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3/13/09
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Customers fleeing besieged FairPoint Problems plague firm as stock craters
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PORTLAND, Maine — Phone companies fear that customers will increasingly switch off their land lines in favor of wireless phones or phone service from cable TV providers. So the last thing FairPoint Communications Inc. needed was to send subscribers fleeing with a botched technical transfer.
Now the company is trying to delay a debt payment and has seen its stock crater.
It all began when FairPoint swallowed an enormous acquisition.
North Carolina-based FairPoint owns and operates 32 phone companies in 18 states with a total of 1.9 million access lines. Most of those came when FairPoint paid $2.3 billion a year ago for Verizon Communications Inc.’s 1.5 million phone and Internet lines in northern New England.
Many subscribers already were getting itchy last year. FairPoint lost 12 percent of its residential and business lines — more than 152,000 of them — in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in 2008, a much higher rate than the nationwide peer average of 7 percent.
Now more subscribers are heading for the doors after experiencing e-mail, Internet and customer service problems in recent weeks after FairPoint took total control of the Verizon system.
Last week, Norm Marsh of Augusta switched his bundled phone, Internet and TV service from FairPoint to Time Warner Cable Inc.
The 71-year-old disabled veteran said it was hard to get through to FairPoint’s call centers — even when he called at 2 or 3 in the morning — to report e-mail and Internet problems. When he did get through, he was put on hold for long waits and customer service agents often couldn’t help him, he said.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “I am so annoyed at these people because they messed me up.”
The losses eat into precious revenue; FairPoint’s 2008 revenue was about $1.3 billion. In November, Standard & Poor’s revised FairPoint’s bond rating outlook to negative because of FairPoint’s high level of customer defections.
Fairpoint CEO Gene Johnson said the decline in subscribers has been moderating. And its count of high-speed Internet customers rose in the final quarter for the first time since FairPoint’s purchase of the Verizon assets was completed last March 31.
At the same time, Johnson conceded it’s reasonable to assume more customers will leave after the glitches that occurred when FairPoint fully took over Verizon’s computer systems at the end of January. During the “cutover” process, when FairPoint transferred millions of pieces of data from Verizon’s computer networks to FairPoint’s, thousands of customers lost services.
Many people lost e-mail messages or couldn’t access their e-mail for a couple of weeks. Some customers still haven’t received their February bills.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission has received an estimated 1,200 calls from unhappy customers since late January.
Steve Hirshon, vice president of Maine Securities Corp. in Portland, said it’s no surprise the company has been losing customers, not only because of the recent problems but also because of the migration of customers to wireless phones, a trend besetting all providers of land line service.
Investors clearly don’t like what they’ve seen.
The stock price fell 65 percent last Friday alone, the day after FairPoint reported a quarterly loss of $76.1 million and announced it was suspending its dividend. In recent days, a share of FairPoint stock has been cheaper than the cost of a call on one of its pay phones. It traded as high as $11 a share in the past year.
FairPoint has filed a petition with regulators in the three states seeking to defer an $11.25 million quarterly debt payment toward its purchase of Verizon’s operations in northern New England. It is proposing to push back the March 31 payment to June 30.
The company said the change would help it manage its cash flow, which has been hurt by the loss of $30 million in credit with the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. Inc. and deteriorating economic conditions.
In response to the petition, New Hampshire Consumer Advocate Meredith Hatfield questioned whether FairPoint would have the liquidity to keep meeting its obligations.
But Johnson insisted the company does not have liquidity problems and filed the petition to keep it that way. Johnson said he expects to win back some customers in the months ahead when the transition is complete.
“I don’t expect the first quarter to be a very pretty quarter, but I expect things to look better in the second quarter,” he said.
He believes the company’s shares are undervalued, and he’s backing that up. On Tuesday, he bought 200,000 shares of FairPoint at prices ranging between 38 and 42 cents a share, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
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easy come, easy go...good bye fairpoint
hello cell phones, cable and satellite, new customers heading your way
nothing FAIR in fairpoint!!
adios, goodbye
Really, they do not have liquidity issues?
Says who, the ceo that once was head of a small mom and pop phone company turned mega phone company overnight?
Can you say bankruptcy and I told you so from the former verizon employees who pointed out the lack of talent at fp to undertake this white elephant ?
fredrogers is absolutely right. I still think the whole thing was a deal with Verizon to bust the union, and then Verizon buys it back! Fairpoint never could afford this deal if it was upright.
