The date has arrived.  Existing Verizon Wireless customers are now invited to “pre-order” The Precious.

Strangely, Verizon’s website gave more prominence to the phone before they could actually accept orders for it:

Verizon Website 2/2/2011

Verizon Website 2/3/2011

Verizon wants you to think of its Apple iPhone as a fine wine, offering “exclusive” access to “our reserved quantity, while they last.”

When they’re gone, they’re… will be more on the way.  The Keebler Elves at Apple will certainly make more, plenty more, to sustain pent up demand for the phone on Verizon’s network.

AT&T is doing all it can to keep customers from switching.  In addition to earlier efforts to lock customers into those two-year contracts with early termination fees, lots of AT&T customers are also getting e-mail from the company reminding them AT&T is the only network that lets you talk and surf the web at the same time (with your iPhone).  They ignore T-Mobile, which also accepts unlocked iPhones and works the same way.  AT&T and T-Mobile utilize GSM technology while Verizon (and Sprint… and Cricket… and MetroPCS) use CDMA.  The latter technology, at least in its current implementation, allows users do one or the other, not both.

That probably won’t keep too many disenchanted AT&T customers from leaving, but some other factors might:

1. Apple will release the iPhone 5 in less than six months, if things run according to schedule.  The new phone might work on Verizon’s new LTE network, something iPhone 4 does not.  Is there a hurry to upgrade now when something better is around the corner?
2. AT&T Retention Agents are giving away the store to customers warning of their intention to depart.  Restoration of unlimited data plans, free upgraded phones to qualified customers, free accessories, and even credit for a month of service have all been offered, even as the company publicly announces it is pulling back from some of those giveaways and specials.
3. As potentially millions of AT&T customers leave, those remaining may find improved performance from the lighter load on AT&T’s network.  Plus, the impact of the iPhone on Verizon’s 3G network remains unknown.  AT&T customers could parade themselves into new headaches on Verizon’s network.

Verizon will allow new iPhone customers access to its “unlimited data” add-on plan “for a limited time.”  Verizon plans to join AT&T in officially ending the unlimited option sometime this year, but exact pricing and plan details remain unavailable.

Customers can begin booking their departure from AT&T Feb. 9, when Verizon begins taking orders from new customers and those intending to drop their current carrier.

A Sprint customer in Tulsa, Okla., was recently sold a Blackberry plan that included a data add-on service that allowed him to tether his Sprint wireless connection to his laptop, perfect for wireless broadband on the go.

John signed a two-year contract with the company, which included a copy of his plan choice and the charges associated with his account. There it was, right on his bill — Sprint’s “Phone as Modem” add-on, priced at $15 per month.

A few weeks later, the service stopped working, and after multiple phone calls with Sprint, John was told he should have never been sold that data plan add-on; it was only available to corporate customers, not individuals.

John pointed to his contract with Sprint, which clearly showed he was paying to receive the service, but Sprint didn’t care.  Nor would it permit him to exchange his phone for wireless broadband equipment that would provide him with the broadband service he needed.  Why?  Because he was already into his two year contract.

John was left fuming, wondering why Sprint’s contracts allow them to renege on a deal made fair and square while trapping him with equipment he can no longer use to obtain the service he needs.

“To me, they voided the contract when they took away the service without my knowledge,” John told KJRH-TV’s Problem Solver Pete Knutson. “This is principle, this is sole principle.”

John canceled his contract, but Sprint promptly billed him a $125 early termination fee and sent his account to collections, threatening his credit rating.

John was not alone in his predicament.

Sprint quietly canceled its individual “phone as modem” tethering option for Blackberry owners last April, literally stripping the feature off of any plan set up with a personal Social Security number.  Business accounts configured with a Taxpayer ID Number associated with the business name on the account kept the option.

Sprint was supposed to notify affected customers through bill inserts, but since most Sprint customers are now billed electronically, few customers got the message.

Several customers reported they were “notified” when the service simply stopped working one day last spring.  One Shenandoah Valley customer found out the hard way.

