AT&T plans to eliminate its traditional landline phone service across nearly all U.S. states in its service area by 2029, ...

As a result, 40% of us have stopped using a landline phone altogether ... Patchy mobile signals mean it may be some time before full-fibre broadband is rolled out to all homes, Mr Baker said.

"And so if you go to fibre, you have to do something else and [voice over internet protocol (VOIP)] is the obvious thing." Old landline phones will still work after the network changes, however.