August 7, 2008
Watch Out, Comcast: FiOS Could Be On Its Way to D.C.
Don't go storming in to Comcast's service center in Northeast to return your DVRs and modems just yet, but you may be able to free yourself from the cable provider's ubiquitous grip soon enough.
The Examiner is reporting today that the D.C. Office of Cable Television and Verizon have reached an initial agreement to bring the provider's fiber optic network, FiOS, to the District. The agreement, while not yet a done deal, would mean that a handful of residents (those in buildings pre-wired for the service) could have access to Verizon's all-in-one service by early 2009, marking the first new competitor to enter the District's market since RCN started operating in 2005. The rest of us will have to wait longer for the company to replace existing copper lines with fiber optic cable -- a process which will take at least a couple of years to complete.
Comcast's quasi-monopolistic hold on the District's cable market is legendary, spawning legions of irate customers (bandwidth limits and refusing to air Nats games are but a small sample of the daily struggles many of us have had with the cable giant). And though not a District resident, a 75-year-old Manassas woman did to a Comcast office late last year what so many of us dream about (it involved a hammer) every time we deal with their customer service or try to decipher how our cable rates jumped 50 percent in a month.
News of a tentative FiOS agreement comes as a major victory to the people behind Connect-DC.org, a campaign to convince Verizon to bring FiOS to the District that saw Metrobuses plastered with messages like, "Verizon's bringing high speed Internet to suburbs. Not D.C. Tell Verizon to stop disrespecting D.C. We need FiOS now."
The agreement still needs to be reviewed by the Office of the Attorney General and be approved by the D.C. Council, but if any of them are Comcast subscribers, we wouldn't be surprised to see Council members rush back from their summer recess to get this done as quickly as possible.
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I've had a lot of experience with Verizon and Comcast. And they both suck. I find that once you get a Comcast employee on the phone or in your house, they're pretty helpful. But, as you point out, Comcast seems to arbitrarily jack up your rates.
Verizon doesn't jack up your rates as bad, but their customer service is terrible. I once had my DSL out for three months. I had to call just about every day, and heard a different story each time.
New boss, same as the old boss...
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I think Martin is being wildly optimistic with the desire of the city council to get this done quickly. My bet: Each member is going to be wrangling everything they possibly can out of Verizon in exchange for their vote. And the various do-gooder types will also be demanding Verizon provide free or reduced cost Fios service to low-income residents if they want to get their cable franchise agreement.
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Competition for Comcast?!?! Now THAT'S Comcastic!!!
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by the time they rewire my old inner city house for FiOS (which i'd immediately switch to), i'll be well on my way to a better city. like Detroit.
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"Verizon's bringing high speed Internet to suburbs. Not D.C. Tell Verizon to stop disrespecting D.C. We need FiOS now."
FIOS coverage is a crapshoot. There are whole swaths of the burbs where there's no coverage and no plans for it either. I've been on their sucker list for years and have given up any hope of getting it. Once the Council has had their way, you might get FIOS in a second Fenty administration if you're lucky.
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Comcast and Verizon are perfect examples for why we need municiple utilities. Then again-- the DC government may not do any better than Comcast and/or Verizon. Sigh. With municiple utilities, at least you can always vote bad service out of office.
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When I moved to DC, I requested cable installation from Comcast online. After a week, I did the same with RCN. They called me that day and it was installed the next day. Three weeks after that, Comcast called to see when I wanted cable installed and I laughed in their face.
I haven't had a single problem with RCN in the year that I've been here and its cheaper that Comcast. Really, do yourself a favor and switch.
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Seconding Reid here.
Comcast and Verizon both suck in their own frustrating ways. While my picture quality was horrible with Comcast, it took more than 2 years to get Verizon to change my mailing address when I moved.
I actually had to get the FCC involved!
FYI if you're having seemingly intractable problems with you're ISP, phone or cable service, the FCC has an online form for complaining. I LOVE it:
http://www.fcc.gov/
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where the f can you get RCN in this town? definitely not in hill east.
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Praise Jesus! Hallelujah! Testify!
When I lived in Hyattsville, I went 3 weeks without internet, just to get FIOS, just to punish Comcast for their crappy customer service and draconian network traffic management practices.
FIOS was better, faster, and cheaper than Comcast. Their customer service was also much better.
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Verizon is in hot water in Fairfax as their sub-contractor installers have been doing a sloppy job in installing fiber, better yet, ripping up people’s yard…so see some resistance on that end.
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No to nitpick, but I had RCN (back when it was Starpower) when I lived in Columbia Heights in 2003, so I think they've been operating in DC since before 2005. But I think more competition in general will be good.
