In the case of Verizon FIOS, about 100 million messages ago. OK, I am exagerating, they could have stopped at 1000. In all seriousness, Verizon is marketing the hell out of FIOS. They want everyone who has ever been near a Verizon phone to sign up.  There is TV advertising, telemarketing (these people have been calling my house at least 3 times a week for the past 8 weeks easily, even though I already told them I AM NOT INTERESTED) and direct mail. I get a direct mail piece from them roughtly once a week--whether it be a postcard or a full blown letter, like I got today.  What a great offer...they will bundle TV, Internet and Phone for $100 a month PLUS taxes and fees for one year (translation--you are locked in for a year no matter what and then your price will go up).  Still, I am not interested. I hate Verizon, and this marketing onslaught is making me hate them more. At some point, the costs outweigh the returns, and the many dollars they are spending trying to get me to sign up are ill spent, especially since, as I mentioned before, I AM NOT INTERESTED.  For anybody worried about the economy, I would like to point out that Verizon is both making money and spending money. They aren't asking for a government bailout, they are asking you to upgrade to their system. Of course, Comcast, their biggest competitor in this area, has a similar package. And they also try like hell to get you to sign up for it. It makes me wonder how big those margins really are.  They must be really big for there to be a decent ROI (return on investment) on this.