CWA Blasts Verizon's Legacy Landline Service, Seeks Upkeep Details

CWA filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to utility regulators in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C., seeking records on Verizon's upkeep and maintenance of older landline systems, a Tuesday news release said. “As a public utility in these states, Verizon has a duty to maintain services for all customers," said Dennis Trainor, CWA vice president-District 1, representing workers in local unions in New York, New Jersey, New England and eastern Canada. "But we’ve seen how the company abandons users, particularly on legacy networks.”

Basic phone rates rose and service quality declined in recent years, while Verizon had refused to extend broadband services into many localities, CWA said. "These FOIAs will shine a light on Verizon's failures and help the public hold Verizon accountable," said Ed Mooney, CWA vice president-District 2-13. The FOIAs seek details “regarding repair, maintenance, installation of Verizon landline service, which includes but is not limited to new service, repairs, installations, out-of-service and/or outage circumstances; telephone not working circumstances; service not available; presence of static; proposals for use of Voice Link as an alternative to service; telephone line, pole, and/or landline matters; worker and/ or technician dispatch; dial tone matters; and/or troubleshoot matters,” the release said.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said bargaining for the next CWA contract in the East is to begin in two weeks, with the current contract expiring Aug. 1. "We hear all sorts of meaningless rhetoric and hyperbole from the unions at the start of each bargaining cycle and this time is no exception," he emailed us. "The reality is that Verizon continues to invest billions of dollars in its wireline networks each year. To claim that we’ve abandoned or have neglected our copper network is total nonsense. Millions of our customers effectively communicate using voice or data services delivered over our copper network. When an issue arises, we work quickly to mitigate it."

Young said Verizon has about 10.4 million voice connections using its fiber or copper networks, with about 13,000 using its fixed wireless Voice Link service as a substitute for landline service. Voice Link customers "overwhelmingly tell us they like it," he said. "For the union to assert that Verizon has abandoned our network -- and the customers who use it -- is ludicrous. Verizon last year invested $5.8 billion in its wireline networks (both copper and fiber) and there’s no indication that’s about to change."

Robert Master, political director for CWA District 1, emailed that "by Verizon’s own admission, they are cutting investment in landline services and selling off the business everywhere they can. In New York, repair response times were so bad they asked the Public Service Commission to change its standards to stop the embarrassment. Verizon is flouting its duty to provide its customers with a well-working phone system.”

Verizon's Young acknowledged that capital expenditures are "down slightly year over year." But he said consumers are continuing to make the switch from copper networks to fiber-based service, "and since fiber costs less, it’s only logical that capex costs would be down."

Public Knowledge is "very interested in seeing if CWA can substantiate these complaints, or if the FCC will take this opportunity to conduct an independent investigation," said Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "It's a huge problem right now that, thanks in large part to state deregulation, we have no way of knowing the real state of wireline networks in this country. We have previously filed a letter about this with the FCC, and the FCC has raised questions on how to address concerns that carriers are abandoning their copper line facilities without asking for permission to shut them down."