Verizon will open a new "Fiber Solutions Center" in Syracuse NY. Syracuse is located in central New York State, far North West of Rockland County. Verizon says that this work center will support consumers and business customers who purchase broadband products over Verizon's fiber network. Verizon says that this center will create up to 50 new jobs this year and as many as 150 over next 2 years. Paul Crotty, Verizon group president for New York and Connecticut, said, "This is great news for the Syracuse area and reinforces our commitment to New York..." Verizon has already opened similar customer service centers in Dallas, Hampton, Va., Providence, R.I., and Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Folks in Yonkers are annoyed by the new Fiber Distribution Hubs that Verizon is putting up to facilitate FiOS services. A visitor from the neighborhood said this about them, "It should be somewhere else, like a main drag or a business area. It's an eyesore." But he’s not the only one upset, apparently the city is pretty ticked off as well. They are very concerned over the placement of the boxes and the legality of installing them. City Council President Richard Martinelli, who has gotten several calls of complaints from residents over the boxes, said the additions could be a safety hazard where they block motorists' lines of sight. "They are extremely large - the sizes of a small refrigerator - and a foot or two off the ground," said Martinelli, who added that Verizon ignored early letters asking them to stop the work. Last week, officials from the city and from Verizon began negotiating over the placement of the boxes, and discussed moving some of the boxes that were thought to be in problem spots.

Yonkers officials also took issue with Verizon's new capacity to deliver cable service through the boxes. According to Yonkers Corporation Counsel Frank Rubino, Verizon should get a franchise from the city before it builds facilities that can carry cable. Verizon disagrees. The company argues it has the legal right to put its equipment on any public street in New York State. Lawyers from both parties are still discussing the matter.

The trade association of New York's cable television companies are trying to stop Verizon from constructing cable TV systems without the necessary franchise agreements. But Verizon asserts that because they are the primary telecommunications carrier in the state, they are acting within their rights, and that they have the authority to upgrade New York's telecommunications networks.

Cablevision, the dominant cable company in the northern suburbs, has also been upgrading its network and offering high-speed Internet connections. "We think this is an attempt by the cable association to block competition and deny and delay services and choices for the residents and businesses of New York," Verizon spokesman John Bonomo said.

On February 17th Verizon added the towns of Haverstraw, Pomona and Ramapo to the growing list of confirmed FiOS deployment sites.

Ramapo Includes: Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Hillburn, Kaser, New Hempstead, New Square, Montibello, Sloatsburg, Spring Valley, Suffern, Wesley Hills.

Previously announced communities include Clarkstown, Grand View on Hudson, Orangetown, Piermont, Nyack, South Nyack and Upper Nyack.

Verizon announced that TVN Entertainment will handle Video On Demand for their FiOS TV service. This is a "long-term agreement", but the exact specifics are not known.

Some of the programming that TVN Entertainment will provide includes New studio releases, a library of previous releases, independent movies, family and kids programming, and a broad array of free on-demand and specialty VOD networks. TVN will also allow customers to order news and event programming within hours of their occurrence.

According to the news release, "FiOS TV will deliver hundreds of digital channels, high-definition programming, an interactive programming guide and other customer-friendly features."

Verizon officially announces the launch of FiOS in Nyack NY. Nyack is the first community in Rockland County to get FiOS.

FiOS may be available if your telephone prefix is one of the following : 348, 353, and 358. Call 888-GET FIOS for more information, or visit Verizon's FiOS Web site

Verizon plans to use Microsoft's technology for their new TV over Fiber service. Initially, Microsoft's software platform will be used to provide an interactive program guide, high-definition television, digital video recording and video-on-demand. Verizon expects to roll out more advanced Internet-based interactive capabilities down the road.

Microsoft has an agreement with SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. as well. According to this article, Verizon's FiOS TV service will launch around mid-year.

Verizon officially announces FiOS rollout for 25 communities in Rockland and Westchester.

For Westchester: Ardsley, Bronxville, Dobbs Ferry, Eastchester, Elmsford, Greenburgh, Harrison, Hastings, Irvington, Larchmont, Mamaroneck (Town and Village), Port Chester, Rye, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, Tarrytown, Tuckahoe and White Plains.

For Rockland: Clarkstown, Grand View on Hudson, Orangetown, Piermont, Nyack, South Nyack and Upper Nyack.

Rockland County executive Scott Vanderhoef had this to say: "We are very pleased that Verizon has moved to expand its high speed fiber optic network to Rockland County...We hope that it will soon be available to the entire county." Boy, don't we all.

Excerpt:

Verizon and Yahoo! Team Up to Deliver Broadband Service to Verizon Online's DSL and Fiber Customers.

NEW YORK & SUNNYVALE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 17, 2005 -- Co-Branded, Fully Integrated Product will Provide Customers with Web's Most Innovative Service Beginning This Summer.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced a multi-year alliance to deliver a fully integrated co-branded broadband offering to subscribers to Verizon Online's DSL and new fiber-based FiOS services. The alliance combines the strengths of Verizon, the country's largest communications service provider, with Yahoo!, the leading Internet destination and world's most recognized global Internet brand.

Verizon has issued a new report outlining their 2004 achievements and their goals for the future, it is available at Verizon Corporate Responsibility.

