For Businesses & Homes
The phone companies are retiring their copper lines across Pinellas and Tampa, and anything still plugged into one stops working when it's shut off. Bay Geeks, a St. Petersburg IT company since 2004, finds every copper line at your business or home and moves your phones, fax and card terminals to cellular or internet-based lines before the cutoff.
$175/hr business, $125/hr home; equipment quoted before you buy
Fire alarm, alarm and elevator lines: we document them and work with your licensed contractor
Verizon, which now owns Frontier, the local phone company for most of Pinellas and Tampa, has filed a public notice to retire its copper at all remaining locations in 93 Florida wire centers, including St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole and most of Tampa, on or after November 6, 2026. The notice says customers may be required to move off copper well before that date. (Verizon's notice)
AT&T, the phone company in other parts of Florida, received FCC approval in January 2026 to discontinue copper landline service in parts of 18 states, Florida included, from November 15, 2026, and plans to retire most of its copper outside California by the end of 2029. (Broadband Breakfast)
Phone calls are the easy part. The trouble is everything else quietly plugged into a copper line: the fax in the back office, the card terminal's dial-up backup, the alarm panel, the elevator phone, the gate box, a parent's medical alert pendant. Most of those were installed years ago by someone who's long gone, and nobody has a list.
What We Do
We trace every analog line from where it enters the building to what it's plugged into, match it against your phone bill, and give you a plain list: each line, what depends on it, and how it should be replaced. Forgotten lines you're still paying for turn up too.
Main lines and extensions moved to internet-based (VoIP) or cellular service, numbers kept where possible, and fax moved to an online fax service or an adapter that keeps the old machine working.
Card terminals and other equipment that dial out over a phone line, switched to an internet or cellular connection so payments keep working.
Copper lines worked in a power outage; replacements don't unless they're on battery. We size and install backup for the lines we replace, and check that 911 calls report the right address.
Bay Geeks does not do fire alarm, alarm, electrical or elevator work. Those systems belong to licensed professionals, and we're glad to support them: we find and label those lines during the audit, tell you which contractor or monitoring company owns each one, and coordinate access, network connections and timing so their part of the switch goes smoothly. They do the work on their systems.
Still have a landline? We can move your home phone to an internet or cellular service and keep your number where possible. If a home alarm or medical alert device uses the line, we identify it and help you reach its provider for a replacement, which matters most for an older parent who relies on it.
The audit and the replacement work are billed at our published hourly rates: $175 an hour for businesses and $125 an hour for homes, with a 1-hour minimum on-site and remote work in 15-minute increments. Equipment and any monthly line service are quoted before you buy anything. See Pricing.
Common Questions
Probably, if you're in Pinellas or Tampa and still have a traditional landline. Verizon, which owns Frontier, has filed to retire its copper at all remaining locations in 93 Florida wire centers, including St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole and most of Tampa, on or after November 6, 2026. AT&T has FCC approval to discontinue copper service in parts of Florida from November 15, 2026. Your phone bill and any notice from your carrier say which line and which date.
Before your carrier disconnects the line, and earlier is better: Verizon's notice says it may require customers to move off copper well before the retirement date. Lines for alarms, fax and card terminals take the longest to sort out, so start with an audit now.
Usually, yes. Numbers can be moved to the replacement service. We confirm it for each line before anything is disconnected.
No. Bay Geeks does not do fire alarm, alarm, electrical or elevator work. We find and document those lines, then work with your licensed alarm contractor, monitoring company or elevator company so their part of the switch goes smoothly. They do the work on their systems.
A copper line is powered by the phone company, so it kept working when the power went out. Replacement equipment runs on your power, so it needs a battery backup, which matters in hurricane season. We size and install backup for the lines we replace.
Our published hourly rates: $175 an hour for businesses and $125 an hour for homes, with a 1-hour minimum on-site. Equipment and any monthly line service are quoted before you buy anything.
Before The Cutoff
Call or schedule an on-site visit. We'll find every copper line, tell you what depends on each one, and move what's ours to move.
