Fairpoint FiOS Customers Still Offline After Nor'Easter

Somewhere in the middle of all that FairPoint bashing I think there is a mention about an outage with FairPoint's Fiber product.

So this company has no type of power protection (UPS/Generators) at the CO? And have no staff that knows how to resolve the software problems? Sounds like a half a$$ operation....

The CO had SOFTWARE issues. Power was out for a week in parts, and snowfall records (time of year) was over a foot. Because trees still had leaves, and the snow was wet (heavy), major limb damage took out power lines all over. I am sure they have backup power, but for "essential" services, like... the coffee machine and water cooler (where the software progs hang out).

most likely means that they have nobody trained at Fairpoint to actually 'run' FiOS/FAST - but just maintain. Now they have an issue.

You can only run as long as your genset has fuel.

It never ceases to amaze me that in the face of a natural disaster, people still find ways to bitch about things that are out of the control of even the most prepared companies. Yeah, a "software bug" might have extended the outage, but by how long? Is this a case of 5 days without power and another day because of software issues. The way I understand it, many people are still just now getting power back.

I agree, a "software bug" is probably something they should have been better prepared for, but when a lot of your infrastructure is laying on the ground under tree limbs or without power, getting the physical network back up and working is usually the first priority and nobody has unlimited resources to be working on everything at the same time.

You must be a Senior VP at FairPoint...

And you must be an ignorant dick. I'm not much for resorting to name calling, but some people are whiny babies that have no consideration for anyone but themselves.

When one is up to her ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember that the original mission is to drain the swamp.

When they took over from Verizon, they probably had Verizon helping with some of the back end work. Now that Verizon is being sued, they probably aren't so willing to help with the back end tech in getting this back online.

It's also easy to blame it on software bugs when end users and the press have no access to the software or vendor to verify that.

Although large parts of the Town of Derry lost power, the CO stayed up and the fiber lines to my house somehow avoided being taken out.

kirby

Just my two cents on this but since Fairpoint is pretty much struggling already then they will cut corners where they can. If that means one employee for every 75 customers then those boys are being worked like dogs right now. Honestly when you are going down in a spiral it's hard to reverse that process, and that's where Fairpoint is right now. That storm does not make thing's easier for them at all.

Seriously, Karl, "well after power to the region has been restored"? There were large parts of Nashua - upwards of 20% - that did not get power back until Thursday or Friday of last week, with some scattered areas still out on Sunday. Calling it a "week long" outage is disingenuous.

For what it's worth, the Graham Street CO in Nashua is working just fine with respect to fiber service, otherwise I wouldn't be typing this ... and it was working fine during the massive power outage whenever I fired up the generator at home.

FairPoint certainly has their share of problems, and a multi-day outrage is one of them, but I think you're trying a little hard to feed the flames of outrage ...

Tony

"I WANT IT NOW!!!"

People who've never been on the line have no idea how the system works. Primary utilities get first crack (electric, emergency service). Only afterwards do Telco and Cable have access to downed lines. Also, some times you just don't know what's down (especially in rural areas) until power is restored and you start getting calls. I saw the same thing here in NJ - power was out from Saturday until Wednesday night and people were outraged that everything didn't just 'pop back on' when the power was restored. Customers see their own street and disregard the thousands of other streets in their area. If their line is down or their service is interrupted, they should be the first to get turned back on. I mean, it stands to reason, amirite?

Regarding the article - as long as there's any chance to bash a cable company, there will be those that will run with it, whether justified or not. Right, Karl?

These are the same people who let the battery in the box down the road die so I couldn't even call CMP when my power went out... Also the same people who can't provide anything for then 56k speed on the 3/1 line during prime time. Same people who black balled my account at the helpdesk because I keep reporting the problem that is still here more then a year later. Same people who keeps sending out the poor repair tech to inspect my perfectly fine lines. Same people who are crying they got conned even though it is spelled out in the contract. These people are incompetent.

incompetent, you are exactly right.