Nearly four months after Hurricane Sandy struck Manhattan, many customers are still waiting to get their phone and Internet service restored.

Verizon’s black hole extends across parts of Lower Manhattan, such as along Avenue C, roughly from Third Street to Tenth Street. There, business transactions are often “cash-only,” because stores and bars have no ability to process credit card transactions. But getting cash can also be difficult as ATMs, which also rely on Verizon’s network, display the same “Offline” message they have shown for more than three months.

Some of Verizon’s customers are fed up, especially after the company started asking customers to pay for phone and broadband service they don’t have. Several customers report the company expects its monthly bills to be paid, with complicated service credits forthcoming after payments are applied. Customers who don’t pay have been assessed late fees or face collection activity for service that has not worked since Halloween.

WNYC Radio reports it has been nearly four months since Hurricane Sandy hit the northeastern U.S. and large sections of Lower Manhattan still don’t have phone or broadband service from Verizon. (February 13, 2012) (4 minutes)
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Verizon does not seem to be in much of a hurry, a point of contention with the New York State Public Service Commission, which may be preparing to fine Verizon yet again for failing to meet service standards. The company has been on probation with the PSC for some time. Last summer, the regulator fined Verizon $100,000 for missing required service standards during the month of July, 2012. More than 1,100 of 5,400 reported outages were not repaired within the required 24 hours.

That was an improvement over how the company performed in October and December, 2011, where prolonged service outages provoked the PSC to eventually fine Verizon $400,000.

This time Verizon wants a free pass from more fines, claiming enormous restoration efforts necessitated by Sandy are responsible for any delayed response.

Assistant Attorney General Keith Gordon is not buying it. He called Verizon’s reports on outages “disingenuous at best,” and accused Verizon of manipulating data and delivering incomplete outage statistics.

Nobody outside of Verizon knows how many New Yorkers still lack phone or Internet service — the PSC is obligated to keep specific numbers private at the behest of the telecommunications companies themselves.

“Given the fact that the telecommunication industry is highly competitive, such information is considered confidential,” James Denn, a PSC spokesperson told WNYC Radio.

[flv width=”534″ height=”320″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/NY1 Lower Manhattan Resident Has Lost Phone Service For Months Following Sandy 1-15-13.mp4[/flv]

NY1 reports on Greenwich Village residents who are still without Verizon service months after Sandy. They claim Verizon broke multiple promises to get service restored.  (1 minute)

The Bloomberg Administration strongly disagrees with the PSC’s handling of outage information.

“This information should also be made publicly available to consumers so they may track the status repairs, obtain reasonable estimates as to when service might be restored, and compare performance across competing carriers,” said Rahul Merchant, chief information and innovation officer for New York City.

For customers who can’t manage their businesses without phone or Internet service, relief is coming from an increasingly aggressive Time Warner Cable.

Verizon’s largest rival has dispatched armies of salespeople onto the streets in Verizon-deprived areas. The cable company has begun to steal away a number of out-of-service Verizon customers.

That occasionally comes as a surprise to Verizon workers that show up to make repairs, only to be told “I quit you two weeks ago,” by annoyed business owners.

Verizon never got the message.

[flv width=”624″ height=”372″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WNBC New York Sandy-Damaged High School Still Without Phone Service 3 Months After Storm 2-6-13.flv[/flv]

WNBC reports this New York City high school has been left without Verizon service for three months, forcing teachers and staff to use cell phones to communicate.  (2 minutes)

Time Warner Cable has introduced its usage measurement tracker tool for customers in parts of upstate New York. The tool can be found on Time Warner Cable’s website under the My Services -> My Internet menu for customers logged in on the website.

Time Warner has been quietly collecting usage statistics for customers in this region since September 2012 and also offers the archived results for viewing.

The measurement tool managed to track a swap of the cable company-supplied modem for one I own in the fall of 2012.

The usage statistics seem generally accurate, although it combines both upstream and downstream traffic into one number. Some routers and other usage measurement tools measure this traffic separately.

Cahill

A New York assemblyman is telling his upstate constituents to stop wasting money on Time Warner Cable’s monthly broadband modem equipment fee and buy your own device.

