A union representing Verizon workers has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the company’s copper-to-fiber upgrades, saying Verizon is pressuring customers to switch even when they don’t want to.

The complaint stems from Verizon’s “Fiber is the Only Fix” program, in which Verizon automatically sets up copper-to-fiber upgrades when customers with copper-based landline phones call for repairs twice in 18 months. Though many customers welcome the shift to fiber because it brings more reliable and faster Internet access, some prefer to keep copper-based landline phones because they can remain in service during long power outages.

The union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), claims Verizon is violating a ban on deceiving consumers and a requirement that customers be given 90 days' notice before retiring copper networks.

Verizon denies the union’s accusations and called the complaint a “publicity stunt” timed to coincide with a strike that began three weeks ago and involves 36,000 Verizon workers. Verizon argues that the FCC's 90-day rule applies only to the retirement of entire central offices, not service to individual homes.

“The whole complaint is completely ridiculous. There is no deception whatsoever and we take great exception to this accusation,” the Verizon spokesperson told Ars. “The fact that we’ve never heard a peep from the unions about it until now—in the middle of a work stoppage—tells you everything you need to know about what their real motivation is with this complaint. It’s nothing more than yet another publicity stunt aimed to distract from the real issues that need to be settled at the bargaining table.”

Complaint: Upgrades to fiber

CWA’s complaint, submitted today, was also signed by advocacy groups Common Cause, Public Knowledge, USAction, Citizen Action of New York, Progressive Maryland, Virginia Organizing, and Keystone Progress.

“Verizon has institutionalized the deception of consumers under an established internal policy—the ‘Fiber is the Only Fix’ (‘FITOF’) policy… under which technicians and other Verizon employees are required actively and purposefully to mislead their customers,” the complaint said.

The union and other complainants said they “fully support” upgrades to fiber when those upgrades comply with all rules and are conducted “with a view to transparency and disclosure to prevent any harm to consumers resulting from the wireline transition.” But Verizon's current process is forcing customers into the fiber switch while they are under "duress" due to having limited service or none at all.

The complaint says Verizon has two “Fiber is the Only Fix” processes. In some areas, customers reporting landline problems are immediately redirected to customer service representatives instead of repair centers and are informed “that fiber is the only fix for the customer’s service issue. In these instances, no repair ticket is generated.”

In other areas, Verizon creates “ghost” service orders for customers who report problems. The ghost service order is only visible internally, and technicians are instructed not to discuss it with customers in advance, the complaint says. Once technicians arrive at the customers’ homes, they inform them that fiber is the only repair option for the copper service problem.

Fiber is the Only Fix applies to customers who have reported broken landlines multiple times and to customers who live nearby and are served from the same terminal, even if they have never previously reported a service problem themselves, according to the complaint.

Customers at risk of phone disconnection

Customers who decline fiber may end up having their service cut off entirely, the complaint says. “Verizon’s policy is specific that the technician must not fix the copper trouble,” the complaint states.

If the customer repeatedly objects, “the technician is instructed to inform the customer that she is in an area where Verizon is no longer repairing the copper lines so the only option is to migrate to fiber. The technician is further instructed to inform the customer that her service will be disconnected, and that the technician should call the Fiber Support Line to initiate the disconnect process.”

If the customer still declines after talking to a Fiber Support rep, “the policy instructs that Verizon employees are to proceed with the 15 day disconnection process,” the complaint says.

The union and Verizon disagree on whether this short timeline violates the 90-day notification rule. "The 90-day rule applies to copper retirement, which is when we retire an entire central office," Verizon told Ars. "Fiber is the only fix is not the same thing and they know that."

But the union points to the FCC's newly expanded definition of "copper retirement," which now includes the replacement of copper loops with fiber loops and "the failure to maintain" existing copper lines.

The union also quoted complaints that consumers filed with the FCC, including one that says Verizon made it difficult to port a phone number to a new provider. “One Verizon customer detailed in a complaint how Verizon ‘cut off’ and refused to restore the customer’s telephone service apparently until the customer scheduled an appointment to have fiber installed,” the union said. “When the customer decided to instead switch to Time Warner, Verizon refused to transfer the customer’s phone number due to there being an ‘open order’ on the Verizon account.”

Verizon has 30 days to respond

The union's complaint asks the FCC to require that Verizon “immediately halt its deceptive consumer practices” and take steps to “redress any actions taken against consumers under this policy.” The FCC will follow its standard procedure of serving the complaint to Verizon, giving the carrier 30 days to respond, a commission spokesperson told Ars today.

Verizon has previously confirmed the general details of its Fiber is the Only Fix program, though the company portrays it in a more positive light than the union does. Verizon said it has found from experience that fiber upgrade conversations with customers are better done in person than over the phone.

“When a copper customer with chronic service issues calls for a repair, we create two tickets in parallel—a repair ticket, and the ghost service order," Verizon said. "When the technician is dispatched, if he finds there’s a simple fix for the copper, we fix the copper. If not and we determine fiber is the only fix, we already have the parallel service order in place. The technician then explains to the customer why we need to upgrade them to fiber and no work is performed without the customer’s consent."