If you reside in parts of the Tri-State, say goodbye to the classic dial tone because a major telecom shift is hitting your neighborhoods in the coming weeks. AT&T is getting ready to start cutting off traditional copper landlines across parts of the Tri-State area.
Who will be most affected?
While a lot of homes in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky rely on Altafiber and won’t see any changes, certain residents using AT&T’s legacy copper lines in parts of Brown, Highland, Adams and Warren counties are facing a service shutdown. If you fall into that group, this is definitely a change worth noting.
Impact on medical alerts and safety systems
The transition could notably impact seniors who depend on traditional landline-based medical alert systems, as well as buildings that use old-school landlines for elevator phones.
When the shutdown begins
To give customers a heads-up, AT&T reportedly sent out notification letters to impacted subscribers last November. With those notices sent, the company is cleared to begin shutting down the affected copper lines starting Nov. 15.
AT&T is not alone in phasing out traditional landlines
Recent developments have seen other major telecommunication players cutting landline services. Verizon, a massive AT&T rival, announced in September that it would begin pulling the plugs on its legacy landline networks across a dozen states in the U.S.
“Copper infrastructure is too slow to meet modern needs, many decades old, costly to maintain, and vulnerable to damage and theft,” Verizon said in a statement.
Verizon insisted that dialing back on landlines is an important step toward meeting its goal of providing the next-generation technologies that American consumers want.
What you need to do
Technology is always marching forward, but shifts like this mean it is a great time to check in on friends, family members or even those elderly neighbors who might still rely on legacy telephone networks. If you or someone you know received one of those letters last year, make sure alternative communication methods are set up before the mid-November cutoff arrives.
Sources: Local 12/WKRC-TV, TheStreet