Copper Retirement Explained: What Is Happening to POTS, PRI and T1 Lines

What POTS is, why carriers are retiring the copper network behind it, what has already happened, and what it means for the phone, fire alarm, elevator and payment lines your business still runs on copper.

The companies that own the copper wire infrastructure, the local exchange carriers (LECs), are shutting their wire centers down. Businesses still running legacy copper services such as POTS, PRI and T1 lines will be left without service unless they move first. Here is what is going on and what to do about it. If you already know you have copper lines, you can skip ahead and see how POTS replacement works.

What is POTS?

POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service: the analog phone line delivered over a pair of copper wires from the carrier's wire center, also called the central office. PRI and T1 circuits are digital services that often ride the same copper network into your building.

Desk phones are only part of the story. Copper lines still carry the calls and signals for:

• Fire alarm panels
• Elevator emergency phones
• Security and alarm systems
• Fax machines
• Point-of-sale and credit card devices
• Modems and other specialty lines

Why copper is being retired

Copper networks are expensive to maintain, and carriers are moving customers to fiber, wireless and IP-based services. Regulators have cleared the way. The FCC issued four orders and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to speed the shift away from copper by reducing regulatory barriers, then added measures that ease filing requirements, allow blanket grandfathering of copper services, shorten approval timelines, and let VoIP or wireless alternatives meet replacement standards.

In March 2026 the FCC went further, moving discontinuance approvals to a 31-day automatic window and preempting state rules that delay retirements.

What is happening right now

Copper retirement is in an active phase, with carriers issuing notices across the country:

• AT&T grandfathered all of its wire centers across 18 states effective October 15, 2025. No orders for new voice and specialty lines are accepted there.
• Lumen has issued a grandfathering notice across 14 states.
• AT&T began discontinuing its POTS lines in June 2026, the first permanent line shutdowns in its footprint.
• Rates on the copper lines that remain are climbing to over $3,300 per line per month across 10 states.

The pace is accelerating. AT&T's running total of copper retirement notices went from 16 in 2019 to 240 in 2024, 494 in 2025 and 824 by mid-2026. That includes 330 notices issued since January 1, 2026 alone, and carrier notices covering service changes and rate increases are still climbing.

States with AT&T discontinuance notices

As of June 30, 2025, AT&T had sent formal notice of permanent service discontinuance for select wire centers in 18 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

In Lumen territory, it is not only copper

Some carriers are going further than copper. Lumen, formerly CenturyLink and Qwest, is shutting down voice services across the board in many markets, including SIP trunking, long distance, hosted PBX and cloud phone service. If Lumen or CenturyLink appears on your phone bill, every voice service you have needs a plan, not just the analog lines.

What copper retirement means for your business

• Support for retiring central offices will thin out and repairs will take longer, which can mean service disruptions.
• Rates for copper lines have risen steadily for a decade, and that trend is expected to continue.
• Once a full copper retirement notice is issued for your wire center, you have 180 days to move to an alternative.
• Carriers decommissioning voice services no longer have to offer a stand-alone voice option. A bundled service is enough to meet the rules, even if it does not suit your equipment.
• Copper retirement affects business-critical and safety-critical systems, not just voice lines.
• Without working emergency lines, a building may not be granted a Certificate of Occupancy. That can mean closing until the lines are back, or paying for fire marshals on site at an average of $200 an hour or more.
• Demand for copper replacement products and installers is surging, so waiting means competing for the same equipment and crews.

What replaces a POTS line

POTS replacement is the process of moving legacy copper lines to modern, digital, IP-based service. It starts with an assessment of your communication needs, your existing infrastructure and the systems each line supports.

For lines that feed equipment, the usual answer is a wireless POTS replacement, often called POTS in a box: an adapter that gives your equipment the same analog connection it has today while carrying the call over broadband, Wi-Fi or LTE and 5G. Compared with a traditional copper line, a well-specified replacement typically adds:

• 24 to 48 hours of built-in battery backup
• Automatic reboot and cellular failover instead of waiting for a technician
• Proactive monitoring, so problems are caught before they cause an outage
• IP compatibility that works with the rest of your digital infrastructure
• Monthly costs that providers estimate at 30% or more below current copper rates

Compatibility is the catch. Most copper replacement products have limits on which systems they support, so the right device depends on the make of each fire panel, elevator phone and alarm.

How to prepare

• Understand your copper-based services, paying close attention to safety-critical and business-critical specialty lines such as fire panels, elevators, security systems, fax machines and point-of-sale devices.
• Identify the products and service providers behind those systems, because replacement options are limited by compatibility.
• Confirm who receives carrier notices for each account. It is often a landlord or a former IT vendor rather than the people who rely on the line.
• Plan ample time for the transition. Rising demand is already stretching equipment supplies and installation schedules.

Get ahead of the deadline

AMD Technology helps businesses inventory every copper line, match each one to a compatible replacement from 50+ carrier and technology partners, and manage the cutover with your alarm and elevator vendors. Request a free POTS line assessment to find out which of your lines are at risk and what they should move to. If your telecom invoices are part of the puzzle, our telecom expense management team can untangle them, and our telecommunications services cover the voice and connectivity side of the move.