The End of POTS: Why AT&T and Verizon Are Retiring Traditional Phone Lines

For more than a century, POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) was the backbone of business and residential voice communications. These analog copper phone lines powered everything from desk phones to fax machines, fire alarms, elevators, and security systems.

That era is officially ending.

Both AT&T and Verizon—the two largest telecommunications providers in the United States—have announced that they are no longer selling and are actively discontinuing support for POTS lines.

If your organization still relies on analog phone service, the timelines below are critical.

Why Carriers Are Retiring POTS

Traditional copper networks are expensive to maintain and increasingly unreliable. As voice traffic has shifted to IP-based and wireless technologies, carriers have:

• Reduced investment in copper infrastructure
• Increased prices on legacy services
• Limited repairs and long-term support
• Sought regulatory approval to retire copper entirely
  
  The result is a nationwide transition away from analog voice toward VoIP, fiber, and cellular-based solutions.

AT&T: POTS Sales and Support Are Ending

AT&T has been very clear about its copper retirement strategy, with formal notices and regulatory filings outlining specific milestones.

Key AT&T Dates

• October 15, 2025
  AT&T stopped accepting new orders, moves, adds, or changes for traditional POTS and legacy landline services across thousands of wire centers nationwide.
• December 15, 2025 (or later, pending approvals)
• AT&T announced plans to discontinue POTS-in-a-Box, one of its final analog-style replacement offerings.
• Long-Term Plan AT&T has publicly stated its intent to fully exit copper-based services by the end of the decade, with most transitions occurring between 2026 and 2029.

What this means:
If you still have AT&T analog lines, you can no longer expand or modify them—and full retirement is coming.

Verizon: Legacy POTS Services Are Being Withdrawn

Verizon has also begun actively sunsetting legacy voice services, including POTS, PRI, and TDM-based offerings.

Key Verizon Dates

• September 1, 2025
  Verizon reportedly stopped accepting new orders for legacy services, including POTS.
• November 1, 2025 Verizon began withdrawing legacy services from its network, signaling active decommissioning of copper-based infrastructure.
• Earlier Discontinuations Verizon issued multiple business POTS discontinuance notices between 2022 and 2023, with some services disconnected as early as June 30, 2023.

What this means:
Even if your Verizon POTS line still works today, it is living on borrowed time—with shrinking support and rising costs.

What Organizations Should Do Now

Waiting is no longer an option. Smart organizations are taking action now by:

1. Auditing all existing POTS lines Identify every system still dependent on analog service.
2. Planning a transition strategy Options may include VoIP, SIP trunking, cellular replacements, or managed analog adapters.
3. Ensuring compliance and reliability Life-safety and regulated systems require careful planning and testing.
4. Reducing carrier dependency Modern cloud-based communications simplify billing, support, and long-term scalability.

The Bottom Line

POTS is not just “going away someday.”
It is already being retired by the largest carriers in the country.

Organizations that delay migration risk service interruptions, emergency communication failures, and rising costs on unsupported infrastructure. The smartest move is to plan now—before carriers force the transition on their timeline, not yours.