March 2027: the old phone lines go quiet

AT&T Illinois stopped selling traditional landlines to new customers in October 2025. Its letters to customers say the service will be discontinued "on or after March 15, 2027", and AT&T plans to retire copper lines nationwide by 2029 (Citizens Utility Board).

For most homes this means a new phone box. For some businesses it can mean silence nobody notices:

• A clinic or office that still receives faxes. Referrals and prescriptions stop arriving, and the sender gets no clear error.
• A building with a fire alarm dialer, elevator phone, burglar alarm or gate phone. Many still run on an old analog line. When that line goes, the emergency call goes nowhere, and a plain internet phone line may not meet fire or elevator code.
• A shop whose card machine or alarm still dials out over the phone line.

The 2-minute check:

1. Look at your phone bill. Does it say "POTS", "analog" or "copper" line?
2. Is a fax number listed on your website or Google profile?
3. Ask your alarm company: "Does my panel call out over a phone line?"

The fix depends on what you have. Fax can move to an online fax service in an afternoon, often keeping the same number. Alarms and elevator phones need your alarm or elevator company and a fire marshal sign-off, so start early: carriers may need to give only about 90 days' notice.

If you'd like, I can check what your website and Google listing show (a fax number, an old line) and tell you what to ask your provider. Free, just reply.

Remus Baltatu, Sylvania Consulting, Buffalo Grove