Comments on: Approve Verizon-Frontier Deal Because Frontier Can’t Do Any Worse for West Virginia?

By: David

David — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:01:21 +0000

Interesting how my name came up out of this story.

It is true that I am going to save a good chunk of change on my deal, but I have been looking to switch things up for quite a while now and finally pulled the trigger.

By: rb

rb — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:50:19 +0000

Excellent well researched article. I am a VZ Eng. asst ( union) , Your article was fair and accurate. One other point VZ shareholders will sell Frontier stock they get, those who didn’t sell Fairpoint and Idearc got burned. Both are penny stocks. I’m selling Frontier if this sale goes through. Frontier isn’t going to be able to fix the WV outside plant, not with their promise to increase broadband. Verizon has already picked the cherries so to speak. The only outlying remote terminals(Litespans and slcs) serve far to few customers to recoup huge investment.WV will never see FIOS, which is needed to give the cable companies competition thereby better service and potential lower prices. Damn shame the INFO highway isn’t going by WV.

By: Phillip Dampier

Phillip Dampier — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:40:51 +0000

Actually, the 5GB cap is part of the argument against the deal in West Virginia. The Consumer Advocate for the state argues in his official filing with the Public Service Commission that usage allowance, whether enforced or not, is a major detriment to West Virginia consumers, and is likely to have a negative impact on the state’s attractiveness to new residents and businesses.

For the record, the company does not enforce the limit at this time, and we’ve reported on that previously. However, as long as that language remains part of the company’s Acceptable Use Policy, it -does- govern a customer’s use of the service, and also pre-empts the materially adverse changes clause for customers under term contracts, should they wish to exit the contract without penalty if Frontier begins to enforce it.

By: preventCAPS

preventCAPS — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:20:02 +0000

From Frontier’s Terms and Conditions:

http://www.frontier.com/terms/Residential_HSI_Terms_and_Conditions/

“Customers must comply with all Frontier network, bandwidth, data storage and usage limitations. Customers must ensure that their use of the Service, including the amount of data sent or received in the course of a month or shorter periods, does not exceed the limitations that are now in effect…”

By: preventCAPS

preventCAPS — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:13:20 +0000

The only good I can see from the Frontier deal is Frontier’s bankrupcy which would allow Verizon to serve Rochester with FiOS, giving me the pleasure of giving TWC and their CAPS the boot!

By: Ian L

Ian L — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:15:17 +0000

Here’s the thing: at this point Stop the Cap is the only site still trumpeting Frontier’s 5GB cap. Ask the company again, get it on record that they don’t have the cap any more, then drop the darned thing.

As far as Consumer Reports goes, though I respect their ratings their suggestion to get fiber optic or cable service may be impossible if DSL is your ownly option, as it is for a fair number of areas where the cableco wants $2000 or more for stringing lines and the DSL company can provide service over existing copper, once it has been groomed.

Also, honestly, 1-3 Mbps DSL service, assuming 384 kbps up and 768 kbps up respectively for those tiers, is good enough for about 90% of stuff that goes on online these days, though this percentage will decrease over time and depending on how many folks are sharing internet at the subscriber’s house.

Case in point: my parents are now using a 1.5/384 Verizon DSL connection. Cable is $9000 away, and DSL is dirt-cheap: $30 per month after six months of free service, since we have a $20-per-month landline. Service is rock-solid, and everything short of HD video works fine over the connection. Sure beats the wireless internet options that were available previously.

I’m not saying that Frontier shouldn’t provide higher speeds to their customers; I have Comcast 22/5 at my apartment near college. However if Frontier can pass its DSL penetration milestones then that’s a very, very good start.