Nonsense !!!

This "loophole" is merely a small part of of a much greater problem regarding Denial of Essential Services in Under-Served Areas that should/could have been addressed in a timely manner well over a year ago.

When I personally attempted to contact Mayor Fulop in June of 2014 [pertaining to Verizon not meeting their contractual agreement in Broadband Build-out FOR Jersey City] to actively support the following Rate Counsel Appeal Litigation:
http://www.state.nj.us/rpa/docs/NJ_Di ... _with_ONJ_Commitments.pdf

he wouldn't even field the telephone call.....

Shame on Him!


FYI>>
http://www.verizonpathetic.com/historylesson.html

BY TONY SANDKAMP

Verizon is hurting my business. And I'm not the only one.

In early 1993, New Jersey offered Verizon New Jersey (then New Jersey Bell) a great deal by allowing the corporation to bypass many regulations on its fiber-optic network. In return, Verizon was supposed to build a high-speed fiber network to every single address in the state.

Here is how Dennis Bone, who would go on to be the President of Verizon NJ, talked up the deal in 1991: "With fiber going into every single home and business in the state, there will be all sorts of capabilities for everybody to use that simply do not exist today." Bone promised that the "fully fibered network" Verizon would build to every home and business in New Jersey would encourage economic development. Residential and business customers would all have access to high-quality high-speed telecommunications services.

Verizon was right ? a fully fibered network would have encouraged economic development. However, Verizon has been allowed to evade its requirement by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

In 2006, as part of its statewide franchise agreement, Verizon promised to build out its high-speed fiber optic network ? again -- in 70 of the most densely populated municipalities as well as the county seats. The company was required to complete this project by the end of 2015. However, Verizon is exploiting a legal loophole to avoid living up to its end of the deal for hundreds of thousands of addresses in those municipalities. They're perpetuating this abuse by filing "waivers" with the BPU. Simply put, Verizon is shirking its responsibility.

In Jersey City alone, over 25,000 waivers have been filed. My business, located on Communipaw Ave in Jersey City, has not been connected to the fiber optic network ? even though my business is literally across the street from residential addresses where Verizon has a legal obligation to build.

I need high-speed internet in order for my small business to compete. I own a wood working shop in which everything we sell is custom-made. Ten years ago, clients sent us huge rolls of blueprints. But now everything is done online. We receive photos from clients through e-mail and massive autocad files from architects. Because Verizon has failed to build FiOS to my building, I'm left with cable broadband internet, which is simply not as fast as fiber. Sometimes files fail to download properly, which puts my business at a competitive disadvantage. And it's all because Verizon is failing to live up to its obligation.

Every single month, as I work long hours to make ends meet, Verizon rakes in $1 billion in profits. While I've never asked New Jersey to subsidize my business, Verizon's lobbyists have extracted at least $113 million in tax breaks and more than $100 million a year in contracts with the State.

To put this another way: The taxes I pay on my business and the taxes I pay as a resident are subsidizing giveaways to Verizon. Instead of ensuring that everyone reaps the rewards of the investments we've all made ? and following the clear intent of the law -- Verizon is cherry-picking which neighborhoods and businesses get to be competitive. And my business is being left behind.

Every few months Verizon calls up to ask me to switch my business over to them. I respond by asking them to check if they have FiOS available at my location. They never do. I tell the person to call me back when they can give me the fiber optic network I was promised. I'm still waiting....and so are tens of thousands of other small businesses all across New Jersey.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2 ... hind_op.html#incart_river

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tony Sandkamp is owner Sandkamp Woodworks, LLC of Jersey City and member of New Jersey Main Street Alliance.

Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal

Tens of thousands of low-income households don't have access to Verizon's high-speed internet service because of a loophole in state law that the telecom giant is exploiting, the mayors of Jersey City and Newark allege.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka say Verizon's decision not to build its high-speed fiber optic network in some urban areas amounts to discrimination against poor New Jersey residents, and violates state law, an allegation the company disputes.

As a result of not being able to gain access to Verizon's FiOS service, the state's low-income residents are "on the wrong side of the digital divide in an economy increasingly dependent on high-speed telecommunications," Jersey City says.

Joining in the fight against Verizon is the Communication Workers of America, the state's largest state workers union.

"Verizon has reaped a profit windfall from the 2006 law, but is now aggressively exploiting a loophole so that it won't have to live up to its end of the bargain," Hetty Rosenstein, CWA's New Jersey director, said in a statement.

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