The Landline Shutdown Is Here —
Keep Your Home Phone Anyway
Published August 2026 · Last verified August 2026
The copper phone network is being retired for good, area by area. You can keep your home phone, keep the number you've had for decades, and usually pay less than you do now. Here's the calm, plain-English version of what to do — and in what order.
The copper phone network is being retired for good, area by area. You can keep your home phone, keep the number you've had for decades, and usually pay less than you do now. Here's the calm, plain-English version of what to do — and in what order.
What's inside this guide
The printable PDF walks through 21 short chapters, in plain language. It also includes at-a-glance pictures.
- The Copper Phone Network Is Retiring
- If You Only Read One Page, Read This One
- How to Tell What Kind of Phone Line You Have
- It's Not Just the Phone
- Four Good Ways to Keep a Home Phone
- Phone Service From Spectrum or AT&T Fiber
- A Little Phone Box You Own
- A Home Phone That Runs on the Cell Network
- No Home Phone at All — Honestly Considered
- The Four Options, One Table
- Your Number Can Come With You — If You Do This In
- If a Medical Alert System Lives in Your House, Start
- The Other Things Wired to the Old Line
- Copper Worked in a Blackout. Now What?
- 911 Still Works — Here's What Changes
- The Money Page
- Your Switching Checklist
- Every Big Change Brings Its Scammers
- Questions I Hear at Kitchen Tables
- The Jargon, Translated
- By the Phone: Dates, Numbers & Questions
Get the printable guide
Everything above is a quick summary. The full, printable guide — the same words, laid out to read and keep by the computer — is a free PDF.
Last verified August 2026.
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