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Verizon's Dupe of Frontier, Fairpoint Comes Full Circle
As Telco Uses Fixed LTE To Lure Back Sold Customers

We've noted several times how Verizon's sale of their DSL and landline assets to Fairpoint and Frontier was strategically brilliant (unless you're one of the impacted customers). Not only did Verizon sell both companies millions of neglected customers and lines they didn't want to maintain or upgrade, the deals offloaded huge amounts of Verizon debt onto these companies (driving Fairpoint into bankruptcy) while netting Verizon a huge tax write off.

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As I noted back in 2010 the best part for Verizon was the fact that after the smoke cleared, they could come back into these areas and market their more expensive fixed LTE Home Fusion service to those same customers, luring them back to the Verizon fold under the much more profitable pay-per byte model.

Users in our forums note that's exactly what's happening, with Verizon ramping up marketing for their Home Fusion service in Fairpoint's New Hampshire territories with door-to-door sales pitches:

quote:
I found a door hanger on my house today for Verizon's "Homefusion" 4G LTE broadband Internet service. The price is $60 for 10Gb/month standalone, or it can be bundled with an existing Verizon "share everything" plan (aka, "Share everything in your wallet with Verizon"). This is what many predicted years ago in the discussions during the Verizon asset sale. It will be interesting to see if there's any significant uptake of this offering; the price isn't too out of line with what Comcast or FairPoint charge, but the data limit is significantly less.
Verizon's offering new customers double the regular LTE data allotments (starting at 10GB for $60 a month) for the first two months of a billing cycle. While broadband-educated readers might wonder why any user would migrate from unlimited DSL to capped LTE, keep in mind the reliability of many of these lines has not been stellar, and the majority of American consumers still don't even know what a gigabyte is, the $60 base price tag is also comparable to DSL, and in many instances LTE users see faster speeds.

Both Fairpoint and Frontier executives were either oblivious to this outcome, or simply figured the explosive and barely manageable growth was worth it. Both companies continue to struggle with finances, aren't really able to expand next-generation broadband in any meaningful capacity, and will continue to lose POTS and DSL customers to wireless in droves. Why some Wall Street analysts remain bullish on the prospects of either company continues to be a question for the ages. Both companies are going nowhere -- slowly.
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pjhofmann
join:2000-08-22
Cary, NC

pjhofmann

Member

Frontier here in Portland, OR

I think this is geared to rural DSL users as the system Frontier bought from Verizon in the Portland, OR area includes FIOS. There's no way I'd drop that for capped wireless that's even slower that what I have now.

I do envision Frontier giving up someday in Portland, at least I can go back to Comcast.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
kudos:43

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: Frontier here in Portland, OR

I believe there were only like 100,000 FiOS users involved in those sales, and a big chunk of those left when Frontier introduced that $500 install fee to scare them away....

pjhofmann
join:2000-08-22
Cary, NC

pjhofmann

Member

Re: Frontier here in Portland, OR

I believe the $500 install fee was instituted to scare off potentially new customers to their video service. I don't believe Frontier wants to be in the TV business, that being said they haven't done a thing to try and scare me off their system. I've had to negotiate a slightly higher price after my initial 2-year contract expired and found it comparable to Comcast so I'm still here. The data services has been pretty good, great speeds, no cap to speak of and reliable.
slopoke
join:2012-05-20
London, OH
·Frontier Communi..

slopoke

Member

Re: Frontier here in Portland, OR

Us too, as much crap as you hear about Frontier they've been real good here. Even updated our old system some and it has gotten more reliable. And speed is good, what I'm paying for at least. Got a real good service guy who seems to care if we're getting what we need. Verizon, meh. Matter of fact been on line since July with no drops. (now watch it crap tonite in the middle of my coding, LOL, not likely)
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS

tmc8080 to Karl Bode

Member

to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode:

I believe there were only like 100,000 FiOS users involved in those sales, and a big chunk of those left when Frontier introduced that $500 install fee to scare them away....

And when they did that, Portland should have fined the company $1k for each customer they did that to and refund it back to the customer-- or create a muni FTTP project to supplant frontier.

Just say no to Verizon's LTE.. I hope they choke on every last bit of their overpriced bandwidth and let it sit there like lettuce on a Japanese import dock...
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
Springfield, VA
kudos:2

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Frontier here in Portland, OR

Is Frontier charging existing customers $500? Why would Portland fine a company for charging an install fee for new customers?

