 
sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
 ·Optimum Online
| And you thought it was just the congresscritters... ...who steal your money.
Who do you think will make up for the $600M shortfall in taxes?
I have a business, maybe I can sell some "unprofitable" gear to a friend and get a big writeoff.  | |
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swintec
Premium
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME
 ·RapidVPS
·surpasshosting
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·VoicePulse
·RoadRunner Cable
|  Everything Stays The Same??
Everything stays the same huh, for how long? 2 Days before they realize they NEED to raise prices? How will things stay the same all while being able to increase rural development? Verizon didnt / couldnt(?) do it.
TW since acquiring Adelphia and more importantly almost the entire states cable services, is rapidly, and I mean rapidly deploying there over priced digital phone service. For years, much of the state had to listen and watch radio and TV ads about the unlimited phone service TW offered in the southern part of the state, now that they have most of the state as far as service goes, customers are very eager to jump on the digital phone bandwagon. Between independant VoIP carriers like I have and TW's digital phone taking on customers by the armfull, will Fairpoint have any customers left, besides the rural ones?
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Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams | |
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russotto
join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA
| White elephant sale Hmm. Looks to me like
Step 1: Verizon dumps crappy infrastructure on Fairpoint for real cash.
Step 2: Fairpoint sinks under weight of white elephant, goes into receivership.
Step 3: Verizon picks up former assets for pennies on the dollar.
All very simple... except for the question of why Fairpoint would agree to it. | |
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| | macaholic
Premium
join:2003-08-31
Jackson Heights, NY
| Re: White elephant sale Maybe the costs of managing a local phone network is cheaper for a company like Fairpoint rather than a complicated infrastructure company like Verizon. Fairpoint probably figure they may be able to figure a profit with current prices to customers...
Ben
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"You don't subject minority rights to a referendum." Justice Minister Irwin Cotler of Canada | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Why does the word "Enron"... Keep playing in my mind, as I read this? | |
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| bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus | Re: Useless Without Pictures Awesome dude... I haven't seen that picture and forever, but spot on with the captioning. | |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| Who is Fairpoint? I can't believe that any company would knowingly and willingly take a sucker's deal like that. True, IBM allowed a little company called Microsoft to make the deal of a lifetime with them, but that's a hindsight perspective. IBM didn't know that their PC would be any more popular than their previous microcomputer attempts. In this case it looks like Fairpoint is signing a contract that has "WE'RE RIPPING YOU OFF!" in 36-point type at the top of every page of the contract. There must be more to this story.
Who is behind Fairpoint, and who are they connected with? With a name like Fairpoint, it even sounds like a sham. If they have to put in their corporate name, it's something that they're not, as a rule.
Who wants to wager when Fairpoint applies with the USDA for some very large loans?
Who wants to wager how long it will be after that before the company files Chapter 7? | |
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GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| Re: Who is Fairpoint? said by Time4aNAP  :Who is behind Fairpoint, and who are they connected with? With a name like Fairpoint, it even sounds like a sham. If they have to put in their corporate name, it's something that they're not, as a rule. Fairpoint Communications, Inc. is the OFFICIAL and legal name of the corporation.
And who owns the stock?
The biggest owners are the mgt firms for mutual funds and the mgt team also owns big pieces:
»library.corporate-ir.net/library···N10K.pdf
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Internet News
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| | Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: Who is Fairpoint? LOL...Fairpoint "merged" with Verizon, so it's now Verizon. Spinco and Taconic are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Verizon, so every single bit of this is owned and operated by Verizon.
So...if Verizon is using Verizon to give Verizon a tax break and make a lot of debt magically disappear, who ends up with the liabilities?
The answer is in the mirror. | |
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GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| Re: Who is Fairpoint? 1st - the question I answered was who in Fairpoint benefits.
2nd - Spinco will be spun off and will be merged in to Fairpoint. Not the other way around. Fairpoint will not be a subsidiary of Verizon. And the shareholders of Spinco will be anyone who currently holds Verizon stock - they will get Spinco shares. This means an extremely wide distribution of shares. Fairpoint directors will maintain control of Fairpoint.
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Internet News
My BLOG
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| | | | Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: Who is Fairpoint? said by GOLFnSUN :1st - the question I answered was who in Fairpoint benefits. O...K... Why should I care? (That's rhetorical, don't answer it.) I didn't ask that question, nor did I ask about your answer. 
2nd - Spinco will be spun off and will be merged in to Fairpoint. Not the other way around. Fairpoint will not be a subsidiary of Verizon. And the shareholders of Spinco will be anyone who currently holds Verizon stock - they will get Spinco shares. This means an extremely wide distribution of shares. Fairpoint directors will maintain control of Fairpoint. We'll see, when and if it happens. Right now, Fairpoint and Verizon are one and the same. That makes this tax and debt scheme nothing but a shell game, regardless of what the final structure is. | |
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| | | | NHpublius
join:2007-05-18
Manchester, NH | TCH... and who are those "fairpoint" directors going to be? There are going to be 9 of them, right? and aren't 6 going to be appointed by Verizon?
Don't bother to answer the questions.. I know the answers | |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | Re: A few things about this deal said by GOLFnSUN :The USF should be eliminated. we agree, for once. | |
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| Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| said by GOLFnSUN :USF. A big waste of money. Most of the USF funds won't be used for expansion, though a small part may go to that. The USF should be eliminated. That's a popular mantra around here. But answer me this: What happens to all of our tax dollars when the USF is "eliminated"? Taxpayers such as myself are supposed to say "oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles", let the thieves get a pass, and continue to pay that tax into the general fund for nothing? Sounds like a pretty sucky deal to me! | |
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GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| Re: A few things about this deal said by Time4aNAP : But answer me this: What happens to all of our tax dollars when the USF is "eliminated"? Taxpayers such as myself are supposed to say "oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles", let the thieves get a pass, and continue to pay that tax into the general fund for nothing? Sounds like a pretty sucky deal to me! No. When the USF goes, the fees(taxes) also go.
