Frontier Communications Northwest, Inc., has won an end to rate regulation, arguing sufficient competition exists between telecom companies in Washington State to make the oversight unnecessary.

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission approved the request this week, adding it would allow more pricing flexibility for Frontier services in the state.

Although the majority of Washington is served by CenturyLink, which acquired the assets of Qwest, Frontier has 321,000 customers in Redmond, Kirkland, Everett, Bothell, Woodinville, and other smaller communities. Most of Frontier’s customers were acquired from Verizon Northwest in 2010 after the company exited the landline business in the state.

Frontier must still adhere to Washington’s consumer protection laws. Customers with unresolved problems with Frontier services, including its adopted FiOS fiber network, can call the Commission’s HelpLine at 1-888-333-9882.

Phillip “What’s $520 a month between friends” Dampier

The average Ohio household consumes 52 gigabytes of data per month — the equivalent of more than five million emails or surfing the Internet for about 100 hours monthly — up from 28GB in 2012.

Demand for broadband and mobile communications continues to skyrocket as consumers in urban Ohio dump traditional landline phone service at an accelerating rate.

Since 2000, the industry group Ohio Telecom Association reports 64 percent of landlines have disappeared in the state since peaking in 2000. An additional 6-10 percent continue to cut the cord every year, either when elderly customers pass away or when consumers decide to switch to a wireless, cable telephone, or a broadband Voice over IP alternative like Vonage.

Some telephone companies, particularly AT&T and Verizon, argue the ongoing loss of landlines means the service is becoming technically obsolete — a justification to drop old copper phone networks in rural areas in favor of wireless and switching to fiber-fed IP networks like U-verse in urban and suburban areas. But copper landlines do more than just connect telephone calls.

Broadband usage statistics suggest rural customers in Ohio could find their Internet bills exploding if AT&T succeeds in forcing those customers, least likely to face competition from cable providers, to the company’s highly profitable wireless network.

AT&T currently sells rural landline customers DSL service starting at $14.95 a month. A usage cap of 150GB per month technically applies, but remains unenforced.

Customers switched to AT&T wireless service will pay much more for much less.

AT&T’s DataConnect plan, suitable for fixed wireless home use, starts at $50 a month and includes a usage allowance of 5GB per month. With the average Ohio resident now consuming 52GB a month, switching to wireless broadband is a real budget-buster. AT&T’s overlimit fee is $10/GB, so the average resident would face a monthly Internet bill of $520 a month this year. Assuming usage growth continues at the same pace, in 2014, AT&T customers will need to write a check for around $780 a month.

Ohio’s broadband and wireless usage statistics are familiar because they echo the rest of the country. According to Connect Ohio, wireless-only residents are 81 percent urban or suburban, where cell networks provide the best reception; 84 percent are under age 44; 58 percent have a college education; and 63 percent earn more than $25,000 annually.

Those affected by a forced transition to a wireless-only solution are least financially equipped to handle it.

“The least likely to convert to a wireless-only solution would be an older, rural, less educated, lower-income individual,” said Stu Johnson, executive director of Connect Ohio. “Those are probably also the most expensive copper customers.”

Despite warnings from public safety officials the wireless landline alternative proposed by Verizon is unreliable and potentially a threat to the safety and well-being of customers, Verizon is moving full speed ahead to deploy Voice Link service in New York and New Jersey communities where existing Verizon landlines have deteriorated and FiOS fiber optics is a distant dream.

On July 12, the Communications Workers of America reported that Verizon’s repair call centers in New York City are now assigning employees to Voice Link-related jobs.

“In addition, CWA members report that technicians are receiving specialized Voice Link installation training and are being assigned to carry out installations in the Buffalo and Watertown areas,” said Chris Shelton, vice president of CWA District 1.

The union also confirmed no further expansion work was being done on Verizon’s FiOS fiber network outside of the areas already committed by the company. Verizon FiOS is only available in a few Buffalo suburbs and not available in Watertown at all.

