FCC Should Deny Verizon Bid to Replace Wireline Communications in Areas of NY, NJ

CWA urged the Federal Communications Commission to deny Verizon's application to end wireline communications to residents and businesses in some areas of New York and New Jersey. Read the filing here.

Instead of rebuilding the copper network, Verizon substituted "Voice Link," a wireless technology to businesses and residents in parts of Fire Island, N.Y., and three barriers islands in New Jersey.

Verizon moved ahead without any regulatory oversight and without plans for any consumer protections and data collection. Apparently it wants to do more of the same, because it's seeking a waiver of the FCC's requirements for discontinuance of service and notification of customers, CWA said.

The Commission should deny "automatic approval" of Verizon's application, and instead require Verizon to resubmit its application. Verizon's experiment with Voice Link can be a "technology trial" under the process the FCC is proposing to review how the transition from wireline to wireless should proceed.

Hundreds of local and state elected officials, public safety officials, residents and small business owners detailed consumer hardship, inadequate and unavailable alternative services and increased costs they face as a result of Verizon's action.

Here are just a few of the comments filed with the New York State Public Service Commission:

• We are year-round residents on Fire Island and need a hard line to run our business and to monitor our property from the DSL line. After the storm, I temporarily had the Home Connect system and it worked poorly. Calls would ring for 30 plus times before I even knew they were coming through and we had no internet which is essential to run a business. Sometimes calls didn't even go through. VOICE LINK DOESNT WORK. — Barbara Heller, 7/6/2013


• During Hurricane Sandy I lost my power but was able to communicate using my land line phone. My cell phone had no service. If I was limited to only wireless service I would not have been able to notify my utility of the outage. If I had needed emergency service I could not have called for it. — Theodore E. Debowy, 6/28/2013


• We have service on Fire Island (Saltaire) and due to Super Storm Sandy we have been required to change our hard line to Verizon Voice Link and to Hotspot for internet. The Voice Link is marginal and the hotspot is awful. Verizon would prefer not to restore our hard lines but so far the service is spotty and much more expensive than the phone/internet service we had. — Joel Dictrow, 7/18/13