Is Fairpoint Headed For Disaster? Frustrations mount, while Verizon walks away smiling... Before Fairpoint Communications acquired Verizon networks in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont for $2.3 billion, regulators, unions and consumer advocates doubted whether the small telco could handle the acquisition and financial strain of the deal. So far, they were right to worry. Struggling with a work order backlog that's left 40% of orders uncompleted, Fairpoint also recently suspended a quarterly dividend in order to save cash, and has been strained by debt obligations. Local news outlets report that some States are considering forcing Fairpoint to hire outside software companies to take over billing and support if things don't improve. According to the Associated Press, Fairpoint says things will be better by June, though independent consultants don't sound optimistic: ...significantly improving service by the end of June probably is unrealistic because of the scope of the problems, the Liberty Consulting Group said in a report dated Wednesday. "Senior leadership has continued to make statements that understate the problem severity and overstate success in fixing them," Liberty said. Again, the real winner here is Verizon, who offloaded networks they didn't want to upgrade, got a huge cash payout, dumped a ton of debt on Fairpoint, and probably netted at least $600 million in tax writeoffs by using a sophisticated financial maneuver known as a Reverse Morris Trust to seal the deal. They then got paid $16 million a month to help co-run the network as Fairpoint stumbled through the orientation process. Consumers probably won't be quite so lucky, though local users say Time Warner Cable is running regional ads targeting the frustrated. If Fairpoint does implode, at least these local users can sign up for capped and metered broadband service. Assuming they have the choice; many of these impacted New England users live in rural markets where there are few (if any) alternative broadband options. Who says the American broadband market has problems?
|
 | | No surprise here... Fairpoint stinks.... what more is there to say about it. | |
|  |  KithronPremium
join:2005-08-30
Endicott, NY | Re: No surprise here... Not surprised either...was matter of time before they fell apart. | |
|
| | Failpoint Hire outside software peeps??? Huh? That is exactly what Failpoint did, and it shows.
Somewhere, there is a little snickering laugh, in a men's room stall, at Verizon corporate...
--
Weeeeeeee! | |
| | lvas
join:2001-05-17
Glen Carbon, IL | Re: Failpoint I luv it. Most of you pinheads on dslreports just luv to complain about the baby bells and you moan that they are so terrible etc.
so here is a prefect example that its not as easy to Run a Telco company as you may think. Fairpoint has a captive audience in its customer base as rual folks don’t have a lot of choices – and they still are messing it up. | |
| | | | | Re: Failpoint said by lvas:I luv it. Most of you pinheads on dslreports just luv to complain about the baby bells and you moan that they are so terrible etc. People complain because everyone, except the regulators that allowed it, knew this was coming. Nobody says its an easy task to run a telco. Its just the exact opposite. This is why people complained about this aquisition...everyone knew it was doomed from the start! | |
| | |  morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | the Fairport deal was HORRIBLE for everyone except Verizon. everyone could see this, and now reality is setting in. | |
|
| | Humm... I moved down to the "backwards" deep south and I get RR turbo (15/2) while all those "progressive" folk in N.E. get... this? | |
| |  CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | Re: Humm... the 'backwards south' likely has a higher population density than most areas of the NE. That not to say that the NE does not have some population centers but the population density of the south is generally higher than the NE. | |
|
 ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4 |  Liberty Consulting Group
»www.libertyconsultinggroup.com/r···ews.html
Liberty has become a leading source of expertise in examining the effects of holding-company financial distress on utility subsidiaries.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page | |
| |  tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:4 | Re: Liberty Consulting Group Interesting never heard of them.
Kind of curious all their web pages are: "Copyright © 2004 The Liberty Consulting Group" and PDF linked to in home page is also dated 2004. Guess life is slower in the Utility biz.
/tom | |
|
 mrkevinKnowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.Premium
join:2007-08-07
Aurora, ME | rural broadband in Maine I work for one of the independent phone companies up in Maine. We have offered broadband for the past 8-9 years. In fact we are starting our FTTH transition and within 3 years will have a complete FTTH outside plant (in RURAL Maine)
We are also considering offering broadband into FairPoint's territory that borders us so there is hope for a couple Fairpoint customers that don't and won't see broadband for 10-15 years under FairPoint. | |
| mrkevinKnowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.Premium
join:2007-08-07
Aurora, ME | It's not all bad Union River Telephone Co. is part of a group of rural telephone companies that is leading the way in deploying technology that will enable their customers to have state of the art voice, video and data service.
