  spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1
 ·SureWest Internet
 ·Clear Wireless
| Having it both ways. Seems like the acquiring Phone companies threaten Municipalities with no upgrades unless they get things their way. When the Municipalities agree, the acquiring phone companies then lay off workers without the promised upgrades. Seems to be a trend.
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The weekend is here, grab a can of beer!
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 |  TransmasterDon't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY | Re: Having it both ways. When there is little a muni' can do to enforce any agreement these crooked outfits can do anything they want. | |
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elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Install or ETF? Have it your way. I watched a number of Fios installs in the past year.
They were all-day affairs.
Why is the company supposed to eat the cost?
If you aren't willing to pay the freight to get connected, how can you legitimately complain when you don't have broadband options?
Every month we read of a consumer complaining that the cable company wants $2K+ to extend their reach a 1/4 mile to their house. Who among the forum here, as yet on dialup or satellite, wouldn't find that a reasoned investment, if they're unwilling to move? | |
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| Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Install or ETF? Have it your way. It's the company's responsibility to eat those costs because they are the ones making the profits. With a line of thinking like that, why would you expect them to have to pay for any of their expenses? Rent? Employees? Electricity? Equipment? Why should they be forced to pay for any of that? They should just sit back and pocket the checks every month. That is a typical entitlement mindset businesses of today have developed.
Before I paid a company $2000 to bring their service to my house, I would go to a competitor. | |
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| | | said by elray:I watched a number of Fios installs in the past year.
They were all-day affairs.
Why is the company supposed to eat the cost?
If you aren't willing to pay the freight to get connected, how can you legitimately complain when you don't have broadband options?
Every month we read of a consumer complaining that the cable company wants $2K+ to extend their reach a 1/4 mile to their house. Who among the forum here, as yet on dialup or satellite, wouldn't find that a reasoned investment, if they're unwilling to move?
I find it hilarious how entitled you are as a representative of corporate beliefs, even as you decry Occupy Wall Street protesters in other threads.
Apparently corporations shouldn't have to invest in anything to acquire customers, especially monopolies/duopolies. | |
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| | elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Install or ETF? Have it your way. said by sonicmerlin:I find it hilarious how entitled you are as a representative of corporate beliefs, even as you decry Occupy Wall Street protesters in other threads.
Apparently corporations shouldn't have to invest in anything to acquire customers, especially monopolies/duopolies.
Corporations do make investments to acquire customers, all the time.
But only if they believe they're going to earn a profit in the end.
When the marketplace presents costs of $2K-4K/address for deployment and maximum 35% penetration rates at $50+/month for broadband, there is no profit potential, at all, and even the "greedy" Wall Street companies aren't going to be tempted to buy customers. | |
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|  rmurphy
join:2007-11-20
Annandale, VA
kudos:2 | Interesting. My FiOS install took most of a day, even though I did everything I could to make it easy for the installer.
Why did the installation take so long? Because the installer had a SecurID token to log in with, but he had damaged it and we couldn't read the code. After several attempts to log in that failed, thus locking his account, he had to drive 40 miles or so to the location that could unlock his account. Oh, and get a new login token. Once he got back, it all went according to plan and got wrapped up in an hour or so.
So, your message implies that this whole charlie-foxtrot was my fault... sorry, but no. That's a legitimate case where the company ate the cost. | |
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 dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX | $26 an hour FTA: Technicians make $26 an hour on average Call center spots average $13 an hour.
WOW! I wouldn't mind making $26 an hour - these technicians are expensive and that is hurting the company's bottom line! Why else would they have to raise the installation price to $500 ?!?! | |
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| Reviews:
 ·Callcentric
| Re: $26 an hour said by dmeyer:FTA: Technicians make $26 an hour on average Call center spots average $13 an hour.
WOW! I wouldn't mind making $26 an hour - these technicians are expensive and that is hurting the company's bottom line! Why else would they have to raise the installation price to $500 ?!?!
What do you want them to work for? Free? They're skilled technicians and rightfully should earn a livable salary. | |
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| | dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX | Re: $26 an hour Give me a break! Your argument makes no sense!
