 gwionwild colonial boyPremium,ExMod 2001-08
join:2000-12-28
Pittsburgh, PA
kudos:1 | Thank you, my faith is restored... ... bottom line, this is one move Verizon played that I found rather undignified and entirely unworthy of a company like Verizon... both as a customer and a shareholder.
I believe in Verizon's FIOS plan, as many of you know. I also understand it's going to be extremely expensive, over the short run. That means boosting revenues during the build, that's economic reality. But, for heaven's sake, call a rate increase a rate increase. I'm totally happy with my FIOS service, it's worth the price, and I won't begrudge a buck or two to help fund the build. But it somehow offends me to see it camouflaged as though it were a pass-along fee, when it's not. I've defended Verizon on FUSF and tax passthroughs, and even pointed out that Verizon always clearly identified where my money was going when they broke down the billing. This was a perverse twist on that. Instead of clarifying something, it obscured it.
We're not children nor are we entirely dim. Moreover, we can tell when we're being treated as though we were. Just tell us that FIOS is costing a real bundle (most of us accept that, and realize that fiber costs big bucks, but creates a better network for the long run, anyway) to deploy, that every penny is needed to help keep the company viable and strong during the build, and we're going to have to ante up another white chip to keep the game going. We'll understand. "29.95" becomes "31.95" simple. That would be 22 bucks a year, and I toss 22 bucks at the pizza joint, some weekends, without blinking.
I make no pretense on this one, I didn't like it, I thought it cheapened Verizon's image at a tim when they're just emerging as a leader in their industry... Verizon needs to be a class act, not part of the chorus line... and surcharges masking rate increases isn't a class act. Well done, Verizon. We're grownups with some degree of intelligence, we'll accept an honest, justifiable small rate increase to acknowledge the QoS that FTTP brings us, and speed the deployment to all of the customers on the network.
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Semper Eadem
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You can put me in chains and I will escape
Better not wait up 'cause I might be late
I can make love disappear
For my next trick, I'll need a volunteer... |
