Verizon's Copper Showing Patina of Age

Verizon has been very focused on deploying Fios, their fiber to the home offering for the last several years. Actually, they bet the farm on this new technology, after spending tons of green on the infrastructure to make it possible to compete with the cable companies right where they live. Overall, they're doing ok on signing up folks, although there have been plenty of unsatisfied customers due to billing issues and lack of customer support.

However, Fios is only available in a minority of communities to date. That means that the backbone of their network is still copper, much of it not aging gracefully. Almost a year ago, after my own experience, it became clear to me that Verizon's copper network was being neglected, and like an uncle without an inheritance, was being parked in the nearest public nursing home wearing a c'est le vie t-shirt. Now it's being confirmed that the problem isn't limited to my area:

While we all love that Verizon is focusing their attention on deploying fiber to the home, that attention hasn't been without cost. The last few years have seen a growing number of allegations that the telco is neglecting their DSL & landline infrastructure to focus on getting into the more lucrative TV business. Union workers say they aren't getting the tools and resources they need to support DSL & landline customers effectively.

My buddy a few towns over also is having similar issues. His phone has been out several times in the last few months. Each time it goes down, it takes too long to get it fixed, and there's still static on the line. Verizon's answer is to just sell them on fiber, but given the current economy, many folks are not eager to take on new expenses, and they are forced to put up with "mostly working."

I think it's a shame if Verizon is letting their entire copper phone network fall into disrepair. Is it just a marketing ploy to push folks to Fios? Could it backfire and cause just as many to go into cable phone and alternative VoIP offerings like Vonage? Will there be a backlash from consumers that fed up with a nonworking Verizon copper phone line won't give Fios a fair chance and flock to anything else? Until Verizon can roll fiber out to all, they should toss a few bucks into keeping their existing network up to par.

Jonas