public Service Commission was enforcing the carrier-of-last-resort rules, it would make sure that customers have cell coverage at home before allowing AT&T to walk away from the copper.