Andrew Schmitt tells a hilarious story about his FiOS connection, which suffered at the teeth of an overeager squirrel. Andrew points out that Verizon engineers (two) spent nearly 12 hours trying to fix the problem when his service went down. After working overnight they found the problem.
Turns out the fiber had chew marks on it, most likely from a squirrel. The tech had never seen anything like it. They swapped my house onto another fiber drop from the splitter until a crew can come out and replace the entire bundle. The tech duct taped his gloved to the fiber to mark the failure.
While the episode (or the ordeal, which ever way you might want to look at it) paints Verizon and its customer service in good light, it also raises some serious questions about FiOS vulnerabilities, and how non-technology issues can create havoc on Verizon’s financial case for fiber to the home. The operation costs of the “connection” must be totally out of whack. Of course, this is another reason why Verizon should not remove copper lines away from people’s homes when installing fiber connections.
One thing fiber doesn’t come with, however, is the choice of non-Internet based phone carriers that is available under regulations that govern copper lines. Competitors are free to “resell” Verizon’s fiber service to homes, (Verizon spokesman Cliff )Lee said, but adds that the situation hasn’t come up yet. Verizon is not obligated to lease the optical lines at wholesale rates. [The Buffalo News]
I’ll bet that squirrel had “C O M C A S T” written accross his little butt too. LOL!!
Man, I had no idea how popular this story would be…
Come on it is a funny story Andrew… we love it.
I like the question of his wife..
Not a FIOS specific issue. I had a squirrel eat through my comcast coax and it took 20 (yes, 20) calls to customer service and at least 5 service calls to get the problem identified.
Speaking of wire chewing. A little mouse moved into the engine block area of my friends car and chewed the number one wire because it was in the way of a coozy sleep. The repair was even cooler, I used a curly phone receiver cord. Thinking back I should have connected some lights.
Yeah, this is not exactly an isolated incident. EVERY time Comcast pays me a visit, I have to go sort out my fragile Verizon “pale green box” re=pack the wires and fit it back together. Maybe someday I’ll get some screws and fix it for good.
IF anyone can hear me! HELP! Get to AG. Tell them I’m not MD1160!!! This isn’t over!!! I’m not mad I was cast out…I was betting on that. But, to confuse ME with that moron MD1160!??! THIS WILL NOT STAND!!! I wanted out…BUT ON MY OWN TERMS, YOU JERKS!!! And if anyone who is still there reads this…tell Michael…I said…”MICHAEL LICKS GOATS!!!”