Bus ads drive message: Verizon bypasses nation's capital

City buses rolled out of parking garages in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 1 with a message for city leaders and residents -- "This bus isn't the only thing passing you by. Verizon is bringing high-speed Internet to the suburbs: Not to D.C." While Verizon has been advertising its high-speed FiOS network on D.C. airwaves, plans to actually install high-speed Internet in the city are far from the drawing board, and the Communications Workers of America and other groups are calling on city council members to push back.

More than two dozen witnesses including CWA Local 2336 President Jim Pappas testified before the council today on behalf of a community coalition -- Connect-DC -- that includes CWA, Jobs with Justice and Broadband Everywhere.

"Verizon is cherry-picking and at the moment D.C.'s just not low-hanging fruit," Pappas said. According to Pappas, Verizon has moved nearly a third of its jobs from the District to the suburbs to work on FiOS over the past four years, leaving D.C. residents with increasingly poor phone service. "My members tell me that many customers have service trouble every time it rains and the troubles end up getting left so long that the sun dries out the cable and the problems disappear on their own -- at least until the next rain."

Verizon customers have made similar complaints. Last month, Local 2336 members and others from Connect-DC undertook 135 random household surveys of Verizon customers throughout the city. Surveys were submitted via the Internet, advisory neighborhood commissioners, at supermarkets and subway stations. Forty-nine people said they had phone trouble when it rained and more than half rated their service as "poor" or "abysmal," the group told the city council.

While Verizon so far has not invested in FiOS in D.C., the company is pushing preemptively to win deregulation of voice over the Internet (VoIP) for the future. The city council is set to vote on the issue in March, and Connect-DC is opposing deregulation.

"From our surveys it's clear that Verizon has not been able to meet existing service quality standards for regulated phone services," said Mackenzie Baris, lead organizer with D.C. Jobs with Justice. "By giving up its right to regulate a new technology that may develop and expand in unexpected ways, the city council would be shirking its responsibility to protect consumers. Residents of the District deserve better."

Connect-DC