I was talking to a C/O tech, he stated there was a nationwide C/O QTP conference call. On this call management stated that this will be the last contract and all office techs will be made technical managers and their pensions frozen. All provisioning work will be contracted out, all centers will close and for the time being AI and the office techs will do all the isolation and troubleshooting. Normally this guy is pretty sane for the phone company. Just checking to see if other office techs or other groups have heard this. My group is being fed the line of we are growing for the foreseeable future.
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Legacy system says, “The reports of my death has been greatly exaggerated”
once the open roadm network gets built and the legacy equipment gets decommed then there will be no need for very many co techs. even proprietary appliances like 7500, 9500, 960, 480, 5150, etc etc will be decommed. frontier and other independents have already replaced them with field techs. days of the technical knowledge of a co tech will soon be over. doesnt take much brain power to plug in a couple of fibers, measure fibers on a cut, etc.
I agree. In the meantime I'll keep working tickets on D4 circuits for the City of X-X and continue to work tickets on T1's. 5ESS tickets? I'll spend all day with the Indian tech support. The fun thing about AT&T is it will be many years before they can retire these legacy systems. I will be gone when I decide to be.
They have been saying that everything would be fiber in a matter of years back in late 80’s, early 90’s at some of the big conferences and meetings. They meant to say decades, just off a bit but there is projections bs reality.
once the open roadm network gets built and the legacy equipment gets decommed then there will be no need for very many co techs. even proprietary appliances like 7500, 9500, 960, 480, 5150, etc etc will be decommed. frontier and other independents have already replaced them with field techs. days of the technical knowledge of a co tech will soon be over. doesnt take much brain power to plug in a couple of fibers, measure fibers on a cut, etc.
Customers are disconnecting 70k pots lines per month in our footprint. AT&T is not offering promotions for landlines or dsl to retain these services.
Uverse TV is disconnecting rate of 15k per month. We don't have receivers ans no remotes in many areas.
In California, leadership is working on migrating pots customers to a cell phone based system that meets regulatory requirements.
COs will eventually be sold. Accept that these jobs will also be gone."
You sound like a Prem Tech who has no idea how the network works. Every service that our customers use comes out a Central Office. Cell phones, Yep. That comes from a Emux in the Central office. The MTSO's are becoming like pay phones. Not needed.
Makes sense to me!
"Customers are disconnecting 70k pots lines per month in our footprint. AT&T is not offering promotions for landlines or dsl to retain these services.
Uverse TV is disconnecting rate of 15k per month. We don't have receivers ans no remotes in many areas.
In California, leadership is working on migrating pots customers to a cell phone based system that meets regulatory requirements.
COs will eventually be sold. Accept that these jobs will also be gone."
As a CO tech, I can tell you that frame work for POTS and DSL is the absolute bottom barrel priority and we don't do much of that any way. We are too busy with Fiber trunk circuits, keeping 911 trunks up and running, and those offices that have Transport are working to keep that running with bubble gum and band aids.
Even if the legacy landline copper network is sold off to Frontier or whoever, CO techs won't be sold off with it. We keep all the backbone stuff talking to each other. You get one card in a Flash Wave 9500 or MX960 that goes bad and you have 1000s of customers out of service.
DEG just does door alarms and cbits stickers.
They may offer a 5/5/5 offer for those CO techs who want to leave the company.
No AT&T won't offer 5/5/5 for any bargained for employees. The offer will be the same as it has always been. 1 year of pay for a voluntary severance, 1 1/2 years pay for an involuntary severance. (This is in the Southwest). I've seen people leave the company with this package. It's not 5/5/5, but it isn't too bad either.
BTW, the 5/5/5 rumor is because SWBT did do that around 2001. I saw people leave with that package as well.
Some people are just mad because they get tapped on the shoulder and have to be gone in 2 weeks. I get it. Do I like it? No.
Now, THAT'S funny! Back to the 5/5/5 offer...LOL!!!
They may offer a 5/5/5 offer for those CO techs who want to leave the company.
There is a disproportionate number of people who will believe this patently false post. This is how misinformation is spread, unfortunately.
If you think about it then it would be fairly easy. Since most legacy wireline will be retired around 2024-2025 and since they are relocating the C-band equipment from tower hut locations to CO's then it would stand to reason that most future work in the CO will be MTSO type work. Those positions fall under working management type job classes. Further that with Mcfresh's statements on future 5G edge and where is the edge located? the CO's of course.
well if your not a major player in the last mile internet business anymore you can cut about half of your workforce.
ive never seen so many new internet companies in all my life.
