The onset of Verizon’s Voice Link prompted 134...

municipalities in New York State,” said the comments, posted Thursday. “It is premature to embrace Voice Link as an adequate substitute for Verizon’s wireline service,” the officials’ comments said (http://bit.ly/176pmhZ). “If the Commission were to grant Verizon the excessive discretion that the company seeks, that broad latitude would hamper municipalities’ ability to fulfill their public safety and economic development responsibilities.” The officials encouraged only a careful experimental offering of Voice Link and a scenario in which the PSC issues “an unambiguous directive to Verizon to cease and desist offering Voice Link except on a temporary basis on Fire Island.” Voice Link creates public safety threats, allows Verizon to let its copper deteriorate, doesn’t support broadband access or point-of-sale transactions and hence hurts economic development, doesn’t support LifeAlert, and isn’t as reliable as traditional service “since wireless signal is often weak, spotty, or overburdened by other network traffic,” the officials said. “Municipalities do not oppose migrations to new technological platforms, but the transition should be managed in such a way as to prevent unnecessary threats to public safety, raise prices for broadband services, and cut off various services such as LifeAlert and credit-card processing,” the officials said. “Our telecommunications infrastructure should not diminish municipalities’ ability to protect their citizens.” Verizon has strongly defended the fixed wireless alternative to copper as cheaper, reliable and safe and has begun deploying it on Fire Island and as an optional service elsewhere in New York. The PSC docket on the proceeding has now attracted more than 400 public comments, many expressing concerns. “It’s important to note that we did not attempt to force service on anyone just to ’trial’ a new product,” Verizon Policy Senior Vice President Tom Maguire wrote in a Thursday blog post (http://vz.to/1dnKEJt). Voice Link is “an excellent option” for “voice-only customers experiencing chronic problems” on the copper network, he added. “Voice Link is not intended to replace well-functioning copper or fiber network connections.” He lamented inaccuracies in the public commentary surrounding the service and said there’s “no place for misinformation or hyperbolic commentary” in such serious situations as the one on Fire Island. He said Verizon won’t offer Voice Link to customers with DSL “or any sort of electronic medical or legal monitoring” or pull data service from customers if it works. He downplayed the service’s inability to handle faxes, alarm systems and other technologies: “Voice Link will evolve over time to be a more comprehensive service just like copper did.” Fewer than 5 percent of Verizon’s copper lines will be eligible for Voice Link replacement, he said.