Verizon Says NYC Landlords Holding Up FiOS → If only choosing 1, I prefer the copper wires.

Once you abandon those two little simple copper wires you lose:
1) Phone service that is more likely to work with your power out
2) Reliable 911 service with full location ability
3) The ability to purchase DSL services from a vendor of your choice.

Who would have thought that companies would prefer sending laser through fragile shredded glass instead of electricity over simple copper wiring. But Verizon doesn't have to share their fiber to other ISPs, do they?

OMG! When I grow up, I want to be able to purchase DSL!

When I grow up I want to be able to purchase a fiber connection. But last, I cannot even though FiOS is less the 500' away from my home as they have run it into new higher priced neighborhoods and to the government complex but bypassed ALL the more established neighborhoods with only Comcast as their choice.

"Who would have thought that companies would prefer sending laser through fragile shredded glass instead of electricity over simple copper wiring."

Wow! I hardly know where to begin with this sentence. First, to answer the question, anyone who has an understanding of how well, or should I say how poorly, data signals are able to propagate over copper past a fairly short distance. The speed of DSL a customer can get depends on how far they are from the nearest DSLAM, and the variation in available speeds is significant over a matter of a few miles. I recommend you do some research on the bandwidth capabilities of a GPON network using single-mode optical fiber and compare those to that of copper POTS lines.

I also can't leave out the comment about "fragile shredded glass." That "fragile" glass is in place all over the world, across continents and under the oceans with an incredible reliability record.

1 - Manhattan has rarely if ever been without power. Sandy and the big North East blackout are the only two times I can recall. Otherwise, power in Manhattan itself is rock solid.

2 - if You go with FCC regulated telephone service (not digital voice), your getting the same exact 911 service. The copper end and the FIOS fiber end plug into the same equipment. Digital voice is different but its not an issue either.

== and in regards to # 1 and # 2 most customers simply don't care about these things, hence why they are leaving POTS line services for Cable Co. VOIP, Vonage, and cell phones.

3 - I'll come out and say it ...

I used to work for a DSL company and it opened the doors to the career I have today. I will forever be grateful to DSL for the competition it has brought to the market and the services that have come about as a result. While my house never qualified for DSL, for a long period of time I wish it did. That was until my cable internet connection started blowing DSL out of the water.

While some companies are continuing to push DSL, its not as as scalable as cable, and not a drop on a fiber based system like FIOS.

DSL, like dial up modems and AOL before it, has lived a good life but its time for it to be put to rest.

You're kidding, right? The power in Manhattan and other parts of NYC goes out regularly in the summer when the electrical grid gets overloaded from too many people using their air-conditioners. The power also goes out in large sections depending on the maintenance Con Ed performs (or fails to perform as is often the case). I guess you weren't around for the blackout of '77 either.

3 major blackouts in 36 years is a pretty decent track record. For purposes of this conversation, the 8 hour ONT should be sufficient for the otherwise occassional hiccup.

Fiber is great but a certain company (rhymes with horizon) has been accused of yanking out the copper wiring connections after they have installed fiber. Since the given company has exclusive rights on the fiber but had to share the copper it is clearly an anti-competitive measure and the FCC is clearly asleep at the wheel or is being calmed with lucrative benefits.

Optimal is to have both fiber and landline. Fiber for fast and copper landline for when the crap hits the fan. I can count on one hand the number of times my landline has gone out. My power was out for 22 1/2 hours last summer which would have exceeded the backup battery capacity for fios. My landline, however, worked fine and I actually accessed the utilities status page via dialup/modem from my laptop.