From: Benjamin.Kubelsky@verizon.net   
      
   On 7/5/2014 1:17 PM, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
   > On Saturday, July 5, 2014 8:27:57 AM UTC-4, Jishnu Mukerji wrote:   
   >   
   >> Any estimate of how many Verizon customers have dropped Verizon POTS   
   service for Verizon FIOS which gives you telephone service to which you can   
   connect your old POTS set and carry on as if nothing happened, until power   
   goes out for more than 4 hours?   
   >   
   > Funny you should mention power failure--we just lost ours for 18 hours.  No   
   landline problems.   
   >   
   > For various reasons, FIOS isn't available in all Verizon service areas.  For   
   instance, my complex won't allow it on account of the large junction boxes Vz   
   says must be installed in the front (as opposed to existing junction boxes   
   which are in the back).   
     Also, Vz won't necessarily bury its FIOS lines, though the old lines are   
   buried.   
   >   
   > For whatever reason, some affluent areas, where one would think there'd be a   
   demand for it, do not have FIOS.  Vz advertised FIOS like crazy in our area,   
   and people who called to order it found that it wasn't available, and Vz had   
   no idea when it would    
   be*.  That annoyed some potential customers who went with Comcast instead.   
   >   
   > Comcast has a strong presence in our area, with supposedly better pricing   
   than FIOS.   
   >   
   > I don't know about older inner-city areas (ie much of Philadelphia) getting   
   FIOS.   
   >   
   >   
      
      
   Interesting. My Dad got fed up with Time Warner when they dropped the   
   old movie channel and had FIOS installed. This was in Santa Monica,   
   Calif. I'm not sure exactly when this was but since he died 5 years ago   
   this week, it was more like 7-8 years ago.   
      
   After he passed, my stepmother decided it was too expensive and got Dish   
   Network instead, for television, but kept Verizon for telephone. I think   
   (but I'm not sure) that they just reconnected the old POTS line. That   
   house has never had any sort of internet. At the very end of my living   
   there, I had a computer with a dial up modem, but that was 20 years ago.   
      
      
   >> Since I use my old POTS line only for outgoing calls for conferences calls,   
   I dropped traditional POTS and switched it over to Verizon FIOS when I got   
   FIOS for internet and TV. I wonder how many have done so in general. I know   
   that the proportion is    
   rather significant in the area where I live in NJ.   
   >   
   > I don't understand--if you have FIOS, can't that meet your conference call   
   needs?  I would think you could eliminate your old POTS line altogether.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > * The Sonic drive-in food chain advertised like crazy in our area, too, but   
   didn't have any outlets near by.  By the time a few outlets opened, they   
   stopped their ad campaign.  The outlets ended up closing.   
   >   
      
   Well, that's part of what's interesting. Verizon was advertising FIOS   
   like crazy on television here a few years ago. Then, it stopped. I'd say   
   about 1-2 years back. Since I'm a Verizon POTS and DSL customer, I get   
   prodded to upgrade now and then. But, I don't need the tv part, as I get   
   better than basic cable choices over the air here. At least to my taste.   
      
   Oh, AT&T and Time Warner advertise like mad for internet, phone and tv   
   on local television, as to Dish and Direct TV. Verizon does some   
   advertising, but for wireless mostly. I do not recall the last time I   
   saw a commercial for FIOS.   
      
   Regards,   
      
   David (in L.A.)   
      
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