[telecom] I got one of those letters

I still have POTS at home (long story). I got a letter from Verizon yesterday that they are upgrading their facilities and that I have to move to fiber. "This means that if you have not scheduled an appointment to transfer your services, your Verizon services will be suspended on or after June 17, 2019. THIS LETTER SERVES AS NOTICE OF SUSPENSION."

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I'll be off Verizon by then...

- David

***** Moderator's Note *****

The web site David's URL points to contains this paragraph:

Your service will be migrated by our expert technician to our 100% fiber-optic network at NO charge to you. The pricing and features of your current voice service will not change. And, if you have High Speed Internet service, you can upgrade to Fios Internet at a special rate - just ask about this offer and our other Fios products when you schedule your installation appointment.

... which means that, although his voice service is still under tariff, David's data service is not.

Of course, David's cost-per-byte is going to skyrocket RSN: he can "upgrade at a special rate," but will, inevitably, find himself shelling out more for every keystroke. His options for getting away from Verizon will be severely limited, since the ILEC doesn't have to share Fios with CLECs, and cell or satellite-based sevices cost more already.

The part Verizon doesn't mention is that Fios is an unreliable technology when the power fails, since it requires local battery power to work when the power is out. David's phone is going to be returned to the days when Pa Kettle had his crank phone on the wall of the farmhouse, and local batteries to power it in the box at the bottom. It doesn't matter if he switches to a competitor of Verizon - the batteries are still there, no matter if they are in a cell phone or a pedestal.

That, you may think, is not a big deal: we're all so used to battery-powered devices that the side-effects of that dependence have been forgotten. As ever, there ARE side-effects, and Verizon is, as ever, not mentioning them: David's insurance rates are going to rise.

The National Fire Danger Rating for a neighborhood goes up when long-term power outages cause widespread telephone service failures: it's as inevitable as the smug looks on the faces of Verizon's executives the day after they get yet another rate increase.

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
David B. Horvath, CCP
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Last year my POTS service went out. When I called Verizon, they said that they couldn't repair the old copper service, and they'd have to convert me to fiber. All the units in our condo complex had gotten fiber drops installed several years ago, but I'd never switched over.

But just as in your case, I got to keep the same Measured Service that I've been using for decades (I was paying about $22/mo, since I make very few calls).

However, one side effect of this was that my phone started reporting Caller ID. But since I didn't have Caller ID enabled on my line, everything was announced as "unavailable". So I decided to add it to my service, which nearly doubled the price.

If he had POTS service, he probably didn't have Internet from Verizon in the first place. I still use Comcast for TV and Internet.

Reply to
Barry Margolin

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