Fios?

[el-cubano-15.livejournal.com]

Anyone know when Fios is coming to Somerville? I'm really tired of Comcast. 

Comments

[leko.livejournal.com]

Not soon enough. I'm fairly happy with RCN, but fios would be way better.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

Probably around the same time it arrives in Dorchester where I just moved to, which is to say never.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

actually, no, it's going to get to Dorchester first. I think that it has to do with how thickly populated an area is. The more dense, the harder it is to get the wires around...

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

The likelihood that the entirety of Boston is wired before the entirety of Somerville is pretty slim.

Both cities are undoubtedly among the last that Verizon wants to get into since the overhead of running fiber through them makes it look unappealing.

[mcflynnthm.livejournal.com]

In the meantime, go RCN. I have nothing but good things to say about them. And they don't mess with my traffic (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071114-comcast-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-over-traffic-blocking.html).

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

Blocking ports 80 and 25 (and who knows what else that I didn't specifically examine) was enough traffic-messing for me to cancel RCN within a week of getting it.

That and the TV signal literally had a 1-second pause every 5 seconds.

[mcflynnthm.livejournal.com]

That's really strange. I've not experienced anything like that. Admittedly, I don't much use those two ports (my bittorrent and SSH are higher), but my TV has been flawless for the year and a half I've been an RCN customer.

But I feel that port blocking is easily worked around. When they're examining your traffic and sending bad packets to you? That's a whole hell of a lot worse.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

I probably could have worked around it, but when the TV also didn't work, that was enough for me to scrap the service altogether.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

FiOS customers noticed that they block ports 80 and 25 as well.

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/verizonfios/1.3_IP_addresses_and_Port_Info#13225

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

well, crap. that is wack.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Why? "If you want to host a web site and run an SMTP server from your home network, buy a business-grade connection, fool!" seems like a reasonable policy to me, especially in light of the potential for the unwashed masses to be unknowingly running spam servers from their vast amounts of installed malware.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

I am all for network openness, but the spam problem is so severe I have sympathy for this.

On the other hand, if I were a spammer, I would just run my rogue SMTP server on some other port anyway. Same with my rogue HTTP server. There may have been a time when misconfigured default open ports were the main problem, but that time has passed. It's tough not to see it as just a way to divide the market.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

and indeed, they will open 80 and 25 if you pay them for a static IP, which is $20/month.

[inahandbasket]

35 page thread on DSLreports about Massachusetts rollout.
Suffice it to say, Camberville isn't scheduled yet that they've told anyone. It's nearby to the west though, so hopefully this year?

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

likely never. The way the rules are currently written, if a company wants to add a service like fios, they have to wire the entire city. While somerville has the density to support the service, there are large portions of somerville (outside of the Davis sq area) where not enough people would get it (due to not wanting it, low income, etc) that verizon isn't going to add it. This is why the telcos are trying to get the rules changed so they can get a statewide license, then pick and choose which communities they add services to.

[elements.livejournal.com]

And the fact that Verizon has been so insistent on trying to shut out lower-income communities nationwide is one reason that, even if fios *does* come to Somerville, as long as there are feasible alternatives (RCN) I will never become a Verizon customer.

[Other reasons include their intense opposition to network neutrality and industry-wide some of the poorest labor practices.]

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

Like others said here, have RCN and never had major problems with them. Once in every blue moon, the connection might drop, but a reset of the modem is all it takes to get back up.

[thewrongbloke.livejournal.com]

I'd set the over/under at 2 years. I heard they have it in Arlington now, but I still wouldn't expect it here for a long while...

Comcast is lousy and on several occasions they have sent sales guys knocking on my door trying to get me to switch. I find that pretty obnoxious. I'm with RCN, but only for Internet (I get my television OTA), and I'm very happy with them.

[etana.livejournal.com]

Sadly a while like folks said. I'm pissed I can't get RCN.....damn Comcast and it's evil super powers.

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

About six months ago I noticed that Verizon trucks were hanging fiber from the utility poles. However, they still have to put cable in the ground everywhere there's not poles. So, at least they're doing something.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

The last time we had this discussion, Tom Champion let us know that Verizon has been refusing to meet with the mayor to discuss this. They apparently want the right to wire only part of the city, not have public access channels, etc. Somerville is one of the few communities in the country to have real competition, and it won't be able to stay that way if Verizon gets to do what it is proposing. So the answer appears to be "when Verizon decides to negotiate," and the mayor has finally given me a reason to vote for him.

RCN

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

On a related point, any idea why RCN doesn't cover all of Somerville?