“My wife used her 8330 for internet access, and we purchased the MBR900 to tether the phone so she could have it in the best place for reception,” the customer notes.  “Sprint decided to disable the use of the phone as a modem, I thought the router went kaput until she called Sprint.”

It took five rounds of calls with Sprint customer service before finding a support representative with the real answer.

An even bigger question is why a Sprint salesperson pitched John a plan with an option that has not been sold to individuals for nine months.

As has so often been the case, phone companies seeking to avoid bad publicity nearly always waive fees and credit a customer’s account when the media comes calling.  John’s account balance was brought back from collections and promptly credited to reflect a zero balance.

Sprint refused to provide a specific explanation for how this happened. Channel 2’s Knutson advises customers to always check their cell phone contracts to make sure they are actually getting the services they are paying to receive.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KJRH Tulsa Cell company drops service still charges cancellation fee 1-13-11.flv[/flv]

KJRH-TV in Tulsa shares the story of John, a former Sprint customer who didn’t get the service his contract promised.  (2 minutes)

Frontier's Maggie Wilderotter escapes reality

Frontier Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter has bought a first class ticket to Fiber Fantasy Island, where phone companies dream of delivering fiber-optic broadband service without actually deploying fiber.  They just tell you they did.

In an interview published today in The Oregonian, Wilderotter tries to convince residents Frontier’s arrival is good news, making promises about broadband and service improvements based on a company track record an independent observer would conclude she simply made up.

If Wilderotter’s command of the facts about her own company are reflective of “a distinct, improved image in its new territories,” Oregon is in big trouble.

Let’s review:

CLAIM: “We deploy fiber to the home all across the country. We don’t call it FiOS. We call it high-speed Internet. For our customers, the technology doesn’t matter. What matters is access, speed and capacity.”

REALITY CHECK: Frontier, as far as we have been able to determine, has not deployed fiber to the home anywhere in the country, with the exception of the FiOS network it acquired from Verizon.  Frontier Communications’ deployment of fiber optics to the home is comparable to the amount of fiber found in a box of Cookie Crisp cereal.  In their largest market, Rochester, N.Y., Frontier relies on the same legacy copper wire phone network it utilizes everywhere else.  It is highly misleading for Wilderotter to represent otherwise.  Fiber to the home means exactly that — fiber optic cable brought right to the home.  This is not a case of “you call it corn, we call it maize.”

This kitten is not an iguana.

Fiber optic cable is not also known as “high-speed Internet,” just as the cute kitten on the left is not called an iguana.  For the significant number of customers who ask Frontier to disconnect their service year-after-year, technology matters very much, and this particular phone company lacks it.  Frontier relies on the same DSL technology other phone companies and customers increasingly consider yesterday’s news.

In many Frontier service areas, there is no access to broadband because line quality will not support the service.  In Brighton, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester less than a minute from the Rochester city line, Frontier could only manage to deliver 3.1Mbps DSL speeds, and until recently Frontier was crying it needed a 5GB usage allowance because of the threat higher amounts of consumption might have on its network capacity.  Access, speed, and capacity does matter, which is why Time Warner Cable is picking up the bulk of its new broadband subscribers at Frontier’s expense.

CLAIM: “For high-speed, it means having speed and capacity in addition to reach. We’ll do add-on services. We have a terrific Yahoo-Frontier portal that will be a gateway on our high-speed Internet service. We are in the throes of putting together Wi-Fi hotspots that will be distributed throughout this market for customers.  If you’re a high-speed Internet customer of ours it’s free. We’re looking to put one at Hillsboro Stadium. Typically, we put them in hotels, convention centers, truck stops, trailer parks, outside parks, campuses for colleges, shopping centers, business campuses.”

REALITY CHECK:  Those “add-on services,” such as Frontier’s Peace of Mind, come with a price tag and are often required components of a bundled service discount offer.  As first impressions go, a company still relying on Yahoo! for a front end is not exactly on the cutting edge, nor are “portals.”  It’s like trying to impress new customers with free web space through GeoCities.  Actually, that is something Frontier could offer because GeoCities is now owned by Yahoo!