We will be the first telephone company in the Northeast to replace its’ copper plant with fiber plant and provide FTTH service to both business and residential customers. We believe that a fiber based system is imperative to the area’s growth and economic prosperity. | |
| tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:4 Reviews:
 ·Fairpoint Commun..
 ·Hollis Hosting
| Too Soon to Tell Transition to FairPoint from Verizon has been rocky. It is unclear if this is simply inevitable teething problems or signs company is incapable of managing acquisition. It is easy for those of us on the outside, frustrated with service problems, to underestimate scope of the transition.
Regulators were between a rock and a hard place (to coin a phase). It was clear Verizon was not interested in servicing northern NE. They had the option to either block sale or allow it to go through and hope FairPoint was up to the challenge.
I think we need more time to see how things work out. A major concern is higher then expected lose of landline customers due to frustration with transition. FairPoint has to curb the bleeding and roll out broadband to retain customers. The difficult part will be raising enough capital to increase footprint.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will be successful.
/tom | |
| | morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 Reviews:
 ·Charter
| Re: Too Soon to Tell said by tschmidt:I think we need more time to see how things work out. what do you believe is enough time? | |
| | | tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:4 Reviews:
·Fairpoint Commun..
·Hollis Hosting
| Re: Too Soon to Tell said by morbo:what do you believe is enough time? I don't know - depends on what revenue picture looks like. Luckily I'm not a VT/NH/ME regulator trying to deal with situation.
/tom | |
| | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Too Soon to Tell They will be filing for bankruptcy as quickly as Hawaiian Tel. Both companies began bleeding money as soon as they took over from Verizon. Fairpoint's trouble seems more linked to poor systems/software[the Hawaiian Tel network is FUBAR--copper plant does not fair well on an island surrounded by salt water], so they may be able to recover--but would not hold my breath. The only winners in these sales were Verizon and its sharehloders. | |
| | | | | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
 ·callwithus
·Vitelity VOIP
| Re: Too Soon to Tell said by Dolgan:the Hawaiian Tel network is FUBAR--copper plant does not fair well on an island surrounded by salt water Very true. Lived in Beach Flats, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California for 6 months, a place surrounded on 3 sides by water and less than 100 feet from ocean. Phone line went dead twice, both times due to corrosion in the plant. Pac Bell (renamed many times) tech told me once that this is normal for that neighborhood, and just to 611 it whenever it happened, and it would continue to happen about the same frequency. He said the salt water just eats the copper away. | |
| | | | | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | Re: Too Soon to Tell said by Ulmo:said by Dolgan:the Hawaiian Tel network is FUBAR--copper plant does not fair well on an island surrounded by salt water Very true. Lived in Beach Flats, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California for 6 months, a place surrounded on 3 sides by water and less than 100 feet from ocean. Phone line went dead twice, both times due to corrosion in the plant. Pac Bell (renamed many times) tech told me once that this is normal for that neighborhood, and just to 611 it whenever it happened, and it would continue to happen about the same frequency. He said the salt water just eats the copper away. Whatever happened to gel/submerged plant? Someone too cheap to buy gel wire? | |
|
| patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | said by tschmidt:Regulators were between a rock and a hard place (to coin a phase). It was clear Verizon was not interested in servicing northern NE. They had the option to either block sale or allow it to go through and hope FairPoint was up to the challenge. I think we need more time to see how things work out. A major concern is higher then expected lose of landline customers due to frustration with transition. FairPoint has to curb the bleeding and roll out broadband to retain customers. The difficult part will be raising enough capital to increase footprint. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will be successful. /tom Public utility licenses/easements/right of way/right to be a utility company is created for the public good/benefit. Just start a ruling to determine that Verizon's utility operations are not operating for the public benefit and seize/condemn the lines and hand them off to a non-profit corporation. | |
| | | | I have to agree that we have to give it time. The Fairpoint crew was out today installed fibre on our street. They are rolling FAST service the middle of May in Hampton NH.
