ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16
Stratford, CT | Finally all the ducks are quacking together.
This is Verizons way of getting their voice service on par with Cable co offerings. Doing this will get rid of the taxes and fee's landline customers have to unfairly pay when compared to cable. Great news. |
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Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO
| Maybe, but one way or another we are going to be paying these taxes.
Using the IP infrastructure for their voice will save them tons, it would be ridiculous for them to charge like it is the landline of yesteryear. This service with VM, CallerID, and all the other bells and whistles should be probably half of the rumored $44/mth. |
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Mike
Premium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
clubs:   | If the power goes out, you're boned.
This VoIP initiative will never work unless they have a built in UPS that lasts 2 weeks. |
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aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
4 edits | said by Mike  :If the power goes out, you're boned. This VoIP initiative will never work unless they have a built in UPS that lasts 2 weeks. I'm good for a day with the UPS my ONT is on. In the 15 years I've been here, the longest outage was around 6 or 8 hours. It's rare for the power to be out longer than an hour here so I'm covered for all my electronics. I have at least 2 hours use for everything on my backups so I can still watch TV, play my sound system loud, go online, use my 360s', etc.(anything that I normally do)for at least 2 hours.
Although I wish I could have a whole house backup, but since I live in a condo, there is no way they would allow it, so I have to have individual backups for everything. I have around 10 of the APC 1500VA backups with the extended runtime external battery. |
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UofMiamiGrad
Premium
join:2001-02-03
Great Neck, NY
| reply to Mike
said by Mike :If the power goes out, you're boned. This VoIP initiative will never work unless they have a built in UPS that lasts 2 weeks. It's called FIOS Digital Voice for a reason. The ONT already has a battery backup for up to 8hr for voice. If you click the link in the article, »promo.verizon.com/fiosdigitalvoicedemo/ ,for service you will see the small print on the bottom that says "includes up to 8hr battery back-up" |
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
| reply to Skippy25
said by Skippy25 :Maybe, but one way or another we are going to be paying these taxes. That's probably one of the reasons Verizon is doing this so that the mandated taxes and fees are spread to cable digital voice customers as well. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| reply to Mike
said by Mike :If the power goes out, you're boned. This VoIP initiative will never work unless they have a built in UPS that lasts 2 weeks. I have a similar opinion, but quite a bit more conservative. VoIP is irresponsible until the phone company can deliver reliable generator power over the data wire in the same way that they provide it for POTS service now. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| reply to UofMiamiGrad
said by UofMiamiGrad :said by Mike :If the power goes out, you're boned. This VoIP initiative will never work unless they have a built in UPS that lasts 2 weeks. It's called FIOS Digital Voice for a reason. The ONT already has a battery backup for up to 8hr for voice. If you click the link in the article, » promo.verizon.com/fiosdigitalvoicedemo/ ,for service you will see the small print on the bottom that says "includes up to 8hr battery back-up" Eight hours is a joke for voice backup. We were without power for three days back in September from the windstorm. |
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UofMiamiGrad
Premium
join:2001-02-03
Great Neck, NY | There is always a cell phone. I am sure you used your cell during that time. |
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bgraham
join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to Mike
I have 2 UPS's that give me 2 hours of VIOP backup for the occasional outage. After that I will switch to a cell phone. Frankly in 3 years I never have much use for the UPS's. We had 2 FIOS/VOIP outages in the last 3 years and both lasted 5 hours or longer. Once a tree fell on the lines and ripped everything out and a year ago a car hit a pole up the block and caused serious damage to the wires and fiber. Both long outages stopped pots also.
Frankly to me there is not much difference between the reliability of VOIP and POTS and there in nothing that would stop me saving $75 a month with VIOP on our two lines. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| reply to UofMiamiGrad
said by UofMiamiGrad :There is always a cell phone. I am sure you used your cell during that time. In fact our cell phones did not work either. The only thing that did work was the POTS line with a wired handset. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to ITALIAN926
said by ITALIAN926 :This is Verizons way of getting their voice service on par with Cable co offerings. Doing this will get rid of the taxes and fee's landline customers have to unfairly pay when compared to cable. Great news. Yes and No both. You don't think that congress, or the FCC will work towards at least, changing the rules of communications and the taxes will move.
