Verizon Decides That Hurricane Victims Don’t Deserve Landlines Or DSL
From the “it’s all about the profits” file comes this story. According to Stop The Cap, those who were hit by Hurricane Sandy last October who live or do business on the Fire Island are not going to get wireline – as in plain old telephone service or DSL service back. Residents of Fire Island thus are being forced to go wireless or have nothing:
Fire Island’s landline network has been barely functional since Hurricane Sandy struck last October. Verizon has yet to make significant repairs, leading to ongoing complaints from residents who live on the island year-round. Verizon’s wish to eventually abandon its wired network facilities entirely has created concern among island officials and public safety agencies, noting the summer population on the island swells well into the thousands.
Verizon’s plan may leave businesses unable to process credit card transactions and prevent residents from getting back DSL broadband service they lost during the storm, much less get it in the future. For some, it represents turning the clock back to the days before Internet access.
Lovely. But as one would expect, Verizon is defending this move:
Verizon told local officials that Cherry Grove and points east still have undamaged fiber optic and copper lines that should be able to work as usual this summer and will be left in place for now. On the west end of the island from Kismet to Sailor’s Haven, the damage was more significant and Verizon has announced its intention to abandon wired service.
Although west end customers will be scheduled for Voice Link installations starting in April, those on the east side should not get too comfortable with their wired service because Verizon has announced it will not upgrade or make future significant repairs to its wired infrastructure going forward. When the remaining landline facilities eventually fail, affected customers will also be moved to Voice Link.
Their alternative? Here’s what Verizon will do for you:
Starting April 1st, customers calling with service problems on Fire Island will be redirected to special operators trained to pitch customers the Voice Link service as a replacement. These agents will also handle billing adjustments and drop phone package features Voice Link does not support. If the customer only wants phone service, Verizon will schedule an installation date for Voice Link. A technician will arrive with a wall-mounted box about 8″ high that will be installed in the room that provides the best reception from a nearby Verizon Wireless tower. The box will then be connected to your home telephone wiring and a nearby power outlet so existing telephones will work once again. The box has battery backup powered by customer-installed and maintained AA batteries.
If a customer also had broadband service with Verizon, they will not be getting it back. Instead, an agent will attempt to sell the customer a Verizon Wireless mobile broadband package at a significantly higher cost. For example, a 10GB monthly usage plan added to an existing Verizon Wireless account will cost an extra $20 a month for the “Mi-Fi” mobile hotspot device fee and $100 a month for the data package. Verizon DSL in comparison offered unlimited access for $30-50 a month, depending on the plan selected and any promotional discounts.
It sounds good except for this:
Voice Link is a voice-only product. It does not support broadband, telephone modem connections, faxing, alarm monitoring, home medical monitoring, certain communications equipment for the impaired, or other data services including credit card processing. It does support E911, which gives detailed address information to a 911 operator.
Verizon’s Voice Link also creates a problem for some satellite dish customers. Some satellite companies need a landline connection for handling pay-per-view orders. That data connection does not work with Voice Link either.
Thus, Verizon basically gives those consumers less and charges them more and their profits increase. Plus since they’re the only game in town in this area, consumers have no choice.
Clearly Verizon isn’t interested in doing the right thing. Clearly profits come before people. Clearly there needs to be some sort of government intervention to stop this from happening. Period.
April 7, 2013 at 5:02 pm
I am a Fire Island summer resident. I am horrified at the prospect of a wireless web of death all over the island. The effects of this technology on human and animal health have been known for decades but are only recently coming to light in other countries, mostly in Europe. This CRAP Verizon is peddling is bad for many reasons. You eloquently described the technical, practical and fiscal aspects. I believe the threat to human health is the most pressing though less well known. Perhaps you would be open to use your platform to help disseminate this vey important information.
I have compiled an extensive bibliography of peer-reviewed literature backing the claims of health hazards from RF/Microwave technology at levels well below what the FCC says is safe.