The Right Connections

Two guys walk into a home. One guy says to the homeowners, “Hi, we’re from Lakeview Consultants in Mahopac.” Their firm’s client is Verizon. They wear Verizon ID security badges to allay any stray notion that a home invasion is in the offing. Such are the anxious times in which we peer in fear over our shoulder.

Responding to their inquiry, we tell them the dollar amount of our monthly phone, internet and TV bill, a mix of Verizon and Cablevision services. (Though Cablevision, which also owns a newspaper, sports teams and entertainment venues, is rebranding its home services strictly as Optimum.) Their eyes widened by vicarious sticker shock, the pair says that switching to Verizon would net us at least four immediate benefits: 1) The tri-service bill would be nearly halved; 2) Our internet speed would increase up to seven-fold; 3) We could DVR a show for playback on any TV in the house; 4) The HD screen image would be noticeably superior to cable transmission.

Not only that, they add, but we couldn't get the same dollar deal direct through Verizon, only through them. They name two neighbors of ours whom they converted to Fios the previous week.

However -- and it is a very big HOWEVER -- the public access TV channel 74 I now have on Cablevision disappears with Verizon.

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