In this economy I am willing to bet you can find skilled technicians that are willing to do the job for less than $26/hour. For every 1 technician making $26/hour there are 1,000 unemployed skilled technicians who would take that job for $20 an hour or even 15!!! | |
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| | | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: $26 an hour Who the hell are you to judge what someone makes? You have no idea how difficult it is to do that job, or the skills required to do so. So many people have opinions about others.
Your logic is the problem. Once you take that mans job for " $20 an hour or even 15!!" , its then OK for some illegal to come and take YOUR JOB for $6 off the books I guess. | |
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| | | | dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX
1 edit | Re: $26 an hour I'm not judging it. The market is.
Oh and "illegals" coming in and taking my job is NOT the problem, so don't even bring that up. I live in a city where there are tons of illegals standing outside the Home Depot parking lot looking for work.
Obviously they are costing the telco too much at $26 an hour.
You can have your FIOS installs faster if there are more technicians to do the job for less pay.
I know quite a few million unemployed Americans who would love to have MY job, so I'm not complaining.
Suit yourself. The market will speak. | |
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| | | | | spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1 Reviews:
·SureWest Internet
·Clear Wireless
| Re: $26 an hour said by dmeyer:I'm not judging it. The market is.
Obviously they are costing the telco too much at $26 an hour.
You can have your FIOS installs faster if there are more technicians to do the job for less pay.
Suit yourself. The market will speak.
The article states that frontier is just adjusting their workforce to meet demand. One could deduce that it means the technicians make too much money. It begs the question then, do you really believe that frontier would hire more technicians at the $20 an hour rate? Knowing how frontier operates that is.
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The weekend is here, grab a can of beer!
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| | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| Yes, you are judging it. The pay rate for Telco techs will be based upon several factors:
1} the Company they work for
2} the region they are working in {city tech vs rural tech}
3} their skill set/position
Example 1
AT&T techs in the Madison area make $2/hr more than their counterparts for Frontier/TDS/CenturyLink that cover the Madison Suburbs.
Example 2
AT&T techs in Chicago make about $10/hr more than their counterparts in Madison due to the higher cost of living.
Example 3
Splicing fiber is a lot more intensive than splicing copper and takes greater skill. Fiber techs are paid more than copper techs.
It is time for the Executives and Upper Level management to get their ranks thinned and their pay cut by at least 20%. They add no real value to the company and make their employees/customers suffer so they can keep their undeserved bonuses and exorbitant pay. | |
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| | | | | | dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX | Re: $26 an hour Yes I agree that they need to trim the fat on the executive/CEO pay and that everyone should spread the wealth around, but we have politicians running for office who say that's socialism. But $26 an hour in Fort Wayne, Indiana seems like a lot. The cost of living there is not that high, I've lived in Indiana before. I know people doing much more "difficult" or unsafe jobs who make half that much money. I would LOVE to have a job splicing fiber for $26/hour. Or even $20. | |
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| | | | | | | | | Re: $26 an hour There are low voltage cabling technician job openings in Seattle at various employers in the area. Come and get one of them if you want into the business so badly. | |
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| | | | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| quote:
But $26 an hour in Fort Wayne, Indiana seems like a lot. The cost of living there is not that high, I've lived in Indiana before.
How long ago did you live there and where in the state? The economy has changed drastically and my relatives in Ft Wayne are constantly complaining at how their cost of living expenses have increased.
quote:
I know people doing much more "difficult" or unsafe jobs who make half that much money.
That anecdotal evidence has nothing to do with how much a Telco Tech makes.
quote:
. I would LOVE to have a job splicing fiber for $26/hour. Or even $20.
Then you should get the proper training and apply for a splicing job. Pretty easy solution. | |
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| | | | | | | |  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
·Frontier FiOS
| Re: $26 an hour said by Dolgan:How long ago did you live there and where in the state? The economy has changed drastically and my relatives in Ft Wayne are constantly complaining at how their cost of living expenses have increased. I live here in Fort Wayne now, and have lived here for approximately 33 years, 2 days. Cost of living in Fort Wayne is generally lower than many parts of the country. Yes costs have increased for some things, but they've increased across the country. We're still considered a good value and are well below national averages for most things. | |
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| | | | | | | |  jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | There is a nifty online tool that allows you to make cost of living comparisons between 2 locations.
