PLEASE GIVE US FIOS

Verizon had agreed to have fiber-optic cable for FiOS pass all three million homes in the city by the end of last year. Lawyers for each side, however, are arguing about the definition of “pass.” The company says it has met the deadline. The city’s response: not even close. FiOS remains unavailable in large swaths of the city, including the vast Co-op City complex in the Bronx, which comprises more than 15,000 apartments. “We’ve had some rather impassioned meetings with some of our residents who say, ‘We want Verizon,’” said Jeffrey Buss, general counsel for Riverbay Corporation, which manages Co-op City.

The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications released a scathing audit report in June concluding that Verizon “systematically refused to accept orders for residential service.” By the company’s admission, nearly one-fourth of the blocks in the city have no buildings wired for FiOS, the report said.

The New York Times reports what many in New York City have already known: They cannot get FiOS and probably won’t anytime soon. The Awl offices are located on the third floor of a small building that is sandwiched between the tallest luxury condos in the borough on a bustling corner in the heart of a quaint neighborhood known as Downtown Brooklyn, which is the third largest business district in New York City. We would love to replace our incredibly slow Verizon DSL with FiOS so we can bring more of our Content to the People. But some for reason it’s just not available in our area? Please call us Verizon! (We’ve tried calling you.)

Photo by Eric Hauser