Is it true that my Freedom Essentials (FE) goes back to the "Central Office" (CO) via copper whereas if I switch to Digital Voice I would go back to the CO via the fiber optics route? If true, will my FE still work if the fiber optics from the side of my house back to the CO goes down (with or without the FIOS battery?). In other words will I lose my emergency phone ability (copper to CO) if my fiber optics/internet to CO goes down? Will switching to Fios Digital Voice save me from paying the $6.50 tax paid to have a house phone? Is there a price difference otherwise between Digital Voice and Freedom Essentials? Is it a simple matter of throwing a switch by Verizon to go to Digitial Voice, ie, not tech visit required? Thanks.
It seems to me that you are asking about how your call gets into the Verizon system, depending on what kind of "wires" you have.
Here is the answer: The names such as "Freedom Essentials" that you mention are calling plans and are concerned with pricing. Forget about that for this question. You can have regular phone service with either copper or fiber. Verizon is converting many neighborhoods to use fiber for phone service, but remember that are NOT required to get FiOS. You can still get your phone service through fiber WITHOUT signing up for FiOS. FiOS is only delivered through fiber.
If you have copper wires, the call will travel along the copper wires to get into the Verizon system and, if you have fiber, the call will travel along the fiber to get into the Verizon system. It's pretty much the same either way.
Powering those lines is different, though. Because copper conducts electricity, Verizon supplies the electricity to operate your phone service in that case. If the power goes out in your house, your phone line will continue to work. If you have fiber, YOU must supply the electricity. If your house power goes out, your phone line will stop working unless you have a battery to supply power to the fiber box (ONT) mounted at your house.
You will lose your phone service if you have fiber and you don't give it power.
Once you have fiber, you are essentially paying for the electricity for your phone line TWICE and there is NOTHING you can do about that. Verizon is already collecting the cost of the electricity to run your phone line in your monthly bill, but is NOT supplying the electricity if your phone line is fiber. You must purchase the electricity from your own power supplier to operate your phone line. I guess Verizon just makes a windfall in that case---convert 5 million copper lines to fiber, but STILL collect the money for the electricity while NOT supplying the electricity. Multiply 5,000,000 by the cost of electricity for each line. Verizon stockholders love that.
You mention "$6.50 tax paid to have a house phone." I don't really know what you mean by that. Do you know? You will pay various taxes REGARDLESS of your service being delivered by copper or fiber. Do you mean a leasing fee? Are you leasing a phone from Verizon? I didn't think anyone in 2018 did that.
I currently have Verizon's Triple Play Plan (Freedom Essentials phone, Internet and TV). I need to do some experimenting to determine if I (my phone) am connected back to the "Central Office" (CO) from my FIOS box (ONT?) via copper or fiber. My plan would be to unplug the FIOS box in my garage from house current and also unplug the battery. Then I will check to see if I get a dial tone. If I do my conclusion is my phone uses the copper wire in my yard, not the fiber, ie, Verizon is supplying electricity to my phone thru the copper and the phone will work when the power goes out. As an aside, if the phone does work when the electricity and battery are out, I will have to question why I have had a battery in my FIOS box all these years if all it was for was to power the phone if house electricity went out.
As for my question on the "$6.50" tax savings if I switch to Digital Voice (DV), I saw something in a few circa 2009 posts this tax goes away. It may be the Federal Subscriber Line Charge which is $6.18 on my bill (Virginia if its state dependent).
I currently pay about $30.50 in taxes and fees on my bill. Yuck.
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