Frontier’s Peace of Mind Services

• Hard Drive Backup: $4.99 per month
• Hard Drive Backup + Unlimited Technical Support: $9.99 per month
• Hard Drive Backup + Unlimited Technical Support + Inside Wire Maintenance: $12.99 per month
• $50 early cancellation penalty if you get these services with a term commitment

Rochester’s experience with Frontier Wi-Fi has not been very impressive.  Most residents don’t even know the service exists.  The city and several suburbs offer limited Frontier pay-walled Wi-Fi service and a handful of free access hotspots in cooperation with Monroe County.  Unfortunately, many of the fee-based and free hotspots have fallen into disrepair and no longer function.  Signal strength is not impressive either, and many were not usable indoors.  We tested several of the free hotspots and discovered one only delivered a signal into a suburban parking lot, another only into an empty soccer field, and the third was not functioning at all.  Frontier’s record in Wi-Fi delivered more promises than actual service.

Those Wi-Fi services, by the way, are not free for all Frontier broadband customers.  Evidently Ms. Wilderotter is not acquainted with her own company’s products and services, nor Frontier’s own website:

So much for Wilderotter's claim Frontier's Wi-Fi network was free for all Frontier broadband customers.

CLAIM: “We deliver the highest value for the price you pay. We also have excellent customer service. We also don’t raise our rates every 12 months, no matter what.”

REALITY CHECK:  In Rochester, the out-the-door price Frontier charges its broadband customers is actually higher than that charged by Time Warner Cable, which delivers far faster connections.  In West Virginia, the state’s Consumer Advocate put together a chart depicting Frontier’s broadband prices.  Determine for yourself if it delivers the “highest value for the price you pay.”

Comparing Prices: Frontier's pricing doesn't look as exciting as Wilderotter would have you believe, as the West Virginia Consumer Advocate discovered

CLAIM: “If I look across the board at our basic service pricing, I don’t think we’ve raised prices anywhere in the last four or five years.”

REALITY CHECK: We looked and found Frontier demanding the right to increase basic service rates in New York by $2 a month each year for up to two years.  In fact, last November, the New York State Public Service Commission, at the request of Frontier, sent the company a letter authorizing a rate hike of $2 a month for customers in the state.  Even more enlightening was Frontier’s filing in August 2005 with the PSC demanding near-complete deregulation and rate relief allowing Frontier to raise rates up to $1 per month annually indefinitely for basic service.  Frontier also wanted consumer protection rules “relaxed” and ban the PSC from investigating consumer complaints.  One of the reasons they cited is that basic phone service is not the same critical service it used to be because people can communicate through blogs instead.

In fact, consumers should be asking why Frontier’s rates haven’t decreased.  From that same filing: “Frontier believes that with the decreasing costs and increasing bandwidths of new technologies and the acceleration of intermodal market entry, the market will cause rates for non-basic services in all parts of the State to decline.”

CLAIM: Local regulators tell me they did see a spike in billing complaints after Verizon took over. Any thoughts on why? — “Whenever there’s a change — you change the name on the bill, you change the format — customers tend to look at it more closely. We always expect a spike in billing calls whenever we’ve done acquisitions. It has already (settled out).”

REALITY CHECK: As Stop the Cap! has reported, Frontier’s takeover in West Virginia has hardly “settled out.”  Service interruptions, forgotten service calls, and other problems have plagued the state to the point the PSC needed new hearings to review the situation.  Many of Frontier’s billing complaints come from customers choosing to cancel Frontier service, only to find unjustified early termination fees added to their final bills, even when customers never agreed to a term contract.  That problem was so serious in New York, the state Attorney General fined the company and ordered customer refunds.  Changing a customer’s bill by adding $100 or more to the total amount due will always get a customer to look at the bill more closely.

CLAIM: “One of the big opportunities that we’re working on is the ability to display Internet content and video on the television set.”

REALITY CHECK: That “big opportunity” has been available to broadband users for several years now.

CLAIM: We also have a new site that’s called myfitv.com. We carry over 100,000 titles of free television content on this site. It’s a little bit like Hulu on steroids. It’s provided free of charge to all our customers.

