Verizon Is Aggressively Over-Charging its Voice Customers Verizon has been over-charging the company's traditional phone customers in New York to the tune of $1,000 to $1,500 each, per year, claims Bruce Kushnick and the New Networks Institute. Kushnick is a long-standing telco critic, making a career out of highlighting Verizon and AT&T's history of nabbing huge subsidies and tax breaks for next-generation broadband service they never delivered to huge swaths of their footprints.

More recently, these companies have been under fire for plans to disconnect unwanted DSL and POTS customers, users that are currently using networks paid for with a generation of corporate handouts. Kushnick this week told the New York Post that Verizon continues to charge an arm and a leg for voice services like call waiting and local calling (mostly older customers) that cost just pennies to provide: quote: Kushnick, a longtime phone company consultant and analyst, says that because of the copper network’s age — its construction was paid for years ago — there’s little doubt Verizon’s landline prices should be lower. “All the copper networks have been written off,” he says. “Copper-based phone services should be $10 or $20 [per month].” Instead, citing the competition from VoIP services, Verizon successfully lobbied to eliminate most rate regulation, which is why the company can still get away with charging sometimes more than $100 a month for services that have already been paid for ten or even a hundred times over already: quote: Verizon’s landline customers pay a basic, state-set charge of $23 — but that’s just for starters. Taxes and fees boost that $23 fee to over $30. Unlimited local and long distance push charges to over $60, the state reported last year. Fees for voicemail, call waiting and home wire maintenance increase bills even more. Kushnick said some of �Verizon’s overcharges are breathtaking. For example, he said, Verizon charges about $7.95 per month for call forwarding and call waiting — which costs the company only 2 or 3 cents. That revenue is then used to fuel Verizon's aggressive wireless and advertising expansion efforts, while neglecting to adequately repair and maintain the company's aging DSL and POTS lines (or neighborhoods Instead, citing the competition from VoIP services, Verizon successfully lobbied to eliminate most rate regulation, which is why the company can still get away with charging sometimes more than $100 a month for services that have already been paid for ten or even a hundred times over already:That revenue is then used to fuel Verizon's aggressive wireless and advertising expansion efforts, while neglecting to adequately repair and maintain the company's aging DSL and POTS lines (or neighborhoods devastated by natural disaster ). And while many like to argue that people shouldn't be stupid enough to keep paying Verizon, many of these customers Kushnick notes are being swindled are the elderly, who may not know about VoIP -- or even how to use a computer or cell phone. The Post just calls these people "Luddites," but make no mistake: Verizon's predominately ripping off old people. And because Verizon has so much political power on the state level, government turns a blind eye to it. Kushnick's latest allegations come as the New York Public Service Commission begins an inquiry into whether Verizon's neglected the same customers Kushnick says they've been over-charging. Verizon's also facing investigations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the same reason. Both of those states shelled out billions in subsidies in exchange for fiber upgrades that were never delivered, though again, holding Verizon accountable for this has proven impossible thanks to the company's political influence. “There is absolutely no factual basis for his allegations,” Verizon says of Kushnick's latest claims. “There is absolutely no factual basis for his allegations,” Verizon says of Kushnick's latest claims.







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Most recommended from 32 comments

tired_runner

Premium Member

join:2000-08-25

New York 27 recommendations tired_runner Premium Member Wake me up.... .... when there's new news to report.



Verizon has always been, and will continue being one of America's best paid con artists.

kdwycha

join:2003-01-30

Ruskin, FL 10 recommendations kdwycha Member Well.



So you are telling me that the technicians dispatched to put garbage bags and duct tape on the antiquated copper plant work for free?



How about the call center agent's that take Aunt Berties bi-weekly call about static on the line, do they work for free too?



I would imagine the IT personal that maintain Verizon's back end systems work for free?



And the people in Verizon's billing mailroom filling USPS tubs and unjamming envelope stuffers work for free?



Sure it's overpriced, but weather the plant is paid for 10X over or not, there are still operational costs.



Just pointing that out The article says that copper costs virtually nothing to provide?So you are telling me that the technicians dispatched to put garbage bags and duct tape on the antiquated copper plant work for free?How about the call center agent's that take Aunt Berties bi-weekly call about static on the line, do they work for free too?I would imagine the IT personal that maintain Verizon's back end systems work for free?And the people in Verizon's billing mailroom filling USPS tubs and unjamming envelope stuffers work for free?Sure it's overpriced, but weather the plant is paid for 10X over or not, there are still operational costs.Just pointing that out

TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA Motorola MG7550

7 recommendations TIGERON Member How much more are we as the public going to continue to tolerate? I'm just wondering when are we going to collectively hit the streets and protest the unending greed of wall street that all of these companies answer to?



This current system we are living is not working anymore. Whether you agree with me or not, I am GLAD that Sanders and Trump are taking the wrecking ball to each one of the parties, calling out the system for what it is, upsetting the status quo and pissing off all the HAVES who have almost everything. They are nervous. They should be. I am glad that both the republican and democratic establishments are in panic mode. Most people including myself see it as they are getting exactly what they fucking deserve. I hate to say it but its the truth : our government, the people we elected, the wealthy, all of them have failed us. It is US versus them and they have shown us that they dont give a shit. They do not care about us. McBane

join:2008-08-22

Wylie, TX 4 recommendations McBane Member The only reason to have Verizon VoIP... So you don't spend 10 minutes while account reps try to "find" your account.



Ba da ding! mc510

join:2005-06-20

El Cerrito, CA 3 recommendations mc510 Member Death spiral VZ and T gouge their POTS customers --> customers abandon POTS --> smaller number of POTS customers left to pay for cost of maintaining and operating the POTS network --> POTS prices rise --> more customers abandon POTS ....



In the past decade, AT&T has lost something like 80% of it's POTS customers in California. wkm001

join:2009-12-14 2 recommendations wkm001 Member I'm so tired of... It doesn't matter one bit how much it costs Verizon or any other company to provide a service. If people are willing to pay it... But people aren't willing to pay it. Landline customers have been declining sharply for years. The real question is why they haven't adjusted pricing accordingly.