WSYR-TV in Syracuse

One television station in central New York has helped provoke Time Warner Cable into fixing flaws with its Digital Phone service and how it handles emergency calls to 911.

WSYR-TV in Syracuse shined a spotlight on several failures by the cable company to properly route 911 calls to the appropriate local agencies, instead diverting some 911 calls to a call center in Colorado.

The cable company also had problems with the accuracy of its customer database, which could leave emergency responders with incomplete or missing address information.

After several New York State county 911 managers brought the matter to the attention of the station, it ran a series of reports that have gotten results.

The cable company told the station it has made significant progress in resolving 911 problems, and several of the county 911 managers the station spoke with tentatively agree — noting they’ve seen improvements from the cable operator.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse Time Warner Solving 911 Problems 1-10-11.flv[/flv]

WSYR-TV aired two follow-up reports on the Digital Phone-911 problems.  (Warning: Loud Volume) (4 minutes)

Some AT&T customers who buy bundled packages of services including landlines, cellular and satellite television have been running into a problem recently: AT&T keeps “losing” part of their monthly payments.

KOVR-TV’s consumer reporter Kurtis Ming shared the story of Karen and Darrell Smith.  The Sacramento area residents were AT&T landline, cell phone, and satellite TV customers for years, faithfully paying their monthly bill on time with no problems until the family decided to cut the cord on their landline service.

Darrell says he was told it would be no problem.  “She did say that once we cancel the landline then we wouldn’t be eligible for the bundle anymore, but we’ll just get a bill for it and just pay that.”

The Smiths say they paid their AT&T bills online in September, and October.  But then they received past due notices from both DISH Network and AT&T.  So what happened to the payments they have proof they paid?

“They said they had no way of knowing where the money went,” says Darrell.  “Once it comes in it’s gone,” says Karen.

The Smiths say the billing issue didn’t seem to surprise AT&T.

“He said, ‘All you had to tell me was that you were having trouble with the bundled billing department because everybody in this company knows that money gets lost there all the time,’” says Karen.

Thus began several months of ongoing billing nightmares for the family, including familiar “buck-passing” between DISH, who blamed AT&T for the billing errors, and AT&T, whose representatives eventually zeroed out their balance, if only to get the Smith family out of their collective hair.

After AT&T shut off their cell phone service because of “past due” bills, the family cringed every time a new bill arrived, wondering what new problems would be coming next.

“How can a large company like this operate with such disjointed departments and such a lack of ability to communicate?  She said that they’re working to improve that,” Karen tells the Sacramento CBS station.

After four months of nightmares, the family called the TV station hoping their consumer reporter could penetrate AT&T’s billing department and get the billing fixed once and for all.

Steven Smith (probably no relation), an AT&T representative, sent the station an official explanation that seemed to blame it all on the Smith family:

Ming

[…] Three revised final bills were generated due to payments made on the account. The first final bill separated the combined Mobility and DISH accounts. It appears the consumer did not understand that separate bills would be rendered from DISH and AT&T Mobility after the landline disconnection and the customer evidently did not notify their financial institution of the account changes for automatic payments….

Another AT&T representative suggested it was inappropriate for a customer service agent to state the company was having billing problems.

Ming was happy to report AT&T appears to have fixed the problem, at least for one family.

AT&T customers should always scrutinize their bills to make sure they are accurate.  If errors are found, contact the company as soon as possible.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KOVR Sacramento ATT Losing Money 1-4-11.mp4[/flv]

KOVR-TV Sacramento’s consumer report Kevin Ming describes the story of one family’s ongoing billing problems with AT&T.  (3 minutes)

It’s official.  Verizon Wireless will welcome Apple’s iPhone to its network next month, but in a glaring omission, company officials refused to discuss data pricing for the all-important data plans that will power the wildly popular smartphone.

The official announcement of the iPhone on Verizon came late this morning in New York at a press event hosted by Verizon’s president Lowell McAdam.  Joining him was Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer. Neither Steve Jobs or Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg were on hand for the event.

“Late in 2010 we started offering the Apple iPad and today we are extremely gratified to announce that the iPhone 4 will be available early next month,” MacAdam said. “Our relationship with Apple has developed over the last two years. Back in 2008 we started talking about bringing the iPhone to a CDMA network, and we spent a year testing.”

