Yes the old (POTS ) Plain Old Telephone lines are slowly going away . In some areas you can not even get copper phone line service as VoIP Voice Over Internet Protocal Takes over .
But Verizon is playing a very deadly game as it starts phasing out POTS.
IT IS GOING TO COST SOME ONE THEIR LIFE
Here is how it goes
2 apartment buildings I maintain in Mt Lebanon Pa. all of a sudden did not test in on their 24 hr daily test cycle .
OK kind of strange so I go out next morning and find both buildings not dialing out I have dial tone
but when you dial any number a message comes on advising service has been turned off and hang up and redial to call 911 ?
Well thats kind of strange sounds like phone bill was not paid and line switched off by mistake it happens .
Call customer to tell him whats going on and he calls Verizon and they tell him they have been trying to get hold of him they called the number and got no answer. they shut off the line hoping some one would notice and call them
because they are removing all POTS lines in the area and he needs switched to FIOS lines.
(of course when they call the number they are not getting an answer its dedicated to fire panel only )
Thats nice so 24 hours or more can go by with a fire alarm not being monitored because Verizon supposedly was not able to get hold of customer to tell them they need to switch to Fios ,and so they decide to shut off service figuring the trouble signal from the panel and central station not getting test will get some ones attention.
I am not the only dealer to encounter this problem it is happening all over the country and many buildings are not being properly protected it has even happened to Central Stations receiving equipment and at 911 centers .
Instead of Verizon sending something in mail with big print to get their customers attention and or posting a notice on a customers door and or sending list of addresses and phone numbers to local officials so they can be tracked they are just shutting lines off , and putting in some cases hundreds of lives on the line when it is an Apartment building. In some cases entire complexes have been shut down because they supposedly have not been able to make contact with line owner.
Lets face facts how many times it takes well past 24 hours before a service tech ever gets dispatched
to a fire alarm because fail to test issues are so common and routine with the switching over of new technology a building could easily go a week or two before any one knows and then when alarm goes off and tenants assume fire trucks are on the way and they are not, or that rural or out of the way building where some one comes by once a month to check things like a Radio Transmitter and utility sites catches fire or has some type of other emergency situation it could well cost a life and cause thousands of dollars in damage because by the time First Responders are notified its too late.
Even thou the fire panels give a local trouble alert when they do not transmit. Those signals are often ignored because they happen so often or they have been bypassed .
This is why I have been encouraging my customers to switch to Cellular Communicators because at this pint they are more reliable than Copper Lines because of the way Verizon is no longer maintaining them and then indiscriminately turning them off.
Verizon is going to have blood on its hands with this current policy of just turning lines off
its just a matter of time.
Fire Officials tell me its Verizon its a utility they can not do anything and can get no answers.
I say BULL SHIT
Verizon is a utility and it answers to the PUC Public Utility Commission
ALL Fire Officials need to file a complaint with PUC and Demand Verizon post a notice on property's they plan to turn off and also give a list of numbers and addresses to be turned off so Fire Officials can be forewarned so they know there will be a continuity of service as lines are replaced.
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