Metroliner telephone article 4115

Moot point.

They delivered it, so they might has well have said it. Mergers are always supposed to be chiefly good for the business and shareholders, but usually customers benefit too through lower costs. Not with Verizon.

Yawn. Verizon has tariffs on file with certain states, including NY, that still supports message rate. You pay a base rate (in NY) of $6.60 a month and then your calls are charged as much as 10.6 cents per call, but that's discounted.

But they also have flat-rate plans and have had for years.

Nope. Only a regulated service. Wireless customers, for example, generally get the same deals no matter where they live. There are cases where more compebreastive markets get better deals, but nobody gets screwed.

I know that Verizon reports 252,235 to generate its 2005 sales of $75.1 billion. I know that Verizon's shares have climbed 0.21 percent for the year, compared to 20.75 percent for the rest of the fixed-line communications operators.

Baloney. Verizon doesn't by law have to serve anybody, nor does any business. They have regulated rates, but that doesn't mean they can't require a deposit for a poor credit customer, which they do.

I know that Verizon's shares have gained a mere 0.21 percent, while the rest of the fixed telecom industry has gained 20.75 percent over the last 12 months. Not stellar numbers to me.

As far as how its regular business is doing, read this:

Verizon Profit Rises on Wireless Growth

By BRUCE MEYERSON The buttociated Press

NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc.'s profit edged higher in the third quarter as record growth in wireless and broadband subscribers offset the ongoing declines in traditional phone lines at the big telecommunications company that is buying MCI Inc.

Doesn't seem like phone lines are doing well to me. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about the industry will tell you they only bought MCI to keep from sliding into irrelevance in the industry. Thankfully for them, they've still got a ton of cash.

Baloney. Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Absolute baloney. My VOIP signals are delivered over my cable provider's infrastructure, not Verizon's. Every telecom carrier, be they VOIP or anything else, must pay interconnect charges to other carriers, but that has nothing to do with the technology. My long distance is provided to Cablevision by Sprint, so I bypbutt Verizon all together.

For the love of God, please do some research. I can't think of a signal post you've made that is largely correct, either statistically or analytically.