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fios in west virginia anytime

If you live in the northern panhandle, you should have it soon. In the roll-out to pittsburgh and some of the other towns/cities along the WV/PA border, you'll be able to get it. As for a timeline, I don't have one for you.

This is just what info I have during training for the new callcenter here in WV (in charleston). I know when the head IT guy came here to do the usual "thanks for working for verizon, we love you guys" speech, we asked him that question, and he told us about the Northern Panhandle getting access first here in WV. He said he didn't know about any other parts of the state. He didn't give us a timeline but hinted it would be about the same time Pittsburgh gets FiOS (which should be happening now, i think?)

Areas around Pittsburgh have/are getting FIOS. But WV is not going to get FIOS anytime soon. The basic reason is economics. Don't you think Charleston, Huntington, or Teays Vally would be the first? Or maybe Morgantown?

reply to jeff55
I'd rather believe the head of IT for Verizon when he says "It is coming to WV and the northern panhandle is getting it first."

My opinion is it's because of morgantown...

reply to jeff55
nice! thanks for that bit of info. i have been in touch with one of the guys from vz management a few times and he never denied anything about fios. he did say that we would be getting it in the future and that that they were still in th early stages of planning. he said it would most likely be sometime after 2010 too by the time it comes to wv. maybe they have decided to go ahead and get the ball rolling early? keep us updated on what you hear!

If they are going to deploy it don't you think Verizon would make some announcement considering all the bad press they have been getting in WV?

reply to jeff55
what bad press? verizon isn't going to formally announce any kind of plans to deploy fios unless its for a video franchise or when they have completed the work.

reply to jeff55
I talked with a Verizon rep a couple of weeks ago from WV. He mentioned they had a meeting and all there waiting for is approval from the state. They already have had fiber in place to there hubs for years he mentioned. All they need to do is extend it out.

reply to jeff55
really? i'm supprised this hasn't made the news if its true. when verizon took over from bell atlantic in 2001, they built a rt not even a half mile from my place and put all new lines on the poles (to bring dsl and upgrade old lines for better reliablility). i can't tell whether it is fiber or copper. i'm thinking its all fiber since it was recently done in '01. i'll take a couple of pics and post them. maybe someone could tell.

reply to jeff55
from »createwv.typepad.com/createwv/20···-up.html

Broadband coverage in West Virginia has been a source of frustration on all sides. Economic development advocates are frustrated that major providers won't invest more aggressively to fill gaps in small towns and rural areas, effectively shutting off those communities from Internet-based opportunities in e-learning, ecommerce and online health services. Telco providers point to the low "take rate", or the lower percentage of folks in West Virginia who subscribe to broadband Internet service even when it's available, and the risk involved in such hefty investments.

Meanwhile, some smaller telcos are looking at the gap as an opportunity. The Charleston Daily Mail outlines FiberNet's aggressive plans for providing fiber (a MUCH faster broadband technology) throughout major portions of the state through its "Gigabit Passive Optical Network". The company has invested $100 million in the state and now has about 3,000 route miles of fiber, mostly available to businesses. To date, they've deployed GPON in 19 of WV's 55 counties, with plans for expansion. Speeds of up to 100 megabits are available, as compared to the 1-megabit to 7-megabit speed of DSL. The fiber infrastructure lays the groundwork for interactive television and other consumer services in the near future.

David Armentrout, FiberNet's Chief Operating Officer, stated that communities with fiber connectivty can "... can go after businesses that must have 'big' broadband and are looking to relocate and take advantage of West Virginia's quality of life and cost of living."

Here's hoping this spurs on more competitors to provide advanced, high-speed service to West Virginia communities so that more companies like www.twolanelivin.com, www.practicelink.com and others begin to pop up in greater frequency in small towns and rural areas in our state.

reply to jeff55
zig, are you from wv? i guess vz isn't going to start installing more fiber here until the video franchise agreement goes through with the legislators. i really hope it does b/c we need someone to compete with suddenlink and their sucky, unreliable service. if you or tollhouse can find out anything else, plz let us know!

Yes, I am from the Weirton area. I am thinking about starting a petition to get FIOS in the Weirton area and present it to the local mayor offices. Hopefully to speed the process up. I'm an IT guy and I know the difference between a 100% fiber optic network compared to a coaxial hybrid network. Don't let the cable companies fool you. Hell they don't even have enough bandwith now to handle HD channels. I know a local cable technician here, he mentioned they are at capacity.

That is why I decided to live in Pittsburgh and not in Weirton. I am still waiting for the business case for Verizon to invest in WV the money required to wire FIOS. With the same investment that can wire another area and have a greater return. So why from a ROIC standpoint would they invest there? Anyone? It would be nice to WV wired for FIOS. However it just costs to much for the profit generated.

reply to jeff55
dsless, we will see. from what i've been hearing and reading, wv will be wired sometime in the near future. i'm sure vz will be marketing the hell out of it here in order to make that roi too once they roll it out. surely they will roll it out in and around the bigger cities first.

does anyone know how the do fios if you're on a rt? do they upgrade them with the optical equipment or will the new gpon equipment in the co be able to receive the signals if your too far away since gpon is able to reach out 20 MI. or so?

The RTs I'm pretty sure are not responsible for FiOS what so ever, only landline. So nothing to worry about if you're really far from an RT or CO, but that's usually only if you're on the border of the Suburbs and Rural areas. Most suburbs I know have RTs usually every two miles, and large population areas are fed out of COs with RTs all over the place. But yeah, nothing to worry about.

reply to jeff55
Thanks Smith. I thought that might have been the case. I am just over 6 miles away from the CO. The RT is right at .5 miles down the road. All of our lines around here are aerial. They were all replaced exactly 7 years ago when VZ took over from Bell Atlantic. That's when they built and installed the RT down the road. I am not sure, but I think they are newer fiber optic lines. I'll post a pic sometime this week of them.

So, if thats the case and it is already 'fiber ready', then all that needs to happen is an upgrade of the CO with the GPon and optical equipment to send/receive the signals?

A local telephone/internet company that some of you from here may know or heard of (»www.wvfibernet.net/) just recently upgraded to fiber lines in and around the CO a few weeks ago. It is for their service to expand their fiber to business. They are going with the new GPon technology too. How does this work? They use the equipment in VZ's CO don't they? If this is the case, then VZ wouldn't be too far away from doing the same thing and making their fiber live around here?

I'm sorry about the rambling, but I am still learning about how all of this works. There are a lot of people here with all the inside info, techs, etc. and I have been very interested in learning more about fiber optics in general. Thanks.

reply to dsless

Re: fios in west virginia anytime

said by dsless:

That is why I decided to live in Pittsburgh and not in Weirton. I am still waiting for the business case for Verizon to invest in WV the money required to wire FIOS. With the same investment that can wire another area and have a greater return. So why from a ROIC standpoint would they invest there? Anyone? It would be nice to WV wired for FIOS. However it just costs to much for the profit generated.