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to tmc8080

Premium Member

to tmc8080
said by tmc8080:

said by Karl Bode:

I believe there were only like 100,000 FiOS users involved in those sales, and a big chunk of those left when Frontier introduced that $500 install fee to scare them away....

And when they did that, Portland should have fined the company $1k for each customer they did that to and refund it back to the customer-- or create a muni FTTP project to supplant frontier.

Just say no to Verizon's LTE.. I hope they choke on every last bit of their overpriced bandwidth and let it sit there like lettuce on a Japanese import dock...

I'll go along with that last paragraph 100%

wesm
Premium Member
join:1999-07-29
Seattle, WA
·CenturyLink

wesm to Karl Bode

Premium Member

to Karl Bode
The $500 install fee died months ago, even for television. Installation is now free with a contract, or $79-$139 for month-to-month.

Frankly, the service I've gotten on Frontier FiOS has been better than what I had with Verizon FiOS when I lived in a territory that Verizon still serves.
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

axus

Member

Re: Frontier here in Portland, OR

Interesting, maybe they decided profitable is something they should be after all.
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:9

cramer to pjhofmann

Premium Member

to pjhofmann
Not just Portland. Frontier bought Verizon FiOS in Durham NC (the "D" in RDU) as well. And they have ZERO clue how to use even an inch of it. 100s of miles of fibre hanging there doing nothing.

DaSneaky1D
what's up
MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou

DaSneaky1D

MVM

That's AWESOME!!!

So, Verizon had a business sold "newspapers" to people getting rained on. They handed that business over to another company to sell the papers and they came back into the same area with golf umbrellas to sell!
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

I saw this coming for years...
If you look at most developing countries, there are few landlines - its almost all wireless. Why ? Its a heck of a lot cheaper to build and support (with the exception of spectrum), and there's a demand for it.
POTS is dead.
AT&T is effectively attempting to do the same thing. Its late to the party (day late, dollar short), which means that it can't profit off the sale of its landline business.
Instead, its going to swap its landline for LTE in rural areas. Frontier/Century Link/Fairpoint/etc. had all better get their act together and get off the POTS bandwagon - quickly.

DaSneaky1D
what's up
MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou

DaSneaky1D

MVM

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

Right!

I have to admit, I didn't give much mind to it until very recently, but it makes sense.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
kudos:1

MovieLover76 to en103

Member

to en103
Everyone who went to this site did, people were talking about it when the frontier deal was signed that Verizon would likely come back with fixed wireless
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:9

cramer to en103

Premium Member

to en103
The landline PHONE is nearly dead. HOWEVER, the need for that infrastructure to bring us The Internet (which is how a lot of people get their home phone) is far from dead. Wireless is an absolutely horrible way to get internet access... it's a relatively small pipe with an almost uncontrollable number of users -- the tech is inherently mobile.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
Springfield, VA
kudos:2

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

said by cramer:

the tech is inherently mobile.

Mobility is obviously the best use of wireless technology. As the world continues trending toward increasing mobility, I doubt wireless services are going to trail off anytime soon. Yes, wired infrastructure is still critical for communications infrastructure...especially to backhaul the wireless portions.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
kudos:4
·Time Warner Cable

djrobx to cramer

Premium Member

to cramer
said by cramer:

Wireless is an absolutely horrible way to get internet access... it's a relatively small pipe with an almost uncontrollable number of users -- the tech is inherently mobile.

Totally agree, although it might make more sense in sparse rural areas. In that scenario there just aren't as many endpoints competing for bandwidth.

If LTE Advanced gets up to 1gbps, it could serve a lot of customers. Compare that to my cable company who's offering 50mbps service on 4 38mbps 256QAM channels per neighborhood node.

In more densely populated areas wireline will still be necessary - they'll need all this capacity just for mobile devices.

Monos
@sbc.com

Monos to cramer

Anon

to cramer
Landline is in no way dead, it is in decline but there are still hundreds of millions of Landlines out there in use every day. I will never disconnect mine willingly, when the power goes out Voip does not work for more than 20 minutes, if you are lucky.
patronanejo
join:2009-09-10
EC2R 8AH

2 edits

patronanejo

Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

said by Monos :

...when the power goes out Voip does not work for more than 20 minutes, if you are lucky.

What are you talking about--VoIP on a desktop powered by UPS? I don't think lucky applies to any part of that.

You realise that cell phones carry their own UPS--and operate on expressly designed voice-over-GSM/CDMA networks--right?

Not to mention the ease with which you can access VoIP services over LTE- or 3G networks....

