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Verizon Under Fire For Virginia Service Complaints
DSL and landline quality suffers as Verizon attention sits elsewhere...
In West Virginia, state regulators noticed a significant spike in consumer complaints as Verizon re-focused finances on more lucrative FIOS markets. Verizon's own employees noted the company neglected DSL and landline systems, and failed to give technicians the resources needed to keep service quality high. Verizon ultimately "fixed" this problem by offloading a lot of these markets to Frontier and Fairpoint; still, even in states Verizon supposedly wanted, regulators are still seeing significant spikes in service complaints. In Virginia, the The State Corporation Commission is investigating a spike in Verizon customer complaints:
quote:
"These complaints also raise the question of whether Verizon has, or is devoting, sufficient resources to maintain reasonable adequate service quality and to comply with standards in the rules," the SCC said. . ."Verizon classified virtually all of its reports as confidential," according to the SCC staff, which has objected to keeping the information from the public. Its customer service measures are competitive secrets, the New York-based company said. Verizon also would not disclose how many customers it has in Virginia, though it did say it had lost 40 percent of its hardwired phone lines over the past decade.
Verizon has consistently denied that they've neglected traditional DSL and landline customer support, but state regulators have just as consistently shown that they have. With FiOS deployment now covering about 60% of Verizon's network but expansion frozen -- it still seems likely Verizon may continue selling some of these legacy markets they not only don't want to upgrade, but can't be bothered to properly support, either.
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Karlington
@mda.mil

Karlington

Anon

2 miles from the Pentagon

I live roughly two miles from the Pentagon in Arlington VA. No FIOS available here and it is clear that Verizon is letting copper rot in our neighborhood. I'm not in love with Comcast at all, but it is vastly superior in terms of reliability (and speed) when compared to Verizon DSL. Techs that come out to serivce POTS in the area don't hesitate at all to state how much they hate working in the neighborhood (Arrora Highlands). It was built up in the 1920s and the infrastructure is old and not well maintained.

I could go on a tirade about missed appoinments with Verizon, etc., while trying to get noise issues on DSL solved back in the day, but I'll spare y'all. In my area, they suck. Comcast sucks less.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: 2 miles from the Pentagon

I'll count myself lucky. I live 12 miles from the Pentagon and have a choice between Verizon FiOS and Cox HSI. I can understand Verizon's resistance to maintaining the copper plant. It is old and expensive to maintain. Couple that with the overarching regulation and it's not difficult to see why Verizon wants to get rid of it
viperlmw
Premium Member
join:2005-01-25

viperlmw

Premium Member

Re: 2 miles from the Pentagon

It's cheaper to maintain than replace. It's just that maintenance money directly impacts the bottom line, while new construction gets subsidies and different tax treatment.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: 2 miles from the Pentagon

said by viperlmw:

It's cheaper to maintain than replace.
Agreed, but there's something to be gained from getting out from under the regulatory thumb of copper and POTS. I think Verizon should just finish selling off copper markets that it doesn't plan to deploy FTTH in and focus on wireless. That would be best for Verizon, consumers, and investors.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

WV

WV will be the next state that VZ gives up. Before you know it. VZ will only offer service near their Home Office and be done with it. Wireless will be the way they compete and they'll save a TON of money when they kill off VZ Landline Services and change fully to Verizon Wireless.

ATT and all the other phone companies should be doing the same. Kill off wireline and build out their next generation networks via Wireless.
Bob61571
join:2008-08-08
Washington, IL

Bob61571

Member

Re: WV

said by hottboiinnc4:

WV will be the next state that VZ gives up.
Sir, VZ did give up on WV landline/wireline POTS and DSL service as of July 1 2010, when Frontier acquired VZ properties in WV and 13 other states.

Ohio and Illinois were 2 of those 13 other states, by the way.

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to hottboiinnc4

Premium Member

to hottboiinnc4
You do know that spectrum is finite and that would likely result in cripling caps, do you not? Remember the US has more spectrum reserved for broadcasters than any other developed country. Not only that, but licensing fees are outright rape.
FloridaBoy
join:2009-06-22
Bradenton, FL

FloridaBoy to hottboiinnc4

Member

to hottboiinnc4
Would love to see how well that goes when everyone starts to stream their entertainment in the evening.

