Verizon announced today it will soon make its FiOS Internet/cable/phone service available in all of Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale and Roxbury, and in parts of South Boston, including the waterfront. Read more.
Hizzona signed an agreement letting Verizon offer TV channels and the company says it begins cabling up homes in parts of West Roxbury, Roslindale and Dorchester tomorrow - with Dudley Square by the end of the year. The move means parts of Boston now have three main broadband/TV/phone providers: Verizon, Comcast and RCN; Verizon says it will roll out FiOS to the entire city within six years.
The Dorchester Reporter reports that Verizon's FiOS rollout is making life hell for people living near the Enterprise Street garage where all the FiOS trucks are based.
Abutting full-time residents say the clamor at the facility is disturbing them through the evening into the early morning hours before picking up again a few hours later, often before 6 a.m.
Verizon and city officials said tonight that if they reach agreement on a cable contract, the company will roll out its FiOS service to four Boston neighborhoods using its traditional fiber-optic cables right to people's homes or buildings. Read more.
City officials and Verizon reps hold a meeting next week on the $300 million deal that's supposed to usher Boston into the next generation of communications greatness, or at the least provide an alternative to Comcast in the roughly 70% of the city not already served by RCN. Read more.
Initial Verizon FiOS service areas in Boston in pink.
Verizon has filed updated plans with the city for its roll out of FiOS Internet, phone and cable service that show that West Roxbury and parts of neighboring Roslindale, most of Dorchester, the area around Dudley Square, would be the first areas in the city to get the Comcast competitor. Read more.
I normally would not quote two articles from the Huffington Post, but they are Boston specific and make a ton of sense to me.
I've been trying to figure out this whole FiOS rollout in Boston. There has to be a sweet deal in there for Verizon for them to re-neg on years of telling the city, "No, no FiOS for you". Now I have the smoking gun. Read more.
Mayor Walsh today announced a deal in which Verizon will spend $300 million to bring its FiOS fiber-optic cable/Internet service to Boston.
Under the deal, the company will also attach wireless modems to city street lights and utility poles to provide better 4G and eventually 5G services to its wireless customers. Read more.
Here are a handful of additional thoughts from today’s TVNext Summit at Hill Holliday in downtown Boston. Specifically, one of the hosts, Mike Proulx asked about the mindset behind using social media tools as an adjunct to TV entertainment. This includes Facebook, Twitter and other tools.
Here’s how the panel responded...
Rob Sama reports he just got the following notification:
We can’t wait to bring you blazing-fast FiOS Internet and an overall experience that will blow you away! This e-mail confirms your revised installation appointment for Verizon FiOS Internet Service.
* Scheduled Installation Date – 08-31-2010
Of course, even if he wanted to, he couldn't, since he obviously doesn't live in Boston.
The other day, the Globe explained why Bostonians get to see roughly 72,000 commercials a day in which FiOS Guy triumphs over Cable Oaf even though they can't sign up for it. Verizon says it'll get around to wiring up New England's largest city one of these days and that dense cities are simply harder to wire than spread-out suburbs, but Tom Menino says it's a personal vendetta against him because he wants the company to pay taxes on its wires along public ways.
Ars Technica reports Boston isn't alone: New York and Washington have been slow to get FiOS as well.
Eight months ago, I wrote about how Verizon was purposefully avoiding Boston. Nothing has changed since, except a growing list of backwater mid-state towns getting FiOS ahead of Boston, at the rate of several per month. Interestingly enough, the page which I linked to with the Mayoral Mumblings has been replaced; I guess Verizon didn't like all the bad PR when major internet blogs picked up on the Metro's story.
Yesterday's installment of Metro Moments with the Mayor has two juicy gems. First, Mumbles tackles Verizon FiOS, or more appropriately, The Internet Service You Can't Get in The Technology Center of The East Coast. Second: he wants $50-100k red light cameras. Ahh, Massachusetts, where the answer to everything is civil fines.
Borderline discusses Verizon's efforts to compete for the high-speed broadband market:
Goal: Verizon wants to increase its business in Newton and other local cities where there are lots of rich people.
Problem: The law ...
FiOS is currently available for the state of Massachusetts. There are several areas in the state where Verizon FiOS internet service is currently available. We have provided you with a list of every single place in the Massachusetts state where FiOS is currently available as of this date...
Dan now has fiber-optic 'Net access at home - like 13-megabyte per second downloads. He details and photographs the whole installation process.
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