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Phone companies want to eliminate traditional landlines. What's at stake and who loses?
Charlene Hopey has seen firsthand why having a traditional phone landline at her house is beneficial.Hopey, who lives in the Santa Monica Mountains region, has lived through California wildfires and earthquakes. She had friends who couldn't make or receive a call during the disasters – both those who had ditched their landlines for cell phones and didn’t have good cell service, and friends who still had landlines but only had cordless phones which were rendered useless when they lost electricity.
“People could not communicate in an emergency,” said the 72-year-old, who has a cell phone, but doesn’t like to use it.
Hopey is among a dwindling number of consumers who choose to still have a traditional landline using copper wires. But they may eventually not have that choice.
The California Public Utilities Commission is considering an application by AT&T to waive its responsibilities to be what’s called “Carrier of Last Resort,” meaning the utility has to offer the copper-wire landline service.
The utility said in filings with the commission that the technology for the traditional landlines is old and demand is low. The utility and many of its peers have been petitioning state utility commissions and state legislators, asking to be relieved of the task of maintaining and offering the traditional landline service.
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