Verizon goes on offensive in Voice Link deployment

As criticism mounts over Verizon's move to replace its copper-based voice lines with its new Voice Link service in areas of New York and New Jersey impacted by Hurricane Sandy, the carrier went to work explaining the logic behind its actions.

"In [areas impacted by] Hurricane Sandy the copper infrastructure was wiped out," said Tom Maguire, senior vice president of national operations support, who leads the Voice Link program at Verizon. "There are 500 year-round residents on [the western portion] of Fire Island. In New Jersey, there are 800 customers who also don't have access to copper." With approximately 1,200 people completely affected on Fire Island (NY) and Montoloking (NJ), Verizon decided not to replace the destroyed copper infrastructure. "Reliability, scalability--you can't do a lot of things on copper, it isn't the best investment to make," said Maguire. Fiber was also nixed from the list of options due to its cost versus the number of customers served. The population of Fire Island fluctuates from 500 year-round residents to more than 10,000 in the summer season.