They can probably get it done in SE D3 since the CWA said that ET's arent in CORE when they fashioned the secret "no layoff" agreement.
That’s funny right there, lol.
i heard DEG techs are going to pick up some of the CO work.
i heard that they are going to hire contract workers from Mcdonalds and Burger King.
There is a transformation for the center techs because the company is now using AI for some functions and have already closed a few centers this year. As posted previously the (CO ET’s) central office techs and other management groups are having to pick up the extra responsibilities for some of that work that AI can’t handle. There may be more closures in the future.
A list of the center groups recently closed:
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5ess Switch Group in the Carolinas (12 ET techs), only the India flowchart group is left.
A. In addition, the Tier 3 contractors contract won’t be renewed after August 2023. - Ethernet Group in Atlanta, GA (12 ET techs).
- Uverse Surveillance Tech Group in Irving, TX (38 surveillance techs). They were under a weak Internet contract so not many options.
I’m an ET and was on the same QTP teams conf. call, nothing was said at all about the contract, outsourcing, title changes, etc, so it’s misinformation. On the routine call the technical managers only covered some general training on various equipment ie, D2 white box, etc.. covered new process for CO techs to use the PON tool while trouble shooting issues, the same one recent U-verse ctr techs used prior to their center closure. They also covered a little about PIMs (pics inventory software), the tech managers have been doing this quarterly QTP training on various subjects the last 2 years.
The above is true. CO tech here and had the same QTP call. The company is pushing more web based tools to the Central Office techs to replace the work that the centers did. CO Engagement tool to replace what the U-TRC did, and now FAHT (Fiber Assist Handoff Tool) to replace the center that dispatched fiber techs when there is a fiber fault on new circuits. I see how the FAHT tool will save time and money because any fiber issue will be corrected before the installer goes to the customer premise. Prior to this, the installer would go to the customer premise and if the there was a fault in the fiber, a ticket to correct it would have to be issued to fix the fiber. This takes days and a repeat trip for the installer.
I really can't believe I would ever say this, but I think this is a good idea from AT&T.
The CO ET’s have already been transformed and reduced to skeleton crews over last several years . Most ET’s are roaming to cover multiple CO’s with a very few static techs and they can barely keep up with a regular or light load. Most times the ET has to prioritize assigned and constantly incoming tickets to decide which one is more important due to the distances driven between offices. Unfortunately outside tech maintenance tickets are a low priority due to higher priorities on other larger circuits and rings.
With the recent company capital budget cuts and scaling back on a lot of projects due missed financial projections it has temporarily slowed in the CO as with every other part of the company. The ET’s with some initiative are finally able to catch up on some routine cleaning and maintenance items that have been neglected for months and some cases years.
OP, I think your coworker was starting a rumor or pulling your leg, nothing to see here.
I’m an ET and was on the same QTP teams conf. call, nothing was said at all about the contract, outsourcing, title changes, etc, so it’s misinformation. On the routine call the technical managers only covered some general training on various equipment ie, D2 white box, etc.. covered new process for CO techs to use the PON tool while trouble shooting issues, the same one recent U-verse ctr techs used prior to their center closure. They also covered a little about PIMs (pics inventory software), the tech managers have been doing this quarterly QTP training on various subjects the last 2 years.
It would be a big lift to make a change like that for the next contract or foreseeable future. Why would union members vote to do away with a top craft job to become managers with less protections and benefits. If the company does try to surplus then article 7 process in the D3 SE core contract has to be followed, probably similar article in all the other districts. Don’t see it happening, it takes years to be a competent CO tech, can’t just hire them off the street.
I’m expecting management pensions to be frozen within the next two years. I won’t be surprised at all to see this happen.
He’s just blowing smoke. They wouldn’t hold a conference call to tell you that they are going to doing something crazy like this years in advance. When they announce layoffs, they absolutely won’t let anyone know until the last possible time allowed under the contract.
part of stankey's war on people
“ Can they do that?”
You betcha!
Can they do that?
Just more union busting.
Any rumors of ABFS being sold off as a separate business entity? I can honestly see this being taken into consideration since it functions as a separate business unit in and of itself, anyways!
It is obvious they are gearing up for something big. The customer is no longer paramount.
The as--ult on the people doing the work has been ongoing.
Also hearing rumors that outside crews may all be combined again.
I&R, SSIM, Prem.