Remember the MCI Agents who didn't like the new deal under the Verizon Business umbrella, who were pushed aside and lost commissions? Did you know that when Verizon did their funky little deal with Fairpoint over the New England region, VZ agents were pink slipped. In fact, one agent is suing Fairpoint. It's the quote from Beth Fastiggi, a spokeswoman for FairPoint, that shocked me:

"We believe that our own local employees can better serve our local markets and, given the appropriate resources, will have the commitment and ability to increase our share of the local business market," Fastiggi said in a statement Friday.

Don't need agents. That attitude explains the lousy service, numerous complaints to the PUC, and the lose of over 100k lines - in a rural market!

Today, VZ announced it is spinning off the landline network in 13 more states - to a joint venture corporation with Frontier. I'm certain those customers are thrilled. At least, they had a slight hope of getting FTTH. Now, not so much.

Frontier does have a Business Agent Program. I don't know anyone in the program so I have no comment on how strong it is for agents.

Embarq agents are waiting to hear what happens to them with the CenturyTel merger. These mergers do impact both consumers and small businesses, especially the agent businesses.