So no worries on my side of it. I want to get away from the CAPS and BLOCKS of COMCAST!!! | |
| | | bac522
join:2003-08-04
Manchester, NH | Re: Too Soon to Tell said by hamptonFAST :
I have to agree that we have to give it time. The Fairpoint crew was out today installed fibre on our street. They are rolling FAST service the middle of May in Hampton NH.
So no worries on my side of it. I want to get away from the CAPS and BLOCKS of COMCAST!!!
That's not entirely true...they are only rolling out the service were Verizon had already installed the cable. You just happen to be in that area, but those outside areas that Fios was never installed are going to be SoL with Fairpoint. It's around $5 to $6k per fiber mile to install...Fairpoint can even afford the bills today! | |
|
| | | Aw c'mon-they should have seen it for what it was. No, I think Verizon just spread some of the green stuff around to make sure this pig in a poke went through. Consider Ivan's "secret" visit (that got found out) to the Maine governor when the public advocate rejected the plan. Not too much later the process began to flow more smoothly again for Verizon. What the public service boards "should" have done was reject this deal based on what they were being warned about and sent Verizon back to the drawing board. From what I understand, other Telecoms were interested in acquiring the the territory but probably weren't as lucrative a deal for Verizon as this one was. I hope an independant government commission is set up to investigate this, the sooner the better. Everyone please write their state and federal reps and demand an untainted investigation. | |
|
 PoloDudePremium,VIP
join:2006-03-29
Northport, NY
kudos:2 | Buy Back Watch VZ come back in and buy it back under a rescue agreement for dimes on the dollar. | |
| | tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:4 Reviews:
·Fairpoint Commun..
·Hollis Hosting
| Re: Buy Back said by PoloDude:Watch VZ come back in and buy it back under a rescue agreement for dimes on the dollar. That has always been on the back of everyone's mind. Was sale just a Verizon ploy to shed debt and improve balance sheet?
/tom | |
| | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
1 edit | Re: Buy Back No, they will not be buying back the territory. Verizon has no interest in the low RoI areas it has dumped, and will continue to dump. The company will be focusing on the continued deployment of FIOS in its larger RoI markets and the continued growth of the wireless division. The upper midwest [WI, MI, OH, IL, and IN] will be the next area that Verizon will sell off-- comments from managers to "find a new job before the end of the year" seem to indicate something afoot. The timing is right as the current contract expires in March 2010. Staffing has been cut by nearly 50% across all departments serving this region in addition to quarterly budget cuts. Look for TDS Telecom, Windstream, and/or Century Tel to be in on the deal as the footprint would compliment areas served by these 3 companies in particular.
Bottom line is that once Verizon sells a territory off it is gone for good from their portfolio. | |
| | | | tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:4 Reviews:
·Fairpoint Commun..
·Hollis Hosting
| Re: Buy Back said by Dolgan:The upper midwest [WI, MI, OH, IL, and IN] will be the next area that Verizon will sell off-- comments from managers to "find a new job before the end of the year" seem to indicate something afoot. Having grown up in Chicago don't think of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as rural like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Most states have urban concentration in a few areas with most of the area fairly rural.
I realize rural areas are less profitable but Verizon has limited geographical presence. I would have assumed once FIOS gets rolled out in high density areas they migrate it to increasing rural areas. Instead they are divesting themselves and limiting overall growth potential.
/tom | |
| | | | |  mouseferatuToo many cats, Too many micePremium,MVM
join:2004-03-16
Im not sure
kudos:3 | Re: Buy Back I can't imagine that Verizon will have an interest in a buy-back, Tom...
Just an opinion, but they jumped ship right after they put fiber in large areas of seacoast NH, southern NH, and along the ME/NH I95 corridor.
It must not have been a good investment for 'em in the first place. (Although I was surely pleased to get it.)