Most cell towers--but not all--have backup battery power. Last year, the FCC looked into requiring carriers to harden emergency power at all cell sites--but was sued by the CTIA and lost.

Hurricane Sandy made the FCC's point pretty firmly.
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:9

cramer

Premium Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

It made the telco's point as well... the facilities necessary to keep a cell tower (much less *all* of them) operational until the grid is restored would be *cough* extreme. (sizing the generator to the site, the cost of MANY generators, quite sizable amount of on-site fuel, security to keep people from stealing it, and contracts to manage filling/cycling the fuel.)

Keeping CO's powered is trivial by comparison. There aren't as many of them. And many (almost all?) are manned sites -- techs work from there or are in there regularly.
whozzit
join:2003-03-26
Westwood, CA
·Frontier Communi..

whozzit to cramer

Member

to cramer
All of that seems to be relative. I've been subscribed to a fixed wireless ISP here in northeastern California since it was offered in 2002 (Digitalpath). I've found it to be robust for more than ten years now (5 MB down and 1 MB up), the house is online 24/7 and there are no useage caps of any kind. This all came about because the telco had the DSL situation locked up (in their favor). Digitalpath overcame this by not using and phone lines or cable to get to their suscribers... they used the air instead. It has always been robust enough to use VoIP (telephone) over 24/7; both incomeing and outgoing.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA
kudos:1

jmn1207 to DaSneaky1D

Premium Member

to DaSneaky1D
said by DaSneaky1D:

So, Verizon had a business sold "newspapers" to people getting rained on. They handed that business over to another company to sell the papers and they came back into the same area with golf umbrellas to sell!

Those would be golf umbrellas that you can only have open for 10 minutes per month at $60, with a penalty of $20 for each additional minute the umbrella remains open beyond the initial 10 minutes.
34764170
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170

Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

said by jmn1207:

Those would be golf umbrellas that you can only have open for 10 minutes per month at $60, with a penalty of $20 for each additional minute the umbrella remains open beyond the initial 10 minutes.

What a complete joke.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA
kudos:1

jmn1207

Premium Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

The average person only needs an umbrella for a minute or two each month. Anyone that needs an umbrella for 10 minutes or more is probably stealing dryness.
Telco
join:2008-12-19

Telco

Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

And my favorite, this is what "the market decided and wants", which is absolute BS.

That tells you right there what they think of the market and the American consumer. I hate to interject politics into this, however, we all know which side cheers this on like a cult, as they do with everything in this country.

LightS
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
Greenville, TX

LightS

Premium Member

Re: That's AWESOME!!!

said by Telco:

I hate to interject politics into this

No you don't

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
kudos:12

NormanS to Telco

MVM

to Telco
said by Telco:

I hate to interject politics into this, however, we all know which side cheers this on like a cult, as they do with everything in this country.

That would be the "side" which holds both Executive, and Legislative power in any year since, oh, say, 1865.
Telco
join:2008-12-19

Telco to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
Spot on.
ssavoy
Premium Member
join:2007-08-16
Dallas, PA

ssavoy

Premium Member

Telcos

It's a very expensive service I'm not sure many would switch to unless Frontier really drops the ball. Oh wait.

How much longer does Frontier have in areas where they aren't the monopoly? They're just an internet and landline phone company. Landlines are dying and DSL is already dated. Maybe they'll become a Dish reseller and become "Frontier" satellite TV. Oh wait, that industry isn't doing too well either.

So long, Frontier. Your lack of network investment will be your demise.

spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1
·Consolidated Com..
·SureWest Internet

spewak

Premium Member

Re: Telcos

said by ssavoy:

It's a very expensive service I'm not sure many would switch to unless Frontier really drops the ball. Oh wait.

How much longer does Frontier have in areas where they aren't the monopoly? They're just an internet and landline phone company. Landlines are dying and DSL is already dated. Maybe they'll become a Dish reseller and become "Frontier" satellite TV. Oh wait, that industry isn't doing too well either.

So long, Frontier. Your lack of network investment will be your demise.

I could NOT have typed it better, or in a nicer way!
Frontier, long ago, just decided financially to take the lowest of the low roads and now, finally, are going to get their asses handed to them. I don't think the uptake for Verizon will be that spectacular, but they will steal back some frontier customers.

redxii
Mod
join:2001-02-26
SW Michigan

redxii to ssavoy

Mod

to ssavoy
Frontier is already reselling Hughesnet. They gave up on new DSL deployments.