How do you spell BOTCH? F-A-I-R-P-O-I-N-T
There is no way that Fairpoint - formely known as a very small phone company located in Standish could take over a company like Verizon! Yep, they should have listened to the employees, because they know more than the heads of Fairpoint know or may ever know. Former Verizon employees are the best anyhow - they always provided excellent service and have the know-how - but if your higher-ups don't have the ability to manage properly - they are going to mess things up, big time.
I have to be honest and say, I hope Verizon does turn around and take over the company again. If not, and services continue to worsen, I guess I'll have to go satellite. We can't get a strong cell phone signal where we live, so that's our only other alternative. I prefer having at least one or two landline phones however and cell phones are hot against the ear after a while talking on one! I just saw a video today, where some young folks took unpopped popcorn kernals and put them near their cell phones. I think there were 4 cell phones altogether. They called each other's cell phones and the heat from the cell phones actually popped the corn! Now that's enough to make you stop and ask yourself - ummm what is that doing to my brain? lol
Anyhow, I'm sorry but things don't look or sound good at Fairpoint - I don't even like the name.
The only problem with going to time warner digital phone is when you lose power there is no battery back up. We were also told to keep a land line for that purpose. So if you don't have a cell phone your out of luck . We went with the magic jack the cost was cheaper and it goes through the internet with all the bennies of digital phone and we won't see a bill for 5 years.
you will not see me cry to see Fairpoint go under. Over 1 1/2 weeks we have been waiting for a Modem to replace our old one. We run a Busness out of our home, we are still waiting. We went to Time Warner last week, with in 5 minutes we were back on line. We called Fairpoint and they kept telling us the modem had been shipped. I asked if it was coming by stage coach or carry pigion. We disconected our phone and internet last week from Fairpoint, Our phone serves has never been better and or Internet is faster, so See ya Fairpoint don't let the door hit you on the way out of the State of Maine. Do not forget service is the way to keep people no service see ya
I switched my phone to Time Warner as soon as Fairpoint took over . I lacked confidence in the takeover. I have a cell phone for emergencies if the power is out. I also saved over $25 a month for the same service!
Why blame Fairpoint completely? Our State government agency said this was best for ME. Maybe they should be replaced also.
I'm going to lay this out there. Yeah it takes a while to get ahold of someone at any place. The first time I called I didn't get an answer (20 minutes) I got a answer on the second call and the guy helped me through my problem and found my VERIZON router was broke. They sent me a free new one, and a startup disk
So far my experience with them has been 4.5/5 stars
As for the email thing people - grow up and get a yahoo account
Philroy, I called last sunday and I got brand new router on Tuesday
FROM FEDEX
and it was free... so far so good
and I live in Monson, how sweet is that... meanwhile downstairs on my couch enjoying my eversweet xbox live and wireless laptop...suckas
And if you guys tell me to get time warner, I can't get it lol....
DAMN MOOSEHEAD CABLE!
Verizon put us up for sale because the territory was a loser. Too few people spread across too many miles. I don't know why people believed that FairPointless could not only turn a profit with it, but also keep all their pie in the sky promises. For me, there are few people I call. Those that I do call have Skype accounts where I call them for free. For those few other calls I make I have a Tracfone. Land line telephone service will go the way of hand written letters. If there are investments to be made in infrastructure, invest in wireless technology. I've never heard of an ice storm knocking wireless signals out of the air.
You can thank the highest of officials and the PUC for this cluster _ _ _ _ ! All of the signs were there for all to see . . .this deal WAS NOT a good deal for the residents of the State of Maine. The numbers really never did add up . . .and the level of customer service has obviously reached an all time low. The State of Maine needs, and has needed improvement in telecommunications . . we have a huge appetite for improved high speed Internet access in a State with tough geographical challenges . . .and what does the PUC give us . . .Fairpoint. Great, just freakin great! :-(
I'm all for them. They brought DSL to Monson. Verizon didn't do _ _ _ _! (thanks markrc!) I had dialup all the way up til September last year from 1994.
Even if they do suck, they did right by me. They sent me af ree modem to replace my broke one, the customer service guy I talked to helped me out quite a bit, and I ordered the router on Sunday, it was there midday Tuesday.
So what they suck - they help me out constantly and they're ok for me.
