can't stop FIOS
Sat Sep 30 01:42:00 EDT 2017
Sunday 22:30
anniemal says Verizon is coming tomorrow to install FIOS (fiber-optic phone service). They're going to take away our copper phone line. We've been resisting this because we're happy with the reliability of a copper-wired land line - particularly in prolonged power outages. The FIOS interface unit between the fiber and the house's internal (still-copper) wiring needs power. It has a battery back-up, but in a prolonged outage the battery will run down, and then your land line is gone. (And your TV and Internet too?, if they are coming in over fiber.)
But I had heard nothing about this until now, the night before. Annie had spoken to someone who called from the phone company; someone who said she had spoken to me, which is not true. I wondered whether telco-lady had assumed OkCupid-buddy was I, but Annie says Brian never answers the land line. And I haven't answered it in weeks. So whom did telco-lady talk to?
Verizon is not the company we pay for phone service. Annie switched years ago to some other company that provided better rates, and apparently better service. Verizon has to allow other carriers to use Verizon's local infrastructure, so Verizon is involved for the physical connection change. And if Verizon wants to enforce this equipment "upgrade", the other companies have to go along with it. I know going from analog to digital provides great opportunities to the carriers, but all I want is a phone line. I don't want any of the additional services I've heard about so far. And losing service in extended power outages is not an upgrade.
And I don't know what's involved in installing the interface. (Where does it go? If the unit is outside (or in the attic), where does it plug in? Power for it? How much power does it use (that we're expected to pay for)?) If they need to get to the connection panel in the ceiling in the corner of my bedroom, they're going to have trouble getting to it.
One of the reasons for not switching from Comcast to Verizon for TV or Internet was that at that point Verizon would also switch our land line from copper to fiber. If that's going to happen anyway, Comcast is losing one of its advantages. The hundreds of DW/LJ icons I had hosted on Comcast were another retention point, until Comcast dropped their Personal Web Pages; I'm hosting my icons and photos on my own website now. What remains are all the web-site accounts that have comcast.net email addresses for contacting me; those would all break if we switch - or would they? I think I saw something about being able to keep your comcast.net email addresses even after you leave Comcast, and set up forwarding. I don't see how that benefits them, except for creating new customer good-will - and being very convenient for any customers who come back to them later. Coming back could happen a lot with people who relocate frequently. And there must be people who switch to Verizon and find they don't like it any better than Comcast. I really don't know how the two compare on price - especially after the introductory periods.
If Verizon's TV service is not encrypted, maybe we would switch to that. (We dropped Comcast TV when they encrypted all their service and required a connection box that our DVR doesn't work with. Maybe MythTV has that sorted out and can work with Comcast now? It's moot since our MythTV is out for other reasons, and I'm not watching TV at all without Myth.)
And if we got Verizon TV, maybe we'd also get Internet, especially if our Comcast email addresses survive. I suppose it depends mostly on the rates they both charge - especially the post-introductory rates, which always seem to be harder to find....
This legacy email-address business makes you want to point everything at something "stable" like GMail, but I don't want any of them knowing all my business either. I suppose one alternative to that would be setting up my personal domain to receive email. And then getting up-to-speed again on blocking spam.... It would be nice to have unlimited email addresses though, to see which ones the spammers are picking up from where.
Monday 12:51
I think the Verizon tech is here.
Monday 13:08
Verizon needs access to the utility pole in a neighbor's yard, and their fence gate is locked.
I don't even know our neighbors' names. (I'd guess they have phone service though, so Verizon should have them on file....)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/922225.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Sunday 22:30
anniemal says Verizon is coming tomorrow to install FIOS (fiber-optic phone service). They're going to take away our copper phone line. We've been resisting this because we're happy with the reliability of a copper-wired land line - particularly in prolonged power outages. The FIOS interface unit between the fiber and the house's internal (still-copper) wiring needs power. It has a battery back-up, but in a prolonged outage the battery will run down, and then your land line is gone. (And your TV and Internet too?, if they are coming in over fiber.)
But I had heard nothing about this until now, the night before. Annie had spoken to someone who called from the phone company; someone who said she had spoken to me, which is not true. I wondered whether telco-lady had assumed OkCupid-buddy was I, but Annie says Brian never answers the land line. And I haven't answered it in weeks. So whom did telco-lady talk to?
Verizon is not the company we pay for phone service. Annie switched years ago to some other company that provided better rates, and apparently better service. Verizon has to allow other carriers to use Verizon's local infrastructure, so Verizon is involved for the physical connection change. And if Verizon wants to enforce this equipment "upgrade", the other companies have to go along with it. I know going from analog to digital provides great opportunities to the carriers, but all I want is a phone line. I don't want any of the additional services I've heard about so far. And losing service in extended power outages is not an upgrade.
And I don't know what's involved in installing the interface. (Where does it go? If the unit is outside (or in the attic), where does it plug in? Power for it? How much power does it use (that we're expected to pay for)?) If they need to get to the connection panel in the ceiling in the corner of my bedroom, they're going to have trouble getting to it.
One of the reasons for not switching from Comcast to Verizon for TV or Internet was that at that point Verizon would also switch our land line from copper to fiber. If that's going to happen anyway, Comcast is losing one of its advantages. The hundreds of DW/LJ icons I had hosted on Comcast were another retention point, until Comcast dropped their Personal Web Pages; I'm hosting my icons and photos on my own website now. What remains are all the web-site accounts that have comcast.net email addresses for contacting me; those would all break if we switch - or would they? I think I saw something about being able to keep your comcast.net email addresses even after you leave Comcast, and set up forwarding. I don't see how that benefits them, except for creating new customer good-will - and being very convenient for any customers who come back to them later. Coming back could happen a lot with people who relocate frequently. And there must be people who switch to Verizon and find they don't like it any better than Comcast. I really don't know how the two compare on price - especially after the introductory periods.
If Verizon's TV service is not encrypted, maybe we would switch to that. (We dropped Comcast TV when they encrypted all their service and required a connection box that our DVR doesn't work with. Maybe MythTV has that sorted out and can work with Comcast now? It's moot since our MythTV is out for other reasons, and I'm not watching TV at all without Myth.)
And if we got Verizon TV, maybe we'd also get Internet, especially if our Comcast email addresses survive. I suppose it depends mostly on the rates they both charge - especially the post-introductory rates, which always seem to be harder to find....
This legacy email-address business makes you want to point everything at something "stable" like GMail, but I don't want any of them knowing all my business either. I suppose one alternative to that would be setting up my personal domain to receive email. And then getting up-to-speed again on blocking spam.... It would be nice to have unlimited email addresses though, to see which ones the spammers are picking up from where.
Monday 12:51
I think the Verizon tech is here.
Monday 13:08
Verizon needs access to the utility pole in a neighbor's yard, and their fence gate is locked.
I don't even know our neighbors' names. (I'd guess they have phone service though, so Verizon should have them on file....)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/922225.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]