Traditional copper telephone networks are being retired across the country, and the pace picked up in 2026 after federal rules were streamlined to make retirement easier for carriers. For most households the visible change is a phone service migration. For households with an older security system, medical alert device, or elevator phone, there is a second consequence that is easy to miss.
Why Alarm Panels Care
Security panels installed before roughly the last decade commonly communicate with their monitoring centre by dialing out over a landline. If the landline goes away, or is replaced by a service that behaves differently, the panel may lose its path to the monitoring centre.
The failure mode is quiet. The keypad still works, the sensors still trip, the siren still sounds. What may not happen is the signal reaching anyone. Some panels report a communication failure and some do not, depending on age and configuration.
This is worth checking proactively rather than discovering after an incident.
How to Check What Yours Uses
- Look at the panel. If there is a phone cable running into it from a jack, it is likely a dial out configuration. If there is an ethernet cable or a cellular communicator module, it is not.
- Ask your monitoring provider directly. They can tell you how your account communicates and whether the path is a landline, broadband, cellular, or a combination.
- Run a test signal. Most providers will put your account in test mode and confirm receipt of a signal. Do this rather than assuming.
- Check the age of the system. Panels more than ten or fifteen years old are the most likely to be affected and may also predate current radio technologies.
What Carriers Are Required to Tell You
Under federal rules, carriers retiring copper facilities must notify affected retail customers before service is discontinued, with a notice period for residential customers, and must provide a neutral statement of available options rather than using the notice purely as a sales opportunity.
That notice goes to the account holder for the phone line. If your alarm monitoring is billed by a different company, nobody automatically tells them. Coordinating the two is on you.
The Backup Power Issue
Traditional copper lines carried their own power from the exchange, which is why old telephones worked during a blackout. Fiber and broadband based replacements depend on powered equipment in your home, which means they stop working in an outage unless there is battery backup.
For a security system, that has an obvious implication. Ask about:
- Battery backup in the panel, and its age, since these degrade
- Battery backup for the network equipment if the panel communicates over broadband
- Whether a cellular communicator is fitted as a backup path
- How long the backup is expected to last
The same question applies to medical alert devices, which is worth raising if anyone in the household relies on one.
Your Options If You Are Affected
Add a communicator. Many older panels can accept a cellular or broadband communicator module, which is generally less expensive than replacing the system. Not all panels support current radio technologies, so this depends on the panel.
Replace the panel. Current systems communicate over cellular with broadband as a secondary path, which removes the dependency entirely.
Change providers. If you are replacing equipment anyway, it is a reasonable moment to compare monitoring providers and contract terms rather than defaulting to renewal.
Whichever route you take, get the term, the monthly price after any promotional period, the equipment ownership terms, and the cancellation process in writing. The subscription and contract side of the category is covered in the security camera subscription question in 2026.
While You Are Looking at It
A network transition is also a reasonable moment to check what internet service is actually available at your address, since the same infrastructure change often brings new options. We covered that in what the copper retirement rules mean at your address.
If you want to compare home security systems and monitoring, tell us about your home and we will connect you with providers serving your area. It is free to use, with no obligation to sign up.