REALITY CHECK: MyFitv is not “a little bit like Hulu on steroids.”  In fact, it is Hulu.  Frontier simply used Hulu’s “embed” feature to take content, slap the Frontier logo on it, and add Google ads in an attempt to rake in a few extra dollars.  You can do exactly the same thing yourself.  Meanwhile, the service is added to customer bills showing an amount of $0.00, a very inexpensive way to try and impress customers with content Frontier never developed, deployed, or created — just like their phantom fiber to the home network.

CLAIM: “We think over time the Internet will also provide different packaging, different prices, different ways to buy content than the traditional viewing platform. We also think that mobility is important. We want to make sure that whatever you do you’ll be able to take it with you.  The Sling technology is interesting, too. It’s something we’re talking about DISH Network with.”

REALITY CHECK: Every time Maggie has talked about “different packaging and prices,” it has been in the context of an Internet Overcharging scheme — limited usage allowances, extremely high rate increases for those deemed to have consumed too much, etc.  And yes, Sling technology is interesting.  A company conceived of the idea, built it, developed a marketing plan, and sold it.  That’s a concept Frontier needs to understand.  You cannot transform a legacy network with words alone.  Here’s an idea.  How about conceiving of a real fiber-to-the-home network, build one, develop a marketing plan, and then sell it.  For those in markets like Rochester, it’s the only way Frontier Communications will avoid becoming the horse and buggy carriage maker of the 21st century.

CLAIM: You’re around Seattle, around Portland, but not in them yet. Is there any possibility that Frontier would build into another company’s market? — “There’s always a possibility. It’s not a priority for us. And the reason why it’s not a priority is we’ve got a lot to do, just in the service areas that we own today. When I’m humming on all cylinders there, and I’ve been able to do everything I possibly can in those areas, then I might look to extend service areas out.”

REALITY CHECK: Translation — “when pigs fly.”  Frontier would be laughed out of the Seattle and Portland markets.

Ms. Wilderotter needs to be a lot more open and forthcoming with the press.  Frontier’s business plan makes it clear the company’s future is serving uncompetitive rural markets that will be forced to tolerate the products and pricing Frontier delivers.  Where competition exists, let’s face facts.  Frontier is not gaining market share — it is losing it, eroded away year after year by uncompetitive, substandard products at high prices.

That’s a reality you are bound to miss if you spend too much time with Mr. Rourke and Tattoo.

Bray Cary -- Frontier's biggest fan in West Virginia

Bray Cary has been falling all over himself again — singing praises for Frontier Communications while many of its customers in West Virginia contend with service problems and outages, sometimes for weeks at a time.

Cary, president and chief executive officer of West Virginia Media, owner of television stations across the state, was a big supporter of the deal to sell Verizon’s landlines in West Virginia to Frontier Communications. This past spring, Cary’s weekly Decision Makers program treated viewers to a softball question and answer session with Frontier’s Ken Arndt, who was forced to “endure” Cary’s contention that opposition to the deal was limited mostly to labor union sour grapes.

With a hard interview like that, Arndt was delighted to be asked back for another edition of Tea-’N-Cookies Breakfast Club With Bray, this time to answer tough questions about how the transition could have possibly gone any better for the independent phone company.

Good morning and welcome to Decision Makers on a weekend when America is discovering the beauty of the great state of West Virginia.  Through the magic of worldwide television […] we here in West Virginia are on the verge of discovering the power of the Internet across all of our hills and all of our valleys.

With that over-the-top introduction, Cary was off, spending nearly 20 minutes glad-handing Arndt through an interview that could have been produced in-house by Frontier’s marketing department.

[flv width=”500″ height=”395″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTRF Wheeling Decision Makers Cary Arndt Frontier 7-31-10.flv[/flv]

Nearly 20 minutes of mutual admiration between Frontier’s Ken Arndt and WV Media’s Bray Cary can be experienced for yourself.  These segments appeared July 31st on the Decision Makers program.  (19 minutes)

Ohio County, WV

More tea?

Meanwhile, in other parts of the state things are not nearly as rosy as Cary and Arndt contend.

