What do we mean when we say "competition?"

Sun Nov 27 01:01:40 UTC 2005

Robert E.Seastrom wrote:

>>In (at least) the Long Island, NY market, Verizon FTTH/FIOS installers
>>physically cut and decommission the copper upon fiber install.
>>Bye-bye DSL competition.  Since they won't bring back the copper
>>even you don't like the FIOS service, it's permanent.  ISTR that
>>the fiber doesn't carry the same restrictions on Verizon as copper
>>did, which is a big incentive (for them) to roll out FIOS that way.

> My understanding is that there is a fairly small number of pots
> circuits (2?) that they can bring in over the B-PON, and that moreover
> ISDN BRI and hicap (eg. repeatered or HDSL DS1 service) are entirely
> incompatible.

 > In Virginia, there's anecdotal evidence that suggests that they'll
 > leave the copper upon request, and won't even try to remove it if you
 > still need it for service.

My understanding (also anecdotal, but based on firsthand FiOS experience as 
described by a 25-year telco consultant who's done plenty of work with 
Verizon, both as a consumer and a telecomm professional) is also that they 
will leave the copper if you ask them to do so, but will get rid of the 
copper by default.

Apple Valley, California (the town where I live) has just awarded a second 
cable franchise to Verizon, who will be competing with Charter here, so I'm 
sure FiOS is not too far in the future for us. They've already rolled out 
FiOS to a few other cities in Southern California and named Apple Valley in 
a press release from about a year ago. If we decide to switch -- and that's 
a big "IF", since Charter's Internet access been reliable for us -- I guess 
we'll find out for ourselves whether we can keep our copper or not.

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