Copper phone line retirement report: August 2026
In August 2026, the FCC published notice of 17 filings to stop copper phone service, from 5 phone companies. They cover 3,327 telephone exchanges we track in 35 states, 969 of them in a filing for the first time.
The numbers
- Filings
- 17
- Exchanges covered
- 3,327
- First time in a filing
- 969
- States with exchanges covered
- 35
6 of these exchanges are named in a filing. 3,322 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | 4 | 2,049 | AL, AR, FL, GA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NV, SC, TN, TX, WI |
| Verizon and Frontier | 2 | 831 | AZ, DE, NJ, NM, OH, RI, SC, UT, VA |
| Consolidated Communications | 9 | 447 | IL, ME, MN, NH, NY, PA, TX, VT |
| Fidium | 1 | 0 | MN |
| NT&T | 1 | 0 | CO, IA, MN, NE, SD |
The filings
AT&T, FCC docket 26-210
Home and business phone lines on the copper network in in portions of certain wire centers located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Public notice August 7, 2026; date in the filing September 1, 2027. Covers 1,397 exchanges we track.
AT&T, FCC docket 26-224
Home and business phone lines on the copper network in in portions of certain wire centers located in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing January 29, 2027. Covers 1,070 exchanges we track.
Verizon and Frontier, FCC docket 26-227
Home and business phone lines on the copper network (legacy voice service) in in portions of Arizona, Delaware, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing October 23, 2026. Covers 831 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Verizon and Frontier, FCC docket 26-228
Business copper services: business lines, ISDN BRI, PBX trunks and foreign exchange lines in Arizona, Delaware, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing October 23, 2026. Covers 831 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
AT&T, FCC docket 26-200
Business copper phone services (business lines, PBX trunks, ISDN and similar) in in portions of certain wire centers located in AT&T’s ILEC footprint in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Public notice August 6, 2026; date in the filing November 15, 2026. Covers 672 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
AT&T, FCC docket 26-201
Home phone lines on the copper network in in portions of certain wire centers in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Public notice August 6, 2026; date in the filing September 30, 2026. Covers 456 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-225
Legacy voice service in at locations in 48 exchanges in Maine and 36 exchanges in New Hampshire that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 295 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-202
Legacy voice service in at locations in two exchanges in New Hampshire that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 6, 2026; date in the filing September 17, 2026. Covers 120 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-223
Legacy voice service in at locations in 24 exchanges in Vermont that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 107 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-221
Legacy voice service in at locations in 11 exchanges in Texas that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 21 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-222
Legacy voice service in at locations in seven exchanges in Minnesota that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 12 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-232
Legacy voice service in at locations in three exchanges in Minnesota that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing September 30, 2026. Covers 12 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-230
Legacy voice service in at locations in four exchanges in Pennsylvania that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 11 exchanges we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-229
Legacy voice service in at locations in six exchanges in Illinois that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026. Covers 1 exchange we track (portions of the state, not every address).
Fidium, FCC docket 26-226
Legacy voice service in at locations in three CLEC exchanges in Minnesota that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 23, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026.
NT&T, FCC docket 26-231
All voice and data services including interexchange and local exchange services in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing October 5, 2026.
Consolidated Communications, FCC docket 26-233
Legacy voice service in at locations in one exchange in New York that are passed by fiber.
Public notice August 24, 2026; date in the filing November 3, 2026.
Dates in August 2026
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 11, 2026: AT&T, docket 26-143, 8 exchanges (LA, MO, OK, TX, WI)
- August 24, 2026: Lumen (CenturyLink), docket 26-176, 184 exchanges (IA, ID, UT)
- August 24, 2026: Lumen (CenturyLink), docket 26-177, 99 exchanges (FL, NV)
- August 24, 2026: Lumen (CenturyLink), docket 26-178, 148 exchanges (CO)
- August 25, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-179, 11 exchanges (PA)
- August 25, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-180, 1 exchange (IL)
- August 25, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-181, 1 exchange (CA)
- August 25, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-182, 21 exchanges (TX)
- August 25, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-183, 175 exchanges (ME)
- August 27, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-144, 1 exchange (IL)
- August 27, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-145, 120 exchanges (NH)
- August 27, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-146, 21 exchanges (TX)
- August 27, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-147, 107 exchanges (VT)
- August 27, 2026: Consolidated Communications, docket 26-148, 11 exchanges (PA)
- August 27, 2026: Noxapater Telephone, docket 26-161, 1 exchange (MS)
- August 27, 2026: IDT America, docket 26-188 (US)
Other services
6 other filings this month were for services other than ordinary copper phone lines (VoIP products, data circuits, long distance): AT&T (26-203), AT&T (26-204), AT&T (26-208), AT&T (26-209), AT&T (26-211), AT&T (26-212).
Running total
Through August 2026: 137 copper phone line filings with an FCC public notice, covering 5,720 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.