By Yue Stella Yu and Malena Carollo

Upon hearing her husband’s call for help, Cynthia Halliday came flying upstairs. He was rushing toward the outdoor deck, gasping for air. He was having a heart attack.

Halliday held him and dialed 911 with her cellphone. The dispatcher answered, but within seconds, she said, the call disconnected. Halliday screamed for help; her next-door neighbor Larry Williams heard, and dial from his copper landline. This time, it got through.

Halliday’s husband did not survive. But that day in 2018, Halliday became convinced copper landlines were her best shot at getting help during emergencies, where she lives in Hacienda, rural Northern California.

Those landlines, however, are what AT&T — the largest copper landline provider in California — is pushing to reti

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