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CWA District 1 vice president Chris Shelton summed up Verizon’s aggressive deployment of Voice Link: “We can’t allow these dirty bastards to do this to their own customers, who they don’t give a s**t about….” (Warning: Strong Language) (3 minutes)

Sullivan County

More than 130 county executives, legislators, mayors, town supervisors, and councilors representing 68 New York State communities including Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Plattsburgh, Ithaca, Jamestown, Poughkeepsie, Rome, and Elmira called on the PSC to declare Voice Link an experimental service and not allow it to serve as the sole service offering on Fire Island or anywhere else:

The Commission stated that “[it] has been the Commission’s policy that utilities determine how to provision service via any combination of facilities – wires, fiber optics, electronics – so long as the tariffed service meets the Commission’s prescribed rules and customer expectations.”

Voice Link, as currently offered, does not meet Municipalities’ expectations. Instead, Voice Link would jeopardize municipalities’ ability to fulfill their responsibility to protect the safety of the citizens who reside and work in their communities. The broad and significant implications of Verizon’s proposed tariff warrant a full investigation. New technology should be deployed after solutions are found, not before.

Municipalities urge the Commission to develop a full factual record and to offer interested stakeholders the opportunity to participate fully in this important proceeding. Municipalities rely on the Commission to guide the evolution of the state’s telecommunications infrastructure in a manner that protects citizens’ safety and promotes economic development.

The legislators called Voice Link a threat to public safety and its installation hampered communities from protecting local residents.

In Sullivan County, where Verizon is attempting to introduce Voice Link as an option for seasonal residents, Undersheriff Eric Chaboty said using wireless service carries risks in an emergency.

Chaboty

At a press conference covered by the Mid-Hudson News Service, Chaboty made it clear homeowners should not feel pressured to sign up for Voice Link. Chaboty recounted a story of his neighbor’s house catching fire and the owner called 911 from a cell phone using the same wireless network Voice Link would use. The call was mistakenly routed to another county instead of Sullivan County 911, and by the time the call reached the correct emergency responders, the family’s home burned to the ground.

Stories like that may explain why Verizon has taken great pains to disclaim responsibility for a customer’s inability to reach 911 or be connected to the correct public safety operator.

Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther (D-Forestburgh) was incredulous Verizon would even attempt to introduce Voice Link in the rural Catskill Mountains, which is notorious for lousy cell reception.

“Too much of this county has no service at all and no hope on the horizon,” she told the audience. “Until the time comes when companies like Verizon are willing to make the investment to ensure reliable and thorough coverage, products like Voice Link are an insult and a danger to our community.”

Legislators across the state also suspect Voice Link will create an incentive for Verizon to neglect its already-deteriorating copper wire network, accelerating the need to deploy its preferred wireless solution. But the thought of achieving business priorities at the possible cost of public safety bothered the 134 legislators who signed a petition sent to the PSC.

“When outside plant is inadequately maintained, consumers’ safety is jeopardized because their dial tones may not function when they need to reach emergency services,” the petition explained.

Brookhaven town supervisor Edward P. Romaine held his own news conference at the Davis Park Ferry Terminal in Patchogue last week. He worried that Verizon was attempting to get its foot in the door with Voice Link, and will use any approval to quickly expand it as a “sole service option” elsewhere.

“Our concern isn’t only for Fire Island,” Romaine said. “Our concern is while they’re impacting a few communities in Fire Island, this . . . will spread to all of Fire Island and possibly to the main island.”

[flv width=”512″ height=”308″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CBS This Morning No more landlines Verizon wont fix storm damaged wires 7-19-13.flv[/flv]

CBS’ This Morning covered Verizon’s plans to drop landline service in Mantoloking, N.J., on an off shore barrier island. Residents really don’t want Voice Link as the replacement, but at least they have an alternative. Unlike on Fire Island, Mantoloking is served by a cable company – Comcast. (3 minutes)

Verizon Communications is cutting investment in its landline and fiber optic networks, spending the money on improving the company’s more profitable wireless business, which now accounts for 67 percent of Verizon’s total revenue.