--
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crispy and good with catsup." | |
| | | | | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·callwithus
·Vitelity VOIP
| said by tschmidt:Having grown up in Chicago don't think of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as rural like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Used to live in West Des Moines, Iowa. Drove truck for living. Had deliveries in Illinois. Illinois is extremely rural and very sparsely populated, except for one little dot in the corner. FYI. | |
| | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| Thouroughly understand, as spent 24 years of my life in the 'burbs--mostly Naperville. LOL, there were only 30,000 people when moved there in 1980--it has become the 3rd largest city in the state. The towns/cities with serious growth potential, that VZ serves in IL, are Bloomington, Belleville, DeKalb. Sycamore, and Somonauk. The burbs keep growing and will extend non-stop to DeKalb [along the I-88 corridor] within the next 10 years. However, that is only about 1/2 the customers they service within the state. The largest geographic swaths that VZ covers also has the least population density within the cornbelt. We are talking about a lot of 1 stop sign towns with negative RoI.
The same holds true for the rest of the midwestern states. The largest city served in this territory is Ft wayne, IN. Many of the small to mid cities that VZ services have lost population as they were "company towns" with no alternatives for employment when the companies left. The most recent example would the former DHL Headquarters in Wilmington, OH. The loss of DHL has created a ripple effect within that town as the other businesses frequented by DHL employees have lost their prime source of income. Other such affected towns would be Elkhart, IN, Muskegeon, MI, and etc.
Do know that TDS Telecom went on a hiring burst starting in about Oct/Nov 08 and lasting thru Feb 09. Their National Hdqtrs are here in Madison, WI--so an aquisition of the WI assests would seem logical. VZ is willing to breakup the states if needed to complete the sale [ie WI and IL to carrier A, IN and OH to carrier B, and MI to carrier C].
Century Tel and Windstream have purchased assets from VZ previously, so the transition should be smoother than the Fairpoint and Hawaiian Tel transitions have gone. Century Tel and Windstram also have assests either within these states and/or in states that share borders with VZ's midwest assets. The determining factor will probably be based upon who can actually get the financing to purchase the assets. This is all speculation, but will not be suprised if it happens. Hopefully we won't be unlucky enough to be swapped out to Qwest as VZ tries to acquire their backhaul network. The backhauls that GTE and MCI had were the primary reason that BA/Verizon aqcuired them. The population growth in FL, PA, VA, TX, and CA areas once serviced by GTE has worked out nicely...just as the government contracts were that came along with the purchase of MCI.
Please excuse the length of my reply. | |
| | | | | |
1 edit | Re: Buy Back said by Dolgan:The towns/cities with serious growth potential, that VZ serves in IL, are Bloomington, Belleville, DeKalb. Sycamore, and Somonauk. Belleville (& most area surrounding it) is actually AT&T territory - but another growth potential might be the Carbondale area. | |
|
| | | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | said by tschmidt:Having grown up in Chicago don't think of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as rural like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Most states have urban concentration in a few areas with most of the area fairly rural. To me Indiana and Ohio are one of the major blighted rust belt areas. Depopulated, empty lots, abandoned lots, 10-20 story pre-WW2 brick office buildings surrounded by endless parking built over empty lots in the hearts of downtown areas.
VZ's IL territory is in the middle of farm country and is rural. ATT has the only profitable area, Chicago. Indiana and Ohio are population depleted rust belt economies.
Remember Verizon in IL/IN/OH was GTE, GTE was started by having in areas that weren't profitable to Ma Bell. Few areas are going to change their character and economies in just 70-100 years. If it was farmland before, it will still be farmland unless its near an urban hub. | |
| | | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Buy Back Thoroughly know the area as I spent the last 4 years taking calls in the SP EVRC for Verizon. The midwest was our prime area of responsibility, but we also took calls for CA, WA, OR, FL, SC, NC, AZ, and NV. Have experienced the decline in customer service/QoS Verizon has been providing first hand. Wish the employees and customers I left behind the best of luck, because they are going to need it. | |
|
| | | | Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | said by tschmidt:Having grown up in Chicago don't think of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as rural like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Most states have urban concentration in a few areas with most of the area fairly rural. /tom While some of the former GTE areas in the three states are suburban, the big metros with the exception of Cincinnati (Cincinnati Bell is the ILEC) are mostly AT&T areas. | |
|
| | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | said by Dolgan:The upper midwest [WI, MI, OH, IL, and IN] will be the next area that Verizon will sell off-- comments from managers to "find a new job before the end of the year" seem to indicate something afoot. Well Fairpoint proved that Verizon isn't afraid to sell off a FIOS market (Fort Wayne IN). So the "IN has FIOS, they would never sell it off" argument is mute now. | |
|
| morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | i seriously hope it's not. i would think the IRS would love to reconsider their tax write-off as it's too fishy. | |
| |  japPremium
join:2003-08-10
038xx
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by PoloDude:Watch VZ come back in and buy it back under a rescue agreement for dimes on the dollar. That I doubt. More likely the sale was with knowledge that
1- emerging rural WISP technologies mesh nicely with mobile phone tech & infrastructure,
2- On the wire side of life the trend towards digital telephony ala cable is/was writ large, and
3- northern NH & Maine distances, terrain and weather conspire to make physical lines too expensive to stand up against wireless services. Same in NE VT but, obviously, not in the NW of VT.
