Business Week gleefully notes that Verizon will soon be offering 5, 15, and 30Mbps fiber speed packages; even 100Mbps for those interested - is next week good for you? If you've paid attention (which Business Week hasn't), you've been hearing these same fiber promises from Verizon for more than a decade.

From Nynex in their 1993 annual report: "We're prepared to install between 1.5 million and 2 million fiber-optic lines through 1996 to begin building our portion of the information superhighway."

From a Bell Atlantic press release in 1996: "Later this year, Bell Atlantic will begin installing fiber-optic facilities and electronics to replace the predominantly copper cables between its telephone switching offices and customers - The company plans to add digital video broadcast capabilities to this 'fiber-to-the-curb,' switched broadband network by the third quarter of 1997."

As of 2003 however, only 39,000 US homes were connected to fiber lines. While we're finally seeing some very strong movement toward fiber by Verizon in 2004, it's far from a national rollout, which some analysts predict could take up to a decade to complete. Yet Business Week seems to hint you'll be seeing 30Mbps in no time? Nortel's CTO says 20Mbps within several years? Many users still can't get DSL!

And it isn't because of a lack of funding. Aside from traditional revenue streams, states like Pennsylvania have doled out billions in incentives to Verizon to deploy fiber state-wide. Once that money was paid, lawmakers watered down state legislation to lower the bar on deployment. A decade old bill designed to deliver residential fiber gave Verizon billions, but gave residents scattered 1.5Mbps DSL.

The truth is, promises of fiber to the home have been held out like a carrot in the face of regulators for decades. Just last month, the New Jersey state Board of Public Utilities ruled that Verizon could only "moderately increase" the wholesale rates the bell charges competitors to lease their lines. Verizon's response to such an "outrage"? A threat to pull away from a quarter-billion dollar fiber optic deployment in the state.

Traditionally skeptical of bell behavior or not, news outlets need to treat Verizon (and their fiber promises) like the boy who cried wolf, and stop clapping like children watching clowns make balloon animals every time Verizon issues a press release. At this point, believe in Verizon fiber to the home only when you're seeing the soft glow of the LEDs from your 30Mbps connected Verizon modem.