AT&T Joins Verizon, Admits Landline Is Dead

said by TamaraB:

I am sure there are tons of people across the country in the same situation. If copper is left to rot, will the telcos be forced to replace the connectivity with coax or fiber? I think not. I can't get cable here because the cable operator will not run the thousand feet of coax for a potential 6 customers.

So, what's to happen to the many thousands of customers who rely on copper and have no alternative?

said by patcat88:

.... So your in NYC and your block can't get cable?

said by TMMerlin:

Landlines will be here forever [well at least another 100 years] ..

Absolutely no cell carrier can beat a POTS Line for a phone call "from your home"..! I mean .. we are talking Landlines here ..

ALL DISTANCE® package

• Residential phone service with unlimited local calling and popular calling features
• Unlimited domestic Long Distance calling

$40.00 + the dumb taxes

said by TMMerlin:

Skip the pre-pay cells and scrappy phones you have to buy !

Skip the call carrier as they can not match the price and the phone are expensive and tooooo small ..Why buy one dinky phone when you can have a a Panasonic phone with 2 or 3 extensions for about $125 {for a real good one].

said by TMMerlin:

Then if you want ...add DSL [where availible ..sorry you folks in the boonies] that is far faster than RupTeeDoo 3 or 4G cellular and more reliable !

said by TMMerlin:

Then when you become an Old Fart ..the price goes down with LifeLine and Senior Citizen discount {let's hear about ANY cell carrier that will do that LMAO}.

POTS is here to stay ..
- cheap
- reliable
- and truly UNLIMITED minutes [ 24x7 ]

LMAO to the nay sayers ..!

said by MaynardKrebs:

If ATT thinks the landline is dead and has publically stated so, then they should be writing all those associated assets on their books down to zero effective immediately and taking a charge to their balance sheet, in accordance with GAAP.

Then they should be forced to give (read 'donate') all their outside copper wiring into a new, national not-for profit common carrier utility, which would then sell access to those wires to any and all independent ISP's who want to get into the copper-loop DSL business and POTS business themselves.

The not-for-profit can replace the copper it inherits with fiber over time.

This is what the FCC ought to demand and force ATT to do in return for allowing ATT to drop POTS.

said by MaynardKrebs:

Then they should be forced to give (read 'donate') all their outside copper wiring into a new, national not-for profit common carrier utility, which would then sell access to those wires to any and all independent ISP's who want to get into the copper-loop DSL business and POTS business themselves.

The not-for-profit can replace the copper it inherits with fiber over time.

This is what the FCC ought to demand and force ATT to do in return for allowing ATT to drop POTS.

said by jlynn334:

I work for the "phone company" and we WILL be switching to an IP based service. No ifs, ands, or buts. The only question is when. All routes will become mostly fiber, we might possibly retain the last 500' of copper for some residents. Those to will give way to fios in the future. All of the old "pots" service will be switched to new electronics. You will become an IP address on the new system. This will not be like traditional VOIP service like Vonage. It will be the same reliable service only through these new electronic switches. It just makes it easier, and quicker, for us to give our customers pots, dsl, or u-verse with less headaches and to meet the overwhelming demand from our customers (Verizon,T-Mobile, Sprint, and you) for ever increasing bandwidth. (Yes, the other networks ride our infrastructure).

said by Synbios:

When you lose power, POTS still works.

I also do not like VoIP using my internet connection, I like to have all my bandwidth dedicated to transfers/gaming. It's pretty sad when your ping starts getting bad when someone picks up the phone.

POTS for life.