📞📞📞 Please help protect landlines from a reckless new Federal Communications Commission Action.
Initial Comments due Mon., Sept. 29, 2025
Yes, over 600 public comments were submitted to the CPUC (California Public Utility Commission) docket in support of retaining copper landlines from Oct. 2024, to August 27, 2025.
BUT, the FCC isn’t paying attention to state regulatory proceedings. The FCC wants to make it easy for AT&T & others to slither out from under their Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations. (Link at the end of this message)
🚩 We need to post comments to an FCC docket in the next few days. Initial comments are due on Monday, Sept. 29. (All is not lost if you miss the deadline, as Reply comments responding to what has already been posted are due by Oct. 27.). However, it is wise that we maximize initial comments by Monday, Sept. 29.
The Utility Reform Network (TURN) states that over a million residents in California rely on landlines.
These customers depend on the reliability, safety and voice quality of landlines because cell service is inadequate in their area or they are unable to tolerate wireless emissions. To date, copper landline connectivity remains the superior technology in homes, businesses, schools, government, etc.
In California, the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) has conducted an in-depth review of issues such as service quality and Carrier of Last Resort Obligations. The CPUC had taken extensive comments from members of the public, and its decisions are well-considered and based on state-specific conditions.
The co-director of the EMF Safety Network states: “The FCC should not attempt to override work undertaken by states, which have authority under federal statutes to act to protect the public health and safety of their residents.”
We must oppose any effort by the FCC to override state regulatory or state legislative action that is designed to protect customer safety and well-being.
HOW TO FILE FCC COMMENTS:
Go here: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express
See “Welcome to the FCC’s Electronic Comments Filing System” at the top.
Go to “Express Comment.” They do not have to be long.
1) Click on Submit a FILING (at the very top) then click on Express Comment just below that.
2) Proceeding(s): Type 25-208; click below for the orange highlight on the number, then type 25-209; click again below for the orange highlight.
3) Name of filer: your name.
4) Primary contact email: your email address (not required).
5) Address:(required).
6) Brief comments: Either type in your comments or paste your previously-prepared comments into the box..
7) Press Continue to review screen.
8) If okay, submit your comments.
Print confirmation page for your records if you choose.
Talking points ideas (or tell your own story)
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- Copper landlines work in emergencies when power is out.
- Cell phone networks didn’t work in CA fire disasters but landlines did.
- Battery back-ups for modems and routers (needed for cable and fiber optic connections) are unreliable.
- There are cyber security risks with cell phone connections.
- AT&T claims people are abandoning landlines, but many AT&T service reps are telling customers AT&T no longer services copper and they won’t install landlines anymore.
- Many human bodies are not compatible with wireless technology. People get headaches, ear ringing, vertigo, nerve disruptions, cancers, and more.
- People in remote or rural areas rely on copper landlines.
- Copper landlines work with DSL and medical alert systems.
- Customers have been paying extra fees in their phone bill for years to maintain copper landlines.
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Note: if you’re having trouble accessing the comment portal, call the FCC. If you call, make sure you mention the docket numbers: 25-208 and 25-209.
“Reducing Barriers to Network Improvements and Service Changes” — Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in WC Docket Nos. 25-208, 25-209; FCC 25-37, adopted on July 24, 2025, and released on July 25, 2025
Thank you!