Verizon CEO doesn't care about landlines anymore, feels 'liberated' by new outlook

Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg isn't too upbeat on the future of landlines, telling the audience at a Goldman Sachs investor conference today that the company is just not interested in telephones connected with wires. The chief exec of one of the nation's biggest telecommunications firms continued with his gospel, saying his "thinking has matured" and that trying to predict when the dwindling landline business will plateau is akin to "the dog chasing the bus." He says the new way of thinking is "liberating," but of course, endeavors like the Hub technically don't count as landlines to the company since it'sVoIP, and the coupled with its continued success as the largest cellular provider in terms of subscriber base, yeah, we're sure it's not too tough a pill to swallow. So how abut ramping up FiOS installations just a wee bit faster, eh Ivan?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2009 10:25AM]

Just remember, landlines are good for one thing: emergencies. Too many people assume that 911 centers can "just use the gps" on their phone and so on. The only sure way to know the dispatcher has your address if you can not give it to him is to call on a landline.

[Menno Posted Sep 18th 2009 7:59PM]

All phones activated in the past 5+ years by any national carrier are required to have GPS location that is E911 compliant. My new phone can pinpoint me within 50 feet (using a downloaded GPS system)

Phones without e911 abilities cannot be activated on any line, period. Only people running around with the old analog/digital cell phones might not have this ability.

Landlines are close to $70 a month around here, for next to no frills, and insane long distance rates. by contrast, even a verizon/att (the two "expensive" companies) offer plans as little as $40 that include long distance, voice mail, etc.

asking someone to pay $70 a month for a phone "just for emergencies" is a little insane.

[AJF Posted Sep 18th 2009 10:46AM]

If Verizon's version of VOIP is the HUB, then they are in big trouble. I made the mistake of buying the Hub, and some things worked well except something important like being able to actually hear the person on the phone. The volume was so low that it was unusable as a phone. They asked me to try another unit, same thing (this all involved a return to their store twice, time setting it up. on the phone with tech support). I returned it, and then I spent the next few months trying to get things back to where they were because they terminated my voice line, DSL, changed me to a new long distance carrier, didn't refund the cost of the Hub that I returned. The biggest problem is that the Hub involves Verizon landline, Verizon wireless(where they sell the phone, and Verizon DSL ( or another broadband provider). You would think that would make it easier since it's all Verizon, but they are all separate companies. It was an absolute nightmare.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2009 1:40PM]

Ramp up FIOS? Good luck with that. Actually they are planning on dumping FIOS in the city of Kirkland, WA and giving it over to some rural cable TV carrier that has no ISP expereince at all. Sounds like they want to dump anything with a wire.

[EpsilonNot Posted Sep 18th 2009 4:07PM]

This is because the rural areas of Washington are part of the same holding company... apparently, telephone holding subsidiaries can only be broken up along state lines. So they had to get rid of the FiOS in southern New Hampshire to rid themselves of the rural areas of northern New Hampshire, for example...