New York City Trying to Punish Verizon For Failed FiOS Promises Last month a New York City audit found that Verizon failed to meet FiOS deployment goals in the city, something that shouldn't surprise you if you'd followed our coverage of the sweetheart, loophole-filled arrangement Verizon struck with former Mayor Bloomberg back in 2008. According to the audit, Verizon serves probably less than half of NYC with FiOS despite repeatedly promising uniform coverage.

quote: The de Blasio administration's new protocol has been described by insiders as an attempt to keep Verizon from continuing with business as usual while failing to make good on its FiOS franchise commitments—or even acknowledging the shortcomings of its FiOS rollout. Of course as noted previously, the city itself agreed to a contract with Verizon that let the telco wiggle above, under and over obligations, leaving much of the onus on the city itself. Apparently, de Blasio administration officials hope to send Verizon a message by more-closely scrutinizing the telco's contracts with the city moving forward, though that's probably too little to late for the 50% of city DSL users who'll likely never be upgraded to FiOS. The audit also found Verizon blocked access to competitors, and refused to wire some buildings unless it got exclusive deals.Moving forward, any agreements between Verizon and city agencies will need to be more formally approved by city hall , a move that apparently came after Verizon all-but laughed off the city's concerns in recent meetings:Of course as noted previously, the city itself agreed to a contract with Verizon that let the telco wiggle above, under and over obligations, leaving much of the onus on the city itself. Apparently, de Blasio administration officials hope to send Verizon a message by more-closely scrutinizing the telco's contracts with the city moving forward, though that's probably too little to late for the 50% of city DSL users who'll likely never be upgraded to FiOS.







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Most recommended from 38 comments

Bob61571

join:2008-08-08

Washington, IL 13 recommendations Bob61571 Member Funny how some Fiber ISPs complain that 1) It's too expensive to wire the big cities while they also say.....



2) It's too expensive to wire the suburban areas, while they also say.....



3) It's too expensive to wire the rural areas.



SO, which is it?????

Zenit

The system is the solution

Premium Member

join:2012-05-07

Purcellville, VA 10 recommendations Zenit Premium Member How I view it If VZ signs a franchise, it should meet the requirements set within said franchise, no matter how unreasonable.

Its a contract that VZ management willingly agreed to fulfill!



If you or I signed a contract to provide X services and failed to do so, we would be in court. Corporate America does not have to meet contracts it signs with anyone but other corporations, and even then they regularly screw each other.



To think that a municipality would get what it wanted without a fight is cute.



It seems to me that VZ has a history of bending franchise agreements - they did it here in a wealthy area, they will do it anywhere.



VZ is not alone with being guilty of this - the Cable MSO's do this sort of bending all the time to varying extents.

rit56

join:2000-12-01

New York, NY 9 recommendations rit56 Member Don't underestimate City Hall If true they can make life miserable for Verizon. For starters how about not issuing work permits? Gumming up projects with red tape. I for one would love to see the city put them through the same sort of misery they put us through. wkm001

join:2009-12-14 7 recommendations wkm001 Member Eminent Domain? If would be fun if NYC took Verizon's network with eminent domain and expanded it. Then invited Verizon to offer their services on the backbone, charging Verizon for the privilege. AmericanMan

Premium Member

join:2013-12-28

united state 5 recommendations AmericanMan Premium Member Many have tried, few have succeeded Many have tried to hold America's corporatocracy responsible for its actions, few have succeeded.



Oh sure, every once in a while they'll hang some poor corporation out to dry, just to make it look like they are doing something, but it's all smoke and mirrors.

TelCoTech

@verizon.com 3 recommendations TelCoTech Anon Wireless! You mustn't have been listening to Verizon for the last couple years or so. For them, all profits from anything or anywhere they provide service or that they sell will be invested in wirele$$ (and for some healthy wage increases & bonuses for top management). Of course, a few hundred thousand or more bucks for radio and print ads about how great Verizon is for working moms, veterans, etc. You'd think they were hiring (they're not)! tdumaine

Premium Member

join:2004-03-14

Seattle, WA 2 recommendations tdumaine Premium Member They know The gooberment already knew how verizon (and other corporations) work, they just want their time at the cash trough. Old mayor got his, new mayor isn't. New politician is crying. Just toss some lobby money at them, it shuts them up every time. It's the "Amurican way"