Labor unions have launched a new campaign taking aim at Verizon's stalled (read: stopped) FiOS deployment. As noted previously, Verizon's FiOS expansion has been over for several years, with the exception of franchise build out promises for major cities. Still, some of the forgotten regions in Verizon's footprint (like Alexandria, Baltimore, Buffalo & Boston) continue to hold out hope that the company will eventually decide to extend FiOS a little bit further.
Company executives however continue to state there's no expansion plans. And even in major cities like New York (
where Verizon promised 100% coverage by last year), people are only now starting to realize those goals will never be even remotely met. Even though the
warning signs in Verizon's contract language were there for those who were paying attention.
Obviously impacted by Verizon's decision to back away from its fixed-line networks, the Communications Workers of America have launched a new "Where's My FiOS? campaign aimed at putting public pressure on Verizon to expand FiOS further -- and therefore spend a little more money on installations and union employees.
"When it received its franchise from New York City in 2008, Verizon promised FiOS would be available to every NYC resident by 2014," a union flyer being circulated in the city complains. "Now the company says it’s completed its obligations. But customers in many parts of New York City still can’t get FiOS. Instead, Verizon has cut 8500 jobs in New York State and slashed its workforce in New York City by 37% over the last decade."
Of course Verizon's been unmoved by years by customers pleading for FiOS upgrades, so it seems unlikely the CWA's campaign to add a few people to this grumbling chorus will have much of an impact. In fact, Verizon seems to be accelerating their abandonment of fixed-line networks if anything, as the recent sale of their FiOS and DSL customers in Florida, California and Texas can attest. There's plenty of additional DSL markets Verizon has made it repeatedly clear they have absolutely no interest in upgrading. In fact, they've been actively trying to drive many users to cable for several years.
Update: In an e-mail to DSLReports, Verizon defends its overall FiOS deployment record:
quote:
As you know, when we started the FiOS project more than 10 years ago, we said that we would pass 18M households. That has been accomplished, and we actually are well on our way to passing 20M HH. So, we have done what we said we would do…and then some.