It Ain't No Use

It was April Fools' Day when the covered wagons came to town. They came to town to take over the west in California, the mid west in Texas and Florida in the South east. I didn’t see it coming, like many of us unsuspecting Verizon FIOS customers who had grown with the technology. It was convenient to watch live TV from our tablets or mobile phones and add new scheduled shows to our DVRs without being home. It was a short lived fantasy: hi speed internet, TV and phone: convenience, no complaints. What we thought was a bundle of joy turned into a very bad seed.

For me it all started the  last week of March. My router started acting gnarly. Internet was intermittent and it was taking “walking time” to get a response from queries in Google. I called Verizon, and the tech person insisted that it was the router, knowing full well that it was not. He insisted that a new router be sent out, when the router I already had was a new router. Needless to say, I never picked it up.

In reality, it was  the powers-that-be guinea pigging me before the onslaught of bad service with F/U Communications. Something was going on that just didn't make sense.

So the country jackals at the new company who purchased three territories from  Verizon (  the  expensive call girl) for 10.3 billion bucks, pushed the button at midnight on April Fools' Day. Ever since, customers have been reeling and ranting over what Clark Howard calls it, "customer no service." 

Most of my scheduled programming for recording disappeared. If I went to the ABC app, the hillbilly bears had not straightened it out yet and I would get a message that reminds me of media flat lining. So if I missed some of my episodic TV picks and wanted to watch from my iPad, I was SOL because the "On-Demand" feature was not available.

After a month of broken promises, I decided to bail. I could see it wasn't going to get better. This buffoon of a company, F/U Communications  was clueless as to how to clear up this disaster in blind anticipation that absolutely nothing could go wrong at the midnight hour of April 1.  In their eyes it was supposed to all come together seamlessly with no scenarios envisioned with "what ifs" or back-up plans.

I went on line and exercised my options. I wanted no contract, no TV service and no imitation landline phone, just internet. I ended with a 34 bucks a month plan. No contract! So  that white truck pulled into the driveway from Time Warner Cable (and they're about to be eaten up by Charter), I felt a sense of relief. I know, right?  From bad to worse. At least the sales agent told me about the merger.  All I saw was my internet divorce lawyer  to break the ties that bind.

Amazon Fire Stick

I started my separation by ordering internet only service and then bought my own wi/fi/modem, followed by subscribing to HBO Now, Showtime and Hulu and Amazon Prime independently of any cable company and streaming through my Apple TV. I already subscribe to Netflix. My bill will now be under 90 bucks. Yes! I was starting to see the sunrise on the horizon from Verizon. I also bought an Amazon Fire-stick for my other TV.

I hear the snap of the cable as the technician cuts the cable from Verizon, now F/U Communications.

I breathe like a baby, new into the world, separated from the cash cow umbilical cord of soaring internet, phone and TV bundles. I gracefully embrace my reborn life as a "streaming only"  force of reality. No contracts with my "internet only" and I own my router outright.

Verizon was an expensive whore who got a 10.3-billion-dollar payday off of bailing on three large territories, CA, TX and FL from the Beverly Hillbillies. This new company, F/U Communications is not new and has always been steeped in customer service complaints and issues. 

This is the company that had to settle with consumers over lying about high internet speeds and charging for it while giving them mule and buggy speeds. It is emerging as the next monopoly for cable resources, with no clue with regards to technology. Verizon courted us with FIOS, got as much as they could and then moved on after it got paid by the  john. I have to change my Verizon email to my gmail, even though I bought the email address. Even after government payouts, Verizon FIOS is not available in all areas. 

F/U Communications has been in trouble with regards to customer "no" service way before it acquired the 3 territories from Verizon. Since the acquisition the complaints are rising.

Without all this dead weight moving forward in my new viewing life,  there’s no more service and equipment charges: like the monthly $30 which went to renting DVRs or the other fees and charges which amounted to almost 20 additional bucks a month. We as consumers have to pay the cable outlets’ Taxes, Governmental Fees and Surcharges. That’s right, charges they pass on to us because somewhere along the line, someone told them that we as consumers worked for them.

So here’s a little breakdown:

Taxes, Governmental Fees and Surcharges

· 911 State Tax .08

· CA Relay Svc and Communications Devices Fund .05

· CHCF-Band CASF .05

· CA Teleconnect Fund Surcharge .12

· CA Universal Lifeline Telephone Service .60

· CA High Cost Fund .04

· CA State and Local Sales Tax 4.03

Is it me, or don’t we pay some of this crap in our local and state taxes?

Verizon Surcharges and Fees

· Federal Universal Svc Fee 3.36

· Video Franchise Fee 5.37

· PEG Grant Fee 1.01 

· Regulatory Recovery Fee .08

· FIOS TV Broadcast Fee 1.99

· FDV Administrative Charge .99

I know you’re wondering what a PEG Grant Fee is. Well, here ya go. It stands for 

Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access Cable Television Channels.

“PEG access may be mandated by local or state government to provide any combination of television production equipment, training and airtime on a local cable system to enable members of the public, accredited educational institutions, and government to produce their own shows and televise them to a mass audience."(Center for Media and Democracy)

The Video Franchise Fee? Well, that’s because they own the franchise and we have to pay them  for owning a piece of the franchise. Ridiculous isn’t it?

I believe that in the very near future, the cable companies (which are struggling right now) will be on the Gone List. The younger generation are into streaming and don’t get bogged down with the minutia of cable fees and charges because they stream. And it’s because they can’t rationalize paying for it. I’m with them. I’m glad there is an open door to walk through. 

I keep trying to explain to those I know who are still thinking that the landline in their cable bundle is the same as the ones they grew up with. It’s not the same phone technology. It’s nothing more than VOIP. It’s about as real as the guy who opens the doors on the subway, but isn’t really driving the train. So, in the event of an emergency and you can’t use your cell phone, well…you won’t be able to use your landline phone either. 

So, basically, start think about getting your ICOE (In Case Of Emergency) planner started and make sure a battery operated radio is in the packet. In the event of a huge emergency of catastrophic proportions, who ya gonna call?

So in conclusion, it's been 5 days since my "transition" and I couldn't be happier. I actually get shorter more quality TV time because there are no commercials. That in itself is worth it's weight in gold.

There's a song that Stevie Wonder wrote that will stand in the annals of music history as the best break-up song ever. Especially, the very last line at the end and how he sung it. "So long, baby..Bye, Bye baby."