Voice Link is “innovative” and “efficient” and “effective,”...
Voice Link is “innovative” and “efficient” and “effective,” Verizon said of its controversial fixed-wireless technology, in a Monday press release (http://yhoo.it/14sNGe6). The telco has sought and won some limited state approval to end its landline obligations on the western parts…
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of Fire Island, N.Y., after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the copper there last year -- the “decades-old and historically troublesome copper landline network,” as the press release said. Verizon will instead install the cheaper Voice Link. The press release explains the service and includes laudatory statements from Verizon Senior President Tom Maguire as well as one Fire Island resident: “Customers who have used Voice Link have responded positively to the new option. Scott Hirsch, a restaurant owner on Fire Island, just needed to answer calls and to let customers know his establishment was open for business. ‘I'm switching it over to Voice Link,’ said Hirsch of his service, which was previously provided over the copper network.” More than 320 Fire Island residents are already using Voice Link, the telco said. Verizon submitted revised terms of service to the New York Public Service Commission Monday (http://bit.ly/13uF0Bf). The PSC conditionally approved Voice Link use this spring. The terms note that Voice Link may suffer from limitations of power failure and congestion and cannot handle credit card processing, faxing and other DSL-enabled services. The PSC is extending its comment deadline on Voice Link by two weeks, with a new deadline of July 2, it said in a notice Friday (http://bit.ly/15Rdpfw). The PSC docket on Voice Link also includes more than 50 public comments, largely from New Yorkers expressing concern and dissatisfaction about the new service. “There is no doubt that the replacement of permanent land lines with a wireless service will compromise this communication and thus the safety and lives of our residents,” the Fair Harbor Fire Department told the PSC in one such comment posted Monday (http://bit.ly/11RIOKc).