»www.bestplaces.net/col/?salary=1···51825000
Fort Wayne is
42%
cheaper than Reston.
Housing
is the biggest factor in the cost of living difference.
Housing is
80%
cheaper in Fort Wayne. | |
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| | | | | | | | |  NY TelPremium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
kudos:3 | Re: $26 an hour I live in New York, don't splice fiber and make 4 times what the going rate is. It's expensive here. | |
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| | | | | Dude, that's not being overpaid at all, I'd be happy with it.
For some of the things we used to do (Network installation for schools/businesses), we were making $30 - $45 on some, but those jobs don't happen often around here. | |
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| | |  firephotoKDEPremium
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA
·Frontier Communi..
| said by dmeyer:Give me a break! Your argument makes no sense!
In this economy I am willing to bet you can find skilled technicians that are willing to do the job for less than $26/hour. For every 1 technician making $26/hour there are 1,000 unemployed skilled technicians who would take that job for $20 an hour or even 15!!!
Your key word here is economy. The economy can't get better if you and others keep wanting lower wages. The price of fuel is not going to go down. The price of food is not going to go down. The price of all the crap people buy that they don't need is not going to go down.
We went from a country where one good wage could support a family very comfortably to one where it takes two jobs or more to support a family just good enough. One where everyone looks at the next better job because the existing one is always a dead end. Most people are getting screwed in this country and the ones screwing them are the ones raising all the ire at the guy who isn't screwing them. It's a top to bottom plan to make the worker a commodity that can come and go and be manipulated.
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Say no to JAMS! | |
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| | | | dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX | Re: $26 an hour I'm currently making less than what my salary was 4 years ago due to multiple career path changes. Do I like that? No, but due to the correction in the world economy I have to live with a lower wage. I have adjusted my living expenses to make up for the fact that the job I had 4 years ago just doesn't pay the same today. I drive a more fuel efficient vehicle to help with the rising price of gas. I try to cook more food at home instead of eating out.
The difference between me and some of the other posters in this forum (it's obvious - I won't name names) is that I'm not in a union and not protected from industry-wide salary cuts. With these telecommunications positions, the workers are protected by unions who would rather settle with job eliminations than with people taking pay cuts? Or am I not seeing the whole picture here? I don't see anywhere saying their almighty union is stepping in to protect the guys who are losing their jobs. | |
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| | | | | firephotoKDEPremium
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
| Re: $26 an hour The union isn't there to protect the jobs, they are their to protect the conditions and the appropriate wages for those conditions and to support individuals that are singled out by management.
To bring this specific back to Frontier, if they don't need those workers then they are extra so there is no point in having them work if there is no work to be done. If Frontier is purposely manipulating things that results in this situation then it's entirely different. If you pop into the Frontier forum you'll see there isn't much talk about speedy service calls or trouble free service and that there is a pattern of Frontier neglecting certain things instead of just getting out of that aspect of the business.
The real answer is most likely Frontier is just limping along till some of their areas are covered by LTE (likely Verizon), and then their shutter some services and upgrades and blame that. This whole takeover of Verizon areas was for the specific purpose of benefiting Verizon but due to the down economy it's taking Verizon longer to move forward but eventually they will and they will blanket their ex areas with LTE and sell some limited package cheaper than the DSL that is there.
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Say no to JAMS! | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: $26 an hour said by firephoto:The union isn't there to protect the jobs, they are their to protect the conditions and the appropriate wages for those conditions and to support individuals that are singled out by management.
To bring this specific back to Frontier, if they don't need those workers then they are extra so there is no point in having them work if there is no work to be done. If Frontier is purposely manipulating things that results in this situation then it's entirely different. If you pop into the Frontier forum you'll see there isn't much talk about speedy service calls or trouble free service and that there is a pattern of Frontier neglecting certain things instead of just getting out of that aspect of the business.
The real answer is most likely Frontier is just limping along till some of their areas are covered by LTE (likely Verizon), and then their shutter some services and upgrades and blame that. This whole takeover of Verizon areas was for the specific purpose of benefiting Verizon but due to the down economy it's taking Verizon longer to move forward but eventually they will and they will blanket their ex areas with LTE and sell some limited package cheaper than the DSL that is there.
