Difference between revisions of "Verizon"
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− | [[ | + | ==Overview== |
− | [[Verizon]] is a telecommunications company providing wired and wireless telephone services and [http://verizon.net/ internet]. | + | [[category:businesses]][[Verizon]] is a telecommunications company providing wired and wireless telephone services and [http://verizon.net/ internet] in the [[United States]]. |
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
+ | ===Official=== | ||
* [http://verizon.com/ Verizon] main site | * [http://verizon.com/ Verizon] main site | ||
* [http://verizon.net/ Verizon] internet services | * [http://verizon.net/ Verizon] internet services | ||
− | ==Reference== | + | ===Reference=== |
− | * {{wikipedia | + | * {{wikipedia}} |
* [[Sourcewatch:Verizon|SourceWatch]] | * [[Sourcewatch:Verizon|SourceWatch]] | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Line 45: | Line 46: | ||
Verizon's sins in this case consist of the following: | Verizon's sins in this case consist of the following: | ||
− | *Having such a thing as a "local toll area" which charges for calls without requiring you to dial a prefix ("1" or an area code) | + | * Having such a thing as a "[[local toll area]]" which charges for calls without requiring you to dial a prefix ("1" or an area code) |
− | *Listing only the total of charges for such calls, rather than itemizing | + | * Listing only the total of charges for such calls, rather than itemizing |
− | *Refusing to negotiate | + | * Refusing to negotiate |
+ | |||
+ | Additionally, Verizon actively encourages the monopolistic telecommunications system where they generally (or always?) have, in the areas in which they provide such services, a [[monopoly]] on [[DSL]] and [[plain old telephone service]] (POTS). | ||
'''Rating:''' yuck. Avoid. | '''Rating:''' yuck. Avoid. | ||
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===[[Htwiki:User:Aero|Aero]] 14:18, 1 May 2005 (EDT)=== | ===[[Htwiki:User:Aero|Aero]] 14:18, 1 May 2005 (EDT)=== | ||
Just thought I'd share some of my stuff on some o' these. | Just thought I'd share some of my stuff on some o' these. | ||
− | + | * '''Having such a thing as a "local toll area"''': see [[local toll area]] page. | |
− | + | * '''Listing only the total of charges for such calls, rather than itemizing''' | |
− | + | ** I've seen this many times too, especially with cell phone companies. Many of them consider it an extra service (= extra $$$) to itemise! Gee, I didn't know paper was getting so expensive, guys! | |
− | + | * '''Refusing to negotiate''' | |
− | + | ** And this seems like pretty much the standard for Corporate America these days. If it was buried in pages of incomprehensible nonsense somewhere, well, it was completely reasonable to expect you to be familiar with it! | |
− | |||
− | I've seen this many times too, especially with cell phone companies. Many of them consider it an extra service (= extra $$$) to itemise! Gee, I didn't know paper was getting so expensive, guys! | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | And this seems like pretty much the standard for Corporate America these days. If it was buried in pages of incomprehensible nonsense somewhere, well, it was completely reasonable to expect you to be familiar with it! |
Revision as of 21:25, 28 August 2007
Overview
Verizon is a telecommunications company providing wired and wireless telephone services and internet in the United States.
Links
Official
Reference
Notes
Verizon is apparently against Internet Neutrality (see Sourcewatch:Network neutrality legislation)
Verizon has apparently also sent faxes to government officials using the names of people who had not authorized those faxes:
Edward McKenna is the mayor of Red Bank, New Jersey.
In a normal week, he receives about 10 faxes from constituents. In three days last November, McKenna says he got more than 200.
These so-called residents all wrote in support of new legislation to increase competition in the cable industry. McKenna noticed the faxes had names, but no signatures.
He says the traced the fax number back to an organization funded by the telephone giant Verizon. |
From http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/04/27/PM200604277.html
Incidents
Offsite
- 2006-12-07 Verizon doesn't know Dollars from Cents
Woozle 19:08, 30 Apr 2005 (EST)
We had a very bad experience with Verizon a couple of years ago. I'll try to dig up the details at a later date; this is just from memory.
I accidentally entered an old number for EarthLink's dial-up service into our gateway computer, which (at the time) was pretty much connected to the internet 24/7 via dial-up since we didn't yet have cable internet. Unfortunately, it turned out that this number had, not too long before, been officially moved out of our toll-free local service area and into the non-toll-free local service area. So there was a small per-minute charge for connection time -- something under a penny per minute, I think. There was, however, no change in the way the number was dialled -- you still didn't have to put a "1" or an area code in front of it. So we merrily reconnected to the internet and had no clue we were being charged until the bill showed up next month, with a charge for about $600 of "local toll" calls . They did not list the numbers called, either, so it was only after some investigation that we figured out that it was the Earthlink number.
Upon figuring this out, I immediately checked EarthLink's web site for the latest numbers for our area, and changed the number in the dialler. So now "all" we have to deal with is that $600 phone bill, right? Well... another one came in, now totalling about $1200... but I figured (having to guess a bit, since they didn't list when these diamond-plan calls had been made) that maybe this was the bill for the calls made between the previous bill and when I changed the number. So I took no further action, aside from getting ready to ask Verizon to remove the charge.
And then a third bill came in, and the total was still higher (I seem to recall that it ultimately got to around $3000, though that's inconsistent with the other numbers; as I said, I need to find the actual bills). I frantically double-checked the dialler and found that, of course, my "change" to the dial-up number somehow hadn't been saved; it was still dialling up caviar and truffles for us. This time, after making the change, I rebooted, reconnected, and watched to see that it actually dialled the "new", correct number.
Verizon flatly refused to remove the charge. I wrote them letters, called them and spoke with several different people... no go. (The story of what happened to the charge after that is... another story; it was fortunately on a number which belonged to a former resident of the house, and ultimately not our responsibility, although I did my darnedest to fix the problem anyway.)
Verizon's sins in this case consist of the following:
- Having such a thing as a "local toll area" which charges for calls without requiring you to dial a prefix ("1" or an area code)
- Listing only the total of charges for such calls, rather than itemizing
- Refusing to negotiate
Additionally, Verizon actively encourages the monopolistic telecommunications system where they generally (or always?) have, in the areas in which they provide such services, a monopoly on DSL and plain old telephone service (POTS).
Rating: yuck. Avoid.
Aero 14:18, 1 May 2005 (EDT)
Just thought I'd share some of my stuff on some o' these.
- Having such a thing as a "local toll area": see local toll area page.
- Listing only the total of charges for such calls, rather than itemizing
- I've seen this many times too, especially with cell phone companies. Many of them consider it an extra service (= extra $$$) to itemise! Gee, I didn't know paper was getting so expensive, guys!
- Refusing to negotiate
- And this seems like pretty much the standard for Corporate America these days. If it was buried in pages of incomprehensible nonsense somewhere, well, it was completely reasonable to expect you to be familiar with it!