The possibility of being denied landline phone service in Ohio has some Athens residents concerned about being left off the grid, though Ohio University will remain unaffected.
Senate Bill 271 would allow telephone companies to end landline service to customers if the Ohio House passes the legislation in November. The Ohio Senate voted in favor of the bill 30-3 in February.
“If you don’t have landlines or cell coverage, how can you call 9-1-1?” said Mike Turner, executive director of United Seniors of Athens County. “Until technology comes up with something that works just as well, landlines should not be eliminated.”
Before ending service, telephone companies must give the state and customers at least 30 days notice, according to the bill.
Ohio Sen. Lou Gentile, D-30th, voted in favor of the bill. Democrats forced the Republican majority back to the bargaining table to include protections for rural regions into the legislation, Gentile said.
“There is a lot of concern over this legislation, and I certainly respect that,” Gentile said. “I don’t think (phone companies) are just going to blatantly withdraw.”
The landline guarantee was made when phone companies were monopolies and could pull out of an area without warning, he said. But new communication technologies have given people options.
“We’re hearing a lot about how (the legislation) will spur investment if we modernize the laws,” Gentile said. “My hope is that the industry will be investing in Southeast Ohio.”
Despite being considered to be outdated by some, landlines are still a very reliable means of communication, said Sean O’Malley, communications manager for Ohio University Information Technology.
Turner said the topic is particularly relevant to Athens because the presumed substitute to landlines — cellphones — can have very poor reception in the area. In fact, he doesn’t have a cellphone for this reason.
“In Athens, you (would) have to have three cellphones from different providers to cover 60 percent of the county,” Turner said. “Probably 40 percent of the county has no cell coverage.”
Despite the concern of some Athens residents, OU, which owns about 10,000 wired lines, will likely not be affected at all by the change as it plans to switch to a voice-over IP system in the near future, O’Malley said.
Such a system uses the Internet to make calls instead of actual phones lines, meaning the end of landlines would have little effect after the change, O’Malley said.
The numbers show that Athens County residents have fewer alternatives to landline use compared to residents of other Ohio counties.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio characterizes a competitive exchange as an area with two or more alternatives to landlines, such as voice-over IP phones or cellphone service.
Athens County has only two exchanges that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has approved as competitive — Athens and Nelsonville — of the state’s 290 total competitive exchanges, said Matthew Schilling, spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
“It is a trend all over the state,” Schilling said. “Landlines are becoming less used.”
ld311710@ohiou.edu
