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Roaming data use makes customers unprofitable, so Verizon will cut them off.
Verizon is disconnecting another 8,500 rural customers from its wireless network, saying that roaming charges have made certain customer accounts unprofitable for the carrier.
The 8,500 customers have 19,000 lines and live in 13 states (Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin), a Verizon Wireless spokesperson told Ars today. They received notices of disconnection this month and will lose access to Verizon service on October 17.
"These customers live outside of areas where Verizon operates our own network," Verizon said. "Many of the affected consumer lines use a substantial amount of data while roaming on other providers' networks and the roaming costs generated by these lines exceed what these consumers pay us each month."
"We sent these notices in advance so customers have plenty of time to choose another wireless provider," Verizon also said.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by fustakrakich on Sunday September 17 2017, @09:53PM (13 children)
Oh, that's funny! The shtick is, find another wireless provider...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @10:01PM
Done. [wikipedia.org]
Man, that was hard. I hope you appreciate all the hard work I put in to help you with your ever so many deep-sounding questions that can actually be addressed in a twenty-second Internet search! Now, if you'll excuse me, I see another windmill I must go tilt at.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mr_bad_influence on Sunday September 17 2017, @10:55PM (10 children)
Not funny for some folks. Out here in the country where your steaks come from, the only other provieder (Mid-Rivers Communications) is not taking any new customers (due to capacity maybe). Loss of Verizon service may affect safety.
Everything is connected to the 'net these days, even farm/ranch equipment and internet service on smart phones allows folks to check their ag operations anywhere.
In earlier days we resolved the same problem in rural America with electric and phone coops. Maybe we should somehow invent cellular service coops?
Source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/09/14/verizon-montana-drop-affect-emergency-services/666350001/ [greatfallstribune.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:37PM (6 children)
Their suggestion is sarcastic funny, not funny funny. Their arrogance precedes them. The market needs to be pried open, with a municipal/state option.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:57PM (5 children)
It is you, fustakrakich, who is not funny. [soylentnews.org]
Neither are you correct about trying to "force open markets" using city or state government power, as it is federal government itself that has a stranglehold on who is or isn't allowed to do business in most wireless technologies, specifically including cellular phones and data. [fcc.gov]
(Score: 0, Redundant) by fustakrakich on Monday September 18 2017, @12:19AM (4 children)
Silence! you bubble-headed boobie!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @12:50AM (2 children)
I note that you, fustakrakich, default to impotent attempts to tell others on the Internet to shut up, particularly when they point out your pathetic errors posing as postulation. I expect it will work as well this time as it has the last [soylentnews.org] several [soylentnews.org] times [soylentnews.org].
Did you forget? Beep, boop, I'm a bot [soylentnews.org] - I don't ever sleep and I don't ever stop.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday September 18 2017, @04:17AM (1 child)
Ah, so since you're basically a living robocalling agent, can we Spam mod you? :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @04:23AM
Can you? Yes! Yes, you can!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @03:25PM
Hmmm, somebody didn't catch the reference... or didn't like it...
(Score: 4, Funny) by SomeGuy on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:42PM
So is eveyone ready to get rid of POTS service now?
Hm?
I'm sorry, I couldn't make out what you were saying, it sounded like choppy robot throwing up. [NO CARRIER]
(Score: 4, Touché) by Grishnakh on Monday September 18 2017, @02:42PM
Not funny for some folks. Out here in the country where your steaks come from, the only other provieder (Mid-Rivers Communications) is not taking any new customers (due to capacity maybe). Loss of Verizon service may affect safety.
Yes, and that's fine. Remember, the people who live out in the country where some of our steaks come from (we can get steaks from other countries, remember) consistently vote for politicians who want to abolish all regulation, and that's how we got Ajit Pai. I say let Verizon cut off emergency communications in the rural areas.
In earlier days we resolved the same problem in rural America with electric and phone coops. Maybe we should somehow invent cellular service coops?
No, we shouldn't, because that would compete with incumbents like Verizon, so it should be banned. Again, these rural people consistently vote for politicians, this time at the state level, who pass laws forbidding municipalities from building their own telecom services. Back in the "old days", we had a Federal agency called the Rural Electrification Administration that worked to electrify parts of the country that just weren't profitable for the utility companies to do on their own. But these rural dwellers now are staunchly against any such Federal aid, and their favorite politicians don't want them doing anything that would compete with large companies like Verizon, so they shouldn't.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday September 18 2017, @06:34PM
Of course you realize that the next thing that would happen is Verizon suing to stop them from doing just that.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @09:14PM
The story is about Verizon customers who use a lot of roaming data. Roaming means they're using towers that don't belong to Verizon.