Is it just me or does it seem like Frontier is in cahoots with Verizon in this whole thing? They must know Verizon is going to take their customers with LTE, and they're trying to shutter a profitable FIOS TV customer base of 100,000. | |
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| | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| quote:
The difference between me and some of the other posters in this forum (it's obvious - I won't name names) is that I'm not in a union and not protected from industry-wide salary cuts. With these telecommunications positions, the workers are protected by unions who would rather settle with job eliminations than with people taking pay cuts? Or am I not seeing the whole picture here? I don't see anywhere saying their almighty union is stepping in to protect the guys who are losing their jobs.
You definitely are not seeing the big picture. CWA and IBEW have taken wage hits by the concessions they made to pay higher % of their healthcare and increased deductibles. There is not much any Union can do when a company decides to layoff workers. Some contracts will have rehiring clauses if the company decides it needs to increase the workforce at some future time, but that is about it.
I am no longer in Telco, or a Union; however, I still support my brothers and sisters that remain. If you actually worked in a Craft position for any Telco you would realize the need for the protections provided by the Unions. | |
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| | | | | | Bingo! The average person is being screwed by an ever increasing cost of living and increased taxes while employers are cutting their wages and making working conditions as miserable as possible in hopes that you'll quit so they can hire someone for less money. Sure there are people who are willing to take the lower paying jobs but slide continues unabated as the living standard deteriorates further. Something needs to change before it's too late and making new taxes and bigger government *won't* solve the problem. Don't know what the answer is though.... | |
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| | | | remember these techs put their life on the line. And risk the dangers of being electrocuted(sad to say it did happen in Brooklyn NY) or falling to their death. It is a dangerous job still | |
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| |  r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T DSL Service
·row44
| said by Telco:said by dmeyer:FTA: Technicians make $26 an hour on average Call center spots average $13 an hour.
WOW! I wouldn't mind making $26 an hour - these technicians are expensive and that is hurting the company's bottom line! Why else would they have to raise the installation price to $500 ?!?!
What do you want them to work for? Free? They're skilled technicians and rightfully should earn a livable salary. Why should they earn more than phone support people at $13?
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr. | |
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| | | | | Re: $26 an hour said by r81984:said by Telco:said by dmeyer:FTA: Technicians make $26 an hour on average Call center spots average $13 an hour.
WOW! I wouldn't mind making $26 an hour - these technicians are expensive and that is hurting the company's bottom line! Why else would they have to raise the installation price to $500 ?!?!
What do you want them to work for? Free? They're skilled technicians and rightfully should earn a livable salary. Why should they earn more than phone support people at $13? Because anyone can sit in front of a computer and read a script on the phone. Not everyone can learn specific technical job skills that are needed for specific skilled jobs. Skilled labor needs more training and schooling than talking and reading on a phone. So you have to put out more effort to do your job, as pay will reflect according to the skill level needed. | |
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| | | Yea, adult jobs pay that much, usually more, kiddy. | |
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| | | dmeyer,
what do YOU think technicians should make???? | |
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See 35 replies to this post |
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| | Reg You just have to love this self-regulation and how well it works. [/sarcasm] | |
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| | FiOS TV in Everett, WA You know the interesting thing is that in Everett, WA they are actually running ads on radio for FiOS TV / Internet / Phone packages. There is a low install fee (less then the $500 stated above) think it's around $99. I have also seen adds online for the bundle above | |
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| | Sounds like ... Frontier has much more confidence in their Pacific NW FiOS (in Washington state and Oregon) prospects and much less confidence in their Ft. Wayne FiOS prospects.
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| | I don't understand frontier, they can't survive on dsl alone dsl is going to be tomarrow's dialup, what does frontier plan for its network.
I'd be ok even if they started rolling further by cherry picking but do something to put out new FIOS rather than all this dsl.
Frontier: pick the richest, cheapest to deploy neighborhood and build slow but i'd like to hear that something is happening.
Does any of what im saying here make sense to anyone?? am i missing something?? | |
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