"Halliday held him and dialed 911 with her cellphone. The dispatcher answered, but within seconds, she said, the call disconnected due to poor reception. Halliday screamed for help, loud enough for her next-door neighbor Larry Williams to hear and dial from his copper landline. This time, it got through. Halliday's husband did not survive. But on that day in 2018, Halliday became convinced that copper landlines were her best shot at getting help during emergencies, especially where she lives in Hacienda, a tight-knit community"
"Those landlines, however, are what AT&T - the largest copper landline provider in California - is pushing to retire nationwide. As California's largest "carrier of last resort," AT&T is required by law to provide basic phone service, typically copper landlines, to any Californian who asks for it, with lower-income customers qualifying for a discount. It provides 75% of the state's last-resort phone service, accounting for about 500,000 Californians and 5% of all its California customers."
A fatal emergency highlighted poor cellphone 911 reception and the lifesaving reliability of a neighbor's copper landline. Copper landlines remain the designated carrier-of-last-resort service in California and are provided widely by AT&T, covering roughly 500,000 residents and about 75% of the state's last-resort phone service. Subsidies supporting copper networks have declined sharply, increasing costs for providers. AT&T has pushed to retire copper infrastructure and expand fiber, spending millions on lobbying and pursuing legislation that would permit copper retirements in exchange for fiber expansion; those legislative efforts failed this year.
Read at San Jose Inside
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