Not that VZ is above such shenanigans, but their behavior indicates they want out of copper. When they say emphasis is on fiber & WISP I believe it.
Buying NE leftovers from VZ was a poor deal for anyone. Slow (non-existent?) as the national roll-outs have been I'll still put my money on wireless voice+data overtaking hardline services here in the north country. | |
| | | | No, VZ will not buy Fairpoint back. VZ already told you what they are going to do with Fairpoint. VZW (which is owned by VZ and has ZERO union workers/pentions etc) will deploy LTE 4G all in Fairpoint's area! They will eat away at Fairpoints core customers. Fairpoint will go into bancruptcy, crush the union contracts and try to fight off the competition. Sounds like a similar story in the Northwest: QWEST.
There is NO money in telephone anymore! It's dead. Wireless, business lines, addition tie in's (TV service, free telephone) is how you make money. RIP Fairpoint. /congrats to all the politicians, regulators, and even users who wanted this sale.
VZ is just so sneaky  As a shareholder I say, "good job". As an "advocate" for rural broadband and a national coverage policy I say, "shame on you: VZ, Fairpoint, and regulators". | |
| | japPremium
join:2003-08-10
038xx Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
| The email newsletter DSLprime, AKA Dave Burstein, reports that VZ holds the paper on their sale to Fairpoint. Who knew? Using "the" paper begs the question how much of "the" paper. Certainly not all. I feel confused.
How much credence to put in Mr. Burstein's report I cannot say. His missives are blurtations occasionally so unstructured as to make little sense to me. He comes off as too busy & involved with More Important Things than giving us his free Expert & Connected Insights. That said he may be the real deal, he may be a good Samaritan genius. My readings are very infrequent and no better assessment can I offer.
Here's the full text of his bit on Fairpoint etal's situation from the Tue, March 31, 2009 mailing:
Fairpoint, Hawaii and Charter Essentially Insolvent. Are BT, Qwest, CenturyTel, and Frontier Next?
Wireline only telcos are hurting badly, with Fairpoint having trouble meeting an interest payment. BT, Qwest, CenturyTel, Frontier and the other North American regionals face a similar problem: Minimal wireless, wireline dropping as much as 12%, DSL growth minimal as we approach saturation. Many of these companies made Charter’s error of paying $4,000 per line for acquisitions, far more than likely earnings can support.
BTand Qwest are among the worst-performing telcos, The growth of DSL for several years compensated for declining landlines, but with 70% of US and UK households connected there isn’t much more room for growth.
I wrote a little while ago “Fairpoint, the New England telco, fell 14% a few days after I told a friend to be cautious with his short position. That’s why I warn people I’m not an investment advisor, even as most of the analysts swap ideas with me. Any financial analysis shows them soon insolvent. They paid so much to Verizon for the lines it’s hard for them ever to cover the debt. However, Verizon is carrying the paper, and has no upside in forcing them into bankruptcy. In addition, they are pressing the states hard to get them what amounts to a federal bailout via USF, stimulus, or whatever works. Fairpoint stock dropped to a level that is nonsensical unless they face imminent bankruptcy, which they should be able to avoid. It rebounded 21% today - maybe folks are covering their shorts because there wasn't much room to go down much further.
