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Verizon About To End Construction of Its Fiber Network
WheezyJoe writes: If you've been holding out hope that FiOS would rescue you from your local cable monopoly, it's probably time to give up. Making good on their statements five years ago, Verizon announced this week it is nearing "the end" of its fiber construction and is reducing wireline capital expenditures while spending more on wireless.
The expense of replacing old copper lines with fiber has allegedly led Verizon to stop building in new regions and to complete wiring up the areas where it had already begun. The fiber network was profitable, but nowhere near as profitable as their wireless network. So, if Verizon hasn't started in your neighborhood by now, they never will, and you'd best ignore all those ads for FiOS.
The expense of replacing old copper lines with fiber has allegedly led Verizon to stop building in new regions and to complete wiring up the areas where it had already begun. The fiber network was profitable, but nowhere near as profitable as their wireless network. So, if Verizon hasn't started in your neighborhood by now, they never will, and you'd best ignore all those ads for FiOS.
They are making money, it's just that internet is less of a profit center than wireless so they would rather put the money where they can make the higher profit.
We paid for the fiber with surcharges in our phone bills in the 80's through the 00's -- we just never got the fiber, and the companies pocketed the cash. Money's good, if you can get it.
That is in fact exactly what the article says. While the profit margin on FiOS is apparently 4.4%, the wireless side had a 23.5% profit margin. While those numbers are heavily encrusted with bullshit, they do show the relative value of the technologies to Verizon.
This will bite them in the ass eventually, if not sooner. Verizon refuses to be price and feature compeditive on wireless. They are coming under pressure from increased wireless competition. The duopoly between Verizon and AT&T isn't such a duopoly anymore- there are lots of wireless players.
I have heard very few complaints from people about the fiber service aside from "it isn't available in my area". It is a lot easier to maintain a monopoly on fiber lines compared to wireless.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
My FiOS experience has been exactly the opposite. 3 installs between 2 houses. Starting with 15/5, then 25/10, 25/25, and now 50/50...absolutely rock solid. Currently, on the advertised 50/50, I'm seeing 56/67.
"rent their hardware"? No...the router was included. Not a great router, but there was no extra line item on the bill for 'rental'.
Long back Google had a April Fool posting about toilet net. That idea is fundamentally sound. The municipality can run fiber optic cables in storm water drains. It won't cost as much as it is costing Verizon to dig up and bury the cable. But you won't get it. They have the state law makers in their pockets.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Just about every supermarket everywhere disagrees with you... http://smallbusiness.chron.com...
You know... Google is your friend...
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...
It isn't so much that they got an obligation but they did get tax breaks as an incentive with no repercussions for going back on the deal.
A tax break==owed taxes not paid==taxpayers took up that slack. So yes, it was taxpayer funded in that sense.
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