Verizon told Debbie that upgrading to FiOS was the only way to guarantee uninterrupted phone service because apparently, Verizon’s old copper lines are no match for the insatiable appetite of copper-munching squirrels. Never mind that FiOS doesn’t work during a blackout for more than a few hours, or that Debbie’s problem had nothing to do with hungry squirrels…

Debbie writes:

Our phone was out of service beginning last Saturday. We checked the line into the house and it didn’t work so we knew it was an outside line problem. I called Verizon customer service for repairs and I explained the situation. I also told customer service that this was 2nd time within a month that this line had not worked. I was told by Verizon that they are updating all of their lines and that their lines are old and are eaten through by squirrels and that they are in the process of updating their lines with FIOS – so if I wanted to be guaranteed having phone service I should call their business office and order FIOS. I asked the service person if what I was hearing was accurate that unless I upgraded to FIOS Verizon was telling me they could not say that I would have working phone service on a regular basis and she replied if I wanted to be sure to have a working phone I should upgrade to FIOS.

As I am well aware FIOS is an internet service based phone provider which runs off of electricity and since we lose power regularly where we live FIOS would be the worst type of service to have. It appears this is left out of Verizon’s push to get unsuspecting consumers to change their phone service to FIOS if you want your phone to work.

We had no phone service all weekend and it was repaired on Monday afternoon. The repair man from Verizon was great and made no pitch that only FIOS would give us working service.

This is clearly an overzealous upsell, but it could be so much more. Squirrels eating through copper lines, destroying our national telecommunications infrastructure? Listen Verizon, this is viral scare-mongering ad gold, or at least a plausible B-film plot. Don’t let it go to waste!

(Photo: jeffcl612)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.