I have not had a land line for 6 years, I only have my cellphone. I have Time Warner for cable and internet and while they certainly are not a pleasure to deal with I rarely have any problems that make me have to deal with them.
There is no turning back now.For Verizon to take over where Pointless has failed isn't much of an option now. They would have to maintain the systems that Pointless has moved in to place now . If Verizon attempted to return to their old systems they would only finish the nightmare that Pointless has started.
All we can do now is let them continue to sort out the mess they have created and hope that the dust will settle and some customers will return. I know it sounds like a weak argument but this is the situation the governor and his minions have let us get into now but we have know choice but to play the game with the rules they have given us. What more can they do to continue the downward spiral they have put the state in? I just love it when my Democrat/Union friends tell me that he is running this state just like a republican. He is actually running this state just like all the democrats have been doing the last thirty years.
This goes to prove only that the Union was right. That this company has no background to be running a company of this size and certainly has no financial expertise in a playing field of this size. Wonder how Baldy is going to be backing his play on this one?
I haven't had any problems at all with Fairpoint but we have had them all along. They were the only DSL provider in my area. It's too bad they had all the problems with the switch over but they should have been ready for it. I have Unicel as my cell provider and they are selling out to Verizon so maybe after this all settles out my landline and cell provider will be Verizon.
BTW, eveningrain, the popcorn video is a myth/urban legend. See snopes.com for explanation. http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp
Clever how they filmed it and fooled so many people. But, on the other hand, I do believe there still may be harmful effects from cell phone use so I use the bluetooth headset.
I've had dsl with Verizon and then FairPoint after the switch. My experience with FairPoint has been pretty much the same - good solid fast connection.
No problems here.
Don't overlook VONAGE with any high speed internet connection. It's as clear as, and a lot cheaper than Fairpoint or time warner's VOIP.
I have fair point and I like the phone service but to get the DSL forget it there still working on my order after ordering it a month ago I will be glad when i am able to get time warner at least i wont have to wait an hour to get a live person to talk to every time I call them like I have to when i call fair point
My connection has been good. But the long wait time to try and get service for other things is very bad.
P.U.C.'s Thomas Getz said at the time, the purchase was not in the public interest but his board voted 2-1 to approve it.They let Verizon sell out and avoid a 500 million tax obligation to Miane. State regulators behave like powerless functionaries rather than defenders of the public interest. Union reps called it like it was, consumer advocates spoke ouot in opposition but to no avail. While we're told P.U.C. have standards and enforcement tools they don't use them and even if some watered down version of protest is issued the huge utilities(C.M.P. Verizon, any oil company) ignore them.
In fact Fair Point's financial deficits were the reason that Verizon kicked back some vig(orish) to complete the deal.
So, we lose 500 million from Verizon, and here comes Fair Point crying poor and will be asking for higher rates, not pay balloon payments, The citizens of Maine are not,repeat,Not served well by the P.U.C. either in Fair Point's instance or in the Spanish conglomerate owned C.M.P.
Sunandclouds... Did you know that fairpoint has been BANKRUPT at least twice????? Yeah i'd say blame fairpoint. The used to be Pivot and Prexar. They SUCK and should have NEVER bought out Verizon. I saw this one coming when it was first mentioned. Go figure. We don't have a choice... last i knew we can't get ANYTHING except fairpoint, so consider yourselves very lucky to be able to get time warner and what not.
Their DSL is HORRIBLE!!! Paying out the hoo ha for service that is comparable to dial-up and i dont even want the damn phone but HAVE to have it. Plus their attitude SUCKS!
Our business has 4 lines from Fairpoint and they are forever applying the payments to the WRONG line, then disconnecting the correct one and making us wait to have it reconnected because they dont have the time. Well WTF you have the time to disconnect it but not reconnect it because of YOUR error?? DO YOUR FKING JOB RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
This GD PUC in Maine has never had the citizen/customers welfare in mind when dealing with utilities. They didn't care when CMP was broken up and our poer costs went up 4 fold, they didn't care when the phone company wanted out. They are soley responsible for this mess with FairPoint.
I lost DSL comms for a week, but, when I called the repair tech, he informed me that this was a problem in both Maine and VT due to the changeover and that I would, likely, require a new Modem, which he said they would immediately FEDEX. Voila! Four days later my new Modem arrived, plugged it in and I was up and running, just like he said. You know what? I enjoyed those four days off the internet. Slince then, I've had no problems with comms on my end. Companies, like individuals, have to confront and overcome challenges. Fairpoint seems to be doing what needs to be done after acquiring Verizon.
