Verizon Spurs Internet Service Wars in Falls Church, VA

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Clifford Rohde <ccr7 () cornell edu>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:14:25 -0500
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: For [IP] Verizon Spurs Internet Service Wars in Falls Church, VA

[Dave: For IP if you like]

http://www.fcnp.com/450/verizon.htm

Verizon Spurs Internet Service Wars in F.C.

/By Nicholas F. Benton <mailto:nfbenton () fcnp com>/

Verizon began its fiber optic Internet-service invasion of Cox and
Starpower-occupied Falls Church this week, determined to seize a large
portion of market share in one of the first tests of a new capability it
is gradually rolling out nationwide.

Kicking off an aggressive marketing campaign with a gala event to
demonstrate its new services to local citizens at the State Theatre
Sunday, Verizon will go head-to-head with Cox and Starpower to win the
loyalties, and business, of City of Falls Church residents and businesses.

While the City's tech-savvy residents (the City has the second highest
percentage of college graduates of any jurisdiction in the U.S.) hope to
enjoy the benefits of a fierce competition, Cox and Starpower officials
told the News-Press this week they have no intention of standing idly by
while Verizon tries to elbow in on their market.

Because of Falls Church's small size and the demographics of its
population, it has been singled out as a launching pad for new high-tech
rollouts not only by Verizon, but earlier by Starpower, as well, when it
began its move into the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Verizon is poised to begin this week digging its fiber optic cable to
the residences of any citizens it can sign up, even though it awaits the
completion of negotiations with City of Falls Church officials for a
franchise agreement to provide cable television service. Its broadband
fiber optic cable will offer telephone and faster Internet service than
anything more traditional cable can provide, Verizon officials explained
at the State Theatre Sunday. They set up a couple dozen computers at the
site to demonstrate the speed and versatility of its system to
prospective customers.

But Starpower's Gary Houston told the News-Press yesterday that his
company has just upgraded its service to customers to 10 megabites
download and 800 kilobites upload, an upgrade now available throughout
its system. "We provide the fastest residential modem service," he said,
"and provide one-stop shopping for cable TV, phone and Internet."

Houston said that Starpower "has been competing since the day it was
launched," and "has brought competition to a lot of communities."

Cox spokesman Gary McCollum said the competitive advantage his company
has is the fact "it has the best service at the best price."

"What Verizon is promising is what we're already providing. They're
promising something down the road, we offer the future now," he said.
"They're not offering anything that we're not already or will do."

He also noted that Verizon's measured roll out indicates that they're
cautiously seeing if it will work, while Cox has a track record of
"having been at it."

"We have long-lasting, trusted relationships with our customers," he said.

Still, Verizon spokesmen at the State Theatre Sunday insisted their
fiber optic service will give customers a faster and more flexible
service that will, among other things, not get slowed down by heavy use
of any particular cable line, since each of their fiber cables link
separately and directly to the data source. Customers can select from a
menu of speeds when they sign up for the service.

Verizon representatives would not comment on the state of negotiations
for a cable TV franchise for City of Falls Church officials, except to
say that they are well underway.

/cliff rohde

ccr7 [at] cornell.edu
sent using Thunderbird, http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/



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