Are Disconnected Landlines Just As Useful In Emergencies As Connected Ones? Responding to comments on our post and on CRO, Consumer Reports posts a follow-up on the debate over the value of landlines in emergencies. [Consumer Reports Electronics]
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If your phone company isn't running on analog technology from way back in the day, it's all programming. Physical line stays in place, just the programming on the switch you are on is changed, and you no longer have a dial tone. It's a simple batch script that can run every night, removing dial tone (or pulse even) off everyone's line who has disconnected it. For most companies, it should be an automated and instant process. Of course, as with any software, there can be bugs, and you may be lucky enough to have your programming missed, but chances are, if the phone company is in it to make a profit, they have queries that compare the programming removed to the lines disconnected for discrepancies, and manually remove the programming on said lines. All in all, if you disconnect your phone, and the phone company is at all with it, you'll have no more phone within hours of disconnecting it.
I'm in Columbus, OH. When I dropped my landline, AT&T cut the line the day of my termination as expected. No dialtone, no nothing. I couldn't dial 911 ten minutes after it was disconnected or even today.