Other than dial-up my only choices are 3G (Verizon) or Satellite. Verizon says they're gonna have 100% of their 3G footprint on LTE, we'll just see about that..

petewary
@frontiernet.net

petewary

Anon

Frontier taking Verizons trash

I remember when a small time phone company named Citizens Communications ,(Con-Tel and GTE before them) acquired Frontier.I thought this is probably a bad thing.Well,Citizens took Frontiers name and things started to happen.First,DSL became available,and that has had its ups n downs.Then recently the remote that we connect to that converts the copper to fiber just got back-up AC power,WOW ,just like the 20th century. The DSL isn't the greatest , but we live a couple miles from the remote and the remote is 18 miles to the main switching facility in town with god knows how many repair splices in between.
rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

rdmiller

Member

Old technology

Isn't this what smart companies do? Sell off their obsolete technologies? Media General just sold all its newspapers to become a 100% broadcast TV company.

•••••••••••••••

Nightmare
@corpmailsvcs.com

Nightmare

Anon

Golden Parachutes

I REALLY dont think the fairpoint executives care about what happens to the company. They will have their Golden Parachutes to land softly to earth after users jump for "faster" yet capped LTE. Once fairpoint collapses...... again..... the executive will leave and get a nice comfy job at VZW in there area.

Only way this could of been avoided, IMO, would of been to tack on a condition of jail time if these executives dont turn the neglected infrastructure around and produce a real product. But like it said.. that's my opinion.

lfdslfsd
@icentrix.com

lfdslfsd

Anon

left right away

went to comcast.. never looking back

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:7

cdru

MVM

$60 for 10GB?!?!

quote:
The price is $60 for 10GB/month standalone
I think I'll keep my $60 30mbit FiOS line that can blow through that limit in about 45 minutes thank you very much.

•••••

Dwayne
@comcastbusiness.net

Dwayne

Anon

First two billing cycles.

50% more is not double!
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Satellite, not DSL

I don't think HomeFusion is luring many DSL subscribers in. $60 per month is more expensive than almost all DSL subscribers pay and it is heavily capped. HomeFusion is competing more with satellite at the moment.
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo

Member

First, injury...

Now, insult.

AnonMe
@comcastbusiness.net

AnonMe

Anon

Long term...

Long term the only thing that will save Fairpoint in New England is to deploy FTTH with bandwidth that will make Comcast cry, at a reasonable price to consumers. Do they have the capital to do it? Unlikely, but short of that, they are a doomed company in the long term.

The question becomes, what happens to the remnants of them once they do go belly up again? They still provide services that could be considered necessary, think 911 infrastructure, city government connections, etc. It's unlikely that governments at any level would let them just pull the plug. Is this the next great american bailout?

•••
buckweet1980
join:2011-12-31
Allen, TX

buckweet1980

Member

Set my dad up for homefusion for xmas

I set my dad up for HomeFusion service for xmas and he absolutely loves it. My dad lives in an area with no DSL, no cable, nothing.. VZW turned on 4G in the local town and luckily it stretches out to where he is in the country..

The weird thing is that technically he can't get the service. He lives in a rural area in west Ohio, while I live in Pittsburgh. I have FIOS at my house and I was eligible for this service, yet my father isn't. Weird huh? So I had them install it at my house and I then transplanted the gear to his house. He then called into VZW and took over the account and changed the address with no issues.

I mentioned he loves it.. He's able to get 2.5MB/sec downloads at times and latency is around 100ms for most websites. With his ATT 3G service he needed to use a repeater to get the service and even then it was high latency 250ms+ (native to 3g tech) and slow speeds. He is only on the 10gig plan which stinks, but it's better than what he has and costs the same as ATT.
buckweet1980

buckweet1980

Member

Re: Set my dad up for homefusion for xmas

Forgot to mention I think the the limited availability has to do with installers. VZW isn't allowing for self install currently, which is sad because the solution is very very easy to install. You have the outside cantenna which is then fed via RG6 coax to the inside devices. Inside there is a power pack which sends power up to the cantenna and then also the wireless AP/switch with a MoCA interface.

The actual router functionality sits in the Cantenna and the inside device is really just a bridge. The two units do work together though as they control each other.

Another thing I experienced is that when they found he wasn't elgible for the service at his house they said 'why not get a mifi'.. I was like sure if you give me the same plan rates as the HomeFusion, but they weren't willing to do this. $60 for homefusion or 80+ for a MiFi.. So I went ahead and had them install homefusion at my home and then transplanted it.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA
·Time Warner Cable

elray

Member

Choice comes to Frontierland

Instead of complaining, I'd be celebrating the fact that Frontier and Fairpoint have to reckon with competition, and might actually look to improve their product offerings.

