Please tell me if this makes sense:
> I live in Manhattan and currently have Verizon local and DSL. I would
> like to switch my local service to VoiceWing 500 (same as regular
> VoiceWing with 500 minutes of outgoing calls/month, for $19.95). I
> just got off the phone with multiple Verizon customer service people;
> they all told me varying things, but the basic upshot is that because
> I'm a DSL customer, I can't get VoiceWing on the same line, since DSL
> requires a regular land line.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You will need to do the very same thing
> as I did. You will need to, in this order, (1) install cable internet
> to replace DSL; then once the cable internet is installed in order to
> avoid any network downtime, (2) tell Verizon to get their DSL off of
> your line, ASAP, immediatly, etc. (3) Once the DSL has been removed,
> _then and only then_ can you tell VoiceWing to port your existing number
VoiceWing is Verizon's VoIP offering. The ironic part of all of this is that because of Verizon's policy of only providing DSL over a line that also has regular Verizon phone service, if you live in a Verizon DSL territory you can't get their VoIP service unless you ALSO have regular Verizon phone service.
And thanks to the FCC decision this week, that's not about to change.
John
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The same thing is true in Southwestern Bell territory. TerraWorld (our local ISP here in southeastern Kansas) also brokers Bell's DSL on their ISP lines, but Bell will not let Duane Shaub (TerraWorld owner) install DSL on any of his Prairie Stream lines. Makes no sense at all to me or Duane; he says it would be a win-win situation for everyone, including Bell and Prairie Stream's puny little slice of business they have taken away from Bell. But Prairie Stream/TerraWorld's attitude on this is very pragmatic: "Just go up the street to Mike Flood (local CableOne manager) and ask him to turn on cable internet timed with when Bell disconnects their DSL. Prairie Stream and CableOne -- two local business places -- start making the money that Bell loses out on. What a terrible loss for Bell! hahahahahaha." But you see, Bell is so tied up with regulations and rules -- mostly of their own making -- they cannot begin to think out of the box, in a creative way. PAT]