More than 200 Verizon customers in Pennsylvania found their checking accounts balance-challenged when Verizon accidentally withdrew as much as $400 from those already paid in full.

Stop the Cap! reader Chandalee in Pittsburgh sent word her family’s checking account saw a surprise withdrawal from Verizon amounting to hundreds of dollars which helpfully paid for another customer’s past due balance.

“I was outraged when I saw Verizon cleaned us out, and I only learned about it when my debit card was declined at the grocery store — an incredibly embarrassing situation,” Chandalee shares.  “If we didn’t have bank reform, our bank would have probably charged us another $300 in bounced debit transaction fees before we learned about what Verizon did.”

Chandalee logged into her bank’s website when she got home and discovered the surprise charge from Verizon.

“I called them on the phone, they hung up on me twice, then told me they didn’t know what I was talking about,” Chandalee says. “I told them I have nearly 400 reasons they were working my last nerve and if they didn’t want to see my face in theirs, they had better put back my money.”

Verizon accused Chandalee of being rude.

“They don’t know what rude is,” she retorts.  “I asked for a supervisor and the woman — Ms. Jefferson or something, tells me she is the supervisor, and I told her get someone who supervises her ass on the line real quick.”

Finally, someone noticed her account was already paid in full and they couldn’t find evidence of the extra withdrawal, leading to a new series of questions about whether she had a Verizon Wireless account and maybe she meant to call them instead.

“As if Verizon isn’t also Verizon Wireless… it sure looks like the same red “V” to me — besides I have Sprint,” Chandalee said.  “They don’t know who they are dealing with.”

After logging more than two hours on the phone with Verizon, the stalemate ended in a draw.  Verizon wanted copies of the bank statement showing the charges and Chandalee was speed dialing her bank to reverse them.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTAE Pittsburgh Verizon Mixes Up Billing, Charges Customer Extra 385.mp4[/flv]

Last Thursday, the mystery was solved when WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh reported Chandalee wasn’t the only customer suffering from Verizon Empty Bank Account Syndrome.  It turned out a “system glitch” was responsible for payments being withdrawn from the “wrong accounts,” and Verizon promised a quick fix.  Chandalee wonders if the only way to get Verizon’s attention is to call the local TV station whenever the bill is wrong, because they sure didn’t listen to her when she called.  In the end, her bank reversed the charges and Chandalee told Verizon to delete all auto-debit information on her account.  “I will write these people my own check from now on,” she says.  “People need to watch their bank accounts so this doesn’t happen to them.”  (2 minutes)

[Updated 10:14pm — We received word the 200+ impacted customers were from across the nation, not just in Pennsylvania.]

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CNBC The Real Challenge Facing Tablet Sellers 6-7-11.flv[/flv]

With the release of a new tablet computer from Samsung, manufacturers are finding an increasingly challenging market as consumers are confronted with buying multiple, expensive data plans to accompany 3G-capable tablets.  Bob O’Donnell, Vice President, Clients and Displays at IDC says peddling extra data plans is hampering the tablet market, as consumers increasingly use these devices on Wi-Fi only to avoid running up yet another bill from their wireless carrier. [From CNBC]  (5 minutes)

An artist rendering of Don River Park, part of the mixed-use spaces that hallmark the Toronto Waterfront revitalization project.

About seven years ago, Rochester’s Fast Ferry offered daily service between Rochester, N.Y. and Toronto’s Waterfront.  Tens of millions of dollars later, the Rochester Ferry Company discovered that nobody in southern Ontario was that interested in a shortcut to Rochester, many locals found driving to Canada’s largest city faster, more convenient, and cheaper, and the point of arrival on the Canadian side was hardly a draw — situated in a rundown, seedy industrial wasteland.

By the end of 2006, the ferry was sold and sent on its way to Morocco, the CBC got a barely used International Marine Passenger Terminal (built for the Rochester ferry) to use as a set location for its TV crime drama The Border, and the rundown waterfront was well-embarked on a major reconstruction effort.

This week, Toronto’s Waterfront learned it was getting a broadband makeover as well, with the forthcoming launch of insanely fast 10/10Gbps fiber broadband for business and 100/100Mbps for condo dwellers along the East Bayfront and West Don Lands.

Best of all, Beanfield Metroconnect, the parent company responsible for constructing the network, promises no Internet Overcharging schemes for residents and businesses… forever.  No usage caps, no throttled broadband speeds, no overlimit fees.  Pricing is more than attractive — it’s downright cheap for Toronto:  $60 a month for unlimited 100/100Mbps broadband, $30 a month for television service, and as low as $14.95 for phone service.  Bundle all three and knock another 15 percent off the price.  The provider is even throwing in free Wi-Fi, which promises to be ubiquitous across the Waterfront.