Vonage is terrible - I tried it - the worst phone system in history. The cable phone goes down all the time, and you can't get them to repair anything - they're too busy unhooking services from deadbeats. Fairpoint is perfect but they are the best phone provider in Maine. They took over a system that Verizon didn't maintain for years. They repaired a problem I had with Verizon for over five years. With Verizon, they'd send someone in for 15 minutes and he'd say he couldn't find a problem. Fairpoint comes in and in 15 minutes tells me that all the wires need to be replaced between two poles because they are worn out from water and chafing. the next morning two trucks came in at 8:00 and worked all day and fixed the problem. Now, for the first time, I have good phone reception. So nobody is going to convince me that Fairpoint isn't trying to do the best they can. Obviously they can't satisfy all you dunces, and guess what? Probably nobody else could either. The same people whining about Fairpoint were whining about Verizon. Whine, whine, whine. This is more of a whinelog than anything else.
The most ignorant part for me----When I was Finally able to go on-line for one of their wonderful chat room fix-it's, in the middle of the process, the guy up and leaves the room! Just shuts off and leaves! I won't forget him. his name was Malcolm. I copied it all off and between me and a friend, we went over it all again and finally got things going. We fixed it, not Fairpoint or Malcolm. But you can believe when the bill came, it was the same!
I have Time Warner for cable, internet & phone.............LOVE IT I am so glad I do for I have heard horror stories about Fairpoint. Too bad for the company :( but you got to give 100% to customers not 75%.
augustagoverned--- hmmm do i hear a whine?? Anyone else hear that?
augustagoverned----My, aren't you just so lucky! I guess the rest of us don't live in the right place' And if we're all such a bunch of whiners, then why do you bother to come on here? And I will tell you right now, I am far from being a dunce. You can keep that title for you and yours!
I think if you lost power for a few days you can go without a phone also. Especially if your going to save some mula...
Whinelog? Puleeze! How about we, thee citizens are NOT stupid and we are sick and tired of the corporates taking advantage of our advocates and ourselves by overcharging and giving lousy service.
So augustagoverned, in the short time Fairpointless has owned the lines in Maine you feel they are the best phone provider. You must move a lot, there are other phone companies in Maine, so you must have as of recent moved enough to use every provider in Maine? Doubt it considering you claim to have a problem with your service for 5 years. Before you brag how great Fairpoint is and compare to other companies...
Don't you Fairpoint employees have someplace else to be right now other then the BDN site? Since when do wires start chafing anyways? Must be the entire States problem hm? That's it we will all go climb our poles, tell Fairpoint the wires are chaffed, just a coincidence they all chaf after the transition.
You're the only Dunce on here.
Whine whine whine
Fair Point Communications Incorporated
(704) 344-8150
521 E Morehead St, #250, Charlotte, NC 28202
Try calling the FairPoint Corp Office !!
Fair Point Communications Incorporated
(704) 344-8150
521 E Morehead St, #250, Charlotte, NC 28202
Try calling the FairPoint Corp Office !!
augustagoverned, they just got lucky. you cant be serious if you are trying to tell us that this guy didnt work for verizon also! they didnt fire any old employees and havent hired many. and if they did they are still way in the training mode.
what happens when copper wires break down from wear or water damage is that they begin to corrode. corrosion makes a poor conductor so you will get intermittent static. locating this can be difficult in the early stages because there are so many places static can occurr from other reasons. after a long bit of time under these conditions the copper will increasingly fail and once it breaks completely it is fairly easy to locate. over the years they probably swapped you to other pairs of wires and as the cable got more and more moisture in it more of the pairs became defective. once you have no spares left to swap to it becomes more cost effective to replace the cable section and it can be justified to management. doesnt matter who is managing the company. after that amount of time verizon would have made the same repair. it just looks better to you and everyone else that the new company is finally doing something. with the state of disrepair verizon was permitted to allow the cables to get to a lot of people are going to see this "magical " repair that the amazing fairlypontless is going to achieve.
i am sooooooooooooo glad we moved out of verizon's service area;now we have Mid Maine Communications,where you get to talk to a REAL LIVE PERSON after going thru a simple menu-they are EXCELLENT!!!
