Getting Locked in to Verizon

According to an Associated Press story, many consumers and businesses are getting a surprise when they order Verizon's FiOS fiber telecommunications service - they lose the copper wires to their buildings without warning. That might not seem to be a big deal; after all, the fiber carries the same signals. But there are some consequences:

• US law only requires the big carriers to lease copper, not fiber. So you could find that there are no longer competitive alternatives available - and telecom deregulation was intended to increase competition, which lowered prices. So as people and companies adopt FiOS, we move back toward telecom monopoly.


• Use FiOS and you see service charges that can be significantly higher. The article compares DSL with fiber-based Internet access. The latter is undoubtedly faster, but also costs twice as much.


• Once you switch, you can't necessarily switch back. You're stuck, as is anyone in the future who occupies the same property.


• FiOS doesn't work when the power is out once the battery backup runs down, unlike traditional phone service, so there is a potentail security/safety aspect.

AT&T and Qwest have also been trying to replace copper with fiber, but not in the final hop to the consumer or business becasue of the cost of replacing it for each individual location. Someone from Verizon is claiming that the company will reconnect the copper if someone asks, but the company will try to convince the customer not to. And the "notification" that Verizon provides is questionable:

An example of what Rabe describes as adequate notice is the fine print on Verizon's FiOS policy, which is printed on its Web site. It says "current Verizon Online DSL customers who move to FiOS Internet service will have their Verizon Online DSL permanently disabled after their FiOS conversion."

Saying that you permanently disable a service is not the same as saying that you will permanently change a physical connection - particularly when you have a 30-day money back guarantee. And as far as rates go, when you've only got one choice, they probably only have one place to go - up.

So perhaps it's time for Congress to once again look at the telecommunications industry and ammend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to ensure that competition continues and that the back door doesn't open to a new age of monopoly.