---
title: "AT&T shuts off copper for about 90,000 customers on November 15; the FCC draft would end California's veto"
description: "Chairman Carr's draft order would end California's demand that carriers prove a replacement works before cutting copper. AT&T's 18-state shutoff starts November 15, the commission that paused Verizon now signals the freeze may not hold, and Community Phone's offshore closers are waiting for the funnel."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Policy & Labor"
published: 2026-11-02T19:13:45.812Z
modified: 2026-11-02T19:13:45.812Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/at-t-shuts-off-copper-for-about-90-000-customers-on-november-15-the-fcc-draft-would-end-california-s-veto
language: en
keywords: "AT&T, FCC, Verizon, Regulation, Telecom, Community Phone"
---

# AT&T shuts off copper for about 90,000 customers on November 15; the FCC draft would end California's veto

> Chairman Carr's draft order would end California's demand that carriers prove a replacement works before cutting copper. AT&T's 18-state shutoff starts November 15, the commission that paused Verizon now signals the freeze may not hold, and Community Phone's offshore closers are waiting for the funnel.

On October 30, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr [circulated a draft order](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/fcc-moves-to-block-california-from-demanding-proof-copper-replacements-work/ar-AA2gAd2t) that would strip California's power to make carriers prove a wireless or fiber replacement actually works before retiring copper [1]. A comment period precedes any vote [2]. Thirteen days from now, on November 15, [AT&T](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/at-and-t) begins shutting copper off for roughly 90,000 customers across 18 states, where no such test exists [1].

The commission that [paused Verizon's nine-state application on September 25](https://www.pcmag.com/news/fcc-hits-pause-on-verizons-copper-landline-retirement-plan-for-now) over unverified alternatives [8] now wants to outlaw the verification itself [2]. Which product wins the displaced household is the tension underneath every number that follows.

## The Karachi closers get paid when copper dies

Community Phone, the Y Combinator-backed seller of a landline substitute for seniors, now claims more than 30,000 customers and a platform carrying more than 3 million calls a month [3][4]. Its closers sit remote in Pakistan, Egypt, Jamaica, North Macedonia and the Dominican Republic [3]. [An October 11 Inference piece](https://theinference.org/article/the-fcc-stalled-verizon-s-copper-cutoff-and-community-phone-is-hiring-karachi-sales-reps-at-10-200-a-year) priced the Karachi closer: $10,200 base, $850 monthly at quota, $20,400 at target [5].

The same board posts a US social media manager at $85,000 to $105,000 [5]; loaded with the benefits and equity the careers page promises US staff [3], the domestic hire runs about seven times the closer at target. The page names the funnel outright: "[Guiding families through landline shutdowns](https://www.communityphone.org/about/careers)" [3]. The funnel's timing is the order's timing.

## AT&T spends $6 billion a year keeping copper alive

On the October 21 earnings call, CFO [Pascal Desroches](https://theinference.org/markets/people/pascal-desroches) put legacy service revenues down 25% year over year, legacy EBITDA down about 27%, and called copper retirement integral to the target of $4 billion in annual consolidated cost savings by end-2028 [6]. That $4 billion is a savings target, not earnings [6].

The spend side: about $6 billion a year maintaining copper, about $1 billion of it in California, for a legacy base down to 1% of eligible customers, from 5% in December 2024 [1][6]. Every dollar of the savings is a household rerouted.

![A weathered outdoor copper telephone distribution terminal with tangled copper wire pairs](https://storage.googleapis.com/theinference-public/img/17eb72a71f806e15.jpg)

*Copper distribution plant of the kind AT&T spends about $6 billion a year to maintain, about $1 billion of it in California, for a legacy base down to 1% of eligible customers. (Mjyasini)*

*Chart: **Copper costs $6 billion a year; the savings target is $4 billion by 2028** Bar chart of annual dollars in billions: AT&T's $6 billion national copper maintenance spend, its $1 billion California share, and its $4 billion cost-savings target by end-2028, drawn as an estimate.*

*Annual dollars in billions. The maintenance bars are AT&T's stated copper spend, national and California share; the dashed target bar is the company's end-2028 consolidated cost-savings goal, with copper retirement named integral to it on the October 21 earnings call. [1][6]*

## Two sellers, thirteen days, a battery gap

[The FCC approved AT&T's 18-state plan on January 12](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/check-the-list-landline-shutoff-could-hit-ks-mo-towns-in-weeks/ar-AA2ggh2Y), covering 1,060 calling areas [7]. The default offer is AT&T's own Phone-Advanced, which needs in-home power and carries 24 hours of battery [1]. The challenger is Community Phone's box, 26 hours on the same architecture [4]. Ninety thousand households, two sellers, thirteen days of lead time [1][7].

