Verizon

Verizon workers call off strike threat for now

adamg — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:57:41 -0400

Communications Workers of America say enough progress has been made in contract talks to keep working, Rand Wilson reports.

Can you hear them now?

adamg — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:07:20 -0400

Greg MacKay photographed Verizon workers in Post Office Square as they got ready for a rally this evening in front of Verizon's New England headquarters. At issue: Their contract, which expires this weekend.

Bye alt.; so long ne....

Dave — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:13:08 -0400

Continuing the trend for ISPs to offer less service for more money, Verizon announced on their website that they're no longer going to be carrying Usenet groups beyond the "Big Eight" hierarchies. They didn't really explain why.

Apparently they're using Little CuCuomo's attempt to fight kiddie porn to justify their reduction of services. They're dropping the entire "alt" hierarchy and others such as the regional "ne" one. This represents something like 90% of Usenet. Couldn't they just filter the offending newsgroups?

I'm still on the fence about whether it was a good idea to drop Comcast and go to FiOS. Comcast had Usenet retention of several months. Verizon only gave you a week or so. With FiOS it takes over a minute to reconnect when my machine comes out of Hibernate mode; with Comcast it was instant. Comcast offers free McAfee protection; Verizon offers you a teaser trial download for a $5 monthy charge.

Nobody copping to Verizon thefts

adamg — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:42:32 -0400

Boston Police report that on recent weekends, somebody's been breaking into the Verizon lot at 173 Boston St. in South Boston and stealing copper wiring.

Also click on the link to read about a teen beaten with a baseball bat by a group of other teens at the Burger King at W. Broadway and D Street Tuesday night.

A small window of time

adamg — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:51:32 -0400

Fabulously Out There decided to switch from Verizon to Comcast for broadband when the Verizon phone rep offered to send out a technician to diagnose her broken broadband "between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m." She reports her experience with Comcast hasn't been much better.

This photo is an act of defiance

adamg — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:00:39 -0400

Yeah, it's a cool Art Deco light on the side of the old New England Telephone and Telegraph (now Verizon) building in Post Office Square, but so?

Well, if you stand on the sidewalk right outside the building and take pictures of it, security guards in black suits might come out and tell you you can't take photos of the building.

Take this, Verizon.

Oh, and here's another one:

Councilor Sal LaMattina wants to throw the book at phone-directory companies

adamg — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:07:27 -0400

The East Boston councilor wants to do something about the tons and tons of phone books that land with a thud in lobbies and on front steps: Ban unsolicited commercial deliveries weighing more than a pound. Hear that, Yellow Book and Verizon?

The Yellow Peril

Ron Newman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:08:40 -0400

The Globe finally weighs in on a topic very familiar to UHub readers: the wasteful free distribution of 4-pound phone books, by two competing companies.

Earlier:
When phone books attack
Yellow onslaught
Yellow Book: The annoying phone directory
Big fat yellow books on the stoop

Metro Moments with Mumbles

Brett — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:24:50 -0500

Yesterday's installment of Metro Moments with the Mayor has two juicy gems. First, Mumbles tackles Verizon FiOS, or more appropriately, The Internet Service You Can't Get in The Technology Center of The East Coast. Second: he wants $50-100k red light cameras. Ahh, Massachusetts, where the answer to everything is civil fines.

When phone books attack

adamg — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:54:11 -0500

Verizon yesterday followed up Yellow Book by carpet-bombing Jason's block with phone books:

... I will give Verizon credit for good timing. Curbside recycling goes out on Tuesday nights. ...