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Verizon to Boston: Ha, ha, you suck
By adamg on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 11:04am
Verizon is winding down its FiOS expansion, and guess which largest city in New England won't be getting any? So now Boston's pinning its hopes on Google to combat Comcast and RCN, only hasn't Google said it's more into the pilot-program sort of thing and wouldn't be wiring up an entire city anyway?
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Comments
Quoted from a Boston.com Commenter
From a comment, not by me, left on Boston.com:
The public does not understand what's going on here, because the Globe and other papers do no digging at all.
Every other communications company doing business in the city (Comcast, RCN, etc.) has agreed to Boston's longstanding franchise requirements to wire ALL of the city if they're going to wire any of it.
But Verizon won't agree to that for FiOS. They want to cherry-pick neighborhoods, and leave others "dark."
The concept behind the city's franchise requirements goes back a long, long way and has produced obviously public benefit. In the 1800's, large populations in rural areas lived a better life simply because of the U.S. Postal Service's commitment to get mail anywhere, all at the same rate. The concept of "media mail" is similar: sending books to even the most remote area of the country has always been remarkably cheap.
Without this concept operating on a national and local level, many neighborhoods would not have ever been wired for basic telephone service, or even electricity, throughout the 20th century. So, you end up with the "haves" and the "have nots", sort of like telling people on farms "Sorry, you live too far away -- we can't be bothered to deliver that textbook you wanted."
The FiOS situation is a classic case of yet another corporation trying to bully the public (and in this case Boston City Hall) into abandoning equal access policy that has helped keep this country strong for centuries.
And the whole time, Verizon will hide behind just one argument: "free markets," just like the banks did before their big meltdown.
Make no mistake: Verizon could wire Boston, and find a way to make a profit. But they'd rather first break the back of proven public policy.
stuck with XFINITY
so why can't I get RCN in JP?
The failure of Boston government is
the failure to find terms on which Verizon and City government could agree.
The mayor should use his bully pulpit to pressure Verizon to agree to wire all of Boston within an exteded period of time. That way, Verizon can wire the most profitable neighborhoods first and delay the installation of less profitable neighborhoods until one, two, three, four, five, or more more years later, whatever, as long as it is agreed to in writing and the contract has teeth, (which is to say Verizon contractually pays a penalty if it does not complete the wiring of all neighborhoods with the agreed upon period.
I've written the Mayor's office suggesting he seek mutually agreeable terms with Verison so that Boston residents can benefit from competition of the two leading vendors in the phone, cable and internet access product space. He referred my letter to someone in his office who provided a non-responsive answer to my suggestion. That was three years ago.
It looks like Menino is being stubborn and bull-headed instead of trying to find common ground that will benefit residents of Boston.
I have FIOS, and guys, it
I have FIOS, and guys, it isnt that amazing. It isn't bad, but I had comcast before, and that wasnt bad either. Everybody hates comcast because of their customer service, well, guess what? Verizon customer service is just as bad.
Better than "just as bad"
I can't believe I'm saying this, but from everything I've experienced since moving to MA ten years ago, Comcast's service is good. Significantly better than your average national Comcast experience, in fact. I moved four times in four years, and considering I have a confusing account - residential TV, but business Internet - Comcast had plenty of opportunities to screw up. They were only late to an install once, and they fixed it the same day.
But most importantly, whenever I've called or chatted with their reps, I've been talking to someone local, not at a remote call center, and who can actually solve my problem. I assume this is some legacy of MediaOne/AT&T cable; it's certainly not typical of Comcast anywhere else. Considering cable TV's culture of independent subcontractor installers - vs. Verizon's union field techs - it's stunning.
Verizon, OTOH, has grown worse and worse. Believe it or not, their field techs are no longer allowed to speak directly to their phone reps; all communications MUST go through the dispatch and ticketing system. That's the kind of idea that sounds good on a whiteboard, but fails in reality. Even a supervisor can't get technical questions answered unless those questions were envisioned when the dispatch system was designed.
Actually I concur re:
Actually I concur re: Comcast's customer service. They may make me pay too much but the people I've spoken to on the phone have been both helpful and actually nice people to talk to, to boot. I never thought I'd say that about any customer service line, let alone Comcast, but it's true.
I've had FIOS for almost 3 years
and I love it. I was tied to Comcast for years and their outrageous pricing for the speed you got was ridiculous. I love my FIOS, the D/L speeds are right there and I'm not sharing a node anymore with half the neighborhood. Picture quality on the H/D is outstanding, and the best part is no download caps. My Dad just got his 250 gig a month e-mail, with the threat that if he doesn't stop downloading all of those movies. they're going to shut him off. Not so with FIOS, I only hope they can work this out so Boston can get it.
Dear FIOS: shut up
If they're definitely, no way no how, ever ever ever going to come here, can they at least stop ADVERTISING themselves so much?
They should also listen to their own ads
"If your service was better, you wouldn't have to change your name" they say, in reference to Comcast's rebranding as Xfinity.
New England TelephoneNYNEXBell AtlanticVerizon, what does that say about your service?