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.
