Verizon Mocks New Jersey Residents That Want DSL Maintained Last August you'll recall that New Jersey took a lot of heat for letting Verizon off the hook for a 1993 requirement that provided the company with subsidies and tax cuts -- in exchange for a promise to wire all of the state with 45 Mbps fixed-line broadband by 2010. Like similar Verizon promises to Pennsylvania those deployments never happened, and now Verizon is backing away from DSL markets it refuses to upgrade.

Annoyed by the state's decision to let Verizon's obligations slide (not to mention a latter decision to kill consumer protections at Verizon's behest), around fifty New Jersey municipalities have bonded together to try and hold Verizon's feet to the fire If they can't get upgraded to FiOS, many of these towns want Verizon to keep maintaining in use DSL lines, instead of neglecting them in the hopes of driving these customers to more expensive wireless service. Verizon's response? To insult these users: quote: But Verizon New Jersey spokesman Lee Gierczynski has called this "misplaced fear" resulting from "misinformation and misunderstanding about copper networks, fiber networks and the reliability of those networks." "This is a classic example of how some people fear new technology so they reactively reject it instead of accepting it, no matter how irrational that fear may be," Gierczynski said. He added: "I think people are going to look back and laugh at people ... just like who were a part of the Anti-Digit Dialing League." Except that's not what's happening here at all. While it's true some people fear new technology (and some DSL users have fought being upgraded to FiOS), in this case many of these towns aren't being upgraded at all. They understand that uncapped, fixed-line broadband will be better than capped and notably more expensive wireless data services -- which they may not even be able to get. With state leaders not looking out for these municipalities' best interests, it's unclear how these towns hope to pressure Verizon to continue supporting (or to upgrade) these historically taxpayer subsidized copper lines. DSL users being neglected and shoved toward "good enough" wireless is a story that's playing out repeatedly in countless AT&T and Verizon territories nationwide. Except that's not what's happening here at all. While it's true some people fear new technology (and some DSL users have fought being upgraded to FiOS), in this case many of these towns aren't being upgraded at all. They understand that uncapped, fixed-line broadband will be better than capped and notably more expensive wireless data services -- which they may not even be able to get. With state leaders not looking out for these municipalities' best interests, it's unclear how these towns hope to pressure Verizon to continue supporting (or to upgrade) these historically taxpayer subsidized copper lines. DSL users being neglected and shoved toward "good enough" wireless is a story that's playing out repeatedly in countless AT&T and Verizon territories nationwide.







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Most recommended from 45 comments

NebRanger

lol, internet

join:2015-07-15

Toronto, ON Technicolor DCM476

Netgear WNDR3700v4

16 recommendations NebRanger Member VZNJ spokesman is a blissfully ignorant moron The point isn't that people don't want change necessarily. The point mainly revolves around the fact that VZ's alternative to DSL for these people is fixed LTE, which is simultaneously more expensive and less reliable than DSL. I'm sure if you were still deploying FiOS most of these people wouldn't mind being shuffled off DSL, but the point is you're not!

limegrass69

No Whammies

join:2008-05-28 14 recommendations limegrass69 Member Classic PR Pivot Is it me or does Verizon intentionally conflate the concepts of people "afraid" of fiber, and Verizon's calculated unwillingness to provide fiber optic service to certain areas?



To claim that wireless is a suitable alternative to fiber optics is silly.



Shame on the politicians who allowed Verizon to get away with not fulfilling their commitment. Many of these rural communities in Southern and Western NJ are in a tough spot.



Don't hold your breath for anything to change. IluvMoney (banned)

join:2015-05-04

MiddleClass 10 recommendations IluvMoney (banned) Member State has only 1 counter to Verizon stance NJ has only 1 way to counter Verizon's stance on letting copper die, but not running fiber. And that is to get these towns to band together and run their own fiber. Verizon has no incentive to do FTTH when their Fixed LTE plans are more lucrative and cheaper to build.

Smith6612

MVM

join:2008-02-01

North Tonawanda, NY Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway

Ubee E31U2V1

Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC-HD

9 recommendations Smith6612 MVM The CWA ads have started. This morning, I heard the first CWA ad in a long time on the radio. It was the CWA informing listeners about Verizon's profits, and the lack of FiOS expansion and maintenance budget of the copper network. They involved both Phone service, and High Speed Internet into the ad.



Verizon must be hearing these and trying to take notice of them. Tough luck - the CWA is not wrong. Now I wonder how much influence ads like that will have when it comes down to what people choose in my area.

Zenit

The system is the solution

Premium Member

join:2012-05-07

Purcellville, VA 7 recommendations Zenit Premium Member Verizon Misinformation



They can go ahead and tell me how much they invest in their copper network, I see it falling apart more on a daily basis. The real world reality is that the DSL network is stuck in 2004 for the most part; many customers are stuck on 3mbps, even if the line could do more. In addition there is a very huge chunk of rural wireline customers who cannot obtain DSL because VZ decided to not install a DSLAM in their central office.



To contrast, in the CenturyLink areas south of the VZ serving area here you can get 10mbps ADSL2 on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. VZ would provide POTS only in such an area.









This is a new picture, for those who complain about the old montage. The cover on this ped has been missing for about 2 months, the massive blob of pairs contains a few T-1's that feed a SLC-96 POTS remote up ahead. I bet service is great when it rains. Is it just me, or does Verizon put more effort into disinformation and propaganda than any other ILEC? It is an insult to everyone's intelligence to claim that non-acceptance of wireless data caps is the same as avoiding digit dialing. Digit dialing did not cost people $15 per digit. It also did not have a cap of X digits per month. There is a very good reason people are not happy that they are loosing their nearly unlimited DSL (the cap is some number of TB's which is nearly impossible to reach on VZ DSL).They can go ahead and tell me how much they invest in their copper network, I see it falling apart more on a daily basis. The real world reality is that the DSL network is stuck in 2004 for the most part; many customers are stuck on 3mbps, even if the line could do more. In addition there is a very huge chunk of rural wireline customers who cannot obtain DSL because VZ decided to not install a DSLAM in their central office.To contrast, in the CenturyLink areas south of the VZ serving area here you can get 10mbps ADSL2 on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. VZ would provide POTS only in such an area.

Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 4 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon Take your state to court for failure to protect citizens After all, that's what they state their job is. Every time they make citizens pay (or lose tax income) and the company getting the benefit doesn't pony up and is then let off the hook due to corruption (I'll call a spade a spade here I think) then they should be held accountable and the only recourse is the courts. Class action and sue, bet they take notice then.