SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) — More residents are reaching out to 7 On Your Side for help after seeing our recent report about a 95-year-old woman who lost the landline service she relies on.
7 On Your Side helped get the woman’s service restored, and now, ABC7 spoke to two more local homeowners who say their landline phones stopped working, too.
Robbie Brown hasn’t had home phone service since September of 2024. She suffered a stroke and is paralyzed on one side, which is why she can’t use a cell phone and needs an emergency alert system where all she has to do is press a button in an emergency. The problem? It doesn’t work without a landline.
“I just feel empty without it,” Robbie said. “It’s just there, so I have no other way to communicate.”
“Now she can’t use it if there’s an emergency because it has to have a landline. It’s plugged in and it’s connected to your landline so that the first responders can accurately determine where you are in an emergency,” said the woman’s daughter, Didra Brown.
Didra contacted 7 On Your Side when she saw our story about copper wire theft affecting some landlines. AT&T claims it is difficult to repair the old-style system. After our report, more than a dozen people contacted us, saying it also happened to them. All in the South Los Angeles area.
The 95-year-old went without phone service for two months. AT&T said it was going to take a while after copper wires were stolen, but after a call from 7 On Your Side, service was restored in two days.
Mabel Bush also has a medical alert system. She says AT&T offered an internet-based service, but that also doesn’t work.
“Fix it so we can be safe,” Bush said.
“‘Do you want to switch over to fiber optics?’ No, because her service for Life Alert and Lifeline doesn’t utilize that type of system,” said Shonte Dudley, Bush’s daughter. “She needs to be able to have something where it can be monitored.”
Some residents feel there could be a bigger issue as AT&T deals with old copper line technology. The company has said it wants to end some of its landline service across the country, though last year, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to not allow that.
“This has been a concerted effort on their part to switch people over to other types of services, but the reality is, those services are not as reliable,” said Regina Costa with the The Utility Reform Network (TURN).
During the January wildfires, there were some cell phone service issues in the affected areas. Costa worries that without landlines in a future emergency, this could be a major issue.
“A big earthquake will knock out power for quite a long time, and as cell towers lose power and more traffic is concentrated over the remaining towers, you can’t even use them,” Costa said.
AT&T sent Eyewitness News a statement, saying it is working to restore home phone service in South Los Angeles.
“We’ve tried to repair the service for our customers several times, but the cables we ordered were stolen on the job site. Copper is in very short supply, which is why there’s been a delay to restoring our customers’ service. We’ve ordered more cables to repair our affected customers.”
The good news is, after 7 On Your Side contacted AT&T, both Bush and Robbie had their landlines restored the very next day.
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