On 1/10/2022 my Verizon FIOS Internet service stopped working. The cause of this outage and a subsequent outage were Verizon’s fault. I know this because at the conclusion of both service calls I asked the Verizon technicians to describe the problem and the resolution. The first outage was caused at a Verizon fiber wiring cabinet when a Verizon employee unplugged my fiber connection, and then plugged it into the wrong socket. This error left us without Internet connectivity for 4 days. The second outage happened 2 days later, and was also caused when a Verizon employee pinched or damaged my fiber cable when working in another Verizon fiber wiring cabinet. This error left us without Internet connectivity for another 3.5 days.
On 1/10/2022, the day of the outage, we received a link to a Verizon website for the purpose of troubleshooting the Verizon equipment in our home. These diagnostics concluded that an on-site visit by Verizon was required and sent us to a Verizon web page to schedule the service call. The earliest Verizon permitted us to schedule was on Thursday, 1/13/2022, 3 days from the date of the outage. We accepted that date and agreed to the appointment. Between Monday and Thursday I made repeated posts to Verizon’s support address on Twitter expressing our dyer need to have our Internet connection restored. But all of our pleas were ignored. When Thursday finally came, Verizon never showed up. When we contacted Verizon regarding our appointment, we were told that Verizon had no record of our appointment, even though we used Verizon’s own resource to book that appointment. Verizon agreed to a new appointment for Friday, 1/14/2022. Our Internet connection was restored on Friday afternoon.
Two days later, Sunday, at around 10:00 AM, our Verizon FIOS Internet failed again. We contacted Verizon a second time. The best that Verizon claimed to be able to do was to schedule a new service call for Wednesday, 1/19/2022, 3 days from the second failure. On 1/19/2022 Verizon missed the appointment, showing up an hour late. Our Internet connection was restored about an hour after the Verizon technician arrived.
In both cases it was Verizon themselves that caused the outage.
I have been a Systems Administrator for over 40 years. I hold several technical certifications including several computer networking certifications, which give me some insights into how a Fiber network functions, which makes it easy for me to communicate with the Verizon technicians. But I believe the most relevant certification I hold is the ITIL Foundation certification, which describes best practices for administering change, and is widely practiced by most technology and communications companies. This is relevant as Verizon violated several ITIL disciplines, and in doing so, caused unnecessary financial hardship, mental anguish, and the inability to fulfill the responsibilities of my employment, where working remotely is required.
Specifically, Verizon did not inform me, of it’s plans to perform maintenance on any equipment related to my Verizon FIOS Internet service. Verizon failed to provide;
- Intention to conduct maintenance/repairs
- Description of systems/devices to be maintained/repaired
- Date and start time for maintenance/repairs
- Expected duration of maintenance/repairs
- What customers should expect during the maintenance/repair duration
- Phone number/numbers to call for information relevant to the maintenance/repairs
Because of Verizon’s repeated failures;
We experienced 2 sudden Verizon FIOS Internet failures with no opportunity to prepare for the outage or institute other measures to maintain Internet access which caused;
Work related issues including;
- Inability to monitor critical computers & networks and respond to problems
- Inability to meet with coworkers and clients
- Inability to process or submit customer proposals
- Inability to perform off-site backups of critical data
- Inability to send artwork to galleries and customers
Personal, Family & Home issues including;
- Inability to perform online banking and execute securities trading
- Inability to participate in remote learning
- Inability to submit grocery orders or schedule delivery services
- Inability to share time with family online
- Inability to activate/monitor home security devices
All of the above happened due to Verizon’s repeated failures, and were made worse every day the outage continued because of Verizon’s choice not to escalate the repair of the equipment that they, themselves, damaged.