Waiting for FiOS Availabili​ty is Becoming Ridiculous

Question

     My name is Nick.  Ever since you started advertising FiOS, I have been awaiting its arrival in my area (my zip code is in VA, 23434).  I live in a residential area, but it is not rural.  We currently only have Charter cable here and DirecTV.  Both of these services are terrible, but especially Charter cable.  I would say that my opinion of that company right now is borderline hatred due to poor customer service.   I would like an answer to the following questions: Why is there no product availability map online?  AT&T has one for their UVerse product.  I find it suspect that you say in your online forum that you do not have a similar function for FiOS.   Why are you being secretive about the availability of a new product?  FiOS has been offered for over 2 years now.  Is the availability in my area being delayed due to agreements with other carriers that create regional monopolies?  If not, when will the product be available here and why is it taking so long?  I would like to remain with Verizon due to positive service experiences in the past.  However, if AT&T arrives in the area first I will be forced to take my business (and the rest of my family's business) to your competition.  
Sincerely,
Nick

Answer 1

See if FiOS TV is available in your area.
Check Availability
I think you might be in trouble.  I just found this post from a while back using the search feature. 
by Kesian on 05-15-2012 05:26 PM
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Suffolk will never get Fios.  Not until folks get angry enough to Petition/Sue City of Suffolk to break their contract with the Charter monopoly.  I've been looking for that band wagon to hop on to no avail.  I even hoped Cox would turn up since people 2 blocks from me have it.  I'd jump on that in a minute just to have good fast internet.  
I've lived in Suffolk since 1997 and had the lowest speed DSL this whole time until they offered my first upgrade last year to the Enhanced package.  It is the same speed I had before only it has the ability to scale higher.  It just never does so it still takes me 3 to 4 days to download anything.  Still better than Charter since at least it runs 24/7.  Thank you City of Suffolk.
And I found this news article
Verizon finishes digital-TV network - without Norfolk, Suffolk 
By Carolyn Shapiro
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 12, 2010
Verizon Communications Inc. has finished building the fiber-optic network in Hampton Roads that allows customers to receive top-speed Internet and digital television service.
Verizon has franchise agreements with seven local municipalities - Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson and York County - that allow it to offer its Fios TV service to residents in neighborhoods where Verizon has built the network.
Fios services are available to 250,000 households in this region. That's about 40 percent of all households in the metropolitan area, according to the 2008 American Community Survey, which compiles basic demographic data annually for the U.S. Census Bureau.
Verizon will continue to deploy fiber-optic cables to some additional homes in coming months, mostly expanding within neighborhoods where it already has service, said Harry Mitchell, a company spokesman. So, a few more local TV viewers will have a chance to get Fios, the most comparable competitor to cable services from companies such as Cox Communications Inc., the dominant cable provider in Hampton Roads.
"You'll continue to see our crews out," Mitchell said.
Verizon has no plans, however, to seek franchise agreements with additional cities, Mitchell said. That means consumers in Norfolk and Suffolk won't have the Fios TV option in the near future.
That frustrates W. Randy Wright, a Norfolk councilman who lives in Bay Breeze Point, one of the few Norfolk developments where Verizon has strung fiber. He can get Fios Internet service but not Fios TV until Verizon has a franchise with the city.
"People would like to have the option," he said.
Verizon has had discussions with city attorneys but wouldn't agree to the same terms the city has under its Cox franchise, Wright said. Under state law, a city cannot grant one provider more favorable terms than it allows another.
A franchise grants a TV service provider access to a municipality's rights of way. In exchange, the company typically pays fees and provides benefits such as public and government access channels and programs for schools.
"They pay us a lot of money in the course of a year," Wright said of Cox, estimating that company provides "several million" dollars annually.
In seeking Fios franchises, Verizon considers the potential for gaining customers and the cost and difficulty of providing service, Mitchell said. The company chose "places that made the most sense from a network standpoint, from a market standpoint."
Since beginning the Fios project in 2004, Verizon has spent almost $23 billion, Mitchell said. As of the end of 2009, the company linked 15.4 million homes to fiber and has franchise agreements in more than 1,300 municipalities nationwide. Now, he said, the telecommunications giant shifts its focus from building the network to marketing Fios services to customers who can receive them, he said.
Most of Verizon's local franchises require the company to serve a certain number of homes within a certain time. In Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, the company must reach all customers in its "initial service area" within three years of the franchise date.
Verizon decides the "initial service area." In Portsmouth, for example, that area includes about seven neighborhoods in the Churchland and Hodges Ferry areas.
"We reviewed it to make sure it was reasonable," Ronald Hallman, Chesapeake's city attorney, said of Verizon's initial service area in that city. "It's high-density areas."
Within seven years of the franchise date, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake require Verizon to serve at least 65 percent of all households in their cities. Even then, however, Verizon must cover only those areas that have a specific density of homes - 25 "occupied dwelling units" within a linear mile in Chesapeake and 30 per mile in Virginia Beach.
Consumers in more rural areas might never receive its TV service.
In Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach signed the first of the region's franchises in March 2007. Virginia Beach officials who are familiar with the Verizon agreement were unavailable to confirm whether Verizon had satisfied the requirement to cover its initial service territory within three years.
Chesapeake and Portsmouth granted Verizon franchises in 2008.
Mitchell said Verizon has met its obligations so far and is hooking up additional homes where it still needs to reach the required numbers. "We are on or ahead of schedule in our initial service areas."
Still, many local residents will remain left out of Fios TV. When Verizon dug up the streets around Bay Point condominiums in Norfolk to lay fiber three years ago, William Albertolli hoped he and his neighbors would soon have an alternative to Cox, which provides service packages to the development under a bulk contract.
He was disappointed to learn that Verizon had no plans for Fios TV in the city, though he said he has no complaints about Cox's service.
"If they brought the TV, then we could have a competitive price," Albertolli said. "Right now, we have no choice."
Carolyn Shapiro, [phone], [email protected]