Copper phone line retirement: what businesses need to know

What is happening

The traditional phone network runs on copper wire. Phone companies are replacing it with fiber, wireless and internet-based service, and they want to stop maintaining copper. To stop offering a phone service in an area, a company files a section 214 discontinuance application with the FCC, and those filings now cover a large and growing part of the country.

Our timeline lists every filing we track by date, and the state and town pages show the 6,550 exchanges they may cover.

Who is doing it

• AT&T has said it plans to exit legacy copper network operations across the large majority of its wireline footprint by the end of 2029 (AT&T investor day, December 2024). See every AT&T filing.
• Verizon and Frontier (Verizon now owns Frontier) have filings in several states; the FCC removed one of them, docket 26-227, from automatic approval in September 2026 for more review. See Frontier and Verizon.
• Lumen (CenturyLink) says it is moving toward the end of sale of its voice services for business, wholesale and public sector customers, while keeping existing services where contracts or regulations require (Lumen). See Lumen's filings and exchanges.
• Consolidated Communications and smaller local companies have filings too. See all phone companies.

Which lines are affected

Anything that runs on a copper phone line stops working when the line does. For most businesses the phones are the easy part; the risk is in the lines nobody thinks about:

• Fire alarm panels and burglar alarms that dial the monitoring center (fire alarm guide)
• Elevator emergency phones (elevator guide)
• Fax machines (fax guide)
• Gate entry systems, call boxes, older card terminals and ATMs
• Main lines and older phone systems

New to the term? See what is a POTS line.

How the rules work

Customers must get written notice before the phone company applies to the FCC. Under rules in effect since October 15, 2026, the application is approved automatically on the 31st day after the FCC's public notice unless the FCC steps in, and customers have 15 days to comment. A filing usually covers "portions" of a state without listing addresses, so being in a listed town doesn't always mean your line is included; the company's notice to you is the final word. Details in FCC copper retirement rules, explained.

What to do now

• Check your lines by phone number, ZIP code or town.
• List every line on your phone bills and what each one is connected to.
• Start with the lines that matter most in an emergency: fire alarm and elevator phones. Ask your fire marshal and elevator inspector what they accept.
• Pick a replacement for each line: business VoIP for phones and fax, a cellular replacement such as Ooma AirDial for alarm and elevator lines. See the POTS replacement comparison.
• Test each replacement with your monitoring or elevator company, and only then cancel the copper.
• Read every letter from your phone company about your lines; it may carry your actual date.

We do this for businesses across the country. See POTS line replacement, or send us your lines below.