Thread regarding Windstream Corp. layoffs

Does anyone see value in this company anymore? Do us all a favor and lay us all off

I left after 25 years of my own decision. I'm only making $1600.00 a month more after taxes. Not to boast, but there is really life after Windstream. Don't let TT tell you different.

Windstream customers fall into several categories:

1. Business is paid for by Win donations and executives force the relationship
2. Attractive pricing gets them in the door and they’ve been lied to by Sales reps, management, and Executives. Specifically telling them how well they support customers. They leave at end of contract

3. Windstream Pricing is so cheap they don’t care about all the outages

Ahhhh Windstream, they actually seem to reward executives who get caught in fraudulent behavior. How is anyone a customer of Windstream when they have other options? Worst network in all of telecom. Equipment from the 90s and they do not have ANY redundancy on the core network or customer facing network. You get a ckt from them and any card fails or if there is a fiber cut and you are down for days or weeks. Its crazy, I’ve never seen so little redundancy on any network. They literally have the spare card in the chassis blank. No filler card and they dont replace filters so when they get clogged they just remove the filter lol.

Well that is why Windstream not zoom is on the news casts and was the media darling before all the security concerns and the di(k bombing a class of children started occuring... Whoops glad that was zoom... Great job teeeam software powerhouse we are just reduceing debt which f– those people who lend the money deerrp thanks for your leadership... Get fu(ked.

I love that line on one of these replies that says “...or they lied to the auditors.” LOL!!
You realize you are discussing WS, right?? That company is all about the spin, internal and external. They just buy their competitors, take the hot product, change the color, or add something valueless, and call it a proprietary invention. Then they market it as if they invented the whole thing!

@Worried customer

You are correct, we cannot just shut the lights off and walk away. We are obligated as a utility to maintain certain network SLA's, even more so in the ILEC footprint.

as for the end of chapter 11, we are only going to reduce debt not eliminate it. The agreement with UNIT is not yet finalized.

There is nothing proprietary about OfficeSuite, its Just a Mitel OS as stated before. Why do you think the phones are Mitel and they spend time trying to get other phones to work on that platform. And all repairs are outsourced to a team in India who use shared logins to access the platforms, so they bought that SOC2/hippa license or they lied to the auditors.

Broadview whitepapered Zoom and resold it as OfficeSuite HD Meeting. OfficeSuite is just a Mitel OS on a Cisco blade server. Windstream simply bought another failing CLEC in Broadview, nothing special to see here.

Office suite isn't just a rip off of zoom it is zoom... That's not insider info that can be found with a Google search for Broadview look at this corporate spin here.

The OfficeSuite HD Meeting offering is powered by Zoom.us, but offers a few compelling differentiators. First and foremost, it can be bundled into the entire suite of Broadview’s cloud services. But this is more than just Zoom with a Broadview label on it. The Broadview team has worked closely with the Zoom developers to create an extremely customized version of the platform for OfficeSuite HD Meeting. In fact, as one of Zooms closest partners (and due to Broadview’s size and influence) several of Zoom’s leading and well received features can be traced to Broadview requests. Talk about a win-win for the marketplace, in the course of customizing Zoom for Broadview, we also get a constantly improving Zoom!

Source:
https://letsdovideo.com/new-cloud-video-service-leverages-powerful-existing-voip-network/

Any point to getting Velocloud or Zoom from Windstream instead of the companies that make them?

Does Windstream add value or customization somehow?

"Officesuite isre-branded Zoom. There is no difference between it and Zoom."

We looked at it and it looked like Zoom. So there's really no difference at all? None?

We also had a question about OfficeSuite security – is this getting patched every time Zoom is patched? The version number from the OfficeSuite we tried was different from the most up-to-date Zoom version but we didn't know if OfficeSuite had its own unique numbering system or if Windstream was behind on patching.

Zoom's had security issues so staying current with patching is critical.

We want to see you all make it but enough to gamble on security.

That is the dirty secret and the reason everyone with half a brain laughs at 'software powerhouse'.

Officesuite isre-branded Zoom. There is no difference between it and Zoom. SD-WAN is the same way. We resell Velocloud services and call it ours.

