AT&T looks to ax landline phone service on peninsula, across state
AT&T is seeking to end its landline phone service on the Tiburon Peninsula and across much of California, which local critics say would impact vulnerable residents in an area with spotty cell service that gets worse when the power goes out.
Belveron East resident Heidi Cohen is among those protesting the move. She says she keeps her landline because she needs a phone she can rely on, noting she’s needed to call 911 and feared those situations could have gotten worse had the call not gone through.
“Sometimes I can get service, sometimes I don’t,” Cohen said about her cell connection in an Ark interview. “It’s just so unreliable that I have to have a landline to have reliable phone service.”
Cohen is also one of thousands to submit comments to the California Public Utilities Commission about AT&T California’s application to drop its designation as a “carrier of last resort.” If the application is successful, it would no longer be required to offer copper-wire landline and basic service — including phone calls at regulated rates, free 911 calls and operator and directory services — to anyone in their service area who wants it.
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