{"id":73999,"date":"2026-07-19T23:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=73999"},"modified":"2026-07-19T23:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:36:21","slug":"att-to-end-florida-landline-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/19\/att-to-end-florida-landline-service\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&T to end Florida landline service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yes, AT&T is actively executing a nationwide plan to phase out its traditional, copper-wire “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS) by the end of 2029<\/strong>. This transition heavily impacts Florida, which is one of the 21 states where AT&T currently operates legacy landlines.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The carrier has stopped offering traditional landlines to new customers and is gradually transitioning existing subscribers off the old network.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is AT&T Ending the Service?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AT&T points to a few major reasons for abandoning the 70-year-old copper infrastructure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Declining Users:<\/strong> Less than 5% of residential customers still rely on copper-based voice lines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Environmental & Weather Vulnerabilities:<\/strong> In storm-prone states like Florida, the copper network is highly susceptible to flooding, water damage, and lightning strikes. Repairs are incredibly labor-intensive and costly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Resource Consumption:<\/strong> The legacy infrastructure is highly inefficient and uses a massive amount of electricity compared to modern options.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Theft:<\/strong> Rising scrap values have led to an increase in physical copper wire theft.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What Are the Options for Current Users?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    AT&T is legally required to ensure customers do not lose access to emergency 911 services or voice connectivity.<\/sup> If you currently have an old-school landline, you will eventually have to migrate to one of these modern alternatives:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Alternative<\/strong><\/td>How it Works<\/strong><\/td>Considerations<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
    Fiber\/Digital Voice (VoIP)<\/strong><\/td>Runs phone service through an internet broadband connection.<\/td>Super fast and reliable, but if the internet or home power goes out, the phone goes out unless you have a battery backup.<\/td><\/tr>
    Fixed Wireless \/ Cellular<\/strong><\/td>AT&T offers device-based alternatives (like AT&T Phone – Advanced<\/em>) that connect your existing home phone handsets to cell towers.<\/td>Keeps your old number and hardware but relies on having a stable cellular signal in your area.<\/td><\/tr>
    Satellite Voice<\/strong><\/td>Uses satellite networks for rural dead zones.<\/td>Great for extreme rural areas, but hardware and monthly costs can be significantly higher.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    A Note on Elevators and Alarms:<\/strong> If you have an older home security system, a medical monitoring device, or an elevator phone hardwired into a copper line, you will need to coordinate with those specific service providers to upgrade them to cellular or internet-based communicators before your line is cut.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    The retirement is a rolling process over the next few years, meaning your specific neighborhood might not change immediately, but the hard stop is firmly targeted for 2029.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Yes, AT&T is actively executing a nationwide plan to phase out its traditional, copper-wire “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS) by the end of 2029. This transition heavily impacts Florida, which… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL2ltYWdlcy0xMC53ZWJwP2ZpdD03MzglMkM0MTQmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJBVCZhbXA7VCB0byBlbmQgRmxvcmlkYSBsYW5kbGluZSBzZXJ2aWNlIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.rq1qR6BFCJ_j0aDdFev6sVh6WzVK1InPWB-SOEUM5QEMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA3XC9pbWFnZXMtMTAud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IkFUJmFtcDtUIHRvIGVuZCBGbG9yaWRhIGxhbmRsaW5lIHNlcnZpY2UiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.BFg00FFHbrbnFSRTWgFncSNaGVnvgK9DcIr1nZX0I2sMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[15123],"class_list":["post-73999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-att-to-end-florida-landline-service"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74002,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73999\/revisions\/74002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}