how-to block ads
|
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH
clubs:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit |  What does this mean to customers of Verizon at this point?
Questions of concern is the pricing stated by Fairpoint for DSL in the communities it serves.
Many people in my neighborhood are low income and also retired. Many also have the 768/128 for $15 that verizon had offered sometime last year.
Fairpoint seems to be pricing their DSL Service quite a bit higher than Verizon.
$35 for 384/128
$45 for 1.5/512
$80 for 1.5/1.0
Now the question of concern is, what happens to the customers already on the plans from verizon, does their dsl get re-provisioned, or is there a way to grandfather the plans that the customers already have?
Another concern of mine is that there is no way that Fairpoint could consider this competitive in many areas of NH that currently have DSL or Cable Service, also what happens with GWI's current CO-share agreement with Verizon in this case?
»www.gwi.net
GWI Services portions of Maine, and Central and Southeastern portions of NH with DSL up to 20Mbit.
A condition of the merger should be to the effect of that Fairpoint has to keep the same pricing for a number of years, or something to the effect, of Verizon pricing, and also dsl/phone packages, to help ease the transition over to Fairpoint.
I don't see this as doing anything but hurting consumers in the near future.
Whether Fairpoint has the money or time to focus on upgrading everyone in the state to FTTP is a non-issue, if prices are to go up exponentially for the majority of customers it is going to hurt many low-income people in the states of VT, NH, and ME.
Another concern is that in many areas of NH, and possibly some areas of ME and VT, Cable is currently beating Verizon on the speed front, and also sometimes on reliability.
Although in my neighborhood there is no cable, we rely on DSL, and Satellite TV (Caused by lack of initiative and Adelphia's Bankruptcy, now owned by Comcast). With Fairpoint's current pricing structure, I would not be willing to pay the prices that Fairpoint is going to charge for their DSL services, and may end up going to cable, as they should be wiring the neighborhood soon, as shown by increased presence of Cable Company trucks in the local area.
If I am still able to purchase products and services from Verizon at the same level of service, and at the same price that I have become accustomed to, then fine, the merger is ok, otherwise I don't believe that the merger is a good thing at this point in time for the residents of NH, ME, and VT.
[edit]Forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this look like Fairpoint is going to have to either up their speeds, or lower prices to really be any competition to cable, or even other DSL companies? How does Fairpoint expect to compete with the likes of Comcast and Time Warner?
Also, if Fairpoint does not increase speeds when/if they increase prices, I see people jumping to cable or other options very quickly in the wake of this merger.
Consider this...
Comcast 6Mbit/384Kbit.... $52.95, month with cable tv.
--or--
Fairpoint DSL.... $45 for 1.5Mbit/512kbit (unknown if this is with or without phone).
As most of the population sees the downstream speeds as more important than the upstream, I don't see how this is competition.
I see companies like GWI gaining lots of subscribers for cost conscious DSL consumers.
Not only that.... How does $35 for 384/128 compare when we currently pay $15-20/mo for 768/128?
What about customers on the 3Mbit/768 Verizon Tier, what happens to them?
I can already see whats going to happen when people get the letter saying that prices are going up while service takes a nose dive.
Let's just say that Verizon chose the wrong company to sell out to.
Can you say anti-consumer?[/edit] | |
ecdiamond
join:2005-09-27
Milton Mills, NH | I'm very concerned about the potential price increase of DSL...
The 768 tier package is priced just right...I couldn't justify a price increase. | |
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | said by ecdiamond  :I'm very concerned about the potential price increase of DSL... The 768 tier package is priced just right...I couldn't justify a price increase. I couldn't justify a price increase and a speed decrease, and I am somewhat in the same boat as you.
To keep the speed tier I have (1.5/384) I would have to pay Fairpoint $15 more per month in their current pricing scheme.
I would have to pay Fairpoint $5 more than what I currently pay for 1.5, to get 384/128, how is that fair?
I can't imagine customers currently paying $35 for a package that verizon was offering them for $15-20 a month, and getting a slower package at that point as well.
Note: Years ago I paid close to $40 monthly for 768/128 service, and still have my original modem... it still works quite nicely for me, and that was with the all-inclusive long-distance "discount"
Again, I wonder, what about the 3/768 customers that verizon has in the area, what will happen to them?
[Sarcasm on]Oh thats right, something about a $120 a month 3/1 plan...[/Sarcasm off]
That last comment was obviously a joke, but really, whats going to happen is all up in the air, and their press release says absolutely nothing to the fact of what their plans are. | |
|
