Double Play DSL + phone (NOT Fios) in Los Angeles area

[User9876]

VZ seems to have a major monopoly whereby DSL is no longer offered to new customers in the LA area. They are migrating to all fiberoptcs which, on the surface, sounds great but  fiberoptics systems are not flawless. In particular, we do not want to be stuck with only 8 hours of battery back-up for our phone service during a power failure and not have proper 911 access then; that is likely the time that one will in fact NEED to call 911!

In any case, what options/rights do we have to change our service to non-VZ? Our rates just went up unannounced by $10/month, now at 74.99 (minus 20.91 bundle discount)  for phone + LOW-speed DSL.  This sort of thing bugs me to no end because:

1. They changed the rate and I have to just grin and bear it

2. They are making it almost impossible not to choose Fios

3. Fios as a phone option is a deal breaker for me and my family

Don't we have legal rights to alternative copper line-based phone and internet choices?

[smith6612]

There are always telephone resellers available, which tend to offer cheaper prices if you have looked into those by any chance. Other than that, it's probably a good idea to look over your bill to see what exactly got rate hiked or was somehow added on.

Considering the amount of money Verizon spent on that Fiber network, I'm not surprised to see them wanting to get people onto it.  To lay down the truth of the matter as well, the copper network if you're coming out of a remote also runs on batteries. They're big enough to hold out for a day, maybe two but past that they require Verizon to actually come out to the remotes with Diesel Generators and recharge them. If you're coming from the CO itself, they have Diesel Generators to cover the equipment but, keep in mind that equipment is still on battery power. So it's essentially the same as the FiOS ONT's battery backup. If the life of the battery is a concern, I'm sure a higher capacity battery can be purchased, or even easier, plugging the ONT into a UPS that can hold out for a while (The ONT doesn't use too much power) would suffice.