Fairpoint Communications

[dmjr]

Has any had any problems with there phone? I have been having trouble since Sunday. I called Fairpoint repair, they told me that they were backed up becuase of the lighting storms. They set up an appointment for today. I just called this morning and they said they dont know if they make it until after the holiday. So far I am less than impressed with the new phone service from Fairpoint Communications.

[twoplustwo]

I've had troubles with my phone and DSL since Friday. Up and down, up and down. I telecommute so that's entirely annoying. I'm calling Time Warner to see how much they'll rip me off for a cable/phone/internet bundle. They can't be any worse.

Did you get a fancy new long distance package when they took over? I did, to the tune of an extra $15 a month. Did I ask for it? Nope. I make all of my long distance calls on my cell. I may just scrap any landline all together at this point.

I'm not impressed with Fairpoint at all.

[Slickcraft]

About 6 weeks ago I tried many times to talk to a Fair Point person about DSL service on Welch Island (a neighbor does have it out there). After many 15 minute waits on hold, I gave up.

We then went over to the Verizon Wireless store in Lakeport and got a broadband card for the laptop which works fine on the island.

[TomC]

There was a rusty old truck working down the road from me (on Shaker Jerry) and it was clearly a Verizon truck with a Fairpoint sticker on the door.

They may very well stink (i only have measured dialing at my places in Moultonborough and have not called the phone company in 10 years), but if they do - they would have stunk if their employee ID badges still said Verizon. The personnel didn't magically turn into failures when the name on the paycheck changed. I have no affiliation or skin in this game - it just doesn't seem to be a logical argument to associate these issues to Fairpoint so soon after they acquired all the resources from Verizon

[Argie's Wife]

Fairpoint has the lowest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry in New England - they are and always have been a headache to deal with!

[dpg]

Originally Posted by TomC

There was a rusty old truck working down the road from me (on Shaker Jerry) and it was clearly a Verizon truck with a Fairpoint sticker on the door.

They may very well stink (i only have measured dialing at my places in Moultonborough and have not called the phone company in 10 years), but if they do - they would have stunk if their employee ID badges still said Verizon. The personnel didn't magically turn into failures when the name on the paycheck changed. I have no affiliation or skin in this game - it just doesn't seem to be a logical argument to associate these issues to Fairpoint so soon after they acquired all the resources from Verizon

A name / company change absolutely can make all the difference.

[gravy boat]

About 6 weeks ago I tried many times to talk to a Fair Point person about DSL service on Welch Island (a neighbor does have it out there). After many 15 minute waits on hold, I gave up.

We then went over to the Verizon Wireless store in Lakeport and got a broadband card for the laptop which works fine on the island.

One of the reasons I still have Verizon stock!

GB

[VitaBene]

I have gone all mobile at this point!! Best thing I ever did.

[ironhorsetim]

I got my last month's phone bill & it included $175 for collect calls made to my home for a week I wasn't even home??? so aside from paying our phone bills we have to pay attention to whats on them,,never had that problem before the name change

[Island-Ho]

Last weekend I saw the old Verizon boat that used to provide phone service and repair to the islands. It no longer says Verizon on the side, but the old Bell System symbol is still on the stern. The two people in it were fishing, so I wonder if the boat was sold or if this is another indication of typical Fairpoint service?

[Airwaves]

My neice and her husband both work for Verizon....I mean Fairpoint now and they have NOTHING good to say about it. Cutting costs etc. One of the biggest concerns the state regulatory agencies had (but apparently got over it) was that Fairpoint was overextending itself in the purchase of Verizon and wouldn't be able to maintain service.

[twoplustwo]

Sorry TomC, but if the buyout was supposed to be seamless, I haven't found it to be the case. Verizon never signed me up for packages I didn't ask for, they answered their phones when I called, if I called and there was a known outage, it was on the recording, and you could pay your bill and sign up for things online. Fairpoint's website is worthless. If they aren't giving their employees what they need to do their jobs, it doesn't matter who they used to work for, they still can't do their jobs.

[Gatto Nero]

Originally Posted by twoplustwo

I've had troubles with my phone and DSL since Friday. Up and down, up and down. I telecommute so that's entirely annoying. I'm calling Time Warner to see how much they'll rip me off for a cable/phone/internet bundle. They can't be any worse.

I telecommute as well. I don't have a land line but I do use Time Warner for Internet and I am not impressed with them either. It is up and down all day long. I thought maybe it was either my modem or my router but I replaced them both and the problem persists. We do have a Vonage line, which I have found to be very reliable in other locations, but with the low QOS around here its virtually useless.

[Newbiesaukee]

We have Time Warner for internet and cable TV. We have not had problems with either..the few times there were some difficulties they were handled quickly and in a professional manner.

[Lakepilot]

We had similar issues with Fairpoint so switched to Metrocast. We couldn't be happier. For the same amount we used to pay Verizon (and the Fairpoint bill was more) we have a lot more services and can call anywhere in the USA and Canada for no additional charge. We have caller ID, which we never had and have disabled our answering machines in favor of their service.

When we signed up with Metrocast, they sent a tech out to install the box and it was easy. Up an working immediately. We still have the same phone number as before.

