skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Land Lines – Endangered Phone Species?

play audio
Play

Monday, March 25, 2013   

NEW YORK - Millions of consumers have cancelled their old land-line telephone service and replaced it with wireless phones. However, many seniors and people who live in rural areas still depend on land lines, and consumer watchdogs are making sure they don't lose them. Those who prefer a land line to a wireless phone because of potentially hazardous health effects, which are still being debated, can take heart, too.

Olivia Wein with the National Consumer Law Center said land-line phones will not disappear overnight.

"Over half of residential customers still have land line and wireless," she pointed out.

However, Wein said, much of the copper-wire pathway that phone calls travel from one land-line telephone to another is being replaced by Internet-based digital transmission, and telecom companies may benefit. They are trying to convince regulators that these digital calls have transformed into an "information service," with much less government regulation than traditional telephone service. Consumer groups have warned that this could result in higher prices and almost no monitoring or enforcement against rip-offs.

Ana Montes with The Utility Reform Network pointed out that new phones based on Internet-protocol (IP) can lose their battery charge in an emergency-related power outage.

"In many instances when there have been emergencies, people have relied upon pay phones, people have relied on land-line telephone service, and if we were to switch over to an entirely IP-based network, we could end up being in a real mess," Montes warned.

Montes said she is concerned that some seniors are being urged to "upgrade" to new Internet-based telephone services when their land lines are fine.

"It's being sold as, 'This is old technology; it's not useful technology; nobody is using that technology anymore,'" she charged. "That is not really accurate. There's still a reliance by a lot of different folks on the older technology."

This story was produced as part of the Media Consortium's Media Policy Reporting and Education Project, thanks to a generous grant from the Media Democracy Fund.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021