We got a copper
retirement letter from AT&T. What do we do?
Read the date, walk every analog line in the building, and treat life-safety first. The letter is AT&T telling you it has asked the FCC to discontinue legacy voice on or after November 15, 2026 for about 90,000 customers in portions of 1,060 wire centers across 18 states. It is not a map that confirms your address is cut.
A town can sit on Exhibit 1 and still have addresses that are not in this wave. Approval is pending. Later AT&T filings are other waves, not extra customers in this 90,000.
What AT&T’s filing actually says
This is from AT&T’s own application, not from a vendor page.
| What the letter is about | What AT&T wrote |
|---|---|
| Services | AT&T Residential Local Service and AT&T Business Local Exchange Access Line Service (legacy TDM / POTS) |
| When | On or after November 15, 2026, pending regulatory approval |
| Who | Approximately 90,000 customers in portions of listed wire centers |
| Where | 18 states. Exhibit 1 names 1,060 unique wire centers. Not every line in those wire centers. |
| AT&T’s named replacements | Residential: AT&T Phone - Advanced (AP-A) or AT&T Wireless. Business: AT&T Phone for Business - Advanced ($99.99/month, device included), Office@Hand, IP Flexible Reach |
| Residential AP-A price in the filing | $45/month, plus taxes, surcharges, and fees. AT&T’s residential POTS average in the same paragraph is about $72/month |
| Extra battery | $89 before tax. The included battery is “up to 24 hours on standby” |
| Line power | AP-A does not provide line power |
| What the battery does not do | It powers the AP-A device. It “will not power other equipment like medical and security-monitoring systems.” |
| Objection language on the sample letter | Comments no later than 15 days after the FCC releases public notice. File in ECFS on that docket |
| Who to call | Business sample: 855-235-0900. Residential sample: 800-288-2020 |
A contract is not a stay. Exhibit 2 of the April 23 POTS filing is customer notices and backup-power disclosures, not a contract carve-out. Similar contract language in a May 15 filing is about OPT-E-WAN, a Layer 2 VPN, not this pair.
We counted Exhibit 1 ourselves from the public PDF. The pair count is 1,060 unique codes. The PDF is a scan, so individual letters inside a code can be OCR. Do not treat our extract as a certified CLLI database. Do not use vendor figures of 1,711 wire centers or 19 states for this filing.
Exhibit 1 by state
Eighteen states. The unique wire-center count is 1,060.
| State | Unique wire centers |
|---|---|
| AL | 25 |
| AR | 53 |
| FL | 19 |
| GA | 42 |
| IN | 60 |
| KS | 89 |
| KY | 43 |
| LA | 53 |
| MI | 140 |
| MO | 86 |
| MS | 69 |
| NC | 19 |
| OH | 74 |
| OK | 75 |
| SC | 23 |
| TN | 37 |
| TX | 124 |
| WI | 29 |
| Total | 1,060 |
The letter names a wire center. Is our building in the November 15 wave?
The input is the wire-center name printed on your letter. We cannot look up a bare street address. Only AT&T can confirm an address. The sample letters in this filing use 855-235-0900 for business and 800-288-2020 for residential.
A printed name that matches Exhibit 1 means AT&T included that wire center in this application. A match is not a confirmed street cut. AT&T’s application covers approximately 90,000 customers in portions of the listed wire centers. A town can sit on Exhibit 1 and still have addresses that are not in this wave.
How to match the printed name
- Photograph the letter. Keep the date, the printed wire-center name, and the docket number if one is printed.
- Compare the printed name to Exhibit 1 of the application — pages 13–28 of the source PDF in the Sources section. Use the name as printed, not a street, a ZIP, or a map pin.
- If it matches, treat the wire center as named in this application. Then stop. That is not address-level confirmation.
Matched or not, the next step is the same: send us the letter.
If the printed name is not on our list
The letter beats our extract. If AT&T mailed you a letter, treat the letter as the notice. Absence from our list never means you are safe. We will not say you are not affected.
A printed name can be missing from our extract for two reasons:
- This extract was taken from a scanned PDF. A character in a name or code can be misread. The name on your letter may still be in the source PDF.
- The letter may belong to another AT&T filing. The Copper Retirement Tracker lists an earlier grant (WC 25-228) with shut-off authorized on or after June 30, 2026, and a California grant (WC 26-120) covering portions of 360 wire centers on or after June 1, 2027. Those waves are not extra customers in this 90,000.
Send us the letter — include the date, the printed wire-center name, and the docket number if one is printed on your letter. We check the printed name by hand against the source PDF. CHNLSYNC is a broker, not the carrier. We cannot stop a disconnect.
A 1,060-row extract of Exhibit 1 is available as a download. It was taken from a scanned PDF. It is not a certified CLLI database. Verify every name and code against the source PDF. Absence from that file never means your address is safe. Sending us the letter is still how we match a printed name.
What the letter is not
- Not a shut-off for every analog device in townExhibit 1 names wire centers. It does not confirm every address in those towns.
- Not AT&T saying a fire panel is coveredThe filing is about legacy voice pairs. Life-safety path is a separate question.
- Not a promise AP-A is legal for a fire communicator or elevator phoneThis page does not decide that. See the fire panel and elevator guide.
- We cannot stop a disconnectCHNLSYNC is a technology broker, not the carrier.
What to do this week
- Photograph the letterDate, wire-center name, telephone numbers, and the docket if it is printed.
- Pull the AT&T bill and walk the buildingDesk phones versus fire DACT, elevator, alarm, gate, fax, boiler, and parking.
- Call the people who own the path before buying a replacementMonitoring company, elevator contractor, and fire vendor first.
- Do not wait on a contract to keep the pair aliveExhibit 2 is notices and backup-power disclosures, not a carve-out. May 15 language is OPT-E-WAN. A contract is not a stay.
- Do not treat generic office VoIP as the fire or elevator pathThose pairs are a different problem from a desk phone.
- If they want the 15-day comment window, follow the letterWe are not saying a comment delays a commercial fire-panel site.
This page is only this letter
State-by-state filings live on the Copper Retirement Tracker. Fire panels and elevator phones sit on the same class of pair — that walk is on Our fire panel is on an AT&T copper line.
What this costs
Nothing. CHNLSYNC is paid a commission by the supplier you choose. Buyers never receive an invoice from us. The prices above are AT&T’s figures from the filing, not invented replacement quotes.
Source
AT&T §63.71 application dated December 1, 2025. Courtesy copy filed with the Florida Public Service Commission on December 10, 2025, Document 15393-2025. PDF: 15393-2025.
Exhibit 1 is the wire-center list. Exhibit 2 is the sample letters and backup-power inserts.
Got the letter? Put it on one desk.
Send the letter, the affected addresses, and a line inventory. A human broker reviews every recommendation — and it costs you nothing.