It Seems Like Some Group Wants Fairpoint To Fail

[Henry]

As I watch people speaking out against Fairpoint and putting them on notice so they might lose their license, it just appears to me that some group is lobbying to make them fail by stirring up hate and discontent.  I think, what would happen if we didn't have Fairpoint??  What about my DSL???  What about my telephone???

Now, I know this is a bit controversial, but do honestly think that we should be working with them instead of against them to resolve their problems in this enormous undertaking of taking over the Verizon land lines.

Just my thoughts - Sure would hate to lose my DSL and I am not quite up to the "Can you hear me now?" set up for telephones.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10724480

[Loctavious]

You know Henry, the more I've heard in recent weeks the more I've thought, " Who are all these people with ALL these problems.  I Haven't had 1 probelm with my phone service.  I began to suspect something amiss here and my critical thinking skills kicked in. 

I hope someone investigates the facts at hand before opening a huge investigation into what the problem is and thus waste money and effort.  If there's a group with an agenda out there - trying to manipulate media coverage and thus public opinion -They DEFINITELY SHOULD BE EXPOSED - all of them - their names, motives and affiliations. 

[Henry]

Thanks for your input loctavious - I was beginning to think I was to only suspicious one regarding the allegations - Some one is out to get them, but I can't figure who.

[fletchtb]

I too am on the Fairpoint bandwagon. I have not had any problems with my phone since they took over from Verizon. I'll admit I was surprised when I couldn't pay my bill online when they first came in, but that has really been my only complaint.

I think we will be better off in the end with a company like Fairpoint who wants our businesss (VT, NH, and ME) as opposed to Verizon who had no interest in the northern New England landline business.

[cechinbass]

I haven't had any problems with them either. I was getting my next months bill before the current months bill was due but am happy to be able to pay online again.

[dearon]

I had problems at my office when they took over,  so I switched to comcast phone service.  I now have comcast for everything at the office and my house.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Fairpoint can't begin to compete with their service not to mention the fact you couldn't even go on line to pay your bill, talk about behind the times.

(and no I'm not one of the ones out to get Fairpoint, just know that there must be others out there as well that had problems)

[YouAnnMos]

I'm not out to get anyone either.  I'm not even sure if there is another company ready to step in if Fairpoint would to fail.    I have had no problems with billing which seems to be a major complaint.  I do have problems with my DSL connection when it rains.   Has anyone else seen this?  I'm not sure why this would be since I would assume that all connections are "hard wired". I could be way off base on that assumption.

I did have a problem with my phone a couple of weeks ago and after a 20 minute wait alternating between music and advertisements was able to get through to the help desk.   A ticket was placed on a Tuesday night and a technician was scheduled to come to the house some time on Thursday.  Glad I wasn't working from home.  I started doing my own trouble shooting on Wednesday night and found the problem.  I then called the help desk again this time using the house phone ( didn't want to eat up another 20 minutes on my cell ) and guess what???  I was talking to the same person I did the night before!!   "Wow", I said "What are the odds"?   The support person told be the odds were pretty good because there are not that many technicians to take the calls.   

[Loctavious]

I'd love to try Comcast - they've sent us some sweet looking deals in the mail saying they served our area.  We got all excited as we made plans for the technician to come out and set-up are high-speed and new cable package.  When the technician came ( should of  known as it was a dark and dreary day) he informed us there was no hook-up on our pole and he couldn't do it.  It looked to him like the hookup ended about.75 miles up the road on Goose Pond.  They said they COULD run the line up to our house and that they'd do it for a low price of $3800.  If we didn't want to pay all that, we'd need to find at least 6 other people willing to sign up with them between the last hook-up point and our house.

They still send mail saying their in our area.  Sorry - that really put a bad taste in my mouth.  Was really disappointing finding out we're stuck with dial-up again.

