I say bring on Fiber.  America is behind many other countries with fiber to the house and the improved services it will brings.

With ADSL2 download speed up to 24Mbps are being offered in the UK for around the same price I would be paying here for 6.0Mbps.

Comcast has been a front runner in services but just as thing improved after MaBell was broken up we need choice in the wired video market.

If proving TV services from the phone company will cover the cost of outside plant improvements then I’m all for it.

Excellent article. Thank you for opening our horizon.

Thanks for this article, EH.  I love learning about this kind of industry insider news.

Cost vs. bandwidth and the market’s willingness to pay for it (equalibrium) is the situation.  I say bring on the bandwidth.  We’ll ultimately make use of it.

i’m a bit torn on this issue… from what i’ve read the cities/towns often barter with the providers for things like cable access shows, etc. and that seems reasonable to me since it applies to the product (tv). i had never realized other items, like stoplights, were on the table.

here in MA, i know a bill was submitted (not sure if it’s passed or not) to circumvent the towns approval, which can take several months, and allow the state to grant, in a matter of weeks. while i would love to get my FIOS faster, i’m leery about possibly losing that bartering power for my town.

i’ve also heard that Verizon was the major force behind that bill, which was unusual - for one company to write/sponsor a bill. politics and all.

anyway, good article. keeps me thinking.

I have Earthlink DSL that is supposed to be 1.5M down, but is seeming more slow every day, like the old dial up days and I’m paying about $50 a month (I know, getting ripped off).

For less then that, in Greenwich, CT. I could be getting 20M down with FIOS. But someone told me they don’t allow streaming.

IS THAT TRUE? VERIZON DOESN"T ALLOW YOU TO STREAM WITH FIOS?  I can’t belive this and will have to check this out.

I’m not really interested in the TV over FIOS just yet, just a HIGH SPEED package including home phone and maybe cell phone and definetly EVDO for my Laptop when I am in NYC during the day (I’m in the “field” a lot and not always at a desk).

My problem with TV over FIOS is the same situation (problem) with SAT TV.  You can’t just hook a TV to the cable to get the “unscrambled”, lower channels-usually 1 to about 80.  You must get a box for each TV and pay a monthly fee for each box.

I have 2 cable boxes I already pay a monthly fee for, but I have 5 other TV’s that cost me NOTHING to have a signal for the lower 80 channels.

With SAT and presumably FIOS, there will be no wire to just “Hook” these other 5 TV’s up to.  I would have to get a box and pay a monthly fee for each - FORGET IT.

Steve

i have FIOS internet service and i can stream video no problem. not sure where you heard that one. and yes, the speed rocks.

I have Earthlink DSL too, and I keep getting special offers to adopt FiOS. Right now, Verizon has an online special offer of “Get your first month FREE, then pay just $39.99/mo”. It is tempting. Currently my Earthlink is delivered over a Verizon line, too. Maybe we will someday be able to get EarthLink FiOS… and for no more than $40 a month, at that! (Here is the link to their offer.)

Has anyone priced FiOS yet?
The package isn’t cheap.
Competition is good but this starts out as a welcome change for anyone paying a cable bill.
I pay$130 for TV,Phone and internet.
I priced FiOS and the same package grows to almost $160 after the fees that are not mentioned after the $99 price.
Yes their internet is faster, but is it $30 month faster?
Some might want that bandwidth but my 8meg download is good enough right now.
Witht he recently added new VOOM HD channels the lineups are very similar now. the phone service is a wash. I only call local most of the time anyway.
Now if FiOS was a true $99 month with no hidden chargers, I’d be all over it.  The sad truth is it not really.
So I’ll wait for now.

No Verizon FiOS in my neighbourhood and city… Does any one know when will FiOS hit Worcester, MA. I know its available in some places in my state but I dont know where.

When I was in Tokyo last year, they were offering 100Mbps fiber to the home for the equivalent of about $89/mo.

This article points out why all broadcast TV will move to the internet as bandwidth goes up and costs go down, which could be wired or wireless. Cable and satellite will soon be obsolete. They have no one to blame but themselves. Instead of taking advantage of the internet, the very laws they created to form monopolies and keep competition out ultimately will be their un-doing. Alternatives from new technology will always outsmart politicians.

here is some MA-specific info, complete with roll-out map

to Jonathan H

in the “early” Cable days they wanted the same thing. Most TVs were not “cable ready” (remeber your UHF and VHF dials) so the cable company got to charge monthly for each analog box the was in your home. In addition, you may have had a older home the was not prewired for cable, they got to charge you to run wire for each outlet.

