Verizon FiOS ever coming to Boston?

[palindrome]

I have been waiting for 3 years now. Will it ever arrive?

What was the holdup again? Didn't the mayor demanded the whole city be wired at once and verizon only wanted to do the more affluent neighborhoods?

 

[kennedy]

Dude, FiOS blows. The whole last mile/100 yards thing kills it. Trust me, Comcast is pretty damn good, especially compared to St. Louis telecom. Charter (Comcast's runty little sibling) f*cking sucks. Not only the product, but the customer service is terrible.

 

[statler]

Are you thinking of AT&T's U-verse which is fiber to the curb? FiOS is fiber all the way to the premise.

 

[kennedy]

I thought that was only in new construction? Everywhere else is just fiber to the curb. I could very well be wrong, but my (uncle's) FiOS definitely isn't through the home, and he's paying for FiOS. Maybe he just gets really, really, really slow FiOS.

 

[statler]

If he is getting really slow FiOS there is some sort of thruput issue. I think the slowest tier they offer is 5M. If there isn't fiber going into an ONT on the side of the home/building it isn't FiOS.

From Wikipedia:

Verizon FiOS products are delivered over the FTTP (Fiber To The Premise) network using passive optical network (PON) technology. Voice, video, and data travel over three wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. To serve a home, a single-mode optical fiber extends from an optical line terminal (OLT) at a FiOS central office or head end out to the neighborhoods where an optical splitter fans out the same signal on up to 32 fibers ? thus serving up to 32 subscribers. At the subscriber's home, an optical network terminal (ONT) transfers data onto the corresponding copper wiring for phone, video and Internet access.[14] FiOS TV service is broadcast from two Super Head ends to local Video Hub Offices (VHO) which insert local news and regional sports channels. The ONT then modulates the optical wavelengths into a RF signal.

(Disclosure: I work for Verizon but not on FiOS. I only know about this stuff cause I'm a geek. No inside knowledge. Trust me, if I thought it sucked I'd say so.)

 

[kennedy]

I think he must only be getting 5mbps, which relative to what I had with Comcast (around 15mbps) seems very slow. Perhaps it's just an issue of relativity. Anyhow, I'll ask him to see if he actually gets FiOS or just...regular service.

Disclosure: I'm nerdy about technology, but don't really understand anything about telecom and networking, damn confusing stuff. Thanks for the Wiki link.

 

[bbfen]

I have been waiting for 3 years now. Will it ever arrive?

What was the holdup again? Didn't the mayor demanded the whole city be wired at once and verizon only wanted to do the more affluent neighborhoods?

Why? Verizon is an organization that actually wants to make money. Why would they spend millions and millions (hundreds of millions?) running fiber to the back doors of buildings? It'd serve no purpose.

Comcast has a legal monopoly in 90% of the city, appointed by and renewed multiple times by this mayor.