Verizon is not kidding about this whole fiber thing. The company has started to install fiber in Washington County, Oregon and is on an aggressive schedule for a showdown with incumbent cable provider, Comcast and local phone provider Qwest. Verizon has some minor footprint in the state of Oregon. The Oregonian says that Verizon “plans to lay 500 miles of fiber-optic lines to 38,000 homes around Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard by year’s end.” These are all suburbs of Portland, clearly my second favorite city in the United States.
“Verizon is in a pickle,” Pat Hurley, head analyst at the San Diego telecommunications research firm TeleChoice said. It can’t offer the same package unless it builds a new network that can match the “triple play” of phone, Internet and TV service available from Comcast.
Qwest is not planning to offer fiber, and instead is going to try and squeeze more out of the copper loop using some of the newer technologies like ADSL2+.
You can also find more out about Fios here
http://www.myfios.net
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What’s the latest with Verizon coming to PDX? My zip is 97266 – anything coming my way? Thanks.
I’m in Portland proper — Multnomah county — zip:97227. As far as I can tell there are no immediate plans to bring FiOS in to the city. Argh. I hate Qwest, and I hate Comcast even more. Perhaps laying fiber is more costly/difficult right in the denser urban area?
It sucks that the rubes (just kidding) out on the damn suburbs have access to such a superior service.
Qwest doesn’t have the budget to install FiOS and are boasting the capabilities of the overrated and upcoming FTTN services, extending the usage of the aging copper wire in existence.