Copper is mostly dead, why don't they do a sweetened 2025 severance offer to those having anything to do with the copper side of plant (supv, techs, engineers, dispatch, etc).
Sweeten enough on a scale say starting at 20yrs + and wouldn't they get longer term higher paid employees to leave in droves. Save costs, improve earnings, wallstreet happy, Win/Win
Level 3 knows the loopholes, but will start have customers leave.
It's already happening. Level 3 leases local fiber for national customers.
That makes more sense. They'd own both but be leasing the fiber access back to lumen. Was really trying to figure out who would own the co if they tried to split copper and fiber off of each other in a sale.
"Since mass markets includes copper and fiber based products leaving the same co can the commenters explain how they would be split up or spun off separately?"
That was Brightspeed. The new company got local fiber and copper. Local fiber was leased to National (and Lumen) for Enterprise customers and other high value accounts.
Since mass markets includes copper and fiber based products leaving the same co can the commenters explain how they would be split up or spun off separately?
“My guess is mass Markets will be spun off called ???? let collapse and go bankrupt“
Can’t see the FCC and the various state regulators approving that, what I can see is lumen going under, Due to its massive debt and a very long string of poor business decisions.
My guess is mass Markets will be spun off called ???? let collapse and go bankrupt
Can’t see any one, wanting to by mass markets Lock stock and barrel,
“Ok gotcha,… we out state folks don’t have any Gpon nor residential fiber“
Yea, don’t know how that’ll all work out. We have fiber overlashed damn near everywhere it’s aerial. But the buried areas are copper only or just fiber to the remote. Any new company will probably get the whole package like a brighspeed deal. Hopefully someone that will put some money into the plant. Need about one more contract after this one no matter who owns it. Not holding my breath though.
It’s a damn shame that the people that have the basic ground work knowledge are treated like sxxxt it’s always the way it’s been … the world is turned upside down for those supposedly smarter than the rest of us average workers that actually help customers.. to those who could care less and never talked to an end user and make the wrongs from the top right .. fxxk all and any managers at lumen hi Norristown !! All the bad you do will come back to you
“ If gpon is in the area they also work on that“
Ok gotcha,… we out state folks don’t have any Gpon nor residential fiber..
We are sitting off to the side in our little RCA,, waiting to watch the war that’s going to break out between the technicians who are all the same title in the same RCA as to who goes to the new owners vs who stays behind,
once lumen sells off the profitable residential fiber off, and is forced to keep its Carrier of last resort copper obligations going!
There is no copper side,”
Yes, there is copper. The reply was to a post stating buyout all of the “copper” employees meaning they only work on copper. Should have clarified a little better….saying that engineers, dispatch, techs, sales, management etc don’t solely handle copper work. If gpon is in the area they also work on that, dispatch those jobs, manage those employees, sell that product, engineer that network. Blanket statements don’t really work in this industry
“There is no copper side,”
funny thing to say.. so far today I’ve fixed two Copper pots Dial tones, one residual on small business. And I just drove past Span maintenance work on what’s probably a DSO for the FAA, I know it’s DSO, because we don’t have any fiber what so ever going to this particular Air port ..
There is no copper side. The techs, engineers, sales people, managers, cot’s…literally every job title is involved in copper and fiber if it’s a gpon area. (Yea, I said gpon not quantum). Unless it’s a prem tech who was hired to solely work on fiber. Can’t speak on non represented titles but union members are all offered buyouts at the same time. 1 year or 40 years doesn’t matter.
“Me I’m sick of shooting trouble, splicing and doing the combo tech thing , I’m planning on taking the pension and getting my Diesel cert from local community college, and going to work for the CO / power contractor!”
Nothing wrong with that either. I don’t mind still doing it. Especially if it’s only fiber. I’ve got about 6 years of work life left so if 5 or so is contract work I’ll stash the cash away then ride off into retirement. Maybe take a class or two. Learn to build some adirondacks in spare time. Think my point is a lot of us aren’t terrified of being laid off or let go the way some people in this forum want us to be. Actually looking forward to a buyout and opportunity to walk away
Received a notice last year of 37 weeks pay to hit the bricks. I asked my manager and he couldn’t believe I even opened the offer attached. He stated we wouldn’t accept your request even if you applied for it. My response was, why did I even receive it if that’s so. I asked for a raise after 7 years without and he laughed that no one gets a raise with exempt status. So you work 70 hours on average a week and get laughed at by upper management for being such a fool. Short timer here, pay out or not! Lots of cuts coming and they want to go even lower in the vendor sewer for even cheaper contractors. What an exec management team. Getting their pockets full before deploying the golden parachute they get.
There is no copper only side, except perhaps in the largest markets. Everywhere else it's jack of all trades. Fiber, copper, do it all. Dispatch, techs, engineers, doesn't matter.
They want young cheap labor. You get rid of the tenured people that do the good work, keep the junk, and bring in uneducated, unskilled work and pay them $18-$20/hr for the same work. They're happy and you have pi---d off customers. While you push your talent out. I took the buyout at 125% last year. I had been with Lumen for awhile. Saw the ship sinking.
“So yea, offer me the buyout and I’ll go contract and make the fat money for doing what I already do”
More power To you!
Me I’m sick of shooting trouble, splicing and doing the combo tech thing , I’m planning on taking the pension and getting my Diesel cert from local community college, and going to work for the CO / power contractor!
“You do realize that about 50% of the mass market customers are still on copper? And that Fibers get cut and or damaged every day and that someone has to find the damage and splice it back together,”
Yep I do both. Maintain copper and also find faults and repair fiber. And to be honest about 75% of my work is fiber. From squirrel chews in tethers to fires to tree damage to underground cuts by d-mb a-s utility companies. All so I can see contractors called in to do the job on an overnight instead of in-house and charge the company 15,000 dollars for 8 hours work…or less. So yea, offer me the buyout and I’ll go contract and make the fat money for doing what I already do
“Would love it. Company wants out of the business anyway. They don’t need any real techs anymore. Just plug and play prem techs. Any real work will be contracted”
You do realize that about 50% of the mass market customers are still on copper? And that Fibers get cut and or damaged every day and that someone has to find the damage and splice it back together,
Would love it. Company wants out of the business anyway. They don’t need any real techs anymore. Just plug and play prem techs. Any real work will be contracted
I don't think lumen cares, they just want the numbers to look good. Recent history shows if your good your gone.
Here’s a thought, how about the company get off its a$$ and get truly serious about competing in the residential small business market and the employees who are just hanging around working on copper because that’s all we have in most of our markets, can do something productive!
Because the most skilled copper technicians are the most senior technicians! Those are technicians that do 90% - 95% of the actual repairing, here’s an example : a customer had 16 visits in a year both the pair and drop needed fixing I&m refused to replace the drop until cable fixed the pair, cable refused to fix the pair until the drop got replaced! Customers filed PUC complaint
They ( the second level) finally sent an out state guy with 28 years under his belt who Just fixed both the problems.
It was just another turf war in which even the (1st level) supervisors participate..
so long as Lumen is on the hook as the carrier of last resort, they aren’t going to be offering vspp in great numbers to technicians, for fear of losing the few technicians who can actually get things done..