Stop the Cap! reader Ralph points us to Ohio Country, located in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, where Frontier has subjected some customers to service outages extending into three weeks.  Entire neighborhoods have lost phone and broadband service.  Dela Misenhelder, who lives in Valley Grove says a storm August 4th knocked out service for her and her neighbors.  Misenhelder used her cell phone to call Frontier three different times to no avail.

“My concern is the elderly,” Misenhelder told a local TV station.  “Do they have cell phones — being out in the country, do they even have a signal — and be able to get 911 in case of an emergency or problem.”

Frontier’s regional general manager, William (Bill) Moon said that Frontier was supposed to have contacted all of the neighbors impacted by the outage to make sure service was restored.  In Misenhelder’s case, since her phone line was still not working, she never got that call.

Moon is a name readers will become increasingly aware of, as he features prominently in damage control efforts by Frontier in northern West Virginia when they get negative media coverage.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTOV Steubenville Frontier Continues Dealing With Phone Service Issues 8-25-10.flv[/flv]

Dela Misenhelder in Ohio County, W.V., was without her Frontier phone line for three weeks.  She made three calls to Frontier, who ignored her, so Dela called the newsroom of local TV station WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio looking for help.  They achieved results for her, as you’ll see in this report.  (2 minutes)

Hancock County, WV

Matters are even more serious in the northern tip of the state — in Hancock County — where emergency responders are coping with defective T1 data lines that Frontier has failed to maintain properly, causing interruptions in emergency radio traffic.

The problems started when Verizon was in charge, but have gotten considerably worse since Frontier arrived.  Now the backup systems are beginning to fail as well.

When that happens, emergency communications with fire, police, and ambulance can’t happen, forcing first responders to rely on cell phones to communicate with one another.

Frontier called the problems with the T1 lines “odd” and at last check was examining more than 10,000 feet of phone cable looking for problems.

A local TV station witnessed the failure of a Frontier T1 line provided for emergency radio traffic themselves while filming a story on repeated Frontier outages.

On Saturday, another Frontier outage disrupted 911 service across Jefferson, Belmont and Harrison Counties, forcing local media to deliver streams of local direct numbers for emergency officials across all three counties.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTOV Steubenville Hancock County Experiencing More Phone Problems 7-8-10.flv[/flv]

Not less than three reports about failures in emergency communications attributed to a defective T1 line maintained by Frontier Communications have run on WTOV-TV in the last two months.  (6 minutes)

Residents in Marshall and Wetzell counties, which complete the Northern Panhandle are no strangers to Frontier service problems.  They were Frontier customers before Verizon sold its landline network to the company.

Stop the Cap! reader Mitch in New Martinsville writes to tell us West Virginia is just becoming acquainted with service on ‘the Frontier.’

“The company delivered lousy service to us long before they’ll deliver lousy service to the rest of the state,” he writes. “We cannot get DSL from Frontier because they won’t spend the money to re-engineer the ancient wiring on our street.”

For Mitch, the outage experienced by his ailing grandmother this past February, which stopped calls connecting from outside of the 686 exchange, was the last straw.

“She couldn’t reach me and I couldn’t reach her,” Mitch adds. “If a phone company cannot even handle basic phone call connections, what good are they?”

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTOV Steubenville Phone Service Knocked Out In Parts Of Marshall Wetzel Counties 2-10-10.flv[/flv]

A winter storm knocked out Frontier service across parts of the Northern Panhandle this past February.  Customers discovered they could only dial and receive calls from other local residents.  WTOV-TV covered the story.  (2 minutes)

When Mitch tried to cancel Frontier service, he says they tried to stick him with an early termination fee of more than $100.

“I never signed a contract with them,” he writes.

NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Mitch escalated his complaint to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, which finally got Frontier to relent.

Mitch’s experience with phantom early termination fees charged by Frontier are hardly new.  Last fall, Frontier was slapped with a $35,000 fine and ordered to refund $50,000 in wrongfully charged termination fees by the NY State Attorney General’s office.