Verizon reported second-quarter results this morning, meeting most Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The company reported a minor increase in capital spending to bolster its wireless LTE 4G network which is seeing strong growth in data traffic.

Verizon Wireless added one million new wireless customers in the last quarter, many transferring from Sprint’s now-discontinued Nextel network shut down last month. Among the new customer additions, 941,000 signed two-year postpaid contracts.

A growing number of Verizon Wireless customers are also migrating to the company’s Share Everything plan. At least 36 percent of Verizon’s wireless customers are now on shared, usage-limited data plans. Verizon expects more customers to switch, especially when legacy plan customers discover they will not receive a subsidized phone upgrade unless they abandon the grandfathered, all-you-can-eat data plan. Verizon believes the Share Everything plan will keep the company in a strong place to accelerate earnings as customers find they must regularly upgrade to higher capacity data allowances to handle increasing data usage.

Verizon’s wired success story

The growing adoption of more expensive data plans means higher bills for Verizon Wireless’ 35 million contract customers. The average Verizon Wireless customer now pays $152.50 per month, an increase of 6.4 percent. In total, over 100 million Americans now use Verizon’s prepaid and postpaid wireless services.

In June, Verizon Wireless reported its nationwide upgrade to LTE 4G service was now essentially complete, with 99 percent of 3G service areas also covered by 4G. Verizon reports 59% of its total data traffic is carried on the 4G LTE network, which is five times more efficient than the 3G network.

Wireline: Success When Verizon Invests in Upgrades, Ongoing Customer Defections Where Verizon’s Copper Network Continues to Deteriorate

Verizon’s success story in wireless is not repeated on its wireline network. Verizon lost another 5.2 percent of its residential copper landline customers during the quarter, down from 6.6 percent at the same time last year. In contrast, where Verizon’s fiber optic network FiOS is in place, customer numbers are growing along with revenue.

In fact, 71 percent of the revenue Verizon now earns from its wired residential network now comes from FiOS. The fiber network helped Verizon boost revenues by another 4.7 percent in the second quarter. With an average Verizon FiOS bill now at over $150 a month, the company saw a 9.4 percent increase in the average revenue per wireline customer over last year.

Verizon added 161,000 new FiOS Internet customers and another 140,000 new video customers in the second quarter. FiOS Quantum, which offers a broadband speed upgrade to 50/25Mbps for $10 more a month, has continued to be a hit with customers. More than one-third of all FiOS Internet customers have upgraded to faster Quantum speeds.

Shammo

With continued growth possible in the wired network business, Verizon could increase investment in expanding FiOS fiber into more markets, but instead the company continues to divert its attention and money to Verizon Wireless.

Verizon’s legacy copper wire phone and FiOS businesses saw a further reduction of 5.9 percent in capital expenditures in the second quarter — just $1.5 billion spent in the quarter and $2.9 billion year to date. Verizon’s full-year capital spending outlook which includes wireless, in contrast, is on track to spend between $16.4-16.6 billion this year. The majority of Verizon’s capital investments are aimed at improving its wireless network. Verizon’s aging copper wire network will continue to see a declining percentage of investment, and the company continues to leave FiOS fiber expansion on hold.

Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, this morning told investors they should expect to see a continued decline in spending on Verizon’s wired networks and more cost savings wrung out from Verizon’s declining unionized workforce, which has been asked to make concessions in labor contracts and increase work rule flexibility.