The project will leapfrog this Toronto neighborhood into one of the fastest broadband communities in the world.

Toronto Waterfront Fiber Broadband Coverage Map

“Having this sort of capacity available to residents will allow for a whole new world of applications we haven’t even conceived of yet,” said chief executive Dan Armstrong.

The rest of Toronto, in comparison, will be stuck in a broadband swamp courtesy of Rogers Cable and Bell, where average speeds hover around 5Mbps, with nasty usage caps and overlimit fee schemes from both providers.  DSL service in the city is notoriously slow and expensive, as Bell milks decades-old copper wire infrastructure long in need of replacement.

The public-private broadband project is a welcome addition for an urban renewal effort that has been criticized at times for overspending. Created in 2001, Waterfront Toronto has a 25-year mandate to transform 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of brownfield lands on the waterfront into a combination of business and residential mixed-use communities and public spaces.  At least $30 billion in taxpayer funds have been earmarked for the renewal project, although project managers say no taxpayer dollars will be spent on the broadband project.

Waterfront Toronto’s efforts have been recognized as bringing Toronto’s first “Intelligent Community” to the city with the construction of the open access fiber network.

Still, the public corporation has its critics.  Earlier this spring Toronto city councilman Doug Ford called the urban renewal project a boondoggle.  Other conflicts rage with the Toronto Transit Commission and the mayor’s office over other redevelopment projects.  But the revitalization project’s broadband initiative has significant support, especially among knowledge workers that could eventually become residents… and paying customers.

The 21st century broadband project is also likely to bring broadband envy across the entire GTA, who will wonder why service from the cable and phone companies is so much slower and more expensive.

For broadband enthusiasts, Toronto’s broadband future looks much brighter than yesterday’s failed ferry service, which proves once again that regardless of the technology — slow, expensive, and inconvenient service will never attract much interest from the value-conscious public.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/TVO The Need for High Speed 5-2010.flv[/flv]

Canada’s digital networks are some of the slowest in the world, running between one hundred to a thousand times slower than other countries in the developed world. In this episode of “Our Digital Future – The Need for High-Speed,” Bill Hutchison, Executive Director of Intelligent Communities for Waterfront Toronto describes the sorry state of Canada’s digital infrastructure, stressing the need for major investments in advanced broadband networks.  (4 minutes)

Downtown Bangor, Maine

Broadband will be considerably faster in downtown Bangor, Maine — if you are a business doing business with Time Warner Cable.

The cable operator is working with the city of Bangor to ease the construction of a four-mile long fiber stretching across the downtown business district, with completion expected this October.

The Bangor city government is helping ease the paperwork and permits required to efficiently complete the project as quickly as possible to minimize disruptions to traffic and ongoing business.

Our readers tell us Maine has been a problem area for Time Warner Cable, with congestion problems in several areas because of lack of periodic upgrades.  Oversold broadband symptoms typically include peak usage slowdowns for downstream speeds, even as upstream speeds remain close to their advertised levels.

Businesses in Bangor report existing speeds to be a headache when trying to conduct business or assist customers.

The upgrade is expected to primarily serve business customers, although the cable company is progressing on DOCSIS 3 upgrades across their Maine service areas.

[flv width=”640″ height=”450″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WCSH Portland High speed Internet coming soon for downtown Bangor businesses 6-3-11.flv[/flv]

WCSH-TV in Portland covered the potential impact a fiber upgrade will have for downtown Bangor businesses.  (2 minutes)

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bloomberg Swinburne Sees Most TV Revenue from Subs by 2015 6-2-11.mp4[/flv]

With the advent of high speed broadband and streamed online video, an analyst at Morgan Stanley is predicting that by 2015, more than half of all television revenue will come from subscription fees charged to access it.  Ben Swinburne says the entire television model is being turned on its head by broadband video, with cable, phone and satellite companies scrambling to protect the average $85 Americans spend every month for broadband Internet and television service.

Among Swinburne’s predictions:

• Cable and telephone broadband will increasingly be the delivery platform for television programming with at least 50% of all televisions connected directly to the Internet by 2015;
• Advertising revenue will continue to lose prominence, with networks and programmers seeking direct payments from consumers in the form of monthly subscriptions or pay-per-view to access even traditional over-the-air programming;
• Satellite television is at a distinct disadvantage not offering broadband Internet access, something satellite companies are trying to change;
• Cable companies will face the potential of “online cable” competitors delivering multichannel video packages over broadband connections;
• Content producers, networks, and the cable industry will continue to maintain a united front against a-la-carte television, which could dramatically reduce the revenue the entertainment industry earns from selling multi-hundred channel cable and satellite video packages.

Swinburne speaks with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.”  (4 minutes)