That precedent might come in handy in Washington state, where Frontier “accidentally” put former Verizon customer Steve Matheny in Redmond on an annual contract with a hefty cancellation fee.  When Frontier took over for Verizon, Matheny decided it was time to drop service.  Frontier sent him a final bill including a fee of $120 for terminating his service before his contract had ended.

Only one problem — he never had a contract.

“These folks rolled in and added a fee that no one committed to, at least I didn’t commit to,” he said.

Frontier ignored Matheny’s attempts to get the fee off his final bill, so he called KING-TV in Seattle for help.

As with so many other cases, when local TV stations feature Frontier’s mistakes and bad service on the 6 o’clock evening news, doors to a speedy resolution have a tendency to open.  Matheny got his $120 “fee” removed.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KING Seattle Bundled by accident charged a fee 8-24-10.mp4[/flv]

Redmond, Washington resident Steve Matheny joins a growing number of Frontier customers who suddenly find themselves on annual service contracts with hefty cancellation fees, despite the fact they never agreed to them.  KING-TV reports their intervention finally cut through Frontier’s red tape to get $120 in early cancellation fees removed from a final bill.  (2 minutes)

For West Virginia residents, the next time you experience a problem with your Frontier landline or broadband service, why not contact Bray Cary and ask him what he’ll do about it.  At the very least, ask him to pass you the plate of cookies.

Time Warner Cable is back again with another offer to existing Frontier Communications customers trapped in multi-year service agreements.  If you dump your Frontier landline overboard for Time Warner Cable’s Digital Phone service, the cable company will send you a gift card worth $200 good towards defraying your early termination fee, if any.  If you don’t have such a fee, you pocket the $200.  A year ago on this date the company ran a similar promotion heavily promoted in local cable television ad spots.

Time Warner will provide free installation of the phone line including unlimited nationwide long distance for $24.95 a month for 12 months.  With the $200 gift card, that’s above and beyond their usual promotion.  The company is also extending a bundled discount if a customer also takes Road Runner broadband service with their “digital phone” service.

For Frontier customers looking for an early exit, this offers one opportunity.

Existing cable subscribers can take advantage of the offer.  There are terms and conditions to consider, starting with where the offer is available.  The following Time Warner Cable service areas qualify:

• TWC Western New York
• TWC Central New York
• TWC Albany, NY
• TWC New England
• TWC Dothan, AL
• TWC Enterprise, AL
• TWC Yuma, AZ
• TWC El Centro, CA
• TWC Gunnison, CO
• TWC Telluride, CO
• TWC Coeur d’Alene, ID
• TWC Moscow, ID
• TWC Madison, IN
• TWC Newburgh, IN
• TWC Terre Haute, IN
• TWC Ashland, KY
• TWC Owensboro, KY
• TWC Richmond, KY
• TWC Kansas City, MO
• TWC Lincoln, NE
• TWC Ironton, OH
• TWC Richlands, VA
• TWC Pullman, WA
• TWC Clarksburg, WV

Next, the offer is only good for residential customers switching from Frontier’s landline service.  Limit one gift card per customer.  Your final Frontier phone bill showing a disconnect request must be furnished to Time Warner Cable within 30 days to qualify.  Your name and address must match on both bills.  Offer is not available to customers with past due balances with Time Warner Cable, defined as any money owed in the past 30-60 days or customers who have been disconnected for non-payment in the twelve (12) month period preceding this offer.  Service must be ordered by Dec. 31, 2010, and installation must occur within thirty (30) days of order date.

If you’ve contemplated a change in providers but didn’t want to be subjected to a steep early cancellation fee, this isn’t a bad offer.  Although I don’t use Time Warner Cable Digital Phone myself, others in my family do and they are satisfied with the service, although there have been at least two serious outages so far this year that ran several hours.  Since most people also carry a cell phone, any cable outage or power interruption that also takes out your phone line isn’t as serious as it might have been in earlier years.

And, ahem, unlike Time Warner Cable’s attitude towards broadband, they really do provide unlimited calling with their “digital phone” service.

Time Warner Cable is mailing this letter to Frontier Communications customers in the Rochester, N.Y. market. (Click to enlarge)