Verizon continues to suffer from the attitudes developed when they ran a monopoly and consumers had no other choice. The market is very different today and consumers are in the driver’s seat. But Verizon remains incredibly difficult to deal with, even when you are trying to buy something from them.
Case in point:
I work from home and have Verizon FiOS internet service. It’s a job requirement that I maintain internet service with static (fixed) IP addresses, so this costs me over $100 per month. I have a nice, new HDTV and would like to order FiOS TV service with DVR, etc. For about $115 per month additional. Since the house is already completely wired and already has FiOS internet, it would take Verizon about 15 minutes to deploy a set top box and start billing me.
I ordered the service and waited two weeks for an installation appointment. The night before, I received a voice mail stating that Verizon will not provision FiOS TV with FiOS Internet if the internet includes static IP addresses. Apparently, Verizon considers Internet service with static IP addresses a “business” service and FiOS TV a “residential” service and they have a policy not to provide both on the same fiber. It is not a technical limitation.
I called back and spoke with a supervisor. Trying to think outside the box, I asked that they install a second Optical Network Terminal (ONT) on the side of my house for the FiOS TV. I know that you will be shocked to hear that Verizon has a policy of only one fiber to a structure. I offered to pay for the extra ONT. No luck again.
So, Verizon has literally spent hundreds of millions of dollars installing fiber around the Tampa Bay area, but would rather leave some of that fiber unused and forgo the extra revenue rather than spend $250 for an additional ONT for my residence.
I suspect that Verizon invested more than that just tying to recruit me as a customer.
The supervisor went on to say this is a common problem experienced by many other customers in our area. The only alternatives that Verizon offers are to forgo the static IP addresses or go elsewhere for TV service. While I would like to do business with Verizon, I’m not willing to change careers to do so.
Again, there are no technical limitations against having both signals on the same fiber. This is simply Verizon’s marketing policy. Since the policy doesn’t benefit Verizon or the consumer, why have it at all? Policy-making like that is one reason I celebrate NOT being a Verizon shareholder.
Verizon lost my home and business telephone service sometime ago due to policies and ridiculous pricing. Now I’m off to find a single source for internet with static IP addresses and digital TV.
I really tried hard to be a Verizon customer. Sometimes you just have give up and move on...
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