Get Gephardt helps Bountiful man who says phone company won't repair landline

BOUNTIFUL — No ringing. No busy signals. No calls at all. All Thomas Coppin gets on his home phone is a message on its screen saying, "Check Tel Line."

"I haven't had a dial tone since August the 17th," Coppin said.

Yes, five months without a landline. Five months of people not getting a hold of him.

"They get a message that the phone box is full," Coppin said of the automated message every caller receives.

Coppin says one service tech did check his line when it first went down.

"He said it was outside of his scope to repair," said Coppin. "I needed a cable technician."

It seems he can't get one. He says he counts 17 appointments made by CenturyLink and 17 appointments broken by CenturyLink. And, sure, he's got a cellphone, but he wants his landline back. He argues it's more reliable in emergencies and has clearer call quality.

"That's important when you're hard of hearing," Coppin said.

So, the next appointment Coppin made was with me. Just last month, I reported on phone companies across the country moving to abandon the old copper wire tech of landlines. Consumer advocates worry that will leave behind folks who do not want or cannot afford cellphones, along with people in rural areas where cellphone reception can be bad.

But the response the KSL Investigators got back from the owner of the CenturyLink brand, Lumen, about his broken landline was swift. It was back online in two days' time. A spokesperson blamed the delay here on "glitches in their scheduling tool" and "a neighbor's unwillingness to allow them access."

"I want a landline with a clear dial tone," Coppin told us.

And just like that, he got his home phone back – clear dial tone and all.

A 2022 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found less than 30% of adults have a landline. Compare that to 2004 when more than 90% were still using a home phone.

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