[Discuss] Verizon phasing out copper

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

Dan Ritter wrote:
>Tom Metro wrote:
>> Today I received a letter from Verizon regarding my residence in Newton
>> saying "Verizon is replacing telephone wires and removing obsolete
>> equipment to ensure long-term service reliability for our customers. To
>> avoid future service interruptions we'll need to move your telephone
>> service to our new fiber network. This will be done at no charge to you
>> and you will keep the same voice service at the exact same price you're
>> paying now."
> 
> Interesting phrasing. ...this sounds deceptive. 

Deceptive in what way?

You think it leaves loopholes for adding charges/raising prices?

Or are you referring to their claimed motivation, "to ensure long-term
service reliability?"


>> It seems unlikely they are still motivated by desire to escape sharing
>> their copper infrastructure with their competitors. Are there any
>> companies left that sell residential local phone service that haven't
>> moved on to VoIP?
> 
> There are many residential CLEC companies.

Are you sure about that? I haven't actually looked in the last decade,
but my impression matches what Richard Pieri described - that they've
consolidated and fled the residential market. I'm sure there is a CLEC
that will take over your business copper in Downtown Boston. I'd be
surprised if there is still one that will take over a single residential
line out in the suburbs.


> Installing FIOS won't have the effect you mention, because VZ is not
> obligated to carry anyone else's IP traffic. There is no Net
> Neutrality Act.

True, but I didn't mean to suggest that using VoIP was predicated on
using Verizon residential Internet service. While none of my options are
as good as Google Fiber, I do have 2 other cable Internet providers, and
probably a wireless option, serving my neighborhood.

But it is a valid point that purchasing a competing local phone service
from a VoIP provider is dependent on being able to get a cost effective
and sufficiently neutral Internet provider.


Shirley M?rquez D?lcey wrote:
> Nobody said anything about them using labor to dismantle the copper. 

Well, partially true. The word from the early FIOS subscribers was that
they did in fact physically remove the copper wiring between the house
and the pole. I wouldn't expect they would have gone any further than a
neighborhood concentrator or patch bay, as the rest of the
infrastructure is obviously still in use.

So except in cases where the cost is prohibitive, like with underground
wiring as Richard Pieri mentions, I expect them to remove the copper.

My guess is that Verizon is planning for this transition to take 10 or
more years. And that eventually they'll start pulling down the copper
from the poles and removing the neighborhood patch bays to free up space.

I also wonder whether this change has any impact on Verizon's obligation
to pay property taxes in Newton on their telephone poles (which they
promptly pass through to their customers, and probably through the lease
rates they charge to the cable companies). I suspect not, as removing
the copper won't get rid of the poles, but who knows what kind of
loopholes exist in their fiber franchise agreement.


> Mostly they're just...letting it degrade to the point where they
> can't provide adequate service with it.

Which is exactly what I've seen. The line in question has had several
outages in the past few years (sometimes tied to heavy rain), picks up a
constant AC hum, and experiences long bursts of static (that I don't
think can be blamed on the phone; it also interferes with the caller ID
signal when it is happening).

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/