Smokey99
join:2004-06-25
Huntington, WV

Smokey99 to hottboiinnc4

Member

to hottboiinnc4
As has already been pointed out Verizon has sold their WV landline business to Frontier. Additionally, about two months later Verizon Wireless announced that Charleston will be included in the initial launch of their 4G network.

»socialmediaseo.net/2010/ ··· irginia/

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

FFH5

Premium Member

PUCs powerless to do anything about it

Verizon has consistently denied that they've neglected traditional DSL and landline customer support, but state regulators have just as consistently shown that they have.
There is no doubt that Verizon has cut back tremendously on copper wire maintenance across their user base. But the question is what can the state PUCs do about it. And the answer is virtually nothing.

The fines that the PUCs can levy will be much less than what Verizon is saving in reduced maintenance costs. And if push comes to shove, Verizon will either sell off or abandon the customers if the PUCs make threats of going to court or seizing the assets. And if PUCs try to seize the assets, courts will force the state to reimburse Verizon for the assets. Even eminent domain law makes the state pay for seized assets.

So, in the meantime, state PUCs will threaten, Verizon will make promises they won't keep. The best thing customers can do is drop landlines altogether, or switch to cable VOIP where available.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: PUCs powerless to do anything about it

very true! All state PUCs have the abandonment clause in their agreements. VZ surely would consider to use that clause if the states tried to seize anything nor try anything outside of their boundries.

emient domain law only covers certain things though and HAS to be in the public's best interest. In this cause- VZ could aruge other wise due to other forms of delivery are available if a customer isn't happy- Cable, Wireless, VoIP. All are there. The state also doesn't have the money to pay VZ what their assets are worth if they did win.
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

Sammer to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

The fines that the PUCs can levy will be much less than what Verizon is saving in reduced maintenance costs.
Something that state legislators can fix.

newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium Member
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD

1 recommendation

newview

Premium Member

POTS is dying a slow death

The days of POTS being the most reliable telephone service are slowly dieing. When I was told by a Verizon repairman that DSL or FIOS would most likely never be available in my area, that was the handwriting on the wall for me. VOIP was up and running the following week.

DrModem
Trust Your Doctor
Premium Member
join:2006-10-19
USA

DrModem

Premium Member

I am stuck on a phone line

Where the dialup speed tops out at 26k, and I'm not very far out(Cable line stops about 2 miles away).

gg verizon

Bill Neilson
Premium Member
join:2009-07-08
Alexandria, VA

Bill Neilson

Premium Member

I had Verizon DSL for a year and it was

an absolute embarrassment how bad it was yet the apartment I lived in didn't allow any other services....

So I moved b/c of it

Icababe
@direcway.com

Icababe

Anon

Virginia Customers

In reference to Virginia, representatives of Verizon sit on the technology committees of quite a few counties (as well as Cox Cable and Comcast). The problem is that they talk about the cost of laying new networks (fib-op, nodes, etc.).

I looked at the corporate taxes Verizon "paid" in I think it was 06. They paid less than 4% of their net (if I'm remembering correctly), and wound up getting a tax refund of more than they paid in because they supposedly spent billions laying their new fiber-optic lines in high density population areas. (Even though they didn't pay anything of the sort because they passed the cost on to their existing customers including those still forced to use their land lines.)

If we (the people of any of those states who are being screwed) actually want to get unlimited high speed internet, we need to pressure our state governments and the EPA to allow some of the newer broadband (WiMaxx, etc.) to set up shop.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Re: Virginia Customers

And just how in the hell is the EPA even remotely responceable in all this?

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Funny

I'll bet that if Verizon sells their network in rural VA to Frontier, that the same union people who are whining about being underworked by Verizon will then complain about getting 30+ hours of paid overtime when Frontier has them fix the network.

fixphone
@cox.net

fixphone

Anon

Re: Funny

My verizon land/copper phone line has been down 4 times in 6 weeks taking them days to fix each time. No end to trouble in sight. Can someone please tell me who I can contact at State of VA to file a complaint? Thank you.