“All of Apple is very excited to bring the iPhone to Verizon’s customers,” added Cook.

The new phone will be available for pre-orders, exclusively for existing Verizon Wireless customers Feb. 3.  A week later, anyone can reserve the Verizon iPhone at Verizon Wireless or Apple stores, or online.  The new phones will cost $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model with a new two year contract.  The phones will work on Verizon’s 3G network, but not on their new LTE/4G network.

Verizon is so confident its network can handle the traffic, it is bundling, for free, a mobile hotspot with the phone that will allow up to five devices to share the iPhone’s 3G connection over Wi-Fi.  That means you can use a laptop or home computer with a wireless card and connect to Verizon’s 3G wireless broadband service without any additional equipment.

But Verizon’s press event left some questions unanswered, starting with whether the company would sell unlimited data plans to accompany the phone.

“We talked about the device pricing, but we’re not going to talk about the pricing for the network for that connectivity,” Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said. “We’ll have announcements in the future.”

Another downside: the Verizon iPhone will not be able to multitask.  If you make or receive calls on your phone, your data connection is suspended for the length of the call.  This is common on CDMA cellular networks, and it currently affects other smartphones used on Verizon’s network as well.

As far as Apple sees it, that isn’t much of a problem so long as the phone works on Verizon’s network.

“I can tell you that the number one question I’ve gotten is when will the iPhone work on Verizon,” said Cook. “I couldn’t be happier to tell people that. They will make those sorts of trade-offs.”

[flv width=”576″ height=”344″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/AP Verizon to Start Selling iPhone Early Feb 1-11-11.flv[/flv]

Lowell McAdam makes the official announcement.  (2 minutes)

No significant expansion for FiOS in 2011, say company officials.

A Verizon spokesman has confirmed Verizon will not be expanding its FiOS fiber to the home service into new areas in 2011, except in those communities where the company already signed franchise agreements.

It’s the second year of Verizon’s hold on fiber expansion, instituted because of objections by Wall Street, a difficult economy, and a less optimistic view by Verizon’s new management that fiber has the capacity to quickly return on investment.

For upstate New York, the end-effect of Verizon’s decision is an odd patchwork of partially-built FiOS-capable communities, mostly in suburbs amenable to Verizon’s franchise terms. Some suburbs have access to FiOS broadband and phone service, but not television.  Others have access to all three services, while many other areas have nothing but Verizon’s ordinary copper phone lines.

“If you are big on fiber, there are some outlying towns with real estate agents that list whether or not their properties have Verizon FiOS, and whether that includes television service,” says Lysander, N.Y. resident Jeff, who reads Stop the Cap! “Our town was just glad Verizon picked us for upgrades and we didn’t ask too much of the phone company, quickly agreeing to a TV franchise agreement.”

But residents in the city of Syracuse are less happy — they won’t get competitive video from Verizon and are stuck with a Time Warner Cable wired monopoly because the city “dragged its feet” on franchise negotiations.

“When it comes to bigger cities, they see Verizon’s knock on the door as an opportunity to cash in on freebies from the phone company, like upgrading their video studios for government access channels, paying substantial franchise fees, and agreeing to carry channels the city government wants on Verizon’s cable system,” Jeff says.  “When the first cable systems came to town, it was the same story; some communities dragged their feet for years trying to extract more.”

Of course, cities don’t have to wait for Verizon to take care of their growing broadband needs.  They can build their own fiber networks and deliver world class service themselves, or open the new networks up to private competitors to deliver bigger bang for your broadband buck.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse FiOS availability not planned for Syracuse during 2011 1-6-11.flv[/flv]

WSYR-TV in Syracuse reports it will be a long wait for many in central New York waiting for fiber to the home television service. (Warning: Loud Volume) (1 minute)

Disgruntled AT&T customers, and those with infinite patience for Apple’s iPhone on Verizon Wireless’ network — your long wait appears to finally be over.

After nearly a year of speculation, Verizon Wireless is expected to announce the imminent arrival of the coveted smartphone on the nation’s largest wireless carrier at a press event tomorrow.