“I want consumers to know that they do not have to waste their hard-earned money on a product which was considered free for years,” said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill (D-Kingston) in a statement to members of his district. “Over the course of a year or two, depending on the model, the purchase of a new modem will pay for itself. Additionally, the models for purchase have more features than leased modems, like faster speeds and the capability to handle unlimited wireless devices.”

Time Warner expects less than three percent of its customers will take Cahill’s advice and avoid the $3.95 monthly fee, which opens a new, lucrative revenue stream for a cable operator that already enjoys up to 95 percent gross margin on its broadband service.

Cahill complained the 1996 U.S. Telecom Act prohibits the state’s Public Service Commission from intervening, but reminded customers there is a joint New York-New Jersey class action lawsuit against the cable operator over how the modem fee was implemented.

As of Jan. 14, Time Warner Cable has approved the following modems-for-purchase that can be activated for use with its broadband service, with our recommendations in red:

Telecom door fees and other accommodations are often illegal under New York State law.

More details are emerging over Verizon’s complaint to the New York Public Service Commission after the company was refused entry to several New York multi-dwelling buildings to restore phone service after Hurricane Sandy and upgrade tenants to the company’s fiber optic network FiOS.

The New York Times reports the management blockade of telecom companies is nothing new. In some instances, landlords even expect to receive compensation for unlocking the front door for Verizon and Time Warner Cable, despite the fact it is illegal.

Verizon spokesman John Bonomo declined to tell the newspaper how much landlords are asking, but cable industry executives tell stories of building owners demanding as much as $150 per apartment in what they call “door fees.”

Verizon noted DSA Management, the company that takes care of 11 Maiden Lane, has asked for compensation. Theoretically, if DSA requested the same amount, it would run more than $10,000.

A DSA Management executive claims tenants in the building never lost phone service because of the storm and had no interest in the additional services Verizon FiOS had to offer. But a Stop the Cap! reader living in one of the impacted buildings shared a very different story with us.

“My phone has not worked right since even before Sandy hit,” shares a reader who wishes to remain anonymous to avoid possible retaliation. “You can get a dial tone but you also get to hear half of Manhattan when you make a phone call. I can’t hear myself over the other conversations. Verizon has let their copper network go to crap.”

The reader says Verizon is aware of the problem and a trouble ticket is open, and the company indicated it was having trouble arranging access to fix the problem.

“I want FiOS yesterday. I guess some of these building owners already have it and will let us have it if the kickback is finally high enough. Time Warner Cable comes and goes whenever they like.”

Bonomo told the Times Verizon has paid “nominal fees” to building owners before, ostensibly to post fliers and set up sales tables in the lobby.

In some states, renters don’t have much of a choice. Cable operators have been known to sign lucrative deals with property owners to sign everyone in the complex up for cable, bundling the monthly bill into rent payments or mandatory fees. Customers can refuse the service, but they will still pay for it.

Some building owners claim they have a natural hesitancy allowing telecom companies into their buildings because they do not always take care to hide their work or avoid inconveniencing tenants with noise or damage.

TF Cornerstone says Verizon should not be in a hurry to effect repairs at 2 Gold Street or 201 Pearl Street. Both luxury high-rises have been uninhabitable since Sandy struck and until heat, hot water, and electricity is back, FiOS can wait, they say.

Time Warner Cable is expanding its footprint in the capital region of New York with the acquisition of independent Princetown Cable Company, which serves around 600 subscribers in Princetown, Duanesburg and Rotterdam in Schenectady County.

Time Warner already manages cable service for most cable subscribers around the Albany-Schenectady region, but bought Princetown Cable to further solidify its holdings.

Princetown Cable began service in 1990 serving rural areas ignored by then-dominant TCI Cable (later AT&T Cable, then Comcast).

Most customers signed up to get better reception of television signals from nearby Albany and Utica.

Princetown Cable’s lineup of around 100 channels ($82.50/month for digital cable) is dwarfed by Time Warner, and its broadband service is comparatively slow and expensive:

Time Warner Cable agreed to pay $1.2 million for the system, which breaks down to around $2,000 per subscriber.