4:20 PM -- Remember the whole fiasco surrounding Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and its alleged copper-cutting policy when it came to installing FiOS? (See Got FiOS? Say Goodbye to DSL.) While Verizon was in fact cutting the copper drop from homes it installed FiOS in, as it turned out, it was not its universal policy to do so and would leave the copper in place at the customer's request.
Well, there's another interesting FiOS rumor circulating around about keeping secondary service providers. A post on The Consumerist Website alleges that when ordering a FiOS triple play service, all phone lines in the house MUST be converted to FiOS. In other words, if you've got a second or third landline phone, it cannot be with a Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), or any other competing phone service. Otherwise, no FiOS for you!
I was told that unless I switched all three lines to Verizon, they could not do it! I then asked to speak with the supervisor, who told me that the rules could not be bent, and that all phone lines must be transferred to Verizon.
When looking into whether this was official Verizon policy, Verizon said: "First, we do NOT require people to have all their services with us. Second, you certainly can use a VOIP service with FiOS. And you certainly can have FiOS Internet and cable TV or vice versa. We have reached out to Consumerist to ask them to have this person contact us so that we can make it all right for him and track down the salesperson who may have said these things."
There are many reasons why phone companies are generally evil. But I guess this is one case in which this particular one is not.
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