With Fairpoint we had a phone bill that contained several pages of itemized calls - local, extended local, blah blah. With Metrocast it's one amount for all calls in the US and Canada - period.

[TomC]

Originally Posted by dpg

A name / company change absolutely can make all the difference.

again - it is not possible for me to care less about Fairpoint..

however, i have been on the receiving end of two acquisitions in my career and - yes - eventually the management attitude/philosophy filters down through the organization. But right out of the gate (lets say 6 months), the workers keep working the way they always have - its all they know.

My point was about the resources being brought to bear on downed lines. If they acquired X trucks and Y techs from Verizon then thats all they have until they add or cut in accordance with their business plan. I was trying to say that it is a bit disingenuous to paint that as a Fairpoint problem when had the company not changed ownership, Verizon would likely have fared no better.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Originally Posted by TomC

... If they acquired X trucks and Y techs from Verizon then thats all they have until they add or cut in accordance with their business plan. ....

The X trucks and Y techs do not represent ALL the resources that Verizon had available. Fairpoint aquired only the "local loop plant" not the entire Verizon operation. Verizon still has toll and LD.

It WILL get worse before it gets better ..... if it gets better.

[EricP]

If Fairpoint was the only game in town then I would have no phones before I called them for service.

[drhankz]

Originally Posted by Lakepilot

We had similar issues with Fairpoint so switched to Metrocast. We couldn't be happier. For the same amount we used to pay Verizon (and the Fairpoint bill was more) we have a lot more services and can call anywhere in the USA and Canada for no additional charge. We have caller ID, which we never had and have disabled our answering machines in favor of their service.

When we signed up with Metrocast, they sent a tech out to install the box and it was easy. Up an working immediately. We still have the same phone number as before.

With Fairpoint we had a phone bill that contained several pages of itemized calls - local, extended local, blah blah. With Metrocast it's one amount for all calls in the US and Canada - period.

ANOTHER Happy Metrocast Triple-Play Customer here

[dmjr]

Well.. I thought I would give you an update on the issue of my phone - a Fairpoint tech showed up thursday night, spent 20 mins here, replaced a inside jack (which did not need to be replaced), he left the phone worked for 5 mins then it did not work at all. I called repair service back, told them what happened and they said they would page the tech back, never showed back up.

It is now July 4th, I still have no phone and I probaly wont have a phone until the middle of next week.

[EricP]

Is any of the wiring in a crawl space under the house or anything like that? Sounds a lot like there's a (or some) corroded connection(s) in the mix somewhere. What you could do is to find where the wire comes into your house and disconnect the incoming feed, in a lot of cases it's using the same end you find on a normal phone cable. Then plug in your own phone and see if it works. If it does at least you know the problem is inside wiring. If this does work and you have a cordless phone, just move the base to a spot just inside where you can plug it into the incoming feed and at least you'll have a phone until they come back or you solve the wiring problem. If you don't have wiring insurance with them they probably will charge to fix inside wiring.

[twoplustwo]

Have you plugged the phone directly into that to see if it works? If it does, EricP is on to something. You can always leave it plugged into that box if it works and run the phone line in a window. Annoying, I know, but it might help you out temporarily until they send another tech out some time next week.

[SteveA]

I had a problem in the past. (It was with Verizon before the switch over) I had them forward incoming calls to my "out of order" home phone to my cell. I just called the customer service line they made the switch.

[dmjr]

Come to find out the problem was I thought it was, on the line. It was corrected in about 30 mins. I am disgusted that first tech never bothered to go up on the line to test it.

[jkjoshuatree]

I work for Verizon in Boston. If you do not have a Network Interface on your house (it should be a small gray box that actually says "Network Interface"), you can call Fairpoint and ask them to send a tech out to install one.

It's free of charge because it's outside (not part of your inside wiring) and it also helps us (the techs), isolate the problem if a customer isn't home.

If's there's dial tone when we disconnect your inside wire from where it's connected to the drop wire coming from the telephone pole (or underground pug cable if the neighborhood is wired underground) we know the problem is inside the house and we start there until we isolate the problem.

You can also (at any time) request that Fairpoint replace the drop wire coming from the pole or any other hardware on your house that's in tough shape, all free of charge.

And don't feel bad about it at all...it keeps us working and it's not a big or time consuming job.

I'll be up there next week...give me a shout and I'll come fix it...lol!!

[Weekend Pundit]

Originally Posted by Gatto Nero

I telecommute as well. I don't have a land line but I do use Time Warner for Internet and I am not impressed with them either. It is up and down all day long. I thought maybe it was either my modem or my router but I replaced them both and the problem persists. We do have a Vonage line, which I have found to be very reliable in other locations, but with the low QOS around here its virtually useless.

Gatto, it sounds like the drop from the pole to the house or the splitter on the trunk might be the culprit. Does it happen "all the time" or just when the wind is blowing, or during/after rain, or during certain times of the day? My experience has shown that it is rarely the cable modem unless there's been a nearby lightning strike. More often than not it's an external problem of the type I mentioned above. It is also possible it's the cable or splitters inside the home, though less likely than something outside causing the problem.