I got my DSL when verizon was about to do the switch to fairpoint here in Mo-Town... the dsl connection is great, sometimes it kicks off but thats probably because of the older lines in the house, and my phone cord is pretty long to the jack in the wall.. However I am extremely happy with them... I can play Sexbox 360 all day long
ydnar723: Are you a private investigator? You have a scallop brained insight into other people's lives. And you whine like baby - and somehow you seem to have ESP, too. You are obviously a giant among scallops.
There aren't any other real phone companies in Maine because Fairpoint controls nearly all the lines. Most others are Fairpoint subcontractors.
My experience with Fairpoint has been great. There's nothing like piling on when someone or a company is experiencing problems, and whining about imaginary problems.
I'm not whining, I'm defending a company that gives me great service. For those of you who don't like Fairpoint - leave them - and quit your damned whining. Enjoy your Time Warner and Vonage and other little subcontractors. Many of you will be changing back to Fairpoint after you get a taste of the incompetence of these outfits.
Oh, and why do I come on here if I don't like to hear whiners? It just makes me feel great to know that I am so lucky compared to so many. Ha Ha. Have a great day whining.
That's dunces with a D, not a d. Excuse me.
Uhhh, ydnar723, to be fair to augustagoverned, wires do chafe. The change from warm to cold and visa versa cause the wires to shrink and expand, which causes the chafing. I had it happen to my service. Not picking sides, but trying to be fair.
ydnar723, you from millinocket area?
yes wires and cables chafe. against poles , trees, other cables. squirrels chew through them and the occassional idiot shoots them while shooting at something else or just plain vandalism. you get a hole/chafe in the cable moisture wicks in slowly which isnt much of a problem unless it cant get out and just sits there corroding the copper and deteriorating the plastic insulation and then you start to hear the conversations of others on the same cable.
now imagine those places where the cables are buried underground. just sitting in water. some of 'em have been there since 1930 and are coated in lead, which breaks down when electricity is applied to it. eventually it will fail. yeah the whole state is built that way. old technology. a great reason to replace it all and go fiber. so when fairpoint goes belly up and verizon comes swooping back in to replace everythign with fiber or a wireless network and they finish breaking the unions back- who is going to look like a hero then?
Louise:
You tell them!!
I am sure augustagoverned makes some good points and he fortunately has had a good experience; but that does not seem to be the case for many.
The point remains that Verizon did not maintain their network and now Fairpoint has to deal with it. Who cars how wires chafe. Anyone with a third of a brain knows that. If Verizon is coming back, why did they leave in the first place? They let the system go to hell so they could ride back into lemonbomber's backyard in a bucket truck with American flags flying. Ah, the returning heroes! Verizon.
Verizon wouldn't fix anything. They bilked the system for all it was worth and sold it just in time. Fairpoint tries to fix things - and that starts at the top - they are telling people to fix the problems. Verizon told them to make sure they didn't work any overtime. Fairpoint has hired people. They do a better job of up-grading the system. Did they get screwed by Verizon when they puchased these run down archaic systems? Yes. So join the crowd.
I had a landline once when I moved into my new house but canceled shortly after. Why? because no one called and everyone called my cell phone. So we switched over to just the cell phone...no problems since. Although switching carriers can be a pain in the butt. We have time warner for our dsl/dig. cable...love it...no problems. I wish all the channels were in HD.
This has been a total disaster from the beginning. The state of Maine letting a third rate company bordering on bankruptcy buy Verizon. There has been nothing but system failures since the purchase. The State of Maine is to blame for allowing this purchase to happen in the first place. What business would want to locate in Maine when the phone system is in shambles bordering on Third World status. Maine you allowed this to happen and you deserve what you have sowed, system phone , Internet and 911 failure.
I must say that my contacts with Fairpoint have been far more efficient than having to communicate with someone named "Bob" at a call center on another continent to get a Verizon issue resolved. Verizon was a terrible system that failed most of us on a regular basis as the quality of its services declined. Great employees -- inept and "disconnected" management. Fairpoint dialed in on my recent DSL issue and solved it quickly. That said, this was certainly not a pretty transition and this "FairPoint pig" has its lipstick smeared all over the place. Only time will tell if this pig will ever fly. Our fine leaders in state government are now caught trying to hold on to this greased porker until its cash flow improves. Furthermore, this would have been a difficult deal in good economic times, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for such a flegling company. I do hope they are successful for all concerned. Those of us without access to cable will have to sit tight and hope they get their act together, as I have yet to find a reliable alternative. Too bad that Maine continues to be behind the curve in data transmission. If things do not improve, I guess we can always use smoke signals and use Fairpoint's stock certificates for kindling.
