BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — AT&T can begin discontinuing traditional copper-wire telephone service in portions of 25 Alabama communities Sunday, Nov. 15, as the company moves customers away from its aging network and toward newer phone services.
The federal authorization does not establish a statewide shutdown or mean every AT&T landline customer in the affected communities will lose service Sunday. It covers portions of designated telephone service areas, known as wire centers, and allows the company to discontinue affected services on or after that date.
The change involves residential local telephone service and certain business landline services. Customers’ individual addresses, rather than their town names alone, determine whether they are affected, according to reporting by Huntsville television station WZDX.
“Our transition is a year-long process, and no customer will be left without access to voice or 911 service,” AT&T said in a statement reported by WAFF. “We’re working with our customers to upgrade their copper-based service to newer, less expensive options like AT&T Phone – Advanced.”
Parts of the following Alabama communities could be affected, according to WSFA’s reporting on AT&T’s filing with the Federal Communications Commission: Bremen, Carbon Hill, Citronelle, Clayton, Cordova, Courtland, Dora, Elk River, Eutaw, Fairview, Flomaton, Fort Deposit, Greensboro, Hanceville, Hurtsboro, Lafayette, Linden, Macintosh, Moulton, Mount Vernon, Red Bay, Renfroe-East, Tuskegee-East, Uniontown and York.
In north Alabama, the listed areas include Bremen, Fairview and Hanceville in Cullman County; Red Bay in Franklin County; Courtland and Moulton in Lawrence County; and the Elk River area of Limestone County, WZDX reported. The authorization does not necessarily cover every customer in those locations.
AT&T says customers should contact the company to determine whether their specific address is affected and what replacement services are available.
The FCC says carriers must notify customers in writing before a planned discontinuation, reduction or impairment of service. Its rules also require companies to file an application with the agency, and some applications can be granted automatically under the agency’s procedures.
AT&T says it contacts customers repeatedly during a yearlong transition process using letters, email, text messages and phone calls. The company says those communications provide a specific date for customers to upgrade.
The company’s assurance that customers will retain access to phone and 911 services does not mean existing copper lines will remain active indefinitely. In its published transition guidance, AT&T says copper phone and broadband service in designated areas will stop working and be disconnected if customers do not upgrade.
One replacement option is AT&T Phone – Advanced, which the company says allows customers to keep their current telephone number and compatible home phones. Rotary and pulse-dial phones are excluded, according to the product’s specifications.
The replacement service uses household electricity and includes a 24-hour backup battery. AT&T cautions that the battery does not power devices connected to its equipment. A cordless telephone, for example, may need a separate backup power source to make calls, including 911 calls, during an outage.
Customers who use a telephone line for medical-alert equipment, burglar alarms or elevator phones should contact both AT&T and their equipment provider to confirm the devices will work after the transition.
The transition has raised concerns about residents who depend on home telephones, particularly those who have difficulty using cellphones or live in areas with limited cellular service.
Mike Sandoval told WAFF that his mother, Pauline, is legally blind and cannot easily use a cellphone. Her family switched her copper service to AT&T fiber about a year ago after problems that included losing telephone service when it rained, the station reported.
“She doesn’t drive. That’s her only form of communication,” Sandoval told WAFF. “I’ve got a brother lives next door to her who does a great job at checking on her. But there’s a lot of people that are not that fortunate.”
AT&T announced in 2024 that it planned to exit its copper network across most of its wireline service territory by the end of 2029. The company says aging equipment, reliability problems and outages caused by copper theft have made the older network increasingly difficult to maintain.
In an April 28 company update, Susan Johnson, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for transformation and supply chain, said fewer than 2% of its eligible customers still used legacy copper voice technology. That figure describes the company’s broader customer base, not Alabama alone.
For Alabama households, the immediate question is whether their individual line is included in the transition. Nov. 15 is the earliest authorized discontinuation date for the affected services — not a blanket deadline for every landline in the state.