The only two products worth a damn the CLEC side sells are just third party product.

This OfficeSuite HD product that Windstream makes a big deal out of – what's the difference between it and just Zoom?

Is it really going to put the company on the map? Or is it just spin? Does it work?

@2kxq+14qI5Bvy

I agree that the present path is unsustainable.

Question: are you talking ILEC or CLEC disconnects?

I’m in ILEC country. I don’t hear of any residential disconnects on my neighborhood message forum (NextDoor.com). Occasionally someone complains about Spectrum and eventually switches to Windstream fiber after some discussion. (That said, I pity the people stuck in the country with bad copper lines). I work for an unhappy big customer and we’ve moved a couple of locations to Spectrum but we still rely mostly on Windstream.

I look at other independent ILECs in suburban/rural areas and they seem to be doing well if properly managed.

So I don’t see how a new management team can’t turn Windstream around by cutting out unprofitable CLEC business and focusing the company on its original business.

Also, bear in mind this company is going to shed the majority of its interest and debt obligations at the end of chapter 11.

Finally, I don’t see how you can just turn off the switch on several million phone lines (and 911) across 20 states. Call me selfishly hopeful but I’ve got to think something would be done to mitigate that. That’s a LOT of governors, senators and representatives with unhappy voters. It’s such a strange time (impeachments, pandemics, no March Madness) I guess anything could happen, but still…

@their mileage does vary

Seeking Alpha was founded in 2004 by former Wall Street analyst David Jackson.

If you read through the technical analysis you cannot argue with the numbers.
We lose 7% of our value year over year. A few links earlier someone posted our monthly operating expenses. We only have 4 months worth of operating cash left. Even with the infusion of the UNIT settlement we are still in the RED. Our business if flat right now because of COVID, we are not selling and installing. Disconnects are on par with previous months. Q1 earnings should be interesting, this may be the quarter we burn the $500M revolver credit.

The title for this thread should have been:

“Wall Street sees no value, Customers sees no value, and Employees see no future”

” These are Goldman Sachs people writing this stuff.”

Whoa ... sorry. I meant to write these are NOT Goldman Sachs types.

Far from it

seekingalpha.com is an interesting resource but take it with a grain of salt. I’d say the comments are as useful as the articles. You’ll see that this article’s got a lot of arguing back and forth.

Also, seekingapha.com is NOT Wall Street. It’s a message board for amateur investors. These are Goldman Sachs people writing this stuff. More like agitated retirees and wannabe tycoons pecking at keyboards.

A lot like thelayoff.com but with bigger words and sometimes really, really long sentences.

Still, definitely worth a skim for ideas about the financial side of all this.

Sometimes they could use reality checks from employees here.

CLEC model has been dead for over a decade. Windstream was buying failing company after failing company. As it was stated below, they never even attempted to consolidate and make this work, it was just a ponzi scheme by the LR5. They bled the company dry, it is completely worthless at this point. They still work out of numerous engineering databases and every CLEC network was left standing, windstream just turnes up a few OC48s between the CLECs as DCS ties for T1/T3 service as they are all 100% TDM networks. And you should see the collo space in the Verizon buildings. 5 lineups, 4 belong to windstream and the coax is run across the floor, biggest mess I have ever seen. Its amazing anything actually works.

I think there's life left in the ILEC under new management. Other small ILECs that stick to their knitting are doing OK.

I still don't understand how most of the CLEC business can be turned around but I'm not on the inside. Maybe cutting much of it loose would help the numbers?

Hang in there - this whole town needs you to survive.

No hope at either company. The goons in charge are the worst bunch of Stephens bank flunkies and TT thinks he is Joe Ford however he is more like Gomer Pile.
Ride it out get your checks take opportunity else were whenever you can. Stick it to them anyway you can. Choke the green snake 🐍 it's fun. TT been doing it since 2006 and so should you!

Windstream would be out of business if not for the Uniti spinoff. That shell company allowed them to move assets and money to keep the gravy train moving an extra 5yrs for the LR5. They never planned for either company to succeed, just a group of con men bleeding a company dry. Their collective wealth is more than the value of Windstream, let that sink in.