The great Verizon FiOS ripoff

COMMENTARY | May 02, 2012

Verizon's decision to stop expanding FiOS, in favor of wireless, shafts millions of customers who paid billions for a network upgrade and didn't get it.

By Bruce Kushnick
bruce@newnetworks.com

(Third in a series. See part one: Please, sir, may I have another? and part two: How wireless hype is hurting America.)

After decades of demanding and getting rate hikes and tax breaks in return for promising to deliver broadband internet access to schools, libraries, hospitals and every home and business in their territories, Verizon is now making it clear that it is no longer expanding FiOS, its fiber optic cable service.

So what did they accomplish? What did they build? And how much did it cost? Verizon claims that the company spent $23 billion dollars in rolling out FiOS since 2004. (See, for instance, this message from Tim McCallion, President of Verizon’s West Region.) That's a lot of money.