While Verizon has been advertising its high-speed FiOS network on Washington, D.C.'s airwaves, plans to actually install FiOS in the city are far from the drawing board, and several D.C.-based organizations are calling on the D.C. City Council to push back.
"Verizon's cherry-picking and, at the moment, D.C.'s just not low-hanging fruit," says Jim Pappas, president of Communications Workers of America Local 2336. According to Pappas, Verizon has moved more than a third of its jobs from the District to the suburbs during the past three years, leaving D.C. residents with increasingly poor phone service.
"My members [Verizon service technicians] tell me that many customers have service trouble every time it rains, and the troubles end up getting left so long that the sun dries out the cable and the problems disappear on their own - at least until the next rain," he says.
Connect DC, a group backed by the CWA and a "project" of another group - D.C. Jobs With Justice - which also looks to be a union mouthpiece, has been collecting what it says are complaints from Verizon customers in the District, although it only cited one. "I lose my phone service fairly frequently, at least five times in the past year, for a day or more, and it's usually associated with bad weather," says Susan Pultz, a Verizon customer in the more affluent northwest area of the District. "I always check the outside box first and when it's not receiving a positive signal, I spend 10 to 20 minutes on the phone."
And Telecom Policy Report itself has been told by many long-time Verizon DSL customers in the Washington, D.C., area that the only reason they opted for the ILEC's services over those provided, for example, by Comcast was the promise of FiOS in their neighborhoods, which hasn't happened yet.
Here's what Connect DC says on its Web site: "Connect DC advocates for top-level services for ALL consumers in DC. Our demands are simple: Verizon must build FiOS across all parts of the city by the end of 2008, maintain quality phone service for all DC residents, and employ DC residents in DC facilities to complete the work that must be done."
Why The Busses Now?
The bus ads are targeting the city now for a specific reason. The D.C. city government actively is pondering two things: whether Verizon is providing quality of service at an acceptable level and whether to deregulate Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. The city itself apparently likes what Verizon has to offer. Last week, the District of Columbia government signed a three-year contract with Verizon Business under which the carrier will provide local voice, data and voice-mail services at more than 200 District offices.
Verizon has been a long-time service provider to agencies in the nation's capital.
No financial details were disclosed, although the new contract reportedly makes it easier for the District to buy smarter and to save money. The agreement is projected to save between $6 million and $12 million on basic services while allowing the District to address most of the products and services that it buys from Verizon. More than 20,000 District employees - including police, fire and administrative personnel -- will receive those services.
According to District Office of Planning data, at the end of 2006, the District government served 581,530 residents and had 26,951 "full-time equivalent" employees in the nation's capital.
But back to Verizon's residential services. "From our surveys it's clear that Verizon has not been able to meet existing service quality standards for regulated phone services," said Mackenzie Baris, lead organizer with DC Jobs with Justice. "By giving up its right to regulate a new technology that may develop and expand in unexpected ways, the City Council is shirking off its responsibility to protect consumers. Residents of the District of Columbia deserve better."
Verizon, of course, disputes this attack, saying the rollout of FiOS is a long-term project that goes city by city, area by area. One company spokesman told Telecom Policy Report that Washington, D.C., was in the queue but that there are inherent problems with installing fiber in established neighborhoods.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Telecom Policy Report, Vol. 6, No. 3
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