 
BillRoland
Premium
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL
clubs: | lol The buzzards are circling this company. | |
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S_engineer
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL | wow That was faster than I thought...who won the pool?
We certainly know who lost!
Pay attention frontier customers......
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BF69~~~Please stop suffocating gerbils! | |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Vermont shoudl really go after Verizon about this failed venture and contact the IRS to attempt to recind the tax advantage VZ received through this super "deal." | |
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 | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA | Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Why? What did VZ do wrong? If anything, the state and federal regulators that allowed the deal should be on the chopping block. | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS plenty of blame to go around but yes, the Reverse Morris Trust used was completely legal. Vermont should have paid better attention. | |
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| | | JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Vermont Attorney General should go after formal head of Fairpoint and Board of Director for basically lying thru their teeth. FTC should also do a thorough review.
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»www.seabee.navy.mil | |
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rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY | Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Vermont should go after their own legislators who approved this deal. | |
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| | | | | Ytsejamer1
join:2008-01-18
Somersworth, NH
| Agreed...when all this went down, we all knew what would happen. But the clueless people in their "white towers" took the bait (ie, Verizon's briefcase full of cash) - hook, line, and sinker.
To play Capt. Obvious for a second...i say it's about a month away before we start reading quotes from these legislators expressing shock and dismay at the situation...that they had no idea it would go this wrong!
Maybe Verizon will come back in and scoop up the territories again for pennies on the dollar and perhaps start rolling out FIOS. (I know, it's a pipe dream) | |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Morbo's point is that anyone BUT Vermont's regulators saw the "dupe" of Verizon pulling out, gaining a tax-writeoff, and playing the waiting game when the "yahoos" pull a Chapter 11.
But what about all the employees? What about the former Verizon employees that were let go because of this deal? Shuffled around, pay cuts, overtime cuts, attrition...
This Failpoint took advantage just as much as Verizon did. They had no software in place for customer service (and still don't). The company they hired doesn't know how to write code, train or meet deadlines. And the former CEO of Failpoint would only profess about "pudding" ! WTF?? | |
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| | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
 ·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS So VZ's liability is what? morbo  insinuated that VZ is liable/guilty of something. My response was that VZ did nothing wrong and that there are others to clearly lay the responsibility/blame on to include Fairpoint's CEO and BOD as well as state/federal regulators. | |
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| | | | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS said by morbo :VZ should be investigated along with Fairpoint. What do you propose be investigated? That's the part of your assertion that I'm not grasping.said by morbo :(almost) everyone knew that it was in actuality a horrible deal that primarily benefited Verizon. Except apparently for the organization(s) responsible for approving the deal. And yes, those entities should be strung up and made an example of. | |
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Noreaster
@myfairpoint.net
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Verizon and Fairpoint sold the idea to the states that a small company with limited assets could "take over" its landlines, even though there was much dissension in the ranks and elsewhere about Fairpoint being able to pull it off. There was initially resistance to this on the boards and the consumer advocates in all three states. The question is, how was this resistance overcome. Investigating this turn-around of the public service board may reveal some interesting results, who knows. At least it would help to prove or disprove any hanky-panky that may have gone on. | |
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| | | | | | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Agreed. This investigation should be of the entities that had a hand in the approval of the business transaction, not the selling participant which did everything legal. Now if evidence arises that VZ greased a few palms in the process, then unleash the investigative hounds. There's no reason to investigate VZ at this time, which is what morbo suggests should be done. | |
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| | | | | sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS No it's not "done". "Legality" is a term corporations put out to shield themselves from the common man's wrath. However in the telecom industry "legal" is meaningless when the FCC spends a decade gutting the most important Act regarding national communication services ever passed.
Verizon had a responsibility to the consumers it had been serving for years, and who had been loyally subscribing to their services for years. They were as aware as anyone that their customers would be entering a minefield with Fairpoint. They need to be held accountable for their anti-societal business decisions. | |
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RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
 ·Comcast
| said by openbox9 :Why? What did VZ do wrong? If anything, the state and federal regulators that allowed the deal should be on the chopping block. They sold to a company they knew couldn't handle it, another case of corporate greed.
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You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything. | |
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| | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA | Re: Vermont should go after Verizon and contact the IRS Once again, what do you propose VZ be investigated for? The legally conducted their transaction with the legal approval of necessary regulatory bodies. | |
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Glenn
I'D Rather Be Skiing
Premium
join:2000-10-05
Wallingford, CT | FairpontFun Glad we were able to get our phone turned on before this happened. Hopefully...it'll stay on.
