Fiber to the premises (
FTTP), has the potential to deliver the most advanced HD services today, and although it isn't available in most of the country,
Verizon (and others) are bleeding money digging up neighborhoods all over the US to install the magical stuff. Just because you have fiber to your home doesn't mean life is perfect though, there are still plenty of things that can get in the way of your viewing pleasure -- like franchise agreements. Verizon recently announced that they were testing HD VOD in their labs and have an internal time line for launching the service -- that they aren't ready to share. But with their competition already offering this service in some areas they can't wait forever.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mroach @ Jun 19th 2007 4:27PM
Verizon is weird. They installed fiber on my street in the span of about 8 work days back in early November. That was exciting, but they never hooked up the fiber. The cable is just coming out of the ground at the end of the street and has been there since then. This doesn't make any sense to me at all. Wouldn't they want to start making money on their new cable as soon as possible? They're denying themselves 50 - 60 potential household customers by not hooking this up.
Peter Gonzalez @ Jun 19th 2007 5:24PM
THIS IS THE BEGINING OF THE END FOR HD DVD AND BLURAY!!! THE FUTURE IS HD VOD....ANY MOVIE EVER MADE, IN HD AND ON DEMAND FOR A MONTHLY FLAT FEE!!!!!
I CANT WAIT !!!!
Dan Isaacs @ Jun 20th 2007 7:12AM
Nice. Looks like the Storage company that helps me pay my mortgage is going to be making some more money from the wonderful customer that is Verizon.
Now, if only FIOS would make its way to Raleigh-Durham...
riverside_guy @ Jun 20th 2007 12:19PM
It is possible that FIOS fiber may remain dark until they execute the franchise agreement they need to with whatever part of you state/city government hold those keys.
Here's another good illustration of the issue of being a cable customer... in my city, one "neighborhood (borough)" appears to be possibly the first one where Verizon might start selling FIOS (once they get that franchise agreement). The local cable monopoly (TW) bent over backwards to give them more HD. As it is today, that area of the city has 4 HD channels the rest of us do not. There is NO indication they will lift a finger to provide those who pay the same as that neighborhood to get more HD, mostly likely because customers purchasing FIOS are farther way from being able to do that.
AND if TW's fiber rollout is any indication, it might be 2 years from the time FIOS starts running fiber under the street from when they start at the southern end until they get to me, located on the northern end. Yet it seems I'm going to be paying the same amount of what amounts to less service. Nice, eh? THAT is why I suspect customers like me may very well switch to FIOS even if the services are actually competitive.