FairPoint ready for final switch from Verizon
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By Bruce Edwards Herald Staff - Published: December 27, 2008
FairPoint Communication is cutting the cord to the Verizon telephone network next month and with it 1.5 million landlines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The company is notifying phone and Internet customers by mail that it will cut over from the existing Verizon network to its own network Jan. 31.
FairPoint spokeswoman Beth Fastiggi said Friday that Internet customers will keep their existing user names and passwords but will use a different domain: myfairpoint.net.
Starting Jan. 31, users of e-mail software applications like Microsoft Outlook can begin adjusting their e-mail settings. The process can be automated by visiting www.activate.MyFairPoint.net/emailupdate and following the instructions. Users can also update their settings manually.
Web-based e-mail users can continue to access their e-mail at the Verizon Web site until Feb. 6. After that date, Fastiggi said users will need to log on to www.MyFairPoint.net. Customers then click on Web mail and type in their existing user name@myfairpoint.net and existing password.
AOL, Yahoo! and MSN subscribers will continue to have access to content but will no longer be able to access their e-mail through the third party Web site. Instead, Yahoo! and other third party e-mail will be accessed directly at the MyFairPoint.net portal.
Fastiggi said e-mail will automatically be forwarded from a customer's Verizon e-mail address to myfairpoint.net for three months, until April 30.
She said customers should notify people in their address book of the change in the e-mail domain name.
She added that once the transition is made customers will be able to pay their FairPoint bills online.
FairPoint completed its $2.4 billion, three-state purchase of Verizon's landline business earlier this year but has continued to use the Verizon network while the company developed a plan for the transition of a variety of customer data and systems information.
The North Carolina company has twice delayed the cutover to resolve potential problems.
"It's a major cutover and we've been planning this for months and months and … testing all our systems," Fastiggi said, "but there are bound to be some hiccups in a project of this magnitude."
During the transition period from Jan. 31 through Feb. 6, she said FairPoint will put new orders for installations and services on hold to focus on the move from the Verizon network. She said technicians will be available for repairs.
Jim Porter of the Vermont Department of Public Service said Friday while the three states have done everything possible to ensure a smooth changeover, there are likely to be some problems.
Porter said the Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 transition period is a cause for concern.
"The thing that we're most concerned about, that we know is going to happen for some period of time, if customers place an order it won't be able to be processed as timely as it would under normal circumstances," said Porter, a department lawyer.
Customers with questions can call FairPoint at (800) 240-5019.
Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com.
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