A consumer advocacy group has recently challenged Verizon for forcing their customers to shift to VoIP and wireless services from the traditional telephone services. The complaint was filed by The Utility Reform Network (TURN).
It is alleged that Verizon is ignoring repair and maintenance of its copper network as a means of forcing its customers to migrate to the Voice over IP or the wireless services. In doing this the communications company is going contrary to the state and federal laws that require them to provide telephone services to the residents of California. According to TURNs research director Regina Costa, the thing that makes this situation worse is the fact that most of these shifts and migrations are done without the knowledge of the customers.
However according to Verizon, the company’s main aim is to provide their customers with the best services they can across all their platforms, be it the traditional telephone services or the latest technological platforms. They also said that they would look into the complaint they have received and will respond accordingly.
The complain TURN filled was as a result of the complains it received from Verizon customers who were moved to VoIP without their consent and the fact that VoIP did not have the same regulations as other services making it less secure. It has been noted that VoIP does not function during power shortages, and cannot be linked to other services like fax, medical systems among others.
This just comes after the federal Communications Commission allowed communication carriers the change to run trials to shift customers to IP networks. They are now examining the implications such a shift might have on the customers. As for now TURN wants FCC to order Verizon to repair the copper networks.
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