Fairpoint

[thetrailboss]

[rant]

So I got home last night at 6pm, switched on the computer, no internet. My landlord tells me that he called Fairpoint and they said, "well, we have a statewide outage due to a digital relay [or something like that]. Sorry, no internet for a couple days." :blink: :angry: A few years back I thought it could not get much worse than Verizon, but these guys proved me wrong. A two day outage for thousands of customers in the state? Not to mention that the internet goes out almost daily.

I give these guys until the end of the year before they go bankrupt....and the NNE consumers are screwed. Good job guys. :roll:

[/rant]

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I don't think I'd survive without 2 days of internet..actually I went a week last year on a trip and had the shakes..anyway hopefully you get a credit or something!!!

 

[Glenn]

Hooking up phone service with them was interesting.

Waited on hold for almost an hour...what a great way to "welcome" a new customer. Had some dude take all my info down. "We're upgrading the computers...we can't enter it now. We will call you back next (insert day here)" They never called. I called again...waited on hold. The lady took my info and set a turn on date....which was now weeks after our move in date. Mind you, our cells don't work at the VT house...we're in a dead zone. Works about 1/8th of a mile from the house...but not at the house. They then call me and tell me my date has been changed again...I can't remember the reason. Long story short, we went up one weekend and the phone just worked.

Two weeks ago, I'm sitting at my desk at work and my cell phone rings. The number to the VT place pops up on the caller ID. "W......T........F?" "Hi, this is so and so from Fairpoint...I have a work order to install new service?" I told him our phone is working....and he just confused the hell out of me since I know for sure, no one is at the house...so I almost crapped my pants when I saw a call coming from that number.

 

[thetrailboss]

Glenn: You won't believe how many people have told me similar stories.

This company gave their CEO a fat bonus, but then tell the State they don't have enough money to get their systems going. Class act.

 

[Geoff]

[rant]

So I got home last night at 6pm, switched on the computer, no internet. My landlord tells me that he called Fairpoint and they said, "well, we have a statewide outage due to a digital relay [or something like that]. Sorry, no internet for a couple days." :blink: :angry: A few years back I thought it could not get much worse than Verizon, but these guys proved me wrong. A two day outage for thousands of customers in the state? Not to mention that the internet goes out almost daily.

I give these guys until the end of the year before they go bankrupt....and the NNE consumers are screwed. Good job guys. :roll:

[/rant]

I get my internet from Comcast. It's far more reliable than the DSL service people I know at Killington get from VTel. VTel sued Comcast and somehow prevented them from offering telephone service at Killington. I still don't quite follow what grounds they had. Comcast probably looked at it and decided that there wasn't enough profit to bother spending money on lawyers. It doesn't matter to me. I use my cell phone as my 'telephone identity' and use the $2.95/month Skype service to make all my outbound calls to the US and Canada.

 

[Greg]

I don't think I'd survive without 2 days of internet..actually I went a week last year on a trip and had the shakes..anyway hopefully you get a credit or something!!!

Austin?!?!

:lol:

 

[wa-loaf]

So far I'm digging my FIOS.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Yup, from the moment Fairpoint came into NE there has been a Mt Everest level of problems and unhappy customers. One of their trucks ran over and killed my friends dog a couple of months ago. It was on a quiet dirt road.

I'm so glad that the MRV has it's own phone company. I have had DSL from them for over 10 years without any problems. The service method has nothing to do with it, it's the service provider. Alot of Vermont has Comcast and there are plenty of complaints from them also.

Fairpoint is under capitalized, everyone was warned from the beginning of their changeover. Here in the MRV it so nice when there are issues to be able to walk into the main office and get it quickly fixed.

 

[thetrailboss]

I hear nothing but GREAT things about Waitsfield/Champlain Valley Telecom.

 

[Glenn]

Glenn: You won't believe how many people have told me similar stories.

I figured out of the three things I needed to sign up for, electricity, propane and phone service...the phone was the least critical. A working phone won't keep the house warm when it's 15F outside at night. Still, it was an odd experience. Especially when the tech called me...from our phone.

