Verizon Corrects 'Naked' DSL Reports

by Nate Mook

April 21, 2005, 2:56 PM

Telecommunications giant Verizon has been forced to break some bad news to customers - they cannot simply drop their phone service while keeping Verizon DSL. Instead, subscribers can port their number to another telephone service provider. The clarification comes after news reports said Verizon would begin offering 'naked' DSL.

"Our customer reps are being trained to instruct customers on what to do. Unfortunately it sounds like not all of them are totally up to speed, which sometimes can happen when a system changes," a Verizon spokesperson said.

For now, customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia can request to transfer their phone number to a cell phone, VoIP or cable provider without dropping their DSL service. Previously, Verizon's legacy systems could not handle ending the phone service without also canceling DSL.

"The way a customer would accomplish this is by contacting a new voice provider (again, cable, VoIP or wireless) and request that their Verizon number be ported," the spokesperson explained to BetaNews. "At that point the wheel is in motion, we'd receive the port request from the new provider, we'd port the number and cancel the wireline voice service without the DSL having to be dropped."

While those looking to subscribe only to Verizon DSL while retaining another telephone service may be out of luck, the company said it is working on the issue. "We're developing those capabilities, and once they've been tested and have passed testing we will be able to roll them out as well," Verizon said.

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What a lie. There is no technical hurdle for this. FIVE YEARS AGO I had separate Verizon DSL and voice lines in Chicago. Two separate Verizon guys showed up on different installation orders on the same morning; one guy connected the wires for the voice line, and the other guy ran new wires for the DSL. They were physically separate and independent all the way down to the network box outside the building.

Verizon is simply too stupid to understand that we will get cable modems instead of getting ripped off for $50 a month for a land line (which many don't need) that used to cost $19.

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...I've heard their phone lines have almost completely moved to strictly fiber-optic. Now THAT's fast internet!

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my thought on this. Their system must only be activated by having a active phone line so the Corporate DSL HUB server can recognize the address from all those Hydro pole switches it must connect and locate?

On the other hand? Does the telephone line that goes from the Hydro Pole to your Home belongs to you or the Primary Telephone company that first installed that line 20-50 years ago?

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