The Plumas County Board of Supervisors authorized a strongly worded letter to AT&T protesting its applications to the California Public Utilities Commission seeking to discontinue its landline service throughout a large swath of rural California.
The supervisors’ March 5 letter not only asked the commission to deny AT&T’s applications but it also urged the commission to require the company to return rural Plumas County to a higher level of telephone service.
“Please deny these applications and instead encourage, or better yet, mandate them to enhance the services in these areas to what they once were and to what urban areas have today,” the supervisors said.
AT&T’s Jan. 22 notice to customers announced its request for permission from the CPUC to “remove <its> obligation under California law” to provide traditional landline telephone service in a portion of its territory that includes Plumas County. Instead, it would supply its customers with “state-of-the-art” cell service. CPUC approval would eliminate the landlines that are often essential for rural and elderly customers with no internet access or alternatives to AT&T.
“AT&T’s business model has been extremely detrimental to the safety of all in Plumas County.”
Plumas County Board of Supervisors letter
Plumas County is one of the most rural areas in the state, the supervisors said in their letter. Over the past few decades, “AT&T’s business model has been extremely detrimental to the safety of all in Plumas County, whether it be to residents or visitors to the county.”
Due to the county’s topography and rural demographics, cellular service is quite limited even within towns, the supervisors said. When it is available, it is “fraught with reliability issues due to weather and other emergency situations.”
Plumas County residents reacted with alarm after receiving AT&T’s notice of proposed changes. Most said they rely on landlines for communication in emergencies, when cell service is unavailable.
Josh Hart, of Portola-based nonpartisan group Plumas Wired, encouraged local residents to make their voices heard in support of local copper landline access. “Speak out for landlines,” he said. “It is literally now or never in California.”
AT&T denies cancelling home phone service
Since filing its application, widespread public protest prompted a response from AT&T. Marc Blakeman, president of the company’s California and Pacific states region, said customers and public officials were “given the wrong impression” by the CPUC notices issues in January.
“We want to modernize the home phone — not take it away,” he said in a letter read March 5 by Plumas County Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Hagwood. “Our commitment is that no customer will be left without service in this transition.”
“Absolutely don’t believe anything in that <AT&T> letter.”
Todd Johns, Plumas County sheriff
Don’t believe that, Sheriff Todd Johns told the supervisors. “Absolutely don’t believe anything in that letter.”
Sheriffs throughout rural California are concerned that the transition in service AT&T proposes will jeopardize 911 service. AT&T is the only carrier for emergency 911 service for much of Plumas County, said Mike Grant, communications director for the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office. While some equipment for a next-generation 911 system is in place, it has not been connected.
The current 911 system has not been entirely reliable, he added. It was offline over 50 times last year, and has already been offline nine times in 2024. “911 service in Plumas County is worse today than it’s ever been since it came along in the 1970s,” Grant told The Plumas Sun.
Johns said it is important to remain wary of AT&T’s application. It may, however, “work its way out with the CPUC,” he told the supervisors.
Ways to contact AT&T
AT&T will hold an in-person forum for public input on March 14 in Indio, California. A March 19 virtual public forum will be a live video broadcast with both English and Spanish captions via webcast. Participants can make public comments by calling 1-800-857-1917 and entering passcode 6032788#. Wait times depend on the number of speakers in the public comment queue. The operator will call on participants when it is their turn to speak. The public forums will be recorded and archived for future viewing, a CPUC spokesman said.
AT&T accepts comments via written letter to CPUC Public Advisor, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102. The CPUC is also accepting comments submitted via email at [email protected] and via toll-free phone at 866-849-8390. Additional information about commenting on the AT&T proposal is available here.
CPUC approval would not necessarily mean that no carriers would provide service, according to the commission’s public statement. It simply would not require the service. “Other outcomes are possible, such as a carrier other than AT&T volunteering to become the carrier of last resort,” the CPUC notice states.
The commission could also deny AT&T’s proposal. It set a high bar for approval of AT&T’s request to be relieved of its federally required commitment to provide high-quality and affordable telephone service to customers at all income levels in specific geographic areas. AT&T must demonstrate that another eligible telecommunications carrier can provide that support, the commission said in its public statement.