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ILpt4U
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Lisle, IL
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| The Difference here...
...is how the process is done, for both Voice and Video.
For Video, if a customer orders another service, say Verizon FiOS, and chooses to dump their current service, say Comcast, then Verizon comes out and installs their stuff, and it is up to the customer to contact Comcast to cancel Comcast Video services, which means that customer will get transferred to Comcast's Customer Retention department, and that customer will be offered a discounted rate package to stay with Comcast. And I'm sure some customers end up sticking with Comcast because of it.
For Voice, if a customer orders another service, say Comcast Digital Voice, and chooses to dump their current service, say Verizon POTS, then Comcast comes out and installs their Digital Voice VoIP adapter, or sends you the self-install kit, they take your porting request, and let you know when the process is complete. Now, as part of the porting process, Comcast contacts Verizon to release your number, and Verizon must comply, and then close your account. The customer does NOT have to call Verizon to cancel, so therefore Verizon's customer retention department does NOT have the chance to make you some type of special rate offer to try and keep you from switching.
Verizon was attempting to beat the system by using a porting request as a customer calling them directly to cancel, and then calling that customer to try and talk them out of switching, a la what Comcast does when you cancel Comcast services. The FCC says that is cheating and you can't do that.
I think I agree that Verizon is breaking the rules, but at the same time, Verizon is at a disadvantage here due to the nature of the systems. Customers do not have to directly call Verizon to cancel their POTS service, but Customers have to directly call Comcast to cancel their Video/Cable service. So therefore, Comcast's retention department gets an at-bat to keep you, and Verizon's retention department does not get any chance. I think that is unfair too.
So my proposal: If a customer wants to port a number (for Voice), they order their new service from their new provider, the new provider initiates the port request to the current provider, and then the CUSTOMER, within say, a week? 10 days? has to call their current provider and confirm they wish to for the port to proceed, transfer the number to the new provider, and cancel the service. Yes, it adds a hurdle for the customer, but at the same time, it will serve the customer better, because they just might get a better deal this way. And also it adds a safety step against ports initiated in error.
If I am "off my rocker," let me know. | |
jaa
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edit:
June 23rd, @01:45PM
| Just a little off - remember, Telephone Service is different than Cable Television service to you are mixing apples with oranges.
If you decide to move your telephone service from Comcast to Verizon, you do it by calling Verizon - not Comcast. Comcast retention department does not get a shot at you.
Similarly, if you decide to move you TV service from Verizon to Comast, you have to call Verizon to cancel and their retention department can go through the usual retention nonsense.
Your idea of the current carrier calling to confirm the request is fine with me - except I would make it an independent 3rd party verifier. The only thing I don't like about it would be the added cost shouldered by the consumer.
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ILpt4U
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| said by jaa  :Just a little off - remember, Telephone Service is different than Cable Television service to you are mixing apples with oranges. Up until the last few years, I would agree I am comparing apples to oranges. But with the new Triple Play deals that both Comcast and Verizon (and the other CableCos and TelCos) are offering, the apples and oranges are merging to some brand new type of fruit.
With Broadband Internet, Fiber, Docsis 3, VoIP, VDSL, IPTV, and other advances in phone/internet/TV technologies, the lines between Phone Service, Video Service, and Internet Service are being blurred, if not erased.
I just do not think it is too much to ask to make it fair: If you have to call the Cable Co to cancel Cable, you should have to call the Phone Co to cancel POTS or VoIP or Wireless or whatever voice service you have. Otherwise the Cable Cos have an unfair advantage to steal current Phone Co POTS customers as they unroll and expand VoIP while retaining their Video customers because customers would have canceled and switched, but the retention dept locks the customer up with a good deal. Sure, the TelCos want to do the same thing, but as they unroll their video services and add customers there, they are losing POTS customers all over the place, and their customer retention deptartments do not have a chance to respond to port and cancel account orders.
You have to agree that that system is unfair. | |
PaulHikeS2
join:2003-03-06
Merrimack, NH
| You make it sound like the rules are different between companies when it is actually between different lines of business. The cable companies have no advantage since the same rules apply to ALL companies when dealing with voice service.
