The southern Los Angeles resident, Shonte Dudley, could not get her mother, Mable Bush, using the usual 92 -year -old woman for several months.
Bush, who lives in southern Los Angeles, near the Inglewood border, has maintained the same number with AT&T for almost 50 years. But at some point in September 2024, his landline stopped working. Dudley, 52, called the company, who told him that someone had stolen the copper cable of the fixed cables.
The service was recently restored, but Bush's family spent months worrying when both the landline, which is hooked to the woman's life alert service, and sometimes the homemade cameras they used to monitor the movement inside the house were low.
For eight months, Dudley spoke with her mother through a caregiver's cell phone.
She said this was not the first time that the services had fallen.
“It's gone again, off again,” Dudley said. “If the phone and cameras are low, we have no way to communicate with mom. We have had this problem before, but it was never so long.”
Dudley, who approached ABC7 is on your sideSaid the journalist called the company in his name. A technician arrived at his mother's house the next day and, in a few hours, the fixed cables were fixed.
Dudley, who says that his landline and lampposts of the neighborhood have also left periodically due to the theft of copper wire, believes that it is only a matter of time before the problem resurfaces for his mother.
“My mother's neighbor who lives on the other side of the street, his phone was also out.
Cora Brown, 72, told the Times that his landline had been depressed since September 2024. Brown, who lives with her husband in South La, near Compton, stopped paying the telephone bill about three months after her landline stopped working due to a copper wire robbery.
“I don't even remember how many times I called AT&T. I have called, called and called and called,” Brown said. The last times, he said, he did not receive an answer. “And they still send the invoice.”
Brown received an invoice for $ 537.38 on May 3.
“I'm fed up with them,” Brown said. “I am considering changing.”
Dudley said the Bills also accumulated while her mother's landline was inactive. Bush was automatically paid for a while, paying $ 124 per month by the inoperable landline. Dudley took out his mother from automatic payment and said AT&T sent gift cards to compensate for excessive payment.
An AT&T spokesman said the company had seen a recent increase in the theft of copper wire in southern Los Angeles, a neighborhood with almost 300,000 residents, according to the city planning department in 2021. AT&T interruption website Informs multiple fixed phones in Los Angeles due to cable damage, and some are missing a scheduled repair date.
“The theft and vandalism of the critical communications infrastructure are serious issues that interrupt the essential services for our clients, public safety and the community in general. This is a growing problem in the area, and we are working closely with public safety on our shared interest in combating copper theft in Los Angeles,” AT&T said in a statement. “We understand how frustrating it is copper theft for our clients and it is not an acceptable customer experience. We apologize for discomfort.”
In 2024, the Los Angeles City Council created a working group in association with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Lighting Street office to stop the theft of copper wire of public services. A total of 82 people were arrestedand more than 2,000 pounds of stolen copper wire were recovered.
Before the working group, the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and Serene I saw his lamps stripped of copper wire, leaving multiple blocks in the dark. City politicians estimated that repair costs will exceed $ 17 million.
The copper wire, said the spokesman, is expensive and difficult to obtain.
“Historically, in southern Los Angeles, copper theft is a big problem,” he said. “For those affected, we offer our AT&T phone advance products that depend on our wireless fiber network, which is more difficult to steal.”
The AT&T fiber optic network, which is installed underground, uses thin and grouped glass fibers to provide an internet service through light waves, According to AT&T.
The Verizon border network offered HEIGHTS residents a similar fiber optic service After copper wire thieves manipulated with your fixed phones last year.
Customers like Dudley say they are not interested in wireless technology.
“There have been suggestions, such as installing cameras to find who is stealing copper, which people came up with,” Dudley said. “It does not seem that AT&T is trying to find a solution because they want to get rid of fixed phones. Therefore, they continue to increase the price and drag their feet to make repairs.”
Regina Costa, director of Telecommunications Policies of the Utility Reform Network, a consumer defense organization focused on the public services of California, echoed the feeling of Dudley.
“People want fixed lines,” Costa said. “It is ridiculous to think that it would lead customers for so long for the repair of a service. But this is part of the AT&T game plan to reduce its entire service in California, to point to the most profitable areas.”
AT&T submitted a request last year with the California Public Services Commission in an effort to get rid of his obligation as a carrier of the last resort. The company must provide a basic telephone service, which is commonly a fixed service, to any customer who requests it in a specific area, according to AT&T. The commission rejected the application.
“The commission is looking to change the rules for carriers of the last resort, but in the meantime, AT&T has gone to the legislature to try to do so for them,” Costa said. “They are executing an invoice, AB 470That would eliminate the obligation to provide these services to their customers. “
AT&T did not comment on his efforts to eliminate his fixed services.
Costa said that line lines are essential during natural disasters. As AARP reports, advances in phones and GPS technology, as well as other factors, have improved 911 support for cell phones. But when storms or fire eliminate electricity, fixed copper wire phones continue to work.
“I am in the forest in Sonoma Count [smartphone] You will lose your service unless you have a fixed copper phone, “he said.” So, these women are like the canary in a coal mine, they are a sign of what is really happening with this company. And there are thousands of Californians who have experienced the same. “
For Dudley, when it comes to her mother, fixed phones provide a sense of safety.
“There are people in their 80 or 90 years who do not have someone to defend for them. Without telephone service, it can only happen and see them,” he said. “But what happens if that person falls in the middle of the night? What happens if the house is set on fire? Or a gas leak. It is very dangerous.”
AT&T offers a reward of up to $ 5,000 for specific and detailed information that leads to the arrest and the condemnation of copper cable thieves or the sale of sale or purchase of stolen copper cable of AT&T in the Los Angeles area, said the spokesman. The tips can also call the Global Safety and Research of AT&T at (800) 807-4205.
