Copper phone line retirement report: August 2025
In August 2025, the FCC published notice of 4 filings to stop copper phone service, from 2 phone companies. They cover 431 telephone exchanges we track in 7 states, 29 of them in a filing for the first time.
The numbers
- Filings
- 4
- Exchanges covered
- 431
- First time in a filing
- 29
- States with exchanges covered
- 7
431 are in areas where a filing covers portions of a state without listing places, so not every address in them is included.
By phone company
| Phone company | Filings | Exchanges covered | States with exchanges covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated Communications | 2 | 402 | ME, NH, VT |
| Lumen (CenturyLink) | 2 | 29 | AL, MN, ND, TN |
The filings
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 25-257
Legacy Voice Service in at locations in seven exchanges in Maine and seven exchanges in New Hampshire that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 21, 2025; date in the filing November 12, 2025. Covers 295 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 25-256
Legacy Voice Service in at locations in one exchange in Vermont that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 21, 2025; date in the filing November 12, 2025. Covers 107 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Lumen (CenturyLink), FCC docket 25-242
Legacy voice service in Leonard, North Dakota.
Public notice August 5, 2025; date in the filing October 6, 2025. Covers 29 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Lumen (CenturyLink), FCC docket 25-259
Plain Old Telephone Services also known as "POTS" and Primary Rate Interface Service in Redstone Arensal, Alabama; Chanhassen and Edina, Minnesota; and Chattanooga, Cleveland and East Ridge, Tennessee.
Public notice August 25, 2025; date in the filing November 24, 2025.
Dates in August 2025
Filings whose requested date falls this month. A date in a filing is when the phone company asked to stop service, not proof that it has.
- August 1, 2025: Frontier, docket 25-172, 16 exchanges (PA)
- August 1, 2025: Lumen (CenturyLink), docket 25-177, 148 exchanges (CO)
- August 12, 2025: Consolidated Communications, docket 25-182, 175 exchanges (ME)
Other services
1 other filing this month was for services other than ordinary copper phone lines (VoIP products, data circuits, long distance): AT&T (25-254).
Running total
Through August 2025: 56 copper phone line filings with an FCC public notice, covering 2,952 telephone exchanges we track. See the full timeline or browse by state and town.
Is your line on a filing?
Each town page also has a free email alert for new filings.
How we count
- A month's filings are the ones whose FCC public notice is dated that month.
- State counts are the states where we track exchanges a filing covers. A filing can list more states than that, for example where the company is not the local phone company.
- An exchange is a telephone exchange (rate center) with a town page on this site. Some filings name exchanges or wire centers; others cover portions of a state without listing places, and we count the exchanges in those areas separately.
- A filing is a request. The phone company has to notify affected customers in writing before it changes their service.
- Sources: FCC public notices and the Electronic Comment Filing System, linked from each filing page. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.
Data as of November 2, 2026, from FCC public notices. Not legal or regulatory advice.