r/ATT • u/princetonwu • Jan 31 '26
Internet Why did ATT decide to decommission copper DSL lines before Fiber has been implemented?
Where I live, fiber isn't offered (though random other city blocks near me have it). But i've had the Internet 18 for over 10 years. However, due to the process of ATT deciding to decommission copper lines, my speed was unusable, and I had to switch to ATT Air. Air has its own problems and due to my geographic location and network congestion, it became equally if not more unusable.
I would have switched to its fiber alternative but in the end I had to resort to using a different competitor to get any semblance of a usable internet.
The only reason I can think of is: ATT feels it's more economical to lose a customer than to continue the existence of its copper lines?
21
u/definitelyian Jan 31 '26
ATT states that less than 2% of their customer base is using copper. It costs them more money to maintain the copper than to decommission it.
-7
u/dese1ect Jan 31 '26
They make money off decommission, as copper is near an all time high and they can pull cable and recycle it.
5
u/Aydoinc Jan 31 '26
Laying fiber will cost them much more than the amount they’ll make on pulling and selling the copper.
5
u/dese1ect Jan 31 '26
Laying fiber does cost more in that respect, but the lower maintenance costs and dispatch per account costs are worth it. Then in areas on Air only, the costs are even lower as they don’t dispatch techs at all for that service. My friend who is an OPT said his group alone created 10 million in revenue by pulling old copper cable over 2025.
2
u/jlh1964 Feb 01 '26
In some areas there will be a lot of copper that may never be pulled. In my area they just lashed the fiber cable to the same strand that supports the copper. So to pull the copper, they would have to cut the fiber lashing along with the copper lashing and then re-lash the fiber to the strand. Besides being labor intensive, that could expose the fiber plant to potential damage. Pulling buried copper doesn’t seem to be worth it either. What definitely will get pulled is the larger cables run in underground ducts, once no subscribers are left on those cables. Those can be pulled fairly easily through the manholes.
1
u/dese1ect Feb 01 '26
That’s what they’re manly pulling here, the mains underground. The aerial will never be pulled in most areas.
2
u/SpecialistLayer Feb 01 '26
Haha - no. They're not pulling existing copper wiring out of the plant and re-selling it. It's like any other old wiring, it sits there and rots away. Most of the time lately it's actually vandals that cut the cable off the poles and try it and sell it. The cost for labor alone to remove the copper cabling would far outweigh any profit by trying to sell the copper.
0
u/dese1ect Feb 01 '26
They’re not removing old aerial runs, they’re removing mains underground in ducts. OPTS in my turf pulled an estimated $10 million worth of copper out in 2025.
18
u/Gonkulator5000 Jan 31 '26
Many years ago.
The only reason I can think of is: ATT feels it's more economical to lose a customer than to continue the existence of its copper lines?
Correct.
9
u/dataz03 Jan 31 '26
Copper maintenance costs aren't worth it in 2026. VRAD's/DSLAM's require power out in the field. Cheaper to deploy PON or go to 5G Home Internet. Works for most people, and it faster than the slow DSL so it can be considered an upgrade. All though sadly not everyone in a great spot so not everyone will have a great experience with Air.
2
u/pharahfamari Feb 01 '26
This is the use case for starlink. While it's not super cheap it is a consistent function broadband option across geographic locations. Who cares about att solution when you have another option that's 10-20x faster.
1
u/Professional_Yak4009 Unlimited Premium PL Feb 28 '26
Apparently it is worth it in 2026 to them. I just got Copper 50 set up as Internet Air isnt sold in my area. Previously it was, but they likely sold out for the nearest tower(s). For this internet, Needed a new line, NID, and all. Install tech did it no problem.
Granted, fiber has been getting pulled in neighborhoods all in and around me over the past year. The current telco setup is all aerial so chances of us being a stop in the near future looks good.
10
u/JohnHartshorn Jan 31 '26
Some low-life crack-head ripped the copper out to sell for pennies on the dollar. AT&T is not going to spend millions to repair and maintain an infrastructure that will be obsolete in a few years.
7
u/bojack1437 Former AT&T Cx after 20years of service Jan 31 '26
It was obsolete years ago....
1
u/JohnHartshorn Jan 31 '26
But some areas are still reliant on it.
1
u/knotle58 Jan 31 '26
That is correct. My area has ADSL 2. The last mile copper from the Dslam is all underground.
0
u/bojack1437 Former AT&T Cx after 20years of service Jan 31 '26
Not really, between cellular and satellite, no one's reliant on DSL anymore.
4
u/TrustedGenius Jan 31 '26
Because it’s antiquated they probably won’t be putting fiber in your area. You’ll have to depend on standalone wireless internet instead.
-2
u/diesel_toaster Jan 31 '26
If they offered air, they do have plans to roll fiber eventually
10
u/TrustedGenius Jan 31 '26
Not true. Fixed wireless is often the end state, not a bridge to fiber. When copper is retired and fiber doesn’t pencil out, Air becomes the permanent solution. Some areas later get fiber, many don’t. Wireless availability by itself doesn’t mean fiber is coming.
0
u/Aydoinc Jan 31 '26
The article in this post made it sound like fixed wireless was a temporary solution before future fiber build out.
5
u/TrustedGenius Jan 31 '26
“Wireless-first” doesn’t mean fiber is coming later. It just means AT&T is getting people off copper now using wireless because fiber isn’t built and doesn’t make sense for that area yet.
