Free Landline for Seniors: How to Get a Free or Low-Cost Home Phone

Lifeline is the FCC’s phone discount for low-income households. Most people know it for free cell phones, but it also applies to traditional home phone service from your local phone company. For a voice-only line, the federal discount is up to $5.25 a month. That support was scheduled to be phased down, but the FCC paused the phase-out on July 1, and voice-only support remains available through November 30, 2027. If your line is bundled with home internet, the discount can be up to $9.25 instead. Only one Lifeline benefit is allowed per household, so you’ll choose between using it on a home phone, a cell phone or internet.

The catch with landlines is that $5.25 rarely covers a full bill. That’s where state programs matter. When we compared the state add-ons that one large local phone company, Brightspeed, lists on its Lifeline page, we found they range from about a dollar to more than $17 a month, and in most states they’re added automatically once you’re approved for federal Lifeline.

The digital phone estimate assumes about $99 for an Ooma Telo-type device and roughly $6 a month in taxes and fees, which is what Ooma Basic users typically report paying. Your local taxes may be higher or lower. If you don’t already have home internet, a digital phone isn’t really cheaper, because the internet costs far more than the phone, so the calculator steers you toward a Lifeline cell line or the discounted landline instead.

AT&T. AT&T received FCC approval in January to begin discontinuing copper service at wire centers covering more than 30% of its footprint outside California. Customers in that first group were told their copper landline could be discontinued starting November 15. The 18 states in that batch are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. AT&T has also mailed Illinois customers letters giving a date of on or after March 15 next year. In California, where state rules make retirement harder, AT&T plans to start at about 360 of its 615 wire centers on or after June 1 next year, subject to court outcomes. AT&T’s goal is to retire the large majority of its copper outside California by the end of 2029.

Verizon. In September, Verizon filed to retire copper lines serving roughly a million customers across many states, including New York, Pennsylvania, California and D.C. After public pushback, including from retirees who use landlines for medical alerts and rural residents with weak cell signal, the FCC declined to let the filings be approved automatically. They’re still pending, and Verizon has told some communities their copper lines will stay until a working alternative is available. Paused isn’t cancelled, so keep any letter you receive.

The FCC’s role. In March, the FCC voted to make copper retirement easier, cutting some filing requirements and letting carriers stop offering copper service to new customers. Carriers must still send you written notice before discontinuing service, and the order created a complaint docket that must be mentioned in those notices. Commissioners stated the order doesn’t override state 911 authority or state consumer protection laws.

When we read the AT&T customer letters that Illinois’ Citizens Utility Board published and explained, we found two details worth knowing. First, AT&T re-sent the letters in March because the original round left out required English and Spanish information and wasn’t emailed to customers who’d chosen email. Second, the letters warn that you can’t change or move your existing copper service; if you move house, you won’t be able to get a traditional landline at the new address. If you’re planning a move, factor that in now.

Captioned phones display what the other person says as text on a screen. They’re supplied through the FCC’s Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service, paid for by a federal fund rather than by you, by FCC-certified providers such as CaptionCall and ClearCaptions, which often install the phone and show you how to use it at no charge. You need hearing loss that makes phone calls hard to follow and the ability to speak for yourself. Most providers let you self-certify; some ask a hearing professional to sign. You still need phone service and internet, which is where Lifeline can help with the phone line.

Amplified phones make voices louder and come from state telecommunications equipment distribution programs. These give or loan big-button and amplified phones, ring signalers and similar devices. Income rules vary widely: some states set limits such as 200% or 300% of the poverty line, others use a dollar cap, and a few have no income limit. Most want a doctor or audiologist to confirm the hearing loss. Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Idaho, Michigan and New York don’t have a program, and Ohio has none statewide. The Telecommunications Equipment Distribution Program Association keeps the state-by-state list.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 58% of adults 65 and older lived with only wireless phones in the second half of 2024, compared with 78% of all adults. That means roughly four in ten older adults still had some kind of landline at home, a far higher share than younger people. The gap isn’t just habit. A home phone has a fixed location for 911, stays in one place so it can’t be misplaced, works for people who find small touchscreens hard, and on copper keeps working during power outages.

A landline is still worth keeping, in some form, if any of these apply: you use a medical alert or monitoring device that connects through the phone jack; cell signal is weak inside your home; you live alone and want a phone in a fixed spot that a visitor or caregiver can always find; you have memory or vision changes that make a cell phone harder to use; or you lose power often. If none of these apply and you already carry a cell phone you’re comfortable with, dropping the landline and putting Lifeline on the cell phone, if you qualify, is often the simplest way to save money.

There’s also a middle path many families like: keep a home phone number on an inexpensive digital service or wireless home phone base so the house phones still ring, and use a cell phone when out. The house phones and the number stay the same, which matters for people who’ve had the same number for 40 years and whose friends, doctors and pharmacy all know it.

The same caution applies to “free government landline” ads. Lifeline discounts are real, but they’re applied through the National Verifier and your phone company, and a real application asks only for the last four digits of your Social Security number. Report suspicious offers at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to the FCC.

Price hikes after an introductory period are the most common billing surprise. Illinois’ consumer advocate estimated AT&T Phone at roughly $35 to $45 a month and Phone-Advanced at roughly $45 to $50, with equipment listed at $189 that AT&T may discount. One customer quoted by Android Authority said their bill dropped from $120 to $40 after switching to Phone-Advanced, so for some long-time landline customers paying for old bundles, the switch can actually save money. Ask for your exact price in writing either way.