7am - 9pm ET Mon-Fri
9am - 9pm ET Sat/Sun
State population: 7,080,5092
Total number of households with telephone service: 2,770,395
Households 65 years and over with telephone service available: 739,057
Number of senior citizens: 1,657,943
Percentage of state population that are seniors: 23.42%
Number of senior citizens with a landline: 911,869
Number of cell towers in the state: 509
*Data is estimated from the 2021 American Community Survey Data and 2022 US Census Estimates.
State population: 7,080,5092
Total number of households with telephone service: 2,770,395
Households 65 years and over with telephone service available: 739,057
Number of senior citizens: 1,657,943
Percentage of state population that are seniors: 23.42%
Number of senior citizens with a landline: 911,869
Number of cell towers in the state: 509
*Data is estimated from the 2021 American Community Survey Data and 2022 US Census Estimates.
If you're looking for traditional landline phone service in Tennessee the type of phone service provided through copper wires and phone jacks in your wall you won't be able to find it in Tennessee for much longer.
Traditional service providers in Tennessee such as CenturyLink, don't offer copper wire-based landline phone service.
Instead, they offer internet-based VoIP (voice over internet protocol) service; that means if your internet is slow or goes down (or you don't have internet), you can't use your phone.
In fact, by a 2019 FCC order (FCC Order 10-721A), traditional landline phone service will not be available anywhere in the country starting on August 2, 2022. All copper wire landline service provided by traditional carriers in the country will be replaced with internet-based service, such as FiOS or other VoIP providers.
Instead of copper wire or internet-based phone service, Community Phone provides landline phone service in Tennessee through your local cell towers.
In Tennessee, there are 509 cell towers located throughout the state. Community Phone will connect your landline phone to the cell tower with the strongest connection.
Overall, Tennessee has an average of 83.03% coverage across the four major carriers.
According to cellularstatus.com, Verizon has strong coverage in Tennessee with 96.02%, while AT&T covers 95.73%.
Approximately 7,149.64 square miles of Tennessee have access to cell coverage, meaning Community Phone service will work almost anywhere in the state.
Tennessee is the 25th state for cell reception ahead of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Oklahoma, but behind New York.
The main landline service provider in Tennessee is Community Phone, which offers basic landline service without internet. The other provider is CenturyLink which require an internet connection, or a bundle with cable or internet services.
This may have been true in the past, but not anymore. Because copper wire is being phased out across the country, providers have left their lines in a state of disrepair. That means there are frequent service interruptions, even at the best of times. It also means that during a power outage, copper wire phone service is very likely to go down as well. Major providers are much more concerned with maintaining and improving their wireless towers and providing quality, consistent cellular service, and are not interested in even maintaining their copper wire service as they phase it out completely in 2022.
Yes. Community Phone is the only landline service provider in Tennessee that does not require the internet to work. Community Phone works by connecting your landline phone to cell towers, rather than through the internet.
No, there are no providers in Tennessee who still provide copper wire landline phone service. Traditional landline phone service will not be available anywhere in the country starting August 2, 2022, according to FCC Order 10-721A.
