Sandy-ravaged regions will never get landlines back

Last fall, Superstorm Sandy wiped out landline telephone service for thousands of people. Many of them are never getting those landlines back.

Verizon is still in the process of repairing the telephone infrastructure that was damaged by the massive storm in late October. But in many cases, the telecom giant is replacing the old copper-based systems with new technologies -- including wireless. Those changes are coming for the industry as a whole, whether or not telecom giants like Verizon and AT&T want them to. And they were coming long before Sandy struck. The parts needed to repair the old landline technology are hard to find, sending companies to some odd places to purchase equipment, such as eBay. "It can't be that our critical infrastructure is relying on eBay for replacement parts," said Bob Quinn, head of AT&T's regulatory affairs.