| rant: Frontier POTS line in Redmond, WA I never imagined that getting a POTS line' aka analog like' aka copper line, aka 'powered by the CO and will still function when the power goes out', aka 'analog signaling between customer premises and switch' line, you know, like we have had in this country for 100 years, would be so complicated to order!
First off the people who answer the phone at the new account office seem to work for some third-party company that handles calls for multiple companies and may not be well versed in Frontier offerings..
After about two hours combined telephone/hold time while they tried to figure out if they service the new development I live in, I finally got an installation scheduled. Then the person said 'you are getting digital phone essentials for 1 year'. I said 'wait a minute I want a POTS line not a 'digital' line, are you a regulated public utility and what is this 1 year business?' and she did not know the answer.
She transferred me to Frontier residential phone support and they at least seemed more knowledgeable, or at least knew what a 'POTS' line is.
The story as far as I can tell is:
1) If you order a phone line and do not have FIOS, you (fingers crossed) get a POTS line. Frontier may call it a 'digital' line for marketing-speak.
2) If you order a phone line and do have FIOS, you get the digital/voip/whatever phone that requires battery backup.
I am in category 1). I'm a comcast customer for internet, and I just want an old fashioned analog line that does not need battery back-up. I have my fingers crossed for the installation (they have a nice wide 8pm-5pm window) but I'm still vaguely worried the guy will show up with a voip phone and battery backup unit and say here's your 'digital phone' package! |
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 darciliciousCyber LibrarianPremium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
kudos:2
 ·Frontier FiOS
| Frontier doesn't offer VOIP with FiOS. If you get phone service with FiOS, it connects to your analog phone wiring and you would use a regular analog phone with it.
The "backup battery" is installed near the ONT which is what converts the digital signal to an analog signal for your analog wiring and analog phone.
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♬ Dragon of good fortune struggles with the trickster Fox ♬ |
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| Thanks for clarifying the fios phone.
Am i correct that on the other part, phone without fios is good ol' pots, powered by the CO? |
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darciliciousCyber LibrarianPremium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| said by potsLine :Thanks for clarifying the fios phone. No problem. It is kind of confusing at time!
Am i correct that on the other part, phone without fios is good ol' pots, powered by the CO?
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♬ Dragon of good fortune struggles with the trickster Fox ♬ |
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gozerPremium
join:2010-08-09
Rochester, NY | reply to potsLine
Frontier started using the tag term digital phone some time ago to compete with cable adds offering digital phone service. You know how sheeple like buzz words. I know this because I actually asked a tech one time when Frontier first made this claim. |
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| reply to potsLine
Bottom line is you have fios equipment installed at your premise - whether or not you currently subscribe to any fios service, your dialtone will be provisioned over the fios network.
It is still POTS service (works out of the same equipment at the CO), but leaves the CO on fiber and not copper and therefore a local power supply is required.
if there is no fios equipment currently, then you will get POTS over copper. |
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| This is a relevant article, although I am not a huff post reader normally, it illustrates my reasons for wanting copper.
As I suspected, they are wanting to phase out copper and in my case, as new construction, it looks like they are only pulling fiber.
»www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/0···302.html |
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| reply to wasvznowftr
cable termination | 
corning cable bundle |
The possibilities include:
1) my neighborhood does not have copper going to it so pulling fiber was the only option. Possible since this is new construction in a somewhat sparse area.
2) in spite of my multiple on-hold hours and hoop jumping, they still got the instructions mixed up and pulled fiber when they were capable of pulling copper.
3) the cable they pulled has both copper and fiber in the sheath (unlikely in my opinion).
I'm attaching some pics in case anyone recognizes. |
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| reply to wasvznowftr
Your reply makes sense to me. It appears they are putting in FIOS equipment, possibly for their own reasons, even though I am not a FIOS subscriber. |
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 wesmPremium
join:1999-07-29
Redmond, WA
·Frontier FiOS
| reply to potsLine
Yup, that's a fiber drop in prep for a FiOS install.
I suspect that point 1 is correct. You didn't say what area of Redmond you are in but if you're in a newer house (i.e. most of them along NE 116th Ave or out in Redmond Ridge), you physically can't get copper POTS because Verizon/Frontier wasn't required to run it there. |
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| Wesm,
Yeah that's my general neighborhood, between 202 and avondale on the east/west, and 124th & 116th on the n/s.
Well I guess I am getting an ont and bbu. This is my only option for a phone line in this area.
Can I run the whole system or at least the phonu off a generator or deep cycle marine battery w/ invertor the next time power goes out for 5 days like it did during dec 2006? |
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| reply to wasvznowftr
said by wasvznowftr:Bottom line is you have fios equipment installed at your premise - whether or not you currently subscribe to any fios service, your dialtone will be provisioned over the fios network.