The government needs money to sustain it's pig of a self. Well, we CAN lose the oversight bodies, but then we'll have no one to cry to when unregulated providers stop giving a crap about providing service and the entire system of communications melts down in the years to come.
No.. we, the people, (gov) have the power of the vote and pen to change the rules. Taxes on the services will continue.
The FEEs, however, are a product, or really just another calling feature that is mandatory on all lines, drummed up by the phone companies.
You really think this will all just go away? I think turkeys can fly too.  |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | reply to yock
Then don't talk for 8 hours.  |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH | The 8-hour figure is standby, not talk time. The battery will keep the ONT functional for 8 hours. After that, regardless of activity, your phone line will be dead. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| reply to yock
said by yock :said by UofMiamiGrad :There is always a cell phone. I am sure you used your cell during that time. In fact our cell phones did not work either. The only thing that did work was the POTS line with a wired handset. I'm going to add another thing to this too. I typically get about 3 - 4 days out of my cell phone battery charge with light usage. I've gotten as little as 1 day before.
No way do I want to be dependent on rechargeable batteries during an extended outage. |
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Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL
 ·Comcast
 ·Embarq
| reply to bgraham
 It appears that the telecommunication industry is going backwards. Back in the 1930's it was a big deal when the local telephone company went from local battery service to common battery service. No longer did a technician have to come out and replace the two dry cells in a customers magneto manual telephone every six months. Now we are going back to local battery service. Very clever. The telecommunications industry does not take into consideration is that a common battery telephone uses no power when on hook and as little as 21 Milliamps when off hook. I wonder how much power the FIOS wastes 24 hours a day 365 days a year?
Several years ago a hurricane came through our area and knocked out the power in our area for several days. We had two lines one was served from a Subscriber Line Carrier System which used battery backup and the other line was served directly from the Central Office. The line served from the central office continued to function for the duration of the power outage. The line that was served from the Subscriber Line Carrier System remained in service for about 10 Hours then the batteries went dead. When that line finally failed it remained out of service for the duration of the power outage. At least the generator at the central office kept the other line in functioning. I was one of the few people in the neighborhood to have telephone service.
I was also wondering if anyone reading this newsletter has tried to send a FAX over VOIP Service and how successful they were? |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| reply to ITALIAN926
dial a fax back to 14.4 and they usually work over VOIP services like CDV. really though they dont design VOIP with fax in mind since what 1/50 residental users have a fax.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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eakenn
join:2005-02-20
Smyrna, GA
·AT&T U-Verse
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to ITALIAN926
Reply to: ITALIAN926
Finally all the ducks are quacking together.
This is Verizons way of getting their voice service on par with Cable co offerings. Doing this will get rid of the taxes and fee's landline customers have to unfairly pay when compared to cable. Great news.
I currently have Charter cable's telephone service and I pay pretty much the same taxes as I did with BellSouth/AT&T POTS.
On my Charter Cable bill I have the following "telephone" taxes:
City Sales tax: $0.05
State TRS Surcharge: $0.05
Telephone County Sales Tax: $0.13
City E911 Surcharge: $1.50
End User Common Line Primary: $6.50 - unFee
Federal Excise Tax: $0.57
State Sales Tax: $0.53
Regulatory Cost Fee: $0.07 - unFee
Federal Universal Slush Fund: $1.87
I live in Cobb County, Georgia
unFee = money in Charter's coffers
Other VoIP providers (e.g. Vonage) also charge misc taxes and fees, but not to the extent as cable phone service or POTS. |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to ITALIAN926
here is what i dont get, if phone is considered a life service, then why is there sales tax on it.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA
·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to ITALIAN926
said by ITALIAN926 :This is Verizons way of getting their voice service on par with Cable co offerings. Doing this will get rid of the taxes and fee's landline customers have to unfairly pay when compared to cable. Great news. Not in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, or other blue-state folly jurisdictions. All have voted for "phone tax reductions" (quotes mine) which expand the tax base to -- you got it - VOIP, CDV, Cell Phones, SMS, and any other "electronic medium" they can think of. |
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