Is it just me, or is it +20 dB hot in here?

If you don't have children, doesn't that Verizon commercial with the smug little kid babbling about true QAM make you want to run out and buy three different kinds of contraception, just to be on the safe side?

Tom Wright-Piersanti translates the technobabble:

... All of these wavelengths are totally industry standard, and any provider will use the exact same. So why did Verizon feel like they had to run them off quickly here? Because they are big numbers, and when said in rapid succession they create the illusion that something confusing is happening and your only reaction can be "Ooh, fancy, me wanty numbers." Don't get sucked in, remember that all these numbers have no real meaning and are nothing out of the ordinary. ...

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That commercial airs every

By Anonymous (not verified) | Wed, 08/01/2007 - 10:13pm

That commercial airs every half inning during sox games, and almost makes me want to be a cable installer.

FIOS

By Some Assembly Required (not verified) | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 8:38am

The ad itself doesn't bother me that much, but why does it run so often if Verizon has stopped doing any new wiring work while they haggle with cities and towns about licensing?

Only a small percentage of households in metro Boston now have the option of FIOS service. I've been checking on its availability for almost a year now, and I know I'm not going to be able to get it anytime soon, so could they stop taunting me with the ads already?

Beware!

By DoodleBean (not verified) | Fri, 08/03/2007 - 8:54am

Once they install the FIOS, Verizon strips the copper wiring. So, if you have trouble with the fiber optics or if you want to use the copper for a security system, you don't have any alternatives.

That little bit is buried in the fine print. Beware!

(Stripping the copper also means Verizon no longer has to lease that wire to those pesky competitors! Nice.)

That kid is also ugly.

By Amy (not verified) | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 9:09am

That kid is also ugly. Nobody likes an ugly smart-alecky kid. However, a cute smart-alecky kid is fine.

half-hearing and half-misremembering the commercial

By Anonymous (not verified) | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 11:17am

When talking to a co-worker about the commercial, he remembered it as the Verizon installer asking the little kid if he wanted to see the inside of the installer's truck, and from there decided that the commercial was a little too creepy for his tastes.

There are two commercials

By adamg | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 1:01pm

The first one is where the creepy not-the-cable guy asks the kid if he wants to see inside the magical truck. Then there's the followup, where the pod that's replaced the human child tries to convince the father that he needs to come outside and get some true QAM.

cable guy

By bostnkid (not verified) | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 1:50pm

mother "honey where is little billy?"
father "he is outside in the van with the cable guy"
have you ever seen some of the independent contractors that work for comcast and rcn? id rather leave my kids at a NAMBLA sponsored convention for retired carnival workers than let my kid get in one of those vans.
by the way, that kid looks like he sees dead people.

I thought it was just me

By bigdumptruck | Thu, 08/02/2007 - 8:42pm

Some commercials just put me on mom-alert and that's one of them. Not so much that the kid is talking to him, but that he's really young and the father's only reaction is to ask if he was talking to the cable guy? Creepy creepy creepy.

===========================

From the brains behind http://www.bigdumptruck.com

THANK YOU ... Another who sees what I see.

By Anonymous (not verified) | Mon, 09/24/2007 - 9:56pm

THANK YOU .... someone who agrees with me. And I'm not a mom I'm a 34 year old male without kids.

All these verizon commercials border on pedophilia and extremely bad parenting.

For several commercials now this young little boy is following the Fios guy around their house and where are the parents. Reading the paper in one. In the latest the Fios guy is in their closet with again that bright light luring the kid to him. He asks his mom if he can keep him. And without looking she just walks by and says yes.

These commercials need to just disappear. There horrible.

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