The last line says it all, for those that think fiber isnt vulnerable to power outages. Its light sweetheart... light requires power. Verizon has already gotten in trouble in New York State for refusing to repair highly-subsidized and regulated copper DSL and POTS service, and now it appears the company is also facing a lawsuit in California. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) has filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission, claiming that Verizon is refusing to repair lines -- or pushing people on to digital voice services -- without the customer often understanding the migration or having given their consent. Verizon is deliberately neglecting the repair and maintenance of its copper network with the explicit goal of migrating basic telephone service customers who experience service problems, Regina Costa, TURNs telecom research director, wrote in the complaint. These migrations are often without the customers knowledge or consent. Verizons approach is two-fold. In many areas the company wisely wants to migrate DSL and POTS customers -- especially those on troubled lines -- on to FiOS services in order to provide more reliable service with lower maintainance costs. On the other side, Verizon is looking to simply hang up on many rural customers and migrate them to more expensive wireless as part of an improved profitability move. In New York, Verizon found itself slapped on the wrist by the state AG and the PSC for the latter, regulators concerned that wireless service (specifically their disliked Voice Link) service was now substitute for a more reliable landline. In California, TURNs suit appears based largely on the fact that many elderly customers are being converted from POTS to FiOS -- and wither dont quite understand whats happening, or find themselves annoyed at the less reliable nature of digital voice during power outages.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 00:04:46 +0000
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