truedalife
join:2003-01-10
Brooklyn, MD
| Verizon still acting like Ma Bell.
Verizon will never play fair. As I posted before here at BBR, Comcast actively negotiates over 120 franchise agreements per year. There is a department dedicated just for that. All that department does is review franchise agreements all year long, everyday. For over 20 years now, Comcast has continued to follow the rules in every State of this union, that it owns a cable system in.
Yes, Comcast lobbies every year for reform in the franchise process too! But do they ever get the congress support for real reform? No, they have never gotten any support from any congressmen in this matter. And never a reform bill being debated in any committee. Why?
State vs. local government. The local townships and local city government officials have been fighting the state governments for years, keeping them out of the local franchise process. Verizon keeps lobbing the states to pass statewide franchise agreements, which is wrong and bad for everyone. It takes away power from your local government. And all those community perks are gone, no matter how crazy they were. Those taxes that Comcast pays for each subscriber, a bigger share will now goto the state. Leaving your townships looking for revenues. It once took Baltimore City over 5 months to review and close an agreement with Comcast cable.
At what price do you want your FIOS people? On the blood, sweat and tears of the tax payers? Can't you see the bullshit? This is a corporate company directly influencing government policies that yes, do generates competition, but also directly allows Verizon to have an unfair advantage over the competition.
Do you see any other company out there in business land, with deep pockets (in the billions for a fiber to the home project) that could complete with with Verizon's FTTH? There really aren't any other companies out there that could just jump into the video business like Verizon just did. That means the franchise reform Verizon is fighting for, will only benefits one company. Them
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES, (someone out there in BBR land might say)? The advantages are a streamlined process in the application review (90 days), with less demands allowed by your local government. It's wrong to have a streamline process officiated by the state, because your local officials work hard to make sure that your CATV (community access television) provider contributes to your community. Weather they demand a new library or high franchise fee's in goes back to your community. Good luck getting your money back from the state controllers office.
This is the history of Verizon. When ever Ma Bell would get in trouble financially, they would go cry to Uncle Sam to bail them out. Then Ma Bell had her babies and Verizon gobbled everything on the East coast in the aftermath. But like daughter and mother, they both have the same cooperate genes. Just like there mommy, Verizon will suck that government welfare nipple. Tee! Tee!
Verizon ate up the East coast too fast, and with bad future financial forecast plans. They did not plan for competition from VOIP and cable broadband, that's why they back-lashed at VOIP provider Vonage. Go back to when Verizon was Bell Atlantic and there was once a company called NYNEX. Bell Atlantic planned shortly after the breakup, to buy back as many baby bell systems up the East coast. At the time there was only dial up and it was booming with surcharges for being on-line too long. Oh, the BBS days. I remember well. And those surcharges.
Thinking they could continue to receive around $50 each month from there customers, the CEO at the time started the process to buy back most of the baby bell properties up the East cost. Then the age of broadband exploded on to the scene, like the big bang that they say started the universe. No more two phone lines in a home, many went with @Home. Then VOIP came and many said "I already pay for broadband access to the internet cheaply, why not get my home phone service over the same broadband connection!" And for half the price than the newly named Verizon. A big bloated company with debt they had to ingest from many failing baby bells they ate up. With VOIP many canceled the Verizon phone service.
You can't predict that kind of forecast. You would have never guessed that VOIP and Cable companies would be taking there core business way if you asked them in the 1980's. You would have never guessed that other providers would be riding on Verizon's (Ma Bell's) government built lines. This is do or die for Verizon. Either die from an archaic system or rebuild with as much government welfare and red tape cutting as possible.
Mean while, Comcast, TWC, COX, Cablevision, Bright-house and many many more in your community continue to play fair by following the original franchise agreements. Play fair Verizon! Play fair!
Playing dirty is for losers. You wait and watch for the Verizon empire to fall. The average consumer doesn't care if his video rides to the house on yarn or fishing string. They just want a clear picture. And how fast is real fast? Comcast proved today that DOCSIS 3.0 can deliver blazing 100 Mbps. On regular cable wires. 50 Mbps both ways is good to me. Too much speed is going to bog up the internet infrastructure. |
