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Reliable home phone service in California that doesn't require internet
State population: 40,223,504
Total number of households with telephone service: 13,429,063
Households 65 years and over with telephone service available: 3,339,236
Number of senior citizens: 8,291,725
Percentage of state population that are seniors: 20.61%
Number of senior citizens with a landline: 4,560,449
Number of cell towers in the state: 922
*Data is estimated from the 2021 American Community Survey Data and 2022 US Census Estimates.
If you're looking for traditional landline phone service in California the type of phone service provided through copper wires and phone jacks in your wall you won't be able to find it in California for much longer.
Traditional service providers in California such as AT&T, Xfinity, Cox, Verizon FiOS, Spectrum, Mediacom, Suddenlink, and Frontier, don't offer copper wire-based landline phone service.
Instead, they offer internet-based VoIP (voice over internet protocol) service; that means if your internet is slow or goes down (or you don't have internet), you can't use your phone.
In fact, by a 2019 FCC order (FCC Order 10-721A), traditional landline phone service will not be available anywhere in the country starting on August 2, 2022. All copper wire landline service provided by traditional carriers in the country will be replaced with internet-based service, such as FiOS or other VoIP providers.
The main landline service provider in California is Community Phone, which offers basic landline service without internet. Other providers inlcude AT&T, Xfinity, Cox, Verizon FiOS, Spectrum, Mediacom, Suddenlink, and Frontier. All of these either require an internet connection, or a bundle with cable or internet services.
Yes. Community Phone is the only landline service provider in California that does not require the internet to work. Community Phone works by connecting your landline phone to cell towers, rather than through the internet.
Instead of copper wire or internet-based phone service, Community Phone provides landline phone service in California through your local cell towers.
In California, there are 922 cell towers located throughout the state. Community Phone will connect your landline phone to the cell tower with the strongest connection.
Overall, California has an average of 87.07% coverage across the four main carriers.
According to cellularstatus.com, Verizon has strong coverage in California with 93.20%, while T-Mobile covers 90.90%.
Approximately 19,227.54 square miles of California have access to cell coverage, meaning Community Phone service will work almost anywhere in the state.
California is the 20th state for cell reception ahead of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Oklahoma, but behind New York.
This may have been true in the past, but not anymore. Because copper wire is being phased out across the country, providers have left their lines in a state of disrepair. That means there are frequent service interruptions, even at the best of times. It also means that during a power outage, copper wire phone service is very likely to go down as well. Major providers are much more concerned with maintaining and improving their wireless towers and providing quality, consistent cellular service, and are not interested in even maintaining their copper wire service as they phase it out completely in 2022.
No, there are no providers in California who still provide copper wire landline phone service. Traditional landline phone service will not be available anywhere in the country starting August 2, 2022, according to FCC Order 10-721A.
Reliable home phone service in California that doesn't require internet
I'm so happy with my decision to switch to Community Phone. Works without internet and the service is affordable.
State population: 40,223,504
Total number of households with telephone service: 13,429,063
Households 65 years and over with telephone service available: 3,339,236
Number of senior citizens: 8,291,725
Percentage of state population that are seniors: 20.61%
Number of senior citizens with a landline: 4,560,449
Number of cell towers in the state: 922
*Data is estimated from the 2021 American Community Survey Data and 2022 US Census Estimates.