Now as cable ready TV’s filled the market and more homes were built prewired for cable that revenue dried up. So comes the advent of “digital cable” with more channels available. ( WTF!! I never got more that 80 out of 120 anyway) The hook, ya need that all important “digital cable box” to get the same channels and the extra ones, plus PPV/ON DMD. You say you have one of those new HDTV’s that are digital cable ready; you will only be able watch the channels that are not encrypted, not too many of them. If your set has a CableCard slot, the only place to get one is from (drum roll) the cable company and they charge you a montly fee for it.

Cable Co’s want control and digital gives them that. I have been to apartment complexes where the main cable head is on the side of the building. usually its locked in a box so nobody can fool with it. However in severe cases of piracy the covers have been destroyed or discarded and the bare wires, splitters and tags are all exposed, so now every body in the building (4-20 units) has cable, in a complex with 20 buildings. switching to digital would end the problem. right now they are doing the soft sell, by encouraging the customer to switch. but soon that wont be the case.

We all know that a federal mandate is going to shut off all BROADCAST analog signal in 2009. So if your sole source of TV content is an antenna hooked up to your ANALOG TV, there will come a day in 2009 that you will see nothing but snow on your TV.

But what if the Cable Co’s did that? Big boost in revenue for all involved in the tv content biz. Be it FIOS, CABLE, or SAT.

(i am in no way inferring that anybody here is a cable theif)

I actually work for Verizon, you can hook up a tv without a box. However, you will only get your local channels plus a few others.

FIOS is in some parts our community here in Upstate New York. The problem is that Verizon is installing the fiber at a snails pace. While people near the main roads can get it, people that live in the subdivisions cannot. You hardly see any Verizon trucks running fiber in the town. In comparison when the local cable company did there “major rebuild” there were trucks and linemen running cable down every street in the town. I believe it took them about 6 months to rewire the town. Verizon has been at it here for over a year now and only small limited sections of the town can get it.

I’d love to get FIOS. I see the Verizon FIOS tents at local community events. I ask the workers there about it they look up the first 3 digits of my phone number and shrug ,“Maybe in 2008”. So for those of you waiting for FIOS don’t hold your breath. 

I’ve seen all the local roll out maps and timetables read all the local newspaper articles on it but the times keep getting pushed back. The difference between Verizon’s wiz bang Marketing campaigns for FIOS and the actual reality of running the fiber are 180 degrees apart here were I live.
Steve maybe you should do an article on how well Verizon is doing running the fiber lines. I’m sick of hearing “maybe next year”. I don’t understand how the cable company can do a complete rewiring of the town in 6 months while Verizon keeps draging there feet.

As both a Fios installer and a Fios subscriber, let me first explain the problems we’re running into installing our lines.  1-competition, as was mentioned in the article, we face tremendous obstacles in getting our lines placed, including waiting on proper permits and inspections.  One big problem we have is waiting on Miss Utility to mark other utlitiy lines.  Another thing that people forget is that this project is not covering just one county or state, but in fact a large portion of the northeast.  No one has ever tried to run fiberoptic lines all the way to the customers home before.  As we go along, the more we learn and the easier it will get.  We’ll be able to refine the process and speed up the installation.

I actually work for Comcast, I’m all for competition, it means I will get more HD channels in my own lineup as well and faster and faster internet, right now the speed tier service in my area is 16mbits/sec downstream, I’m quite happy with it.  The only thing I want to see is that if verizon is allowed to grab statewide contracts then the cable co’s should be allowed to as well, both sides need to play by the same rules. Be it verizon being allowed to negotiate with the municipalities the same way the cablo co does or if they bypass that, rules being changed allowing the cable co to do the same thing.  Fairness is a 2 way street, allowing one company to bypass the rules another is forced to follow isn’t really fair, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure both companies would love to have the rules slanted in their favor, but I personally want to see it fair.

Both Comcast and Verizon are in my neighborhood. I got the “triple play” (phone, Internet, & TV) for about $110/mo from Comcast. FIOS was about $160. I do like hte fact that I only have one cable box and analog cable to four other sets. Thaks to Daren for posting that you don’t need a converter box for every tv. My FIOS sales people didn’t know that. Even so, I get plenty of channels “for free” with Comcast.
Competition is good, red tape is bad.

Actually, AT&T has recently launched a similar service called U-Verse.  Although it’s fiber stops short ot going all the way to the home (usually within 2800 feet) it is another form of competition with the cable companies.  Although at this time, U-Verse pales in comparison to cables offerings, and is somewhat limited until they figure out and implement fixes created by not taking the fiber all the way to the premise.

Either way, the biggest problem with Fios and Uverse is, if Verizon or AT&T don’t provide local phone service in your area, then you can’t get it.  Relate it to living in a Cox cable network area and not being able to get comcast.  Makes sense right.

Please explain how competition will lower prices satellitetv, cabletv are they not delivering the same service for your television?  What cost savings are their in the short run and long run?  Having competition is really more choices to spend your money but lower prices let get real.