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Verizon Will Fix Broadband Networks, Landlines To Resolve Investigation (vice.com)
Joel Hruska reports via ExtremeTech: Verizon has reached an agreement with the Communications Workers of America and the New York State Public Service Commission to begin repairing infrastructure and restoring service across New York State. The agreement requires Verizon to extend broadband service to tens of thousands of New York State households and to begin repairing facilities it has previously neglected. As in Pennsylvania, Verizon has been neglecting its fixed wired infrastructure in its bid to first sabotage copper service, then force customers to adopt alternative solutions. It's also been mired in an ongoing lawsuit with the state of New York over its breach of a 2008 contract requiring it to provide fiber service within New York City.
This new agreement appears to settle these issues, provided it's followed. Under its terms, Verizon will extend fiber to 10,000 to 12,000 households not currently served by it in Long Island and Verizon's "Upstate Reporting Region" (these are Verizon-specific regions, not geographical areas, so "Long Island" may mean more than just the island). It will begin immediately replacing copper lines in certain specific NYC buildings with high failure rates and transitioning them to fiber optic cable, repairing operations within 50 upstate wireless centers with high failure rates, allow plant technicians to report plant failures and maintenance needs more accurately, and begin inspecting and replacing the batteries that provide critical connectivity in the event of a power outage when said batteries are deployed for specific customers (hospitals, police stations, and other emergency facilities). It will also begin removing so-called "double poles." A double pole is when an old telephone pole is stapled (metaphorically speaking) to a newer one. Some examples of a double pole from PA are shown below; Verizon has been hauled into court to force it to do its job in more than one state.
This new agreement appears to settle these issues, provided it's followed. Under its terms, Verizon will extend fiber to 10,000 to 12,000 households not currently served by it in Long Island and Verizon's "Upstate Reporting Region" (these are Verizon-specific regions, not geographical areas, so "Long Island" may mean more than just the island). It will begin immediately replacing copper lines in certain specific NYC buildings with high failure rates and transitioning them to fiber optic cable, repairing operations within 50 upstate wireless centers with high failure rates, allow plant technicians to report plant failures and maintenance needs more accurately, and begin inspecting and replacing the batteries that provide critical connectivity in the event of a power outage when said batteries are deployed for specific customers (hospitals, police stations, and other emergency facilities). It will also begin removing so-called "double poles." A double pole is when an old telephone pole is stapled (metaphorically speaking) to a newer one. Some examples of a double pole from PA are shown below; Verizon has been hauled into court to force it to do its job in more than one state.
And this is why all of the people telling us the market will find a solution are utterly full of shit.
The free-market is always going to be filled with players who will do anything to get an advantage. They'll outright lie to you or manipulate the game to their advantage.
The only thing the "free market" optimizes for is greedy assholes.
The market is completely incapable of solving or fixing this issue, because a bunch of selfish companies will never arrive at a solution which works.
The reality is, we don't have competing water, sewage, and electricity. We don't have competing roads, fire hydrants, fire services, or police forces. This shit is infrastructure, and built to serve and benefit everyone.
It's about fucking time we recognized that if telcos want to compete for our business (instead of telling us what we can have as a monopoly) that the cabling which comes to our homes must be common and universal.
Then let's see what they fucking do.
These greedy cocksuckers have already collected huge amounts of money which had been required to be earmarked to expand and maintain this infrastructure. The problem is they kept it for profits and failed to invest in their network so they could move on to the next thing they could oversell and under-deliver on.
That they're trying to let it rot and go away to push us to more modern and profitable stuff is unsurprising. That they're starting to get backed into a corner by states and municipalities is a good sign.
Free market my goddamned fucking ass ... let the fuckers compete starting from the curb, and then we'll begin to see if there can be such a thing as a free market.
Of course, Ajit Pai the great puppet of the telcos will probably hand it masters relief from this, because he's such a paid shill it isn't funny.
Welcome to your oligarchy, America. If you think you have, or ever will have, a free market, you're fucking delusional.
Somehow I want to see killer clowns executing corporate executives after reading this article. That would be awesome.