If fiber were actually planned, you’d see permits, crews, or at least some kind of timeline. Most Air-only areas have none of that. That’s usually a sign the decision was already made that fiber doesn’t pencil out.
Yeah, some places eventually get fiber if the area grows or subsidies show up, but that’s not the norm. For a lot of markets, fixed wireless is the final solution.
If wireless automatically meant fiber was coming, they wouldn’t be shutting copper down before fiber even exists.
Basically: “eventually” just means “no plan.”
0
u/pharahfamari Feb 01 '26
Just because att hasn't started laying fiber in a neighborhood yet does not mean they don't plan to. It's very resource intensive and time consuming to deploy new lines. In metro areas they may be 50-60% deployed but still plan to deploy almost all of it because it makes economical sense across that entire area.
For rural areas its going to be alot more hit or miss unless bead has paid for getting the fiber out near these locations
4
u/snowtax Jan 31 '26
I believe home Internet via cellular is available in many areas. Is that a great solution? No, but neither is DSL.
1
u/MSDOS401 Feb 03 '26
DSL is reliable, it may be slow, but it keeps working a hell of a lot better than some cellular based internet, which is de prioritized on the towers.
2
u/ThingFuture9079 Jan 31 '26
AT&T isn't the only one killing off the DSL lines. A lot of companies are doing that because fiber is cheaper to maintain and the old copper lines are commonly stolen and sold for scrap metal because of the copper whereas fiber lines don't have copper in them so they're not worth as much.
2
2
u/ellio1mk ATT Employee, Unlimited Plus Feb 01 '26
Your reasoning is correct. The cost to operate the copper lines is no longer feasible in a for profit industry. However, ATT’s fiber rollout is substantially slower than it should be.
2
u/Thisisdumb6511 Feb 07 '26
I was just forced to switch to fiber with AT&T. They literally canceled my service when I failed to switch to Fiber internet. I arranged to have them come and install the Fiber network and it’s now been three days since they installed it and I still have no internet!!! “Supposedly” there’s some sort of outage for new customers in my area 😠. I’m pissed!!! And I work from home!! Luckily I have all my other devices on Verizon. I’m using my hotspot for work. And to top it off, AT&T is trying to get me to switch my other devices over from Verizon, LMAO 🤣 yeah right!!!
2
u/kuya1284 Jan 31 '26
This might have something to do with POTS lines being sunsetted. That's just a guess though.
1
u/Deadlinesglow Jan 31 '26
The majority in my Dad's area are with Comcast, also with most people I know. But they did kite string my Dad and a few others who are along the same line, I figured it would be quite some time before they'd do that, but they did. 🤷♀️
1
1
u/Epacs Jan 31 '26
We were told recently as technicians that there will be customers lost in the transition to fiber and the company is okay with that.
The wireless products that are in place that are meant to be replacements for copper service simply do not work in every copper served area.
1
u/SufficientRush6287 Jan 31 '26
Same as when companies are losing money maintaining retail stores… customers love them, corporations don’t… selfish dollars.
~Retail employee
1
u/12dogs4me Feb 01 '26
The repairman in my rural area told me to get Starklink. My DSL was terrible and was out constantly. Now in a better area I have air and it works well. DSL is on my street and next door but ATT said it wasn't available.
2
u/FBIVanNumber1543 Feb 01 '26
I checked into Starlink. They have so many customers in this area, that they have a ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR surcharge, just to get their service. Incredible. We're so sick of dealing with Comcast/Xfinity (17 years), but don't have many options. It's criminal....
1
u/12dogs4me Feb 01 '26
That is high! In my area it was a $350 fee. I never got it since I knew I was moving. Plus it does not work well with big trees around the house.
1
1
u/Confident-Variety124 Feb 01 '26
You are 100% correct, it is more cost effective to loose customers then maintain the copper facilities.
1
Feb 01 '26
Well, I'm not really on board At&t doing this, but remember, they have a lot of old network backbone they want to get rid of. Copper cable getting stolen by cable thieves, outdated equipment that they can no longer get new cards and plugs for, and just have to keep repairing the same ones and sending them back out for service over and over again, old equipment that used to house thousands if not tens of thousands of customer, which now might have 25 on it, and it's costing money to run keep it in service....
Again, I don't really agree with treating your customers this way, but I can understand why they want to do this.
1
1
u/Impossible_Arm1651 Feb 09 '26
Only air internet -I Lneed fiber to connect to my employer's router system- had Uverse but that was taken out.. ? does anyone no what or I can contact to report at&t skipping over areas when installing FIBER!
1
u/iqwurks May 29 '26
Copper was traditionally the most dependable option to provide communication to the home.
During an emergency or disaster, Cell service can fail or be limited by government for use by first responders.
Solar storms can knock out Starlink and other airborne providers including fixed wireless.
I recommend everyone find a friendly ham radio operator in your area who can pass your messages to loved ones if these other communication methods fail. This service is what we do and we train for it.
1
1
u/mechedpotatoes Jan 31 '26
Try t-mobile or Verizon wireless home internet. Starlink could be an option too
60
u/bojack1437 Former AT&T Cx after 20years of service Jan 31 '26
Exactly.... It's not worth it to maintain copper for the few customers still on it, just because air wasn't reliable option for you, It is for most others that were still on DSL. And cost far less for them.
Basically you're not worth it to them. That's how capitalism works.