## The wave behind the wave runs to the millions

The wave behind the first wave is sized in the millions: 1.3 million locations already retired across 18 states, with 1,500 more communities planned in the next year; [Verizon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/verizon)'s nine-state filing covering 277,000 lines; 184,000 California locations authorized but frozen until at least June 1, 2027 [1][2][6]. Each figure is a household somebody keeps or somebody wins.

*Chart: **The displacement is sized in millions; the first wave is 90,000** Bar chart ranking the scale of copper displacement: AT&T's 1.3 million locations already retired across 18 states, Verizon's 277,000 pending lines in its nine-state application, AT&T's 184,000 authorized California locations, and the 90,000 first-wave customers AT&T begins cutting on November 15.*

*Locations retired or authorized, lines filed for discontinuance, and customers in the first wave, as reported from FCC filings. AT&T's cumulative retirement and the November 15 first wave from AT&T filings reported by Light Reading and TheStreet; Verizon's nine-state application from its FCC filing; the California authorization from FCC records. Highlight marks the first wave beginning November 15. [1][2][6]*

## California's veto now belongs to the courts

California's rule requires the replacement be verified as already available; a partial deal with Cal Advocates (fiber at 20% of locations, 80% gigabit, a 1-million-location cap) remains active [1]. RCRC, CWA and TURN argued October 22 that [the Communications Act bars the FCC from preempting the state's rules](https://www.lightreading.com/regulatory-politics/fcc-moves-to-knock-down-copper-network-retirement-roadblocks-in-california) [2], and under Loper Bright the courts owe the agency no deference [1].

The exhibit both sides will argue: [a 2024 AT&T outage left about 25,000 calls to 911 unanswered](https://theinference.org/article/at-t-s-copper-exit-frees-power-for-data-centers-while-911-systems-fail-on-the-wire-it-leaves-behind) [1]. Both substitute products share the weakness California polices: in-home power, 24 hours for Phone-Advanced, 26 for the box [1][4].

## Verizon's pipeline is already running in eight states

Verizon is already approved in parts of eight states, with requests pending in 18 more plus DC [2]. If Carr's draft is adopted and survives, displacement accelerates and the startup's funnel widens; if courts hand the veto back, California's test stands.

The September pause showed the commission can slow a cutoff; the October draft shows it now wants to stop anyone else from slowing one [2][8]. The copper is going away, the order would strip the proof, and thirteen days out the first ninety thousand learn who answers when it rings.

## Takeaway

California's proof-of-replacement rule survives only if the courts keep it; AT&T's 18-state copper shutoff starts November 15 with about 90,000 customers and two sellers waiting.

## Sources

1. [Tech Times via MSN, FCC moves to block California from demanding proof copper replacements work, 2 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/fcc-moves-to-block-california-from-demanding-proof-copper-replacements-work/ar-AA2gAd2t)
2. [Jeff Baumgartner, Light Reading, FCC moves to knock down copper network retirement roadblocks in California, 30 October 2026](https://www.lightreading.com/regulatory-politics/fcc-moves-to-knock-down-copper-network-retirement-roadblocks-in-california)
3. [Community Phone, Join the Team: Careers at Community Phone, accessed 2 November 2026](https://www.communityphone.org/about/careers)
4. [Community Phone, Home phone service without internet (homepage), accessed 2 November 2026](https://www.communityphone.org/)
5. [Vincent Jiang, The Inference, The FCC stalled Verizon's copper cutoff, and Community Phone is hiring Karachi sales reps at $10,200 a year, 10 October 2026](https://theinference.org/article/the-fcc-stalled-verizon-s-copper-cutoff-and-community-phone-is-hiring-karachi-sales-reps-at-10-200-a-year)
6. [Patricia Battle, TheStreet via MSN, AT&T accelerates the end of a network that's losing customers, 25 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/at-t-accelerates-the-end-of-a-network-that-s-losing-customers/ar-AA2g1Xl8)
7. [Julia Scammahorn, KCTV Kansas City via MSN, Check the list: Landline shutoff could hit KS, MO towns in weeks, 28 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/check-the-list-landline-shutoff-could-hit-ks-mo-towns-in-weeks/ar-AA2ggh2Y)
8. [Michael Kan, PCMag, FCC Hits Pause On Verizon's Copper Landline Retirement Plan For Now, 26 September 2026](https://www.pcmag.com/news/fcc-hits-pause-on-verizons-copper-landline-retirement-plan-for-now)


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AT&T shuts off copper for about 90,000 customers on November 15; the FCC draft would end California's veto — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/at-t-shuts-off-copper-for-about-90-000-customers-on-november-15-the-fcc-draft-would-end-california-s-veto