It’s hard not to associate AT&T with a telephone. For anyone not born later than January of 2000, AT&T will always be irrevocably attached to phone service. However, with advancements in technology, you may still be wondering if AT&T still requires you to use a phone line to take advantage of any of their services.

AT&T does not require you to have a phone line to set up internet service. Like any other ISP (Internet Service Provider), they may offer packages that include a phone line. Often, those packages make for a great deal, even if you don’t have a home phone.

You may end up deciding that an AT&T internet package with a phone line is the way to go, and you don’t have to have a home phone to take advantage of it. When AT&T techs show up at your home, they’ll simply install what you need but won’t require you to have a physical phone.

Does AT&T U-Verse Go Through a Phone Line?

U-Verse is AT&T’s brand name for high-speed internet service. Old AT&T packages used a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) to supply homes with a decent internet speed (a DSL line is basically your phone line). Now, AT&T delivers internet through fiber only, with phone lines separate.

In fact, it used to be a major problem in houses where a single DSL line would boot you off of the internet every time the phone would ring, making universal hatred of telemarketers even more vitriolic as time went on.

Once DSL lines were split, phones and modems were separated with the unfortunate side effect of crippling your once decent internet reception. This resulted in DSL getting a pretty bad rep, and it’s thankfully been tossed onto the scrap pile of unfortunate internet history.

AT&T Packages that Don’t Require Phone Lines

Now, since AT&T utilizes fiber, you can get internet at lightning speeds, which has done wonders for AT&T’s reputation:

Those are your basic, internet-only packages offered by AT&T. All three of them utilize fiber rather than a DSL phone line or any phone line. Of course, you can add a phone line to any of these three packages through AT&T’s add-on menu as you choose your packages.

AT&T eschews the typical cable that comes in through your wall in favor of fiber, which is an optical cable that carries modulated light. The core is typically made of glass, so it is usually installed underground rather than along traditional telephone lines.

If you’ve ever installed an external speaker system, such as a soundbar, you may have come across an optical cable, which is typically very thin, with large, block-shaped end pieces. They’re technologically superior to traditional CAT 5 and CAT 6 cables.

Does It Cost More to Add a Phone Line to AT&T U-Verse?

It’s hard to say because AT&T offers so many different packages specifically tailored to certain areas of the country. Packages offered to someone in Jacksonville, Florida will not be the same as a package in Salem, Oregon.

That’s not including the fact that fiber is not as nationally prevalent as you would think. It’s certainly not as widely available as cable. Where there’s a lack of fiber, AT&T is more likely to include phone lines in their cable internet packages.

Like all ISPs, AT&T frequently changes their package, so if you check in from time to time, you may find that a phone line has been added to a particular package for a smaller monthly price than if you just added the phone line to a current plan.

Also, it’s easy to get mixed up in all of the plans, promotions, deals, and packages when trying to pick what’s right for you. If you’re interested in a phone line, it may be worth your time to talk to an AT&T associate rather than try to read the small print on all of the packages.

Final Word

While AT&T no longer runs internet through phone lines—with very rural locations possibly being the lone exception—you can still get a phone line with any package you choose through AT&T.

That includes internet and DirectTV packages as well. AT&T has phone line add-ons available with all of their packages for you to add at any time. So if it’s a question of needing one, they are certainly available through AT&T and probably for a great rate.