AT&T Landline Phones for Seniors: A 2024 Review

AT&T Landline Pros and Cons

AT&T Plans and Pricing

AT&T plans are priced per month, but they are subject to some hidden fees. The main one is the optional upcharge for international calls, which applies whenever you use your AT&T home phone plan to call another country.

The rates of these fees are calculated per call, based on the distance. Subscriber line charges, installation fees, and cancellation charges may also apply. Knowing this, it’s important to be upfront with the company about the fees you will be responsible for — also, whether the plan you prefer comes with a long-term contract.

AT&T Landline Plan for Seniors

Technically, AT&T doesn’t have a discount for seniors specifically. However, its Lifeline discount can apply to some seniors — or anyone who’s eligible based on income or participation in select federal assistance programs. While the Lifeline program itself is available throughout the U.S. with AT&T, it’s only available in certain parts of three states: California, Kansas, and Nevada. We wish it was available everywhere. But, unfortunately, only about half of U.S. adults ages 65 and older have landlines, according to the Chamber of Commerce. So, these programs have been seriously scaled back.

As far as income goes, eligible households must be at or below 135 percent of the 2024 Federal Poverty Guidelines.

However, even if you don’t qualify based on income, you can qualify if you participate in any of the following federal assistance programs:

• Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA)
• Medicaid
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,) commonly known as food stamps
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Tribal programs (must live on federally recognized tribal lands)
• Veterans pension and survivors benefit

Not every senior participates in these programs. But, if you do, you’ll get $5.25 off your bill each month, plus another $25 off if you live on tribal lands that the federal government recognizes.

Discounts aside, AT&T’s Traditional Home Phone plan for $51 per month is most likely to be the best fit for the most number of seniors. It provides unlimited local calls, a primary phone number, and the service you would expect from a dedicated landline.

Our Experience With AT&T Landline Service

Before you read about our experience testing out AT&T’s landline service, make sure you live in a state where it is available:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• California
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nevada
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Wisconsin

Fortunately, we live in an eligible state. We were able to order by calling AT&T and choosing the Traditional Home Phone plan, the most basic landline for domestic calls. Regardless, we had to call AT&T to purchase our landline — the process was more than a little annoying.

We called and gave some of our information — e.g., what we were looking for — to a robot. Then, we were connected with a rep who asked for our name, address, and whether or not we had AT&T services. She said she only sold digital home phone service — i.e., Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) — and told us to call a different number. We did, and that woman told us to call the first number we had called. We called back, answered the same questions, and were put on hold before being connected again.

Finally, we spoke to the right person and placed an order. He explained that because our home already had a phone jack, all we would have to do was pay a $49 activation fee and plug the phone in. There was no professional installation fee because there was no professional installation. A few days later, we received the phone, plugged it in, and have had no issues with the service since.

AT&T Landline Pricing, Contracts, and Fees

AT&T prices its two main landline plans at $51 and $65 monthly. They both include unlimited local calls but come with different features. The more expensive plan includes services such as caller ID, call forwarding, three-way calling, and call waiting ID. Both have the following services available as optional add-ons:

• Unlimited long-distance calls
• Per-minute calling plan
• International plan

The flat rates listed above vary based on where you live, and rates can change.

If you make a lot of international calls, it may make sense to get a long-distance landline. These can look a couple of ways:

• Unlimited North America, per-minute international: If you want both a domestic and international plan, the per-minute cost depends on the country you’re calling. Calls to Canada and Mexico are free. But, with any other country the per-minute rate ranges from $.18 with countries like France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, all the way up to over $2 a minute with countries like Madagascar, Cambodia, and Chad.
• Just per-minute international: The international-only plan provides $0 per minute calling to many countries aside from just Canada and Mexico. On the contrary, you can talk to nearly 60 countries without paying a per-minute rate: Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., Denmark, Germany, and Italy, to name a few. But, for further locations like Chad and Cambodia, costs are more than $2 a minute.

With long-distance calling, you’ll pay a base rate plus a per-minute rate, which differs based on which country you’re calling. Prices could be as low as $24.99 a month for the first year, plus taxes and fees; this adds another $10 to $13 a month, making the total around $34.99. But expect price hikes the second year or $10 to $15 extra, plus that per-minute rate. Traditional landlines are even more expensive for long-distance: $70 to $100 a month. However, that includes taxes and fees. Don’t forget about that pesky per-minute rate, though.

If you choose to get the international calls as an add-on instead, you’ll pay based on the country you’re calling. See AT&T’s international calling rates here.

Fees

Unfortunately, AT&T didn’t give us any savings if we bundled our landline with internet — or any other of its services, for that matter. You should also know that AT&T has a bunch of fees for its landline service. Aside from charges for long-distance, local tolls, and taxes, you could face the following fees:

• 411/directory assistance fee: $2.49 maximum per domestic call if you call directory assistance (DA).
• Activation fee: $65 maximum, but currently priced at $49.
• Administrative fee: $.99 per month.
• Federal and state universal service fees: Varied monthly rate.
• Payment convenience fee: $5 per payment if you pay through an authorized retail agent or a collections or customer service representative.
• Regularly cost recovery fee: $1.23 per month.
• Service order change fee: $35 maximum if you change your service order.
• State and local cost recovery charge: Varied monthly rate.
• TouchTone fee: $2.35 maximum if you establish TouchTone on your service.
• Voicemail installation fee: $10 maximum if you install Unified Messaging, otherwise known as Voicemail.

These fees can change at any time, and AT&T is not required to notify you of any changes. Be sure to check your bill each month to see what you’re paying. And, don’t forget to return your equipment after you cancel your line, as the fee for not returning your equipment is $150.

All plans with AT&T’s landline are month-to-month. Our representative explained that AT&T raises these prices all the time; even the basic plan, with taxes and fees, costs $70 a month. He recommended getting a cell phone instead, which is much cheaper.

We enrolled in automatic payments directly from our bank account. You can also pay through a person, but you’ll have to pay a fee, as mentioned above.

AT&T Landline vs. Verizon Fios Home Phone

Verizon offers a landline in name only, as it actually is a digital home phone that runs on Wi-Fi.  However, we were forced to buy either Verizon internet or Verizon TV before we could purchase a home phone. With a 300 Mbps internet plan for $49.99 a month, the home phone costs only an additional $30 per month. So, this is a great option if you already have Verizon internet or TV. But, if you want to stick with your current internet and/or TV provider, AT&T’s standalone landline will make more sense.

Verizon Fios Home Phone service includes:

• Unlimited domestic and long-distance calls to the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada
• Voicemail
• Caller ID
• Call waiting
• Call filter
• International calls to one country/destination of your choice, which you can change each billing cycle

All of AT&T’s landline plans include caller ID and voice mail. But, only the $65 per month plan includes call waiting — and long-distance calls cost even more. However, the landline will stay on during a power outage. Whereas with Verizon, we would’ve had to pay a one-time charge of $39.99 to get a battery-backed device that would have supported phone service for up to eight hours.

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