If Verizon would have to cover the entire city, wouldn't RCN face the same requirement?

Re: RCN

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

RCN should NOT be telling you they can't serve you if you are a resident of Somerville. Their license requires them to serve the entire city.

Please send me an message at my city hall email(tchampion@somervillema.gov)
with your address, the dates that you called them to request service, and more info about what they told you.

I will follow up with you offline - and if there's a general problem, I'll let DSLJers know what's happening.

Re: RCN

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

Could it be they can't serve you because of the building you are in? I lived in a 6 unit apartment which could only be wired for comcast.

Re: RCN

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

duffless2323 raises a valid point.

In some cases, landlords in multi-unit buildings refuse to wire for more than one cable company and the renters are stuck with whatever the building's owner provides. RCN can't serve a building if the landlord refuses access.

There are a very, very few cases in which the only feasible route over which to connect a residential customer to the nearest RCN cable requires an easement from an adjacent property owner. If that isn't forthcoming, RCN can't close the deal.

Re: RCN

[ron_newman]

Aren't landlords required to allow all cable companies access to a building?

[derekp.livejournal.com]

From what I have read, the city has repeatedly written Verizon asking them to apply to become a cable carrier in the city, but Verizon has not responded. I think the issue is that there's simply too much competition here. Not only do they have to take customers from Comcast, but they also have to take them from RCN. I don't expect it anytime soon. Which is really a shame, because I would switch TODAY. FIOS TV is slick. Comcast/RCN digital cable? Please - I kept analog cable.

Maybe if all of us interested shot an email over to Verizon telling them we were interested, it might help.

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

Actually, Verizon has launched FIOS in serveral communities where RCN is located. But Verizon says it won't apply for cable franchises in any additional towns in Masachusetts until it finishes rolling-out service to existing towns, which could take time.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I don't know who I hate more Verizon or Comcast, so its a toss up. However this article http://consumerist.com/353381/verizon-to-hollywood-were-not-the-piracy-police

made me recently think someone at Verizon is using their noggin. I spend 1/2 hour with a very nice person from comcast the other day who could not explain to me the difference between comcast dvr and the new comcast dvr with tivo. I have an old tivo box and don't want to buy a new one, yet do I want to give comcast more money? Not really.

Anywho...I hope fios gets here soon - - my dad just got the ATT version of fios in CT and loves it and its much cheaper than regular cable - I wonder if that is coming here?

Fios looks good, but I have to admit everytime I watch the TRUE QUAM commercials I get annoyed that the dad lets his 5 year old son hang out in with the fios tech and his van without being supervised.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

No time soon, according to none other than our favorite civil servant:

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1087863.html?thread=10405239#t10405239

[mderidder.livejournal.com]

This article was just in the Globe on Monday

1. They are competing with both RCN and Comcast
2. It looks like they are starting to add more communities again (Wayland and Norfolk)

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/02/verizon_gained.html

[ourthermidor.livejournal.com]

RCN ain't bad.

What about RCN HD?

[el-cubano-15.livejournal.com]

HD is really important to me... I haven't heard anything good about RCN's HD picture quality. I think I might be stuck with Comcast until Fios comes to town. It can't be that far off b/c a friend of mine in Woburn is getting it this weekend. Last I heard, Woburn is not a wealthy town.

Re: What about RCN HD?

[mderidder.livejournal.com]

RCN HD is terrible. Some of the channels don't come in. There aren't that many to begin with. There's no HD on-demand, that I can find.

Re: What about RCN HD?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Speaking not as a city official but as an RCN customer, I think their HD service is okay - comparable to Comcast, certainly - but I share mderidder's pique that there is no on-demand HD service. As I have noted elsewhere, I think their overall on-demand service isn't up to the standard they set in internet, phone and regular digital cable service.

As for FIOS, this thread already contains references and links to my older post about Verizon's unwillingness to come to Somerville. Please take my word for it: they don't want to serve this city. It's not that they wouldn't make money: it's just that they wouldn't make enough money as quickly as they feel they need to.

Unless the state or the Feds change the rules to allow cherry-picking of prime neighborhoods, FIOS will probably never get here. If the rules are changed, FIOS may come into a few of our more affluent neighborhoods, but not any time soon. And we're fighting to keep the rules we have, because we don't think a cable provider (which requires access to city streets and poles just like any other utility) should be able to red-line a community into "have" or "have-not" neighborhoods.

[lilly9999.livejournal.com]

My sister has it in Canton (a little south of Boston) and is not impressed with it. They double-charged her credit card AND bank account with the initial bill, even though she never authorized them to touch her bank account.