Not every region is going to see bargain-basement rates, but we will continue to see lower and lower costs per bit from all carriers, as VZW's $60/10 actually represents.

We had several AT&T copper facilities here that couldn't break dialup speed, no matter how many bucket trucks were deployed, with POTS that rarely had dialtone. 3G/4G/LTE, even at $6/Gig, would have been a very welcome alternative, though we were fortunate enough to have double/triple-pay cable options come through in the nick of time.

I don't consider $60/10 to be reasonable, but it isn't outrageous. VZW has to set the tone for wireless, to prevent the type of abuse that "unlimited" brings to select towers, like we're seeing on Clear and VMUSA experienced immediately after going unlimited.

I suspect we will see Verizon moderate their fixed-LTE rate plans over the coming years, with dynamic throttling and off-peak rates, as well as lower prime bit rate plans.

Were Fairpoint and Frontier snookered? Maybe, but it seems awfully convenient to jump to conspiracy theory. In the end, if fixed-LTE doesn't deliver, they may look rather smart to own the last mile.

Dominokat
"Hi"
Premium Member
join:2002-08-06
Boothbay, ME
kudos:2

Dominokat

Premium Member

No thanks

I did the capped satellite thing before Adelphia (now Time Warner) provided cable internet.

I won't go back to that. Although HomeFusion isn't satellite, the caps are too low and the price it high. Just like it was on satellite.

moon1234
@gammex.com

moon1234

Anon

Live in Frontier land too.

I live in an area sold to Frontier. DSL has remained at 1Mbps for the last DECADE. Not a single drop of effort to increase speed. Charter on the other hand, curse their pricing, has 100Mbps service, has offered FIVE free speed upgrades since I have been here (along with 5 price hikes to the TV side).

Frontier proceeded to increase home phone rates to the point it cost more than monthly cell service. Granted that more than half the bill was taxes and fees, I don't see how Frontier will stay in business. I was the last resident on my block of 20 houses to still have a land line active until a few months back.

Charter seems to be the only company actually spending money on improving rural customer access. I guess it shows since almost everyone has internet service from Charter and TV from a small dish company. Charter just sucks ass on their TV pricing. The new a-hole apple exec they got has really pissed off a LOT of people when "promo" renewal time comes around. Pricing going up a few dollars each year is one thing. $40/month is quite another.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Superior, WI
·Charter

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Live in Frontier land too.

said by moon1234 :

Charter seems to be the only company actually spending money on improving rural customer access. I guess it shows since almost everyone has internet service from Charter and TV from a small dish company. Charter just sucks ass on their TV pricing. The new a-hole apple exec they got has really pissed off a LOT of people when "promo" renewal time comes around. Pricing going up a few dollars each year is one thing. $40/month is quite another.

If your on the old pricing setup, do not change a thing. I pay 200 per month for TV(basic, expanded basic, digitier1), and their ultra100 service. If I change anything, it moves me to the new price structure, which costs me $40 more per month or more(with more taxes and fees, im sure it would be closer to 50). at that point, I would drop the TV and either cut the cord or go with DirecTV. DirecTV offers $30 per month for a year or two, with no taxes and fees, checked my landlords bill. I lose a few channels, and the DVR would cost another $20 per month. It comes out to a few dollars cheaper as is, but if im moved to the new pricing, im changing TV providers or dropping them all together. TV is overrated. I watch 3 shows a week, and I can find them online for free.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
EARTH

BiggA

Premium Member

LTE only for those without

No one who can get DSL will get LTE, as the caps are absurd for home broadband service, so they really aren't competing with the carriers they sold to. And for phone service, they already compete, CDMA 1x has been up for what, a decade now?

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State
·CenturyLink
·DIRECTV
·TracFone Wireless

linicx

Premium Member

There is no choice

Rural America is a different situation. There is no choice as their is no competition unless one considers cell phones and satellite competition. VoIP and telco VoIP is not reliable,it is unsuited for Lifeline, and its generally poor quality. These companies want the $$$, but they do not want to open the bandwidth to provide quality calls.

••••

Monos
@sbc.com

Monos

Anon

What would people be saying if at&t had done this?

I wonder how this would be reported if at&t had dumped their rural areas onto Frontier and Fairpoint and saddled them with unmanageable debt, and antiquated networks? I am pretty sure it would be front page news in every newspaper

•••


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