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How Verizon Is Hindering NYC's Internet Service
Cuillere writes: Verizon promised to make FiOS available to all New York City residents. The deadline passed a year ago, and many residents still don't have FiOS as an option, but Verizon claims to have done its part. "The agreement required Verizon to 'pass' homes with fiber (not actually connect them), but no one wrote down in the agreement what they thought 'pass' meant. (Verizon’s interpretation, predictably, is that it doesn’t have to get very close.)" The situation is a mess, and the city isn't having much luck fighting it in the courts. Susan Crawford offers a solution: set up wholesale fiber access for third party ISPs and absolve Verizon of customer service responsibility.
IIRC, ambiguous language in a contract, or that which is not defined or poorly defined, should generally be found to be in favor of the person receiving the contract. In other words, if Verizon wrote the contract and implied that "pass" meant to bring fiber to all residents, or the city believed in good faith that "pass" meant to provide a fiber outlet / headend / demarc readily accessible to every resident, then the courts should find in the favor of the city. The reverse is also true, though. If the city wrote the contract and didn't specify what they meant by pass, then Verizon gets to define what they meant (within reason, of course).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Want Verizon to sit up straight and come around? NYC is the *perfect* place for community access broadband. Enormous population density with probably high 90% subscribership. Even if it's not possible to use Verizon's fiber I wonder if the conduit is fair game by FCC rules.
Heck, I'm willing to bet a good technical plan and an indieGoGo campaign could get things going.
So what? Do you advocate lying, cheating, and stealing to make that money? I ask because Verizon signed an agreement to make FIOS available to everyone in the city and they are now trying to weasel out of it.
How do you suppose you'll do if you sign an employment agreement towards the goal of making more than you *need* and then only bother showing up for work once a week?
Why should that strategy pay better for Verizon?