Among the pertinent highlights is their investment in technology, valued at more than $13 billion a year and their introduction of new and innovative products, which include FiOS.

This article from cabledatacomnews.com points out that telephone companies have already tried to get into the television business a number of times in the past, and were unsuccessful. So what's different this time? It's the scope of their initiative and the capital involved.

Two Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts, Jeffrey Halpern and Graig Moffett, predict that it will take at least nine years for the Bells just to break even on their costly fiber upgrades. With that kind of investment, they must be serious, and only a long term investment could benefit this strategy.

The author writes, "Moffett and Halpern also predict that, even if they complete the fiber rollouts and undercut cable prices by 15%, the Bells will still achieve just a 6% share of the overall U.S. video market by the end of 2010."

As for the Fios Internet service, we see that "[Verizon officials are] excited about their prospects, they plan to extend the offering to their Northeastern markets and introduce a full suite of data services for business customers early this year."

The article also talks about SBC and BellSouth.

Happy New Year Everyone!

May this new year bring you joy, laughter, happiness and prosperity, oh, and of course Fios ;)

While Verizon is trying to get into the television market, Time Warner cable wants to get into the Wireless market. Time Warner is discussing a deal with Sprint that would allow them to offer cellular phone service. This would make them the only Cable Company capable of offering a quadruple play package, television, high-speed Internet access and both wired and wireless phone service.

Although talks are in progress no deal is imminent, and if this comes to fruition, service will only be limited to the Kansas City area. All the while Verizon will be in the position to offer cable television programming, high-speed Internet, standard voice services over their Fios network as well as wireless.

Karl Bode writes for Broadbandreports.com in this latest article about 2004 broadband milestones, a year in review. Fios is among the most important trends started in 2004 according to the user poll on their site (at the time of this writing).

The new Web Browser Firefox was also a big newsmaker of 2004.

Fiso TV is set to directly compete with Cablevision. Service might be ready some time in 2005, Verizon is already alerting some communities of its intent to apply for cable TV franchise licenses.

But the road to Fios is not all that peachy, it seems that some people don't like seeing five foot tall boxes on the utility poles. Those are actually Fiber Distribution Hubs, which can be seen on the Identification Page (#3). The village of Mineola, which is on Long Island, went as far as issuing summonses a few months ago against Verizon. But Verizon attends there is no wrong doing saying that the "approval process should be expedited".

The article reads: "By the end of 2005, Verizon expects to hook up areas totaling 3 million homes and businesses in nine states"

Verizon forged an agreement to distribute 14 television networks from Discovery Communications Inc. over Fios.

Verizon's programming will include: Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Military Channel, Discovery en Espanol, FitTV, BBC AMERICA, and Discovery HD Theater. Also, Discovery On Demand will be available free of charge to all subscribers. It will grant viewers access to an on demand library facilitating a DVD like experience.

Fios TV service will be available starting 2005.

This article in The Journal News (Original publication: November 28, 2004) (EXPIRED) quotes various officials from the towns of Orangetown and Ramapo giving an overall positive reaction to Verizon Fios coming to their communities. The article largely refers to the TV aspect of Fios and the competition that it will create with Cablevision. "Competition always works for the benefit of the consumer," according to Phil Tisi, assistant to Ramapo Town Supervisor, who also believes that "Cablevision is a de facto monopoly."

There is an overall eagerness to get this service out as fast as possible, "The Orangetown Town Board unanimously approved a waiver Monday that would speed up Verizon's application to the state to provide fiber-optic television and other services within the town, Kleiner said.", Kleiner is the Town Supervisor for Orangetown. "The town is interested in giving our residents the maximum amount of choices at the best possible prices," Kleiner is quoted saying.

But Cablevision is saying that they welcome the competition. Bill Powers, director of media relations for Cablevision, is quoted as writing in an E-Mail: "We compete vigorously and successfully with the phone company today, expect to in the future and note that a level playing field is essential to ensuring Rockland consumers benefit from competition."

Orangetown Includes: Grand View, Nyack, Piermont, South Nyack

Ramapo Includes: Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Hillburn, Kaser, New Hempstead, New Square, Montibello, Sloatsburg, Spring Valley, Suffern, Wesley Hills

This broadbandreports.com news item (Fee Fi Fo Fios), written by Karl Bode, sums up the current Fios situation very nicely. Karl talks about the current Fios price points, in addition he lists some Verizon PDFs on Fios. One of the PDFs is a welcoming brochure targeted towards new Fios customers explaining the Fios hardware and technology. Karl also provides us with a more realistic view of the Fios deployment progress, he underlines the fact that Fios deployment is a very strenuous effort financially and that Verizon is being very selective in deciding where to roll it out. We also see a comparison between the US effort, Japan and other countries abroad, he writes "While the United States was the birthplace of the Internet, it now ranks thirteenth globally in broadband adoption behind countries like Belgium and Iceland." At the end, the point is that Fios is definitely coming, but probably not as soon as we would like it to.

An article in The Journal News (link expired) writes that Verizon may offer cable services over fiber to Clarkstown as well as all of Rockland and beyond. In the article, Mark Marchand, a Verizon spokesman, say that "Verizon would introduce its cable service in eight states and to three counties in New York: Rockland, Westchester and Nassau."