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On the issue of competition, the Post had a chart some months back comparing the rates of Verizon and Comcast (and maybe DSL and satellite) in MoCo and other places Fios was offered. The end result? The prices were similar, and they all increased their rates the same amount. So yeah, there's more competitors, but if they're all charging the same rates and increasing it the same amounts, is there really beneficial competition for consumers?
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Connect-DC was just a labor union front. Its goal was to protect union jobs in whatever franchise Verizon got, not to make sure DC got wired.
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I got rid of Comcast as much as possible a year and a half ago. Got rid of their internet service after a horrible experience with their repair technicians, even if it is par for the course.
So far, Verizon hasn't failed me with DSL. I've heard excellent things about FIOS internet and TV. My part of Arlington doesn't yet have FIOS, but I'm moving to a part that does soon enough - I can't wait.
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I don't think that most of us lack for choice in DC in regards to cable providers. I just made the switch from RCN (after a steep price hike) to DirecTV. I could have also went with Dish or Comcast. Having 4 options is nothing to sneeze at (granted I'm roping satellite in with cable here). Certainly the addition of FIOS would be a good thing, but compared to most places we already have a good selection to choose from. Not to say that these don't all have their own share of problems, but that's another blog post.
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Don't hate me because I'm beautiful ... We've had Comcast cable and internet for years and so far so good. It's a bundled account with the condo building and we got a free digital converter box rental through the end of 2008.
I break out in a cold sweat everytime I hear a horror story about Comcast and wonder when the devil will find me.
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I agree with Reid. Comcast's pricing can be a pain to deal with and their customer service reps are hit-or-miss, but Verizon's customer service is appallingly bad. They don't even staff their phone lines on the weekends for account/billing questions.
All the houses in my part of Arlington have Fios but my apt building does not. There seems to be no information regarding when or how they'll roll out service to new areas. They once claimed that only "some" of my building could even get DSL access based on how the phones were wired. It's like they don't want customers.
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Starpower was a joint venture between Pepco and RCN, and RCN bought out Pepco's share a few years ago. They've been in the District in some form or another for at least a decade or so.
I've had mostly good experiences with RCN, but my bill just went up about $14/month, and they're really starting to lag behind Comcast in the HD department.
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Yay I get to share.
I've tried to install Verizon DSL twice in the District. Both times (two different locations) there was an unspecified problem in the "telephone" room of the building. Verizon said my building may cover the expense. My building said "Ahahahahaha" click.
Verizon then offered to come and check it out, ya know, look around a bit on my behalf. And for this service they would charge me $125 for the first half hour and $125 per hour until they decided to stop charging me. This for a $10 a month phone line for incoming calls only... No thanks. Verizon went and billed me as if the line had been connected 3 months later.
Then there's Comcast. I nearly threw a party last month. It was the first time in a year of service that my bill was correct. I triple checked. I didn't actually throw the party because it had taken me 3 months to get them to admit they had overcharged me by hundreds of dollars and randomly turned off my sports subscription 2 weeks before the season ended. The CSR even said, "Yes we found some inaccuracies with your account but they are minor, not what you are suggesting."
All I want is my DirecTv back.
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between upward spiraling costs, downward spiraling service and increased availability of programming (either via DVD or other downloadable options), it was a fairly easy choice for me to get rid of cable altogether... at some point, it's just not worth it anymore...
(of course, you still have to deal with high speed internet service, but I didn't have any problems with RCN and I haven't had any with verizon... yet...)
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If FiOS is the same price as cable, it's still a good deal because optical fiber (FiOS) transmits data significantly more quickly than coax (cable), so you're getting more for the same price. I've already wired my house for FiOS, but I bet that's not the kind of building they're talking about hooking up in early 09. sigh.
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I have horror stories with both Comcast AND Verizon. Comcast is still billing my old apartment, even though I canceled the service when I moved out in June. They came by and took the $#% equipment before we moved! How do they think we're getting our Internets? They sent the bill for August to our new address, and they don't even provide service for that area. Jerkholes.
And I had Verizon tell me they couldn't install FiOS in my home because I had a previously existing business connection. That would be the business connection the previous owner of the home canceled long before we moved in. After four days of BS with their customer service, we canceled Verizon and went with Cox. Cox had everything set up in one afternoon.
Verizon is still billing us, despite the fact that we have a verification letter that we canceled our service after FOUR DAYS. They don't return customer service e-mails, and good luck trying to talk to someone on the phone. Bigger jerkholes.
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I love my DirecTV and feel sorry for anyone without "a clear view of the southern sky."
We swore off Comcast years ago after a technician didn't show up after 8 hours of waiting (and after being given a 4 hour window; and after he hadn't shown up the previous day at all).
But the resulting phone call ("No. No need to reschedule. I don't ever want to deal with your company again.") and the new package DSL/Satellite service from Verizon/DirecTV made it all worthwhile.