Technology developed in the 1870s proved to be a communications lifeline in Phoenicia when Hurricane Irene roared through, leaving the hamlet without power for 10 days. Since wireless coverage is spotty, the only residents who could call the outside world had landline phones connected by copper wires, which don’t need electricity.

It’s a situation that repeats itself each year during blizzards, rainstorms and windstorms in small mountain towns throughout upstate New York. Copper wire receives a charge from the phone company’s central office rather than a local battery or electrical network, so it works during an outage as modern systems fail. Like lighting a candle when the lights go dark, the age-old technology is the most reliable during the worst of times.

“It’s mission-critical,” said Phoenicia Library Director Liz Potter, who plopped her copper-connected landline on her home’s front porch for neighbors to use after Irene made its unwelcome arrival in August of 2011. 

Now, the copper wires used by just 3% of Verizon’s nationwide customers are being uprooted as the phone company moves ahead with plans to replace them with modern fiber-optic, cable or wireless systems, which are more resilient and less costly to maintain. On Sept. 9, it asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to do so in nine states, including New York.

Customers got the news in a Sept. 8 letter from Verizon. The letter seemed to say the wires would be yanked in less than 90 days.

“On or after November 30, 2026, subject to FCC approval, Verizon will have authority to discontinue traditional copper-based phone service,” the company wrote.

Copper-line users were appalled by what looked like a deadline of only about three months. Things got so heated that two New York State lawmakers wrote to Verizon expressing their concerns.

Yet that isn’t actually the timeline at all, according to Verizon spokesperson Diana Alvear. The end of November is in fact only the date that it plans to release a raft of information about potential alternatives, she said in an interview. Some of those probably won’t be installed for years, meaning the transition can’t happen until then.

“We’re not going to disconnect anyone without a viable alternative,” Alvear said. “We have already found out that there are lots of folks in Virginia and some in Ohio that will be keeping their copper landlines.”

Verizon will start releasing information about specific alternatives and next steps on Nov. 30. One of those alternate systems, which would involve installing fiber lines with federal funding, would take until 2029 or 2030, according to Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher.

“I know that getting a letter like this can be concerning, especially when you’ve relied on this for so long, but much more information is coming,” Alvear said. “Nobody’s going to be disconnected anytime soon.”

The FCC, meantime, said on Sept. 25 that it wouldn’t automatically approve Verizon’s application. Instead, it needs more time to review the proposal amid widespread opposition from rural communities. 

Verizon intends to plow ahead with its plans, saying that maintaining even the small number of copper lines in its system costs billions of dollars. Fiber optic cable is significantly less prone to damage than copper because it uses light to transmit data through glass or plastic strands that resist many natural threats that degrade metal. It’s also cheaper to maintain and can be paired with batteries that hold a charge for 24 hours each.

For now, customers such as Potter pay about $100 a month to maintain a traditional landline, well worth the peace of mind the service provides. It can be a lifesaver: Potter recalled that when an elderly woman’s power died during a snowstorm last winter, she spent two days alone, without heat, before someone found her. That wouldn’t have been the case if her phone was connected by copper.

“There are a lot of us who have fragile family members who have kept it because we have frequent outages where we are,” she said. “We are geographically remote. It would be difficult in an emergency to be able to ask for help if you were only on mobile.” 

Some people, including Wendy Grossman, whose home in Woodland Valley is about five miles from Phoenicia, hope Verizon will relent. 

“It saves me a lot of trouble to call the electric company to see when power is coming back on,” she said. “I get check-in calls to see if I’m okay. I’m single. I’m alone. I’m 72. This isn’t a joke. I wouldn’t be able to live here without it.”

Short of cost-prohibitive options such as installing satellite service or a generator, Grossman doesn’t see another dependable option.

“Maybe I fall down, maybe I slip with an armload of firewood,” she said. “I can’t get out of my house. I can’t call anybody. The landline is like having another person in the house. I can reach out and call someone, even if it’s 911.”

Georganna Millman and her husband ran Phoenicia Pharmacy for 35 years. After he died a few years ago, she sold the business and retired. She now spends most of her time alone at her home in Big Indian, a 15-minute drive from the hamlet, deep within the Catskill High Peaks region.

Millman, 70, has a benign brain tumor and is prone to seizures. Without wireless service and spotty cable that goes blinks out periodically each day, she relies on her traditional landline to connect her Life Alert. She pays $35 a month for the Verizon landline and $40 for the Life Alert connection.

“The landlines have their own power source,” she said. “If a tree came over and took out my electric, I would be able to get a call out or press my Life Alert. I will have help get to me. My very life depends upon access to copper-based landlines. My cable service goes out every single day, any time the wind blows, or any time it snows. I don’t want to have to wait an hour or two for the ambulance to get here. The need is great here. There is no other solution to the problem as of right now.”

The Ulster County Citizens Commission for Digital Inclusion has a private Zoom meeting scheduled with Verizon on Oct. 16, Chair Jenny Lee said. In the meantime, she is encouraging residents to complete the Ulster County Resident Survey, available online and on paper at town halls, by Oct. 19. Residents can also submit comments to the FCC, referencing Docket 26-252.

Verizon plans to hold public information meetings about copper discontinuance at Middletown City Hall at 4 p.m. on Oct. 30 and Tarry Brae Golf Course Clubhouse in South Fallsburg at 6 p.m. on Nov. 5.

Sean McAlindin is a contributing writer. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.