My friend is one of the sharpest tech investors on the street, and can take risks like that. Most of us shouldn’t.” Since then, the stock has continued to plummet; the current price only makes sense if bankruptcy is imminent. I have to look further, but that seems unlikely. I was surprised S&P is maintaining a BB+ rating and was very late putting them on Creditwatch. Their debt to equity and other ratios have been scaring the street for a while. S&P needs to re-evaluate all the wireline only telcos. I’m not saying they will all follow Fairpoint and Hawaiian Tel, but I’d want to be very cautious here.
| |
|
| | Bailout on the Table Good article; I had forgotten the tax benefit. I can confirm many details. There is a major bailout for Fairpoint and Qwest likely to be announced next Wednesday, plus a huge giveaway to the Bells. (Dropping the non-rural exemption). This is an NOI, but I hear the fix is in to move quickly.
It may not be enough.
Dave Burstein | |
| daslog
join:2002-04-10
Milford, NH | it's worse than you know.... The person I know who works there tells me it's a lot worse than you think
1) The transition from Verizon system to the new Software went horribly. A lot of this is due to the Data quality of the Verizon database that was transitioned.
2) It's going to take a long long time to fix.
3) The rate at which people are dumping landlines is a lot higher than anticipated
4) They will probably go bankrupt before they sort out the problems
Also, Verizon doesn't want to be a Telco anymore. They want to be a broadband provider. | |
| | mouseferatuToo many cats, Too many micePremium,MVM
join:2004-03-16
Im not sure
kudos:3 | Re: it's worse than you know.... And, the person that you know there seems to be correct.
The mess that the Verizon to FairPoint transition has created for small business is disgusting.
Comcast was wretched in this area, and fiber and T1, our current choices, are Verizon products, now owned by FairPoint.
Those services worked very well with Verizon, and do not work very well with all of the outages and billing messes that FairPoint generates.
As the situation that should be improving continues to tank, it doesn't leave a lot of options on the table...
If FairPoint goes bankrupt, I am not sure that I will be any worse off than I am today.
--
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crispy and good with catsup." | |
| | | | This is true. The data was far from whole. Alot of it we got as customers would call in and request support. If we didnt have their account we would have to create it. Pretty sad. Verizon gave us crap, they took the money and ran. | |
| |  braynesPremium
join:2005-03-14
Waterville, ME
·Great Works Inte..
| 1, If the data was so bad from verizon, how was it able to run the network? Why after the NEW sw was installed the problem started and still does today?
2, Why would that be? not trained people to do it? lack of interest?
3, When the public hearing were held it was overwhelming not in fairpoints favor, this with the fact many said they would change service,did fairpoint think they were joking?
4, We can only Hope.
5 what does your "person I know who works there tells me" get his info? the company? union?
Bruce | |
|
| |  And in other news: state officials are surprised & outraged!
I'm just waiting for the elected "leaders" to come out all outraged at the situation...saying they didn't see anything like this coming. F*ckers... | |
| | | FP I have three choices for Broadband(bedsides FP) , and live in a town with 5k people.
1. www.gwi.net
2. timewanercable.com(They don't have caps here!)
3. Earthlink via TWC | |
| | ski93
join:2005-02-14
Northwood, NH Reviews:
·Metrocast Commun..
| Re: FP If you have the money to spend..If you have a clear shot to the southwest try a Wildblue or Hugesnet type two way dish service..It's great to tinker with...much like dsl it has its good days and it BAD!! days...Also if your cell provider has a goods cell broadband plan and you have a half decent signal at your home thats also worth a try..My father in law lives up in Croyden NH (Newport Area) where Comcast presently resides, but does not service him yet, I set him up with Verizon wireless broadband..little usb adapter on his home computer put the antenna in the window and BAM!! 500k to 725k..depends on theplan you get, but a half decent option..Better than dialup!!! Just my two cents | |
|
| | | Fairpoint IS a disaster - for it's customers... As one of those unfortunate customers I felt compelled to comment on this - I live in an area that's been under Fairpoint's thumb for several years now. Service has been spotty, to put it kindly - with over 40 outages here since I signed up. Speeds are measured in kilobits (768 on a good day), not megabits - and basically I pay $50 a month for that "privilege". They want $99 a month for 1.5 megabit!!!
I'm sick and tired of the abuse this monopoly dishes out - complain and you get a disconnect notice (even when EVERY payment is on time and you even have your bank mailing them).