Other highlights:

• 51 percent of new phone activations were Apple iPhones during the second quarter;
• Over 64 percent of all activated phones on Verizon Wireless’ network are now smartphones;
• Verizon’s 3G network will increasingly be used by prepaid and reseller (MVNO) customers not allowed on Verizon’s LTE network;
• Verizon’s proposed entry into the Canadian wireless market is primarily focused on serving southeastern Canada from roughly Montreal to Toronto;
• 60 percent of Verizon’s revenue declines in its enterprise division were due to the federal government’s sequestration — automatic spending cuts, and declining spending by state and local governments;
• Verizon has no interest in competing with AT&T to acquire Leap Wireless (Cricket);
• The impact of Verizon’s agreement with cable operators to sell each other’s products has underwhelmed, at least so far;
• Voice Over LTE service, which will dramatically improve sound quality on voice calls, will arrive in Verizon handsets later this year with an aim to introduce the service sometime in 2014. But Verizon Wireless wants to be certain 4G LTE coverage is robust, because if reception deteriorates, VoLTE calls are not backwards-compatible with its current CDMA network and the call will get dropped. Getting it right is more important for Verizon than getting the service out quickly.

Following Verizon’s lead, AT&T has announced a new privacy policy that includes fine print allowing the company to track your website visits, location, viewing habits, mobile app usage, and numbers called and received. AT&T says it will aggregate the information collected and peddle it to businesses who want to learn everything they can about potential customers, store visitors, and viewers.

AT&T will likely earn millions from the enhanced surveillance of its customers, but none of those earnings will bring you a lower bill.

“The scope of the information collected is significant when one considers AT&T will be matching it with credit reports, mailing lists, and already-available demographic information,” says online privacy expert Thom Sonderland. “Although AT&T says they will not sell personally identifiable information to third parties, the company will have much more detailed information about their customers at their disposal for any internal use they want.”

AT&T included examples of collected information:

• The names and web addresses of all websites visited;
• the length of time spent on each website;
• the addresses of all web links customers choose to click, which ads appear on-screen and which are accessed;
• a complete list of search terms entered into search engines;
• how customers use their AT&T wireless or home phone, including numbers dialed and received;
• which mobile apps are installed, used, and for how long;
• all stores, homes and businesses visited while carrying your mobile phone and for how long;
• what television shows/channels U-verse customers watch and for how long;
• which U-verse apps are being used.

AT&T customers have been largely hostile to the sweeping privacy policy changes.

“AT&T should not be making money on my data – they make plenty of money from my wireless plan and the devices sold to me – and […] the wireless coverage in my area is awful,” writes Kippian Yost. “Why not concentrate on better coverage for the prices we are paying to AT&T?”

“Selling my private information to marketers doesn’t enhance my experience, it only erodes it but pads your top line,” writes Bruno S. “My contract is up soon, I will choose to do business with a company that respects my privacy, not one that views my private actions as a commercial asset.”

“I want to know how to opt out of my U-verse and business phone line,” said Robert Celano. “I have already done so for my AT&T Wireless account. I want to opt out of everything connected to AT&T.”

Stop the Cap!’s Guide to Opting Out of AT&T’s New Privacy Policy

1. You can opt out of those targeted ads by logging into your AT&T account online and clicking “Advertising Choices” found at the bottom of the screen in fine print. From here, you can opt out of all targeted online advertising. Important: You must visit this link from each device or web browser you use to completely opt out. The choices you make apply only to the device used when accessing the website.
2. While logged in, you can also opt out of most of the rest of AT&T’s customer tracking program from their Privacy Choices for External Marketing & Analytics Reports website. Important: If you are an AT&T landline customer, you can also use this site to opt out of AT&T tracking your landline service.

If you don’t want to receive AT&T marketing messages, follow these three steps to opt out:

• E-Mail: Every marketing e-mail AT&T sends contains instructions and a link that will allow you to stop additional marketing e-mails for that product or service type. You also can unsubscribe from AT&T marketing e-mails here.
• Text Messages: Opt-out of AT&T marketing text message contacts by replying “stop” to any message.
• Consumer Telemarketing: Ask to be removed from AT&T’s consumer telemarketing lists by contacting them at one of the numbers listed here, or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. You also can ask the AT&T representative to remove you from their telemarketing lists when you receive a marketing or promotional call.