[trussell]

Well Loctavious,  I also contacted Comcast because I received their flyers touting the $99 package (although I don't have a home phone and don't miss it either).  Although they don't come quite all the way to my house, they offered to run a line for the low price of $18,000.  I declined.  They said that if x number of people would subscribe along the way they would also do it for free, but I didn't feel like pursuing it.  I find that it's much easier to just borrow a signal from my neighbor (yes, they know).

[Henry]

I received a personal e-mail that disagreed with what I wrote in my initial post here.  I many times do not post my opinion as some people hesitate putting up an opposing view.  I had a very successful 28 year career in management and what made it successful was learning to listen to people who had differing views from mine, so I could get the whole picture.

Below is the note that I would like to make sure you all get a chance to read also.  I have not put the individuals name, but that does not change the information provided in the note:

"Hi Henry,

I've been reading your forum regarding Fairpoint Communications.  While I certainly don't want to see them fail in Vermont, below is an example of what I've personally had to deal with when I moved my mother from her home of 48 years to a new senior housing complex in Essex on March 1st.  I actually had to complain to the Vermont Public Service Board and our senators.  Only after I did that, did we see some assistance from Fairpoint.  After all this was completed and settled, her phone has continue to fail a few times, with repairmen coming out to continually fix problems.

 As late as yesterday a.m., my mother's phone went out again (the actual problem was a underground line got cut by a construction project next to her building, so it was nothing to do with her phone).  When she reported the problem to Fairpoint, she got the following responses:

1.  "Your phone has been disconnected for failure to pay" - She pays all her bills way ahead of schedule.   When they figured out that wasn't true, they said

2.  "You must be moving soon" - She moved 4 months ago

3.  "What's your phone number?  We'll call you back." - They can't call her as her phone is broken!

Anyways, they finally diagnosed the problem, but I wanted you to be aware, that this scenario described below is one of thousands that have been happening around the state.  My mom is 82 years old and it's very hard on her to deal with this type of corporation.

Take care and again, I appreciate everything you do for our town."

[Formerflatlander]

We too have had no issues with Fairpoint and our service, DSL and landline, have been great.  We still get a cut rate on our Direct TV that we had with Verizon.  If we were to get better cell reception we would probably drop the landline at some point, but have been pleased with them so far. 
Due to some issues a relative had with Comcast in another state, I personally would stay away from them.  Of course that won't be an issue as they don't run service out here in the sticks all of three miles from the village. 
Also, who would fill the void left if Fairpoint were to go down?  Oh, that would probably be Verizon who would pick it back up for a fraction of what they sold it for.

[mary]

There apparently is a "cable out" between Milton and Grand Isle causing multiple towns to be out of service this Friday afternoon. I am pleased that so many of my fellow Fairfaxians appear to be having acceptable service from Fairpoint, but...this is the fifth extended outage we have had in less than two months with periodic problems ever since Fairpoint took over. I have elderly mothers in two different parts of St. Albans who are experiencing the same problems. This did not seem to be such a problem until Fairpoint took over. It would be easier to work with Fairpoint if they would offer some sort of reasonable explanation or at least had an adequate number of people manning the repair line so that you did not need to wait on hold so long to report outages. (Think we'll be over our cell phone plan's minute limit this month.) This is not good for area businesses. I finally had a client call me this afternoon to tell me that my land line was out. Same thing happened last Friday, with service repaired some time on Sunday. My patience is thinning...If Fairpoint is going to go down, do they have to take us all with them?     

[Chris Santee]

Ar 4:37pm, it appears Fairpoint users can call Fairpoint users,
but we can't call our at & t cell phones from our land line.

[mary]

Both of my moms (actually mine and my husband's) are Fairpoint customers. As of 5:00 can't call either of them. (Husband has checked in with one and will stay with the other until service is repaired. From Chris' post, sounds as if I'll likely see him home this evening, better get off the internet and into the kitchen...

[dearon]

Thanks goodness I have Comcast, I didn't lose a bit of service.  Everyone I tried to call however had no phone service, so had to call their cell phones (for those that had them)