Verizon Was terrible. And it's been known for a long time "another" company was taking over. So why didn't this other company have things in order before the big switch? It's not like it was thrown at them all of a sudden! Seems like they had enough time to check things out. If you can't fix it yourself, you will probably wait a while. Unless you happen to be one of the lucky ones.
Well,the state was warned about FairPoint being able to handle this transfer,,and poor customer service,I just wonder who benifited from letting this deal go through
I love how all you idiots call me out about my complaints with Fairpoint all the sudden and not everyone else.
To all you Fairpoint children who think they are great....they don't have to replace chafed wires...they did it to shut you up and make themselves look better. Get an education folks. If you look in your phone books they the phone company provides you with service, as long as that service is acceptable, static or not static, echo or no echo they DO NOT have to do anything regardless of fault. Because Fairpointless knew they would be under a huge microscope and under more fire, they did it to shut you up and make themselves look good in the end to offset the complaints and comments on them taking over.
I have fairpoint and dopnt use it I use my cell BUT will not go to time warner as I use for internet....what people dont fully understand is if the power goes out so DOES YOUR PHONE with TIME WERNER but not with fairpoint....THATS the only reason I keep fairpoint
ydnar723: Maybe Fairpoint can be called in to shut you up, bivalve brain. They fixed all of my problems, and guess what? They didn't shut me up..... And before someone says it's too bad they didn't - I beat you to the punch.
ydnar723: You have the audacity to say "get an education folks" !!!!!! That's called a GED for you, right? You are a prima facie Dunce.
augustagoverned- You seem to be intelligent or pretend to be...why question what an education is? Fairpoint shut you up...for a while anyways while you and the State were getting their glads off over how great you thought Fairpoint would be, as annoying as you are on these forums alone I see why they replaced those wires....I sure the heck wouldn't want to see you again either, anything to shut someone up whining over the littlest problem, meanwhile people have been waiting a month for a new line...at least you had dial tone!
nice to see what goes around finally does come around !!! i have had numerous phony bills from this company, to the point, i had to have my account investigated !!! they have no professional customer service at all. You can never get through to them...they love passing you off to the next person and in the interim you are hung up on. this is the professionalism being taught to your representatives by yourselves... your own people are discourteous and certainly not inspiring to any 'new' customers!!! you have forgotten along the way that you are a SERVICE, not an overpowering dictator...any longer that is....
I guess it all depends on if you had verizon before the switch... we've been stuck with fairpoint forever and CAN'T get anyone else because fairpoint owns the lines and wont allow it. So... i've been putting up with fairpoints crappy service for YEAAAAAAAAAAAAARS. If you had verizon and though they sucked... maybe fairpoint is better to you... give it time, you'll be pissy just like the rest of us.
Hell... i got my service when i bought my new house... fairpoint tried to tell me that my town doesnt exist... nor the road i live on... which runs over a LARGE portion of maine.
I have had no problems with Fairpoint Communications. I have my DSL service and have been very happy with it. Yes there was a change in email but they sent out very detailed directions on how to do the changeover. I'm sure most people threw them away and then didn't know what to do. I have had to call Fairpoint but when I got through, there was a very pleasent and helpful person on the other end who went out of their way to help me and the problem was resolved. I wonlder how many problems are caused by disgruntled employees from Verizon who are trying to cause trouble. They are a young company and they need to be given a chance. Verizon was right up there with the old rip off phone companies of the past and I was glad to see them go.
Honestly... you are all a bunch of whining babies. Learn to have patience, understand you're not some beautiful or uniquie snowflake, you're just another dying body on this earth. So when your modem takes an extra couple of days, or your service aren't working quite well enough... realize youre not special
"Honestly... you are all a bunch of whining babies."
Honestly fairpointownsyou, you lack creativity, you took a whole 3 seconds to make a username like that up?
I have Fairpoint DSL at two locations, I love it and their tech service when I call. Most switchover problems were from people who got the email instructions but didn't know how to implement them. Computers are getting easier to use but you have to know something!!
Time Warner is cheaper and more reliable..............
Contact info for Fairpoint below.
