Verizon to stop offering standalone DSL

06.04.2012
Verizon Communications next month will stop offering so-called "naked DSL" -- high-speed Internet without landline phone service -- in a move that flies in the face of the trend of consumers ditching their home phones for mobile handsets.

Slightly more than 10 percent of Verizon's DSL subscribers use the standalone service, the company said Friday. But starting May 6, customers won't be able to sign up for DSL without also getting a wired voice service, which adds about $5 to the monthly bill before taxes.

Existing users of naked DSL will be able to keep their plans as long as they don't make changes to their service. The carrier said it is giving its current customers advance notice so those who want to make changes to their plans can do so before the shift takes place.

While Verizon is restoring the tie between wireline Internet and voice services, many consumers are choosing to cut the cord. Verizon reported an 8 percent decline in residential retail voice connections in the year ended last Sept. 30, which it blamed on subscribers substituting wireless voice as well as broadband, cable and VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services. The carrier has about 24 million total voice subscribers.

The company's Verizon Wireless venture is benefitting from the mobile trend, gaining 1.5 million mobile subscribers in the quarter ended Jan. 24, reaching a total of 108.7 million. But revenue from its wireline business is falling.

In a prepared statement on Friday, the carrier said discontinuing naked DSL would reduce its costs.