It is still POTS service (works out of the same equipment at the CO), but leaves the CO on fiber and not copper and therefore a local power supply is required.
if there is no fios equipment currently, then you will get POTS over copper.
And the caveat I left out, greenfield developments are fiber only. |
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darciliciousCyber LibrarianPremium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| reply to potsLine
said by potsLine :Can I run the whole system or at least the phonu off a generator
Yes, I've read of others doing just that.
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♬ Dragon of good fortune struggles with the trickster Fox ♬ |
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| reply to potsLine
Frontier often runs "Fiber to the Curb", it gives us many different options. It can then be run to the NID to the Pole to the junction/jumper box at the pole. Running the Fiber first does not mean you are going to get FIOS when all you want is a POTS line. You can still get a dial tone off of the Fiber drop and Frontier has the ability to continue to upgrade the area without having to run more cable a second time.
Please do not get too concerned I am sure when all is said and done you will be able to get what you asked for and the area around you can continue to grow at the same time.
Have a wonderful day!! |
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wesmPremium
join:1999-07-29
Redmond, WA Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| I'm 100% certain that Mr. or Ms. potsLine is getting telephone service delivered over FiOS. The setup you describe is quite common outside of FiOS areas but the only time it's done inside a FiOS footprint is for certain multiple dwelling unit setups. Since potsLine is in a single family residence, this isn't the case. The provided pictures show a coiled fiber drop tacked to the side of a house which is exactly how a FiOS install begins when at a house that's never had fiber service.
Frontier (not Verizon; most of the houses on NE 116th between Red-Wood and Avondale were built after Verizon left the Pacific Northwest) didn't deploy copper in potsLine's neighborhood because--like Verizon--FiOS deployments in greenfield areas are always fiber only.
This, astute readers will note, is why Frontier can't just kill off the FiOS network. It would prevent significant numbers of people inside their footprint from getting land line 911 service and the various Public Utilities Commissions would strongly object to that unless Frontier re-ran copper to those areas. That would be rather expensive. |
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| Wesm you are right, they installed fios ont and bbu and ran 3 feet of copper to my residential phone line inlet on the side of the house. I am a 'voice only' customer which the installer tells me is extremely rare.
The installer was sympathetic, he lives in sultan,wa and says he's never giving up his copper if he can help it.
I called the wutc and they said the copper/fiber decision is up to the carrier. I asked what do you tell people who are concerned about power not being supplied by the carrier in an outage situation. The state employee on the phone said 'use a corded phone not a cordless'. I proceeded to tell the state employee that fiber-supplied phone service requires battery backup. I think the state sold us out on the whole deal.
Anyhow I will now spend my energy on getting a better backup power situation. The bbu batt is 8 amp hours, and the darn ont supposedly draws 15-20 watts |
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wesmPremium
join:1999-07-29
Redmond, WA Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| said by mrPotsLine :I called the wutc and they said the copper/fiber decision is up to the carrier. I asked what do you tell people who are concerned about power not being supplied by the carrier in an outage situation. The state employee on the phone said 'use a corded phone not a cordless'. I proceeded to tell the state employee that fiber-supplied phone service requires battery backup. I think the state sold us out on the whole deal.
Anyhow I will now spend my energy on getting a better backup power situation. The bbu batt is 8 amp hours, and the darn ont supposedly draws 15-20 watts I'm not sure how long you've lived in Redmond but, for as long as I've been here, we've never had a power outage of more than 8 minutes, much less 8 hours. (The BBU is supposed to provide working phone service for 8-10 hours.) The power has never flickered, even during the major snow/ice event at the very beginning of 2012. The solution is easy: buy the largest UPS you want to store and connect your ONT to it. For $300 at Fry's in Renton, you can get a UPS that will power your ONT for a week. By that point, you're either in a hotel in Portland or the various carriers--who have on-site diesel generators--will have service restored, assuming it ever dropped in the first place.
Requiring copper to remain in place is tying our telecommunications infrastructure to a dying anchor. Copper is expensive, labor-intensive, and provides relatively little capacity. Yes, it isn't CO-powered, but that's basically its only drawback and it is a drawback that's easily fixed for someone who really, really wants a guarantee of more than 8 hours. If you've looked at the astounding numbers of people dropping copper phone service and replacing it with mobile-only or VoIP service, the copper lines still in service will get more and more expensive. Someone has to pay that bill and subscribers don't want to, so the service goes away. Verizon has already abandoned copper in lower Manhattan; this is only gong to keep happening. |
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