Contact FAIRPOINT
Question: As a "fairpoint.net" customer (Palermo area), I’m offered DSL Standard Internet Service at $44.95 (download spd 3.0 MB)
Why are "myfairpoint.net" customers" (formerly Verizon) offered DSL Standard Internet Service at $33.95(download spd 3.0 MB)? This is inequitable.
Thank you
Answer:
Thank you for your email regarding pricing on our DSL product. The “fairpoint.net” address is our legacy address that our customer had before we purchased the Verizon lines. The “myfairpoint.net” is our new address for the email address that we migrated from Verizon. The price difference between the two different products is based, in the fact, that they were two different companies. Moving forward I believe you will see those prices begin to change.
We hope to be able to offer the same pricing through our entire New England market in the near future. I do not have any information available at the moment, however, I will keep your email handy. When those launch I will make sure to email you and let you know!
Sincerely,
Sarah Lemieux
Customer Sales & Service
Fairpoint Communications
slemieux@fairpoint.com
1-800-400-5568
I moved from a Verizon area to a Fairpoint area three years ago and I have had great service and no problems. We had nothing but problems with Verizon and Time Warner in the old area. Ran into an old neighbor a month ago. They said Fairpoint came in two weeks after the changeover and replaced some lines and they can actually hear when they use the phone now. They switched their DSL to Fairpoint and had no problems or delays with that either. Seems to be hit or miss with Fairpoint but I am pleased with them and so are my ex-neighbors its seems.
snowowl I agree that should be illegal for FairPoint to be able to do that. Have you called the PUC? If not i would atleast give them a call. If that does not work then try calling :
Fair Point Communications Incorporated
(704) 344-8150
521 E Morehead St, #250, Charlotte, NC 28202
Try calling the FairPoint Corp Office
Hi folks, just a couple of things.
First of all, there are two FairPoints operating independently in Maine, NH & VT at this time. FairPoint Inc (FairPoint Classic, if you will) and FairPoint LLC (the spin off company created by Verizon and FP) but ultimately, they both fall under the big FairPoint umbrella. Those of you who had had FP for years and may be having problems, that's a whole different set of issues as to what is going on right now in the former Verizon territories.
Secondly, Verizon had/HAS had no interest in Northern New England for YEARS because there's not enough bang for the buck. I highly doubt VZ will swoop back in any time soon, unless they are forced to. What may happen is consumers may end with something much worse than either VZ of FP. Be careful what you wish for.
Thirdly, just a quick poll, before all this happened, how many of you here actually made a phone call, or wrote a letter or better yet, showed up at one of the town meetings the PUC held to express your "yays" or "nays"? Based on the turnout I witnessed at the Bangor meeting, I bet I'd be right on the money if I said very few of you (IF ANY) posting your opinions here now spoke out then.
Lastly, don't forget, FairPoint LLC is local. The employees are your neighbors, perhaps even a few are your family members, and these employees pay taxes to OUR communities and contribute their time AND hundreds of their own dollars to OUR causes. FairPoint has hired HUNDREDS of your other neighbors in ME, NH & VT. Anyone who has been looking for a job in these states in the past year can attest to that if they have looked on internet job searches. Also, they have purchased all of their materials, vehicles and contract work LOCALLY, and they have created many other jobs, such as in Portland where the bills are printed. So, before you go hoping FairPoint goes belly up, think of the the three thousand plus members of your communities, and the time and money they add to your livelihood, that would be lost if they lose their jobs.
What FairPoint has done, though risky, is a MAJOR undertaking that has been well over a year in the making. Transforming a hundred + year old network and bringing it into the twentieth century, let alone the twenty first, is groundbreaking and was not going to be without some bumps in the road. No other company has done this before in this industry, and while it does suck being at the consumer end of it, it's too late to start pointing fingers now. The best thing to do is buckle up, be patient, and if you decide to switch providers, so be it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohE_edBCM0Q
SSSEEE YYAAAA, Hello Road Runner.
When you took over I started losing my internet connection 30 to 40 times a day. Not severe unless you business office is n your home and everytime you re-connect you have to punch in your passcode... Sad you bit off more than you could chew and the client pays. Same old Maine.
Another suggestion...when someone calls you with a problem, find someone other than a 19 year old that has to sit silent for 20 minutes at a time during the 3 hour phone call while he reads your manual.
Adios
Verizon sold there landlines because they're looking toward the future and I'm sorry to say it but landlines aren't the furture, cell phones are, that's what they're focusing on.