The Verizon version of the iPhone could come at a price premium, with some anticipating the entry level version of the phone could be priced as high as $249 — $50 higher than with AT&T.  The usual two year contract applies.

Analysts predict a muted stampede, at least at first, by unhappy AT&T customers.  As many as two million customers itching to dump AT&T could jump to Verizon in 2011, but they’ll pay dearly to do so.  First, their existing AT&T iPhone won’t work on Verizon’s network, so that means a new phone and a new, two year contract with Verizon to get the best price.  Second, AT&T locked many of its customers into two year contract extensions with the release of the last iPhone in June.  No amount of whining by iPhone users, which has worked to score early upgrades and discounts in the past, will get AT&T to make the price of divorce less expensive.  The company’s price to sever ties: more than $200 for most in-contract customers with the latest version of the popular phone.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CNBC Verizon iPhone Package 1-10-11.flv[/flv]

CNBC discusses the pros and cons of Verizon’s adoption of Apple’s iPhone in these two reports.  (8 minutes)

Verizon iPhone users will also give up something else: an iPhone that can multitask.  AT&T’s GSM network allowed customers to browse web pages and run applications while you talked on the phone.  Verizon’s CDMA network doesn’t support that.  As long as you talk on your phone, your data applications won’t update.  It’s an either/or proposition, at least for now.

Still, expect the iPhone to be a Verizon hit like none other.  Carl Howe, an analyst for the Yankee Group, expects Verizon to sell 16.5 million iPhones in 2011, with more than half — 9 million — coming from Verizon’s own subscriber base.

The question is — can Verizon’s three bedroom house support the entire extended family showing up on their network doorstep?

AT&T’s network suffered from the onslaught of data-hungry iPhone devotees.  As millions of Americans adopted the phone, an AT&T exclusive, the company’s wireless network groaned under the usage.  With calls dropping, data trickling, and customer service irritating, AT&T scored rock-bottom in consumer ratings.

Some wonder if the same fate could afflict Verizon’s network.  Verizon currently has the lowest percentage of smartphone customers using its network among the four major carriers.  Verizon’s pricing is typically considered the culprit.  Customers insisting on the iPhone ended up with AT&T.  But those seeking Android phones had more choices — Sprint’s unlimited data plans at aggressive price points, T-Mobile’s value-oriented family shareplans, or Verizon’s robust network coverage at Cadillac pricing.

Putting the iPhone, already a premium-priced phone some consumers can’t live without, with Verizon’s reputation for high quality service, is expected to be a winning combination, and 16.5 million customers joining Verizon’s existing 30 million smartphone customers in a single year could have a dramatic impact.

“Unless Verizon has done a lot of network upgrades in advance, it may see many of the same capacity problems that have plagued AT&T,” Howe says.

The news AT&T is about to lose its exclusivity for the phone was taken in stride by some company executives, one who used the occasion to take a swipe at Verizon’s slower speed 3G network.

AT&T public relations head Larry Solomon pointed out Verizon’s 3G network relies on 3.1Mbps EVDO Rev. A technology while AT&T delivers 7.2Mbps on its HSPA 3G network.

The iPhone is built for speed, but that’s not what you get with a CDMA phone,” Solomon told Electronista. “I’m not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane.”

Verizon Wireless is expected to unveil the new phone Tuesday morning, with its in-store availability expected within a few weeks.  For fans of unlimited usage, there is one more piece of good news: Verizon is expected to continue offering unlimited data usage plans to its new iPhone customers.  AT&T cashiered its own unlimited data plan last spring, forcing customers to keep usage under 2GB per month if they don’t want an even higher bill.  Verizon is reportedly confident its network can sustain the traffic, and will leave its data hungry customers alone… for now.

Apple Insider produced this chart comparing Verizon and AT&T's smartphone pricing.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTTG Bloomberg Verizon iPhone Package 1-10-11.flv[/flv]

WTTG-TV in Washington delivers the news about the imminent arrival of the iPhone on Verizon’s network in a consumer-friendly fashion, while Bloomberg delves deeper into exactly what impact the move will have on existing and future customers of both AT&T and Verizon.  (9 minutes)