CenturyLink is phasing out copper landlines in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Landlines in Utah are going dead. We've already told you about CenturyLink's plans to get rid of its copper landline networks. The company argues the aging infrastructure is too expensive to maintain. But some Utahns worry they'll be left without reliable phone service, especially if the power goes out.

Jill Pulver had the same home phone service for 50 years. Her landline worked great, she said, especially in a pinch. When it recently went dead, she called CenturyLink to ask what happened.

"They said, 'Oh, we're sorry, but your phone has been disconnected,' and I said, 'Could you tell me why?'" Pulver said. "They said, 'All the copper wire … has been taken out of your neighborhood.'"

Pulver also lost the phone number she'd had for half a century. She said she was told even a new provider couldn't bring it back.

"They said, 'You're just going to have to get a new phone number if you want a landline,'" Pulver said.

Miles away at Salty Peaks Skate and Snowboard Shop, the CenturyLink lines also went dead.

"I thought easy thing, let's flip the switch and turn it back on," said owner Dennis Nazari. "And they said, 'No, it's been disconnected permanently, decommissioned.'"

Nazari estimates the shop has spent millions of dollars over the past 39 years on ads that included its phone number.

"It's been a severe hit to the business," he said. "No phone calls, no internet, no online sales and it's literally just been walk-in traffic and people with the ability to pay in cash."

Nazari doesn't want an internet-based or fiber-based phone system. Some of his shop's busiest days are when a big storm hits, and people play hooky to hit the slopes. Those storms can also knock out power.

"Everything is relying on power, whether it's cell, fiber optics, anything — it's all power-dependent, and nothing worked like the copper lines," Nazari said.

Both Nazari and Pulver said CenturyLink didn't give them enough warning.

Nazari received a letter in July saying his voice service would end "on or after August 24" and that he'd have to subscribe to the company's air-line service to keep his old number.

Pulver only remembers receiving an offer for air-line during an outage, but the letter makes no mention of service ending.

"It just says that you may be experiencing an interruption in your phone service," she said.

The letter also stated, "We won't make any changes ... until we hear from you."

Get Gephardt reached out to CenturyLink's parent company, Lumen Technologies.

A spokesperson said both customers had received advance notice, writing that they "were sent letters in August, noting that their legacy voice service was scheduled to end."

As for recovering their decades-old phone numbers, Lumen said it was too late.

"If the customer does not take action before the discontinuance date, they will lose their number, and there is no mechanism to retrieve it," the spokesperson wrote.

For a phone company, getting out of the copper landline business hasn't always been as simple as pulling the plug.

CenturyLink has been Utah's carrier of last resort for decades. If you needed phone service in Utah, CenturyLink had to offer it.

CenturyLink wanted out of that designation, but the Utah Public Service Commission told the company no, twice.

CenturyLink then took its case to lawmakers.

Last year, after lobbying by the company, Utah lawmakers passed SB269, titled "Telecommunications Amendments." It ends CenturyLink's obligation to keep many of its copper lines up and running across Utah.

Lumen told KSL it has "fully complied with all applicable state and federal regulatory requirements."

The spokesperson also said that "all affected customers will have a viable replacement option."

"I'm hoping that we can find our phone number and get it hooked back," Pulver told Get Gephardt.

Lumen said there was no way to get a number back after service ended.

But the day after the KSL Investigators contacted Lumen, Nazari said his shop got its old number back.

He has since ported it to one of CenturyLink's competitors.

Lumen said it plans to speed up its phaseout of CenturyLink's copper landlines and will begin sending notices next month. If you have a number you want to keep, accept the replacement service or have your number ported to a new carrier before your service ends.

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