Verizon crosses wires with critics

Verizon is pushing its aging copper telephone lines to limp along with quick fixes - often leading to outages - until its heralded FiOS fiber-optic network becomes available New York City-wide in 2014, critics and company insiders charge. A spokesman for the telecommunications giant insisted that copper remains "the backbone of our business," and denied the allegations of neglect. But union officials said that Verizon foremen regularly instruct workers in the field to splice faulty copper lines instead of replacing them - cutting costs but sacrificing quality. The patched-up lines often go out of service just days later due to rain, snow or heavy winds - creating headaches for customers - but Verizon keeps instructing workers to splice instead of replace, union leaders said.