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jaa
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| reply to ILpt4U
said by ILpt4U :With Broadband Internet, Fiber, Docsis 3, VoIP, VDSL, IPTV, and other advances in phone/internet/TV technologies, the lines between Phone Service, Video Service, and Internet Service are being blurred, if not erased. You have to agree that that system is unfair. I don't agree - all companies follow the same rules for phone, cable, and internet.
To me, the services remain distinct. I watch TV on my television set. I surf the internet on my computer. I make phone calls with my telephone. Sort of hard to watch the news on your telephone - and just as hard to wish your mom a happy birthday with your TV set.
The fact they all go over fiber has nothing to do with the fact they are distinct services with different regulations.
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NOTHING justifies terrorism. We don't negotiate with terrorists. Those that support terrorists are terrorists. | |
ILpt4U
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| said by jaa :I don't agree - all companies follow the same rules for phone, cable, and internet. To me, the services remain distinct. I watch TV on my television set. I surf the internet on my computer. I make phone calls with my telephone. Sort of hard to watch the news on your telephone - and just as hard to wish your mom a happy birthday with your TV set. The fact they all go over fiber has nothing to do with the fact they are distinct services with different regulations. Yes, but with the Triple play, and possibly even Quad plays, as well as technology development, it is totally possible, and probable, that soon you will be making Video-Phone VoIP calls from your TV. You can already on some Wireless phones watch the news on your phone. And again, with more functions available, especially with IPTV in the mix, you could easily wish your mother happy birthday thru the TV, either by some program, an email, or again, the afore-mentioned Video Phone thru your TV, which IS FINALLY GETTING CLOSER!
And it has very much to do with the fiber and the different regulations. The services are so versatile now and flexible, that the regulations should be consistent for Consumer Telecommunications. Either apply the Phone standard to the Cable Cos, or the Cable Co standard to the Phone Cos. But fair is fair. | |
ILpt4U
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edit:
June 24th, @07:17PM
| reply to PaulHikeS2
said by PaulHikeS2 :You make it sound like the rules are different between companies when it is actually between different lines of business. The cable companies have no advantage since the same rules apply to ALL companies when dealing with voice service. Yes, this is true. But the difference is, that the existing companies are branching into each others areas.
Comcast/the Cable Cos have an unfair advantage, because they have the entrenched Video service, that a customer has to CALL THEM to cancel, at which point the customer is transferred to Customer Retention, to try to save the customer, and I'm sure it works sometimes. Comcast loses a percentage LESS THAN 100% (no idea what the actual number is) of customers who call to cancel service, because the retention department will be successful in keeping some current customers that otherwise would have switched, oh, say to Verizon FiOS.
Verizon/the Tel Cos get the $hit end of the stick here, so to speak, because as the entrenched POTS/Voice provider, a customer does NOT have to CALL THEM to cancel, as that is done thru a Port Request. So Verizon's customer retention department never gets the chance to save the customer. Verizon looses 100% of customers who have a port request initiated, because their customer retention department has no interaction with the customer in this process, as the Customer has requested from Comcast to have Comcast port the number to Digital Voice from Verizon. And Verizon, by law, cannot say no, and I guess they cannot even call the customer to confirm the event (because that confirmation call would also be a retention attempt).
The Telcos are not too worried about losing their TV subscribers yet, as their subscriber rates are increasing dramatically. Cable Cos are not too worried about losing their Phone subscribers yet, either, because again, the numbers are increasing dramatically.
To say the rules are the same by business is an over-simplification. Cable Cos are getting into traditional Tel Co business, and quite successfully, and the way the laws/regulations are set up, it helps them in the process. Tel Cos are getting into traditional Cable Co business, and the laws/regulations there are completely different, and there is no such thing as Verizon initiating a TV port request, so Verizon CANNOT cancel your current TV service from Comcast for you. But of course, Comcast CAN cancel your current Phone service from Verizon for you.
That is unfair. | |
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