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Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less. | |
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zed260
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN
1 edit | Verizon wonder if Verizon will make a bid for the assets at a price lower then they sold them for | |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA
·Mediacom
| Re: Verizon said by zed260 :wonder if Verizon will make a bid for the assets at a price lower then they sold them for Why? They wanted to get rid of those areas in the first place. | |
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| | zed260
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN
·Charter Pipeline
1 edit | Re: Verizon id not be suprised if verzion knew that fairpoint would not be able to stay afloat with those assets
and if thats the case version may have planed to buy them back on the cheap
it would be great for version lose some debt and own all the areas you originally owned | |
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| | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Verizon said by zed260 :id not be suprised if verzion knew that fairpoint would not be able to stay afloat with those assets and if thats the case version may have planed to buy them back on the cheap it would be great for version lose some debt and own all the areas you originally owned Why would Verizon want them back? Some nostalgic aspiration to be Ma Bell? There is none. If it looks like Ma Bell coming back, thats just a coincidence in the process of profit growth. | |
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| EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
1 edit | (please delete, nevermind) | |
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kleinml
join:2008-04-18
Levittown, PA
·Verizon FIOS
| Smelly Fish Yeah I am sure Verizon knew that fish was starting to smell a little when they sold it. But I can't blame Verizon for that. They needed to Unload it, Not profitable, doesn't fit their Business Plan, and Difficult to do business in. Those states are Over Regulated which is helping with the Demise of Fairpoint. I am not saying De Regulation would fix it, By no means but Over Regulation is just as bad as De Regulation. | |
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| | sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH | Re: Smelly Fish No, actually he didn't. There is no such thing as overregulation. There is either deregulation or *bad* regulation.
Regulations done properly lower the cost of services for everyone while preventing monopolies from profiteering. | |
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mouseferatu
Too many cats, Too many mice
Premium,MVM
join:2004-03-16
Im not sure
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Fairpoint Communic..
·Comcast
| said by kleinml :Yeah I am sure Verizon knew that fish was starting to smell a little when they sold it. But I can't blame Verizon for that. They needed to Unload it, Not profitable, doesn't fit their Business Plan, and Difficult to do business in. Those states are Over Regulated which is helping with the Demise of Fairpoint. I am not saying De Regulation would fix it, By no means but Over Regulation is just as bad as De Regulation. I think that your observation is rather astute. Verizon knew that the fish stank, and FairPoint knew that they couldn't begin to serve it up... the whole thing was too darn big and rotten for them to begin to cook it, let alone serve up as a palatable offering.
The regulators of all three New England states knew damn well that they were going to stick it to the consumer. They didn't care nearly as much about the long term end result as they did about managing and resolving the immediate headache that was presented by Verizon's intended departure.
Losing Verizon wasn't, in and of itself, the issue of consequence. Verizon has the right to operate or not in a given region, and had a reasonable plan for transition if a reasonable company had come in in their place. The regulators in all three states dropped the ball when they gave serious consideration to a small company with an iffy past that had no realistic plan of operation.
I sat through the vast majority of the open meetings in Maine and New Hampshire, and the cynic in me wonders if anyone got anything "extra" for the deal that came down... it was a strange transaction, considering the huge public opposition to it.
The fact stands that FairPoint did not, and still does not, present NH, ME, and VT with any viable solution to the problems that they have created with this disastrous "transition". Phone and data systems that worked for years without problems under Verizon management do not work anymore, and calling for fiber repair sends you to a Texas call center who usually asks you if NH is in the US. That sucks.
Since many of these areas are cell dead zones, we don't have a heck of a lot of options, and are stuck waiting to see who gets the smelly fish next. Problem is, the thing has been dead for a really long time now, and businesses like mine are stuck with few alternatives for high speed data lines, and effectively none for phones.
I owe a great debt to the former Verizon employees, as they are the only ones who *can* fix anything, and they will actually answer their company cell phones... if it wasn't for those guys, a lot of the ME and NH small businesses would be in a far greater world of hurt.
~Arel.
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"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crispy and good with catsup." | |
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GenBlood
join:2005-04-14
Nashua, NH
| FairPoint gone by end of the year ... Well, I saw this coming and it happened ... I figure by
the end of the year FairPoint will file the papers. When
a new CEO sends memos telling everyone we are moving
forward and all that crap.. It's a load of crap ....
So, time to cancel your landlines ... An get a cell phone .. | |
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Vermont Prepares For Fairpoint Bankruptcy
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