A mandatory webinar on ETF, Contract Termination and Shortfall Charges today. The ILEC starts out by blaming tariffs for the clunky processes that require Agents to spend so much time and effort every single move, add, change and even upgrade. (One question was, "Do you even want more revenue from the customer? [Because you don't act like it!]). I agree.

Blaming tariff for anything is utter bull. Most of your product offerings are NOT even tariffed, like Metro Ethernet, MPLS and MIS.

A Pricing Guide is not a tariff. A pricing guide is just that: a guide that details the product description, options and pricing.

What is a Traiff? A tariff is a pricing guide that has been submitted to the FCC for Inter-LATA services and to the state PUC/PSC for Intra-LATA services. These tariffs can be changed at any time since tariffs are for transparency and fair competition; hence, rubber stamped by FCC and PSC/PUC. So blaming the tariff is crap! Change it. It is within your power.

Tariff is what you use to avoid helping the customer. Tariff is what you use to screw the customer.

These merged entities also have not fully integrated the divisions, so there is the "Oops! That was a Company S contract not a Company A, so no direct upgrade."

I have heard that there isn't fiber available at a customer location that has a lit fiber services (DS3, OC-x, MetrE) from Company B, but the combined company can't use that fiber. HUH?! This is the exact kind of behavior that will be the downfall of the Too-Large-Too-Fail. Too Large to Do Business With in a meaningful way is what it is becoming.

I understand what a contract is. I understand that my interpreting a contract is me pretending to be a lawyer, which will likely land me in trouble despite the stressing on th ewebinar that I understand contract terms. If you would write a contract in plain English, I could do that. But you don't because you have 300 lawyers lying around trying to prove that they are smart and deserve their paycheck.

Consumers may not have many choices for broadband. Even many businesses don't have a choice in broadband, but as the Cloud and Hosted PBX grow, businesses will outgrow broadband and need services that are competitive. Those will be the customers you lose. And as stated on the call, once you lose them, they are not coming back.

As for an Agent, does he want to sell the ILEC service with all the carnival tricks and one-time pay-out? Or does he want to sell a CLEC service that has ongoing commissions, less rules, and easier paperwork?