This has been a recurring theme for Verizon, which often tells customers their phone lines can't be fixed right away but that they can switch to "Voice Link," a wireless replacement for landlines. Voice Link isn't regulated as a utility like the copper landlines are, and it can't last through power outages the way copper lines can.
The outage in the Upper West Side began on February 3, resident George Malko told Ars. "Countless calls produce conflicting and flimsy explanations," he wrote in an e-mail Saturday. "A scheduled service call to us in particular was canceled by Verizon. Return to service was first promised for February 17. Then February 23. Now it's February 28."
Malko lives in a building in the West 80s, where about 200 customers lost all copper service including voice and Internet. Malko said the outage has affected his whole building and others in the neighborhood.
Verizon confirmed the outage, saying it will take another two weeks to fix. Verizon spokesperson John Bonomo gave Ars an explanation yesterday:
Service to this address and others (not all) in the W. 80s is being affected by problems in two underground cables between W 73-74th. These two cables were affected by water entering these cables, not unusual during these severe weather months when we experience extreme moisture, melting snow and ice, and possibly amplified by the corrosive elements of road salt. These problems on these two cables have resulted in just over 200 customers to lose any services provided via copper service—voice and High Speed Internet. Fiber cables in this area are not affected. However, fiber and FiOS services are not available in this building and others. We have been unable to open the street for construction, but we are working continually since the problem first occurred to replace large sections of cable that were damaged by the water intrusion. Nearly 100 of these customers have accepted our Voice Link product to restore their voice services while we complete the repairs; others have declined when offered to them. We expect to have both cables completed and service fully restored within the next two weeks.
Bonomo said the 100 customers who accepted the Voice Link product are getting it as a temporary replacement; their copper service will be restored even if they use Voice Link in the meantime.
In other cases, Verizon has pushed Voice Link as a permanent replacement for landlines. Customers who decline Voice Link as a permanent replacement generally do so because of concerns about wireless quality and reliability, plus its reliance on battery backup. Copper lines can keep working during power outages by drawing power from the central office, but of course the copper lines themselves are vulnerable to weather.
"Wireless communication generally does not have the same level of reliability as copper wireline services, which could limit access to 9-1-1 during outages," the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials explained in a July 2013 filing with the FCC pertaining to Fire Island in New York. "Wireless services are susceptible to disruptions from extreme weather and resulting damage to transmission facilities. A single cell site or cell sector outage, particularly in rural or isolated areas, could also leave large numbers of customers stranded, while a typical wireline outage generally has a more isolated impact. Wireless networks typically do not have the network diversity that is present with copper and fiber facilities that may be either overhead, buried or more frequently a combination of both. Wireless also faces quality of service limitations on capacity and network access (which is generally not an issue with copper wire communications), which could be a particular problem in seasonal resort areas such as Fire Island that experience periods of substantial peaks in service demand."
Verizon argues that Voice Link is reliable. "Voice Link connects to the home’s power, but the units can work on standard, easily replaceable AA batteries in the event of a power outage," Bonomo told Ars. "We feel that offering our customers a Voice Link unit is better than having no alternative for them."
Customers who decline Voice Link generally do so because they already have cell phone service, according to Bonomo.
Malko, who subscribes to Verizon for phone service only, declined the Voice Link offer—saying he believes the wireless service gives Verizon an excuse to delay repair of copper. "Someone called me yesterday and offered me Voice Link. I asked when service would be restored," he told Ars today. "The gentleman didn't know and said he would have the supervisor call me. Then he again offered me Voice Link. I declined, and explained why: I no longer trusted Verizon and didn't want to accept Voice Link which Verizon could use an as excuse to prolong the outage. I said that I hoped he understood that my confidence in Verizon had been damaged."
UPDATE: After this story was published, Malko told us that his service got restored. "Two techs from Verizon spent two+ hours working on the terminal in our basement, and the master terminal for several buildings which is in the basement next door, and our phone is back," he told Ars. Malko also said the Verizon terminal looks "ancient... I am guessing that they want out of copper."
A larger problem
The West Side Spirit reported on Upper West Side problems one week ago, noting concerns about contacting senior citizens who don't use e-mail or the Internet.
“When you called you just got a busy signal,” Marisa Maack, chief of staff for City Council member Helen Rosenthal, told the paper. “We get a lot of phone calls every day [at the district office at Columbus Avenue and 87th Street]. And in the winter it’s hard for some people to get out. We’re providing social services out of the office so we just couldn’t have this.” Rosenthal and Maack "decided to discontinue their service with the company and began using a digital phone service through the city council."
The Spirit further reported:
Rita McMahon, cofounder and director of the Wild Bird Fund on Columbus Avenue between 87th Street and 88th Street, said phones at the office are unusually silent and their Internet service has been out since Feb. 3.
“It’s an animal hospital; we can’t change the records and we can’t take donations,” said McMahon. “It affects the animals too. We can’t respond to peoples’ problems or inquires and with this cold weather people are finding more and more animals that are in distress.”
In addition to the West 80s outage, Bonomo told the Spirit that a manhole fire on February 4 caused an outage around 188th Street and Wadsworth Avenue. The 188th street problem was fixed, Bonomo told Ars.
Phone companies do face technical challenges in maintaining the aging copper infrastructure. As the Baltimore Sun reported last month:
"It's not just the wires that are going bad, it's the switches," said Sherry Lichtenberg, the principal researcher for telecommunications at the Washington-based National Regulatory Research Institute. "It's really hard to find parts."
AT&T officials have said the company sometimes has to scrounge on eBay for parts.
Verizon tried to completely end landline service on western Fire Island after Hurricane Sandy, replacing it with Voice Link only, but was forced to bring fiber to the area after regulators and residents objected. Customers in numerous Verizon areas have reported the company takes its time fixing problems. Verizon faced such complaints in California last year, and in East Harlem, where customers had to go without telephone service for weeks.
Consumer advocacy groups have asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the phone companies for neglecting copper networks, and the commission agreed to do so in November. AT&T and Verizon want to eventually stop maintaining the old Public Switched Telephone Network and switch to all-IP telecommunications delivered primarily over fiber and wireless. The FCC plans to write rules that protect customers in the transition.
This article was updated to clarify that the wireless Voice Link service is being offered as a temporary replacement for landline phones.
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