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At decade's end, the trusty landline telephone could be nothing more than a memory. Telecom giants AT&T T +0.31% AT&T Inc. U.S.: NYSE $35.07 +0.11 +0.31% March 28, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 24.66M AFTER HOURS $35.03 -0.04 -0.11% March 28, 2014 7:31 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 85,446 P/E Ratio 10.28 Market Cap $182.60 Billion Dividend Yield 5.25% Rev. per Employee $529,844 03/29/14 Prepare to Hang Up the Phone, ... 03/21/14 AT&T Criticizes Netflix's 'Arr... 03/21/14 Samsung's Galaxy S5 Smartphone... More quote details and news » T in Your Value Your Change Short position and Verizon Communications VZ -0.57% Verizon Communications Inc. U.S.: NYSE $47.42 -0.27 -0.57% March 28, 2014 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 24.13M AFTER HOURS $47.47 +0.05 +0.11% March 28, 2014 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 1.57M

The two providers want to lay the crumbling POTS to rest and replace it with Internet Protocol-based systems that use the same wired and wireless broadband networks that bring Web access, cable programming and, yes, even your telephone service, into your homes. You may think you have a traditional landline because your home phone plugs into a jack, but if you have bundled your phone with Internet and cable services, you're making calls over an IP network, not twisted copper wires. California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio are among states that agree telecom resources would be better redirected into modern telephone technologies and innovations, and will kill copper-based technologies in the next three years or so. Kentucky and Colorado are weighing similar laws, which force people to go wireless whether they want to or not. In Mantoloking, N.J., Verizon wants to replace the landline system, which Hurricane Sandy wiped out, with its wireless Voice Link. That would make it the first entire town to go landline-less, a move that isn't sitting well with all residents.

New Jersey's legislature, worried about losing data applications such as credit-card processing and alarm systems that wireless systems can't handle, wants a one-year moratorium to block that switch. It will vote on the measure this month. (Verizon tried a similar change in Fire Island, N.Y., when its copper lines were destroyed, but public opposition persuaded Verizon to install fiber-optic cable.) It's no surprise that landlines are unfashionable, considering many of us already have or are preparing to ditch them. More than 38% of adults and 45.5% of children live in households without a landline telephone, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means two in every five U.S. homes, or 39%, are wireless, up from 26.6% three years ago. Moreover, a scant 8.5% of households relied only on a landline, while 2% were phoneless in 2013. Metropolitan residents have few worries about the end of landlines. High-speed wire and wireless services are abundant and work well, despite occasional dropped calls. Those living in rural areas, where cell towers are few and 4G capability limited, face different issues.

Following up on its announcement at The Cable Show last month, Cox Communications is now offering more detail on the company's pending rollout of gigabit broadband services throughout its territories. (See Cox Goes for a Gigabit .) Cox Communications Inc. is targeting Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Omaha as its first new gigabit markets and plans to begin deployments across its entire footprint by the end of 2016. In addition to residential home service, the company will offer gigabit connectivity to select condominiums and apartments and will expand WiFi service both in common areas of those multi-dwelling units (MDU) and in public locations across the Phoenix and Las Vegas metro areas. The announcement by Cox, the first major North American MSO to make a 1-Gig commitment throughout its footprint, follows a recent pattern of competitive announcements from broadband service providers. Typically, one operator introduces or says it will explore delivery of higher broadband speeds, and then other local providers rapidly follow suit. In February, for instance, Google Fiber Inc. said it would look at expanding fiber service to 34 new cities, including Phoenix, where it will compete against Cox for the first time. (See Google Fiber Shifts Into High Gear.)

At the same time, CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) began offering gigabit service in Las Vegas last fall and in Omaha last May, putting Cox on the hot seat in those two markets as well. This isn't Cox's first venture into gigabit broadband service. In addition to providing gigabit connections to commercial customers, the operator started a fiber-to-the-home trial service in Orange County, Calif. last year. For the company's upcoming deployments, a spokesperson noted that Cox hasn't yet specified which technologies it will use, but said that it will rely on portions of Cox's existing network in addition to newer fiber infrastructure.