What's that man doing behind the curtain?

Question

I have all my eggs except 1 in Verizon's basket. And that egg is FIOS TV, because it's not available in my City of Glen Cove on Long Island. I am paying CableVision about $50 - $60 a month extra because I can't finish a package with Verizon. I spoke to a Verizon employee off the record and was told "my town was holding out for more money from Verizon". Soooo, I called the Mayor of our city and asked him what the problem was (how much was CableVision paying him to keep FIOS out)? The following is the unedited reply I received from him. I would really like to know what's going on considering I already have FIOS Internet!
December 26, 2009
Bob,
Thank you for writing. First you should know that I read and answer all of my own emails. As for FIOS, they sent a letter to our office around mid to late summer (2009) explaining that they were concentrating on areas that they are already in and not extending their reach to new territories, not just Glen Cove, but also other places around the island where they are currently not players. We do not have a money issue with them. They had sent three non-employee teams in to speak with the city over the last two years. I actually sought them out from the very first FIOS question I received sometime in 2006. There is nothing standing in the way of them signing an agreement with the city. They initially told us that they usually follow Cablevision's lead (financially). Since the city was negotiating a new agreement with Cablevision ( the old one had expired) we set about in that direction. Then a second and different FIOS team met with me (and the City Attorney) expressing that the first teams suggestion of following Cablevisions lead was not necessarily true. We asked them for a number which they subsequently stated would not be accepted by Verizon if they brought it back to them. By the way, the number we asked for is $25,000 less than what we eventually settled for with Cablevision. We asked them to give us a number that would be acceptable to Verizon and were basically told that zero was a good number. A subsequent 3rd visit to my office by the original team remained just as ambiguous. The City Attorney was present at all three meetings and has commented (I'm paraphrasing here) that he has never dealt with an organization or negotiating team like the ones that presented themselves to the City. The City remains open to any honest attempt to bring FIOS into Glen Cove but their last communication seems to postpone that until they strenghten their existing business investments elsewhere. I do not know what is going on within their organization. I believe that Cablevision has been very agressive in resigning their existing customer base and that the Verizon/FIOS business model is not as robust in some areas as others. I have reached out to the new Verizon laision for clarification through the Deputy Mayor but have not heard back. I will continue to do so but I have no updates beyond what I have just shared with you.
Again, thanks for writing and a nice holiday to you and your family.
Ralph
Ralph V. Suozzi
Mayor - City of Glen Cove
Thanks for listening.
Bob

Answer 1

Sorry for the delay, but now I think I know the answer.
I point to http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/106349
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