Good question though about what happens to the money still in the fund.
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| | | Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: A few things about this deal said by GOLFnSUN :No. When the USF goes, the fees(taxes) also go. Of course they go...right into the general fund. Surely you're not so naïve that you think that they're going to stop collecting a tax! LOL...Not very likely, especially for a government that's so far in the hole that they stopped counting after the second trillion dollars.
Good question though about what happens to the money still in the fund. There's no question there. They have to use it for its intended purpose. To clear the books, they'll just "loan" it out to political cronies. When the USF ceases to exist, all loans, both good and bad, become give-aways. That's how things go in DC. Take it from someone who has worked there. | |
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| | | bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
| said by GOLFnSUN :said by Time4aNAP : But answer me this: What happens to all of our tax dollars when the USF is "eliminated"? Taxpayers such as myself are supposed to say "oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles", let the thieves get a pass, and continue to pay that tax into the general fund for nothing? Sounds like a pretty sucky deal to me! No. When the USF goes, the fees(taxes) also go. I'd like to think that is the case, TCH, but you know the telcos are going to try to find some other way to make up the missing chunk of money that they would get if the USF were to go. The USF fee might go, but I bet you will see lots of un-fees appearing.
What needs to happen is just overhaul the USF so that it does the thing it is suppose to do - provider service to schools, libraries, etc. THAT needs to stay.
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Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
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| NHpublius
join:2007-05-18
Manchester, NH
| TCH... where are you getting your numbers?
yes, Fairpoint "gets" 1.7 billion in turned over debt... I hope you're not saying that all of the buildings, trucks, equipment, and such are the 1.7 billion in assets. The only way that's worth anything is if they sell it.. So therefore it's a useless asset.
As for the the Universal Service Fund... Fairpoint will be going from approximately $400 per line to about $35 a line... a HUGE loss... They will try to make up that money somewhere..
But also keep this in mind.. Fairpoint is currently lobbying to change the USF welfare fund so that they would not lose as much, or be able to use it for other uses..
In the words of a very smart man I know...Fairpoint sucks! | |
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scooper
join:2000-07-11
Youngsville, NC | rhetorical question... And these big companies are wondering why people are angry at them ? | |
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| Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: rhetorical question... said by scooper :And these big companies are wondering why people are angry at them? Big companies are made up of many individuals of varying stripes. One can't rightly make blanket statements about what a large group of individuals think. They're not all of the same mind.
Having said that, I'm sure that the low-level employees who are required to take calls from customers are not wondering why. They know all too well why, and are powerless to do anything about it. Top management is comfortably isolated from reality, with their limousines, gated communities and Fox News. So they haven't a clue.
That leaves middle management. Middle managers know that people are angry, but don't particularly care unless cornered by an irate customer. (Even then they don't care why.) That's why middle management is rarely seen wearing the supposedly mandatory ID badges.
So the answer is no, they aren't wondering at all. | |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| put that in writing bitch quote:
Related: A Fairpoint executive speaks to a local New Hampshire news outlet and insists that if the deal is approved, everything (price/contract/bill) stays the same for existing Verizon customers, with the exception of bill letterhead and increased rural deployment.
sure.....
Lets put that as a legally binding contract. | |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| Weren't New England phone rates the CHEAPEST in the country? A nice cool 600 million can be a down payment on the vodafone wireless stock Verizon wants to buy back.. and they lose the albatross that is New England copper and rust. Although its a shame for those who really wanted fiber.. It's time to move from the sleepy little towns because 100% universal coverage is a latent pipe dream.. Even the most ambitious cable companies aren't banging down New England's doors and each individual state must see who wants to tackle the problem because New England states are NOT Pennsylvania, Texas, or California.. the economics of upgrading are different..But of course we're not covering new ground by saying this.
I don't really feel too sorry for the rural areas so much because for some reason every product that comes from RURAL farmland is getting so damned expensive that we're willing to buy poisoned products from china to save a few dollars... and that is a damed shame too.. locally grown=expensive.
Well save those pennies New England.. you may have to convert those wheat fields or whatever you grow up there into Fiber Optics.. because, eventually the pendulum swings the other way.. there will probably by a rural property tax (state special fund) to start covering some of this work.. no two ways about it. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Weren't New England phone rates the CHEAPEST in the country? said by tmc8080 :I don't really feel too sorry for the rural areas so much because for some reason every product that comes from RURAL farmland is getting so damned expensive that we're willing to buy poisoned products from china to save a few dollars... And that is on top of all the free tax money that farmers get in subsidies. Isn't that nice?
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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| Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| New England is a very simple place.
MA is where you go to work.
NH* is where you retire to when you don't want to pay taxes.
RI is where your beach house is.
VT is where your ski condo is.
CT is where you live if you work in NYC.
ME is everyone else.
There are few places in between, like western mass, north-western CT, Central and North Maine, that might as well be the mid-west. But PA has West Virgina, TX has OK, and CA has OR.
*(Northern NH counts as VT) | |
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| | NHpublius
join:2007-05-18
Manchester, NH
| Re: Weren't New England phone rates the CHEAPEST in the country? Ahrenl,
No matter where I read your posts you still make no sense. Mass is where you go to get shot.
*NH is where people grow up if they want a nice place to live.
Rhode Island is too small to care about.
Vermont is where the hippies go
Connecticut is not really a new england state, so who cares.
And Maine is a nice place to vacation and get drunk.
*extreme southern NH counts as Mass, cause that's where the Massholes move to. | |
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Behind the Verizon/Fairpoint Financials
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A few things about this deal