 

[TheBEast]

I'd call them up and ask for a refund for the days outage. Granted sounds like they are a true PITA, but Charter did that for us when my wife called when we had an outage for more than a day due to an issue on their side......worth the call at least.

 

[Johnskiismore]

Just to throw in my 2 cents, yeah, Fair Point SUCKS!!!!!!!! My DSL goes out at least once every other day and on others its MULTIPLE times throughout the day. I tried calling FP a couple of months ago and I got an answering machine!! They're a f&*%$ing phine company and I can't talk to anyone?

I'll take Verizon back in a heartbeat! When my house is built I am dropping DSL w/FP and I'll go on the internet via Comcast. No land line phone for me anymore!

 

[marcski]

TB, isn't a lot of VT. tough to get a good highspeed connection? I remember my brother who lives up in northern vt. was complaining....he was using a satellite dish at the time...as his old house was in a location with no other broadband service.

 

[thetrailboss]

TB, isn't a lot of VT. tough to get a good highspeed connection? I remember my brother who lives up in northern vt. was complaining....he was using a satellite dish at the time...as his old house was in a location with no other broadband service.

Yes, but you need to understand the history of this transaction from Verizon to Fairpoint to understand what is really going on here.

 

[Geoff]

TB, isn't a lot of VT. tough to get a good highspeed connection? I remember my brother who lives up in northern vt. was complaining....he was using a satellite dish at the time...as his old house was in a location with no other broadband service.

The state has made a lot of subsidy money available for wireless broadband. Over the next year or so, a lot of the dead zones will start getting lit up with WiMax technology. If your town is a broadband dead zone, the state will shell out the bucks so a mom & pop operator can put up some antennas and give the town broadband connectivity. Intel is backing WiMax in a big way and their plan is to embed it in their next generation of processors so every notebook computer will come with bluetooth for a personal network, WiFi for homes & hotspots, and WiMax for when you can't see WiFi.

FairPoint is eventually going to go bankrupt. Verizon saw the trend of erosion of the wireline business and ditched Northern New England while they could still get something for it. FairPoint is saddled with 2.3 billion in debt for the purchase and no hope of ever generating enough profit to pay the interest let alone pay down the debt. Wireless broadband is only going to hasten their death. Now that AT&T and Verizon are consolidated in Vermont as the two cell phone companies, the coverage is going to improve. Both are going to be deploying LTE technology to dramatically improve their data capabilities on their cellular networks. A decade from now, the notion of a "telephone company" is mostly going to vanish in the state.

 

[ckofer]

When I relocated my business last year (within the same town), they managed to shut off my working numbers with a message "no longer in service" and assign new ones which nobody new. Got a modest credit but nowhere near enough. Then they always overbill for something so we need to get on the phone and remind them about our plan. Bastids.

 

[tree_skier]

Stop complaining. In my cozy corner of Vermont all I can get is dial up. Our nice 1 percent option tax was suppost to bring high speed to the rest of the town. But they ignored my little corner. So just like most things in this state I just pay and get nothing.

 

[Glenn]

At our place in VT...our cell phones won't work, we can't get a TV signal with rabit ears and a digital converter box. BUT! Comcast offers highspeed cable interweb. Irony. Oh, and my Yankee thrifty ass won't shell out $80 a month for internet access for place we're only at on the weekends. Hell, we've been there for almost 3 months and still don't have a working TV.(well, the TV works, we just can't get any channels) We just fire up the radio and deal. Or go outside and make some 'smores and drink beer.

 

[thetrailboss]

Still no internet at home this morning.......ridiculous.

 

[RootDKJ]

At our place in VT...our cell phones won't work, we can't get a TV signal with rabit ears and a digital converter box. BUT! Comcast offers highspeed cable interweb. Irony. Oh, and my Yankee thrifty ass won't shell out $80 a month for internet access for place we're only at on the weekends. Hell, we've been there for almost 3 months and still don't have a working TV.(well, the TV works, we just can't get any channels) We just fire up the radio and deal. Or go outside and make some 'smores and drink beer.

See if they offer a "seasonal" plan in your area...season = winter of course.