I say fairpoint has earned it's poor reputation - hundreds have mentioned fairpoint to me in conversation over the years, with not one single positive comment. Rural customers are bent over a barrel, with the government apparently turning a blind eye to it in spite of the financial assistance they provide to the companies.
I'm disgusted here - even dialup isn't a real option since fairpoint owns the phone lines 
NH VT and ME had no reason to expect better than they are getting - there are plenty of people who could have told them what to expect, and I'll bet they did. | |
| | shit
join:2003-07-14
Skowhegan, ME Reviews:
·Great Works Inte..
| Re: Fairpoint IS a disaster - for it's customers... As far as my experience is concerned, fairpoint sucks. Last summer,in my building two of the apartments had an POTS outage, they fixed one of the apartment's service, but refused to fix mine. I had to wait 5 days before they would send anyone to fix my telephone service,at that point I switched to VOIP from our local cable provider and never looked back since. Now at my other place, my dsl service provided by GWI, an independent provider loses sync with the Central office frequently after the fairpoint takeover. The PUC better figure out how to solve this problem fast, otherwise Northern New England will be in real trouble. | |
| | | | i know what you mean. i live in the same fairpoint service area as you. because i used to have taconic.net. i live in petersburgh, ny.
its absolutely rediculous. and they have no plans of upgrading anything for at least 5-10years. we pay $50/month for 1.5mbps now because they did a speed upgrade last week. its still price gouging in my opinion! verizon offers what like 7mbps now for $39.95.
i tried to get fiber in the area but we lost the state funding.. oh well.
i was at 3mbps because i was testing higher speeds from them. and then we canceled our home phone because Verizon put a cell tower in the town and we got full service. the price for the internet only packages when we canceled the phone was $5 more then bundled. so they said that once our home number ported to the cell that our internet would continue to work normally. 2 weeks after the number transfered my internet went out with "ADSL" blinking.. i called them and they said they disconneted it because we canceled. they said it was 2 WEEKS to reconnect it. now my line was already fitted for DSL so i dont know why it took this long. so then she said in order to reconnect it we needed to have phone service. but it clearly states online that there is an internet only package and the woman before gave it to us and it worked with no dial tone. so then she said the internet only package was $75. so now mysteriously during this phone call you came out with an internet only package thats $30 more expensive then the one i signed up for last week? they raised the prices because of the loss of customers they were getting because of the new cell towers in the area.
basically they charge you $75+tax for internet only. when basic phone + internet = $75+tax. lose lose situation.
so these new cell towers... they all connect via T-1 to fairCRAP anyways!! so when my home phone goes out, my cell has no service!!!!!! how rediculous. whats the point of a cell then? lol. | |
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| | HMMM Have to say the unions complained about this deal from the start, and No one listened. | |
| | | cutting throat Just to show what Verizon is doing in Fairpoint territory, they installed a tower in a one horse town in Maine, one general store. They are offering data speed for the hicks can run there computers. | |
| | | We Told You So! I guess the only way to prove the case against FRP up here - was to let em have the Verizon lines - and let em hoist themselves on their own pitards. The funniest part of this is that the PUCs and their minion The Liberty Group - dont seem to want to take any responsibility for this mess - and they have been here all along watching it happen. I hope the fingerpointing starts pronto - sort of like one rat ratting on the other - bet its funnier than the comedy channel. Too bad more pissed off FRP customers cant joint the fray - since they have no DSL or phone lines yet. Since FRP is headed for the woodshed - why not take the PUCs and politicians too? And Crap-Gemini for doing such a great job taking the 600 Verizon backoffice operations and rolling em into 60 FRP operations that dont seem to be working all that well.
In spite of my glee at the state of Failpoint - I do feel sorry for the employees and customers. Verizon is the only one who made out on this deal - hmmm - perhaps they should go to the woodshed too.
Let the fingerpointing begin. YEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! | |
| | | whee what fun been two weeks now with no functional DSL from 3pm to 10pm on weekdays, more on weeknights. twice a day calls to tech support have yielded no results, although they swear to be working on it. constant disconnections when trying to contact them.
they have me so frustrated and impotent that i'm typing without capital letters. argh. | |
| | | oh yeah and also, I have no access to any high-speed options besides fairpoint. except for maybe satellite, but no thanks there. | |
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