Hours of complaints from Verizon customers at NJ public hearings

Over 200 New Jerseyans crowded into an elementary school gym for a public hearing held by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJ BPU). Almost 80 people signed up to voice their complaints against Verizon, sharing service horror stories and demanding the company properly maintain its copper plant or upgrade to a fiber network.

Seventeen New Jersey communities have petitioned the NJ BPU to hold Verizon accountable for neglecting its copper lines and failing to build fiber to their communities. Late last year, the communities filed a complaint with the NJ BPU asking the regulators to collect data on Verizon’s phone and Internet services. This public hearing is one part of the data collection.

Customer after customer complained about Verizon’s neglect. “Try and run a business,” said Theresa Duffy-Diamond, one frustrated customer. She held her cell phone up to the microphone and played a voicemail illustrating the type of service Verizon is currently providing – nothing but crackling sounds.

Verizon responded that it isn’t violating any regulations, without noting that it lobbied to gut those regulations to the detriment of customers.

As Karl Bode of DSL Reports noted: “Either every one of these states and local communities are engaged in one giant mass hallucination, or Verizon's doing one hell of a job taking taxpayer money, then leaving countless markets on rotting, last-generation broadband infrastructure.”

The NJ BPU is reviewing comments.

Links:

Hours of complaints at hearing about Verizon landline maintenance (NJ.com, Aug. 5, 2016)

NJ municipalities demand investigation in Verizon service quality (Speed Matters, Dec. 7, 2015)

Verizon Takes Heat Over Neglected DSL Lines in New Jersey (DSL Reports, Aug. 9, 2016)