My chat with Verizon about FIOS

I’ve been eying FIOS for a few years now – I know Doug has it and likes it – and was just inspired by a commercial on cable to pop by the Verizon site to check on FIOS in Brooklyn. Almost immediately I was shunted into a chat with “Philip” who proceeded to offer me DSL. Phil then encouraged me to “check back” with some regularity, something that would be swell if I cared enough to check back regularly.

What is it with third-generation networking systems? Carriers refuses to plug in anything, whether it’s fiber or WiMAX or real 3G, and then wonder why their revenue is so low. It took carriers a good decades to really bring in 3G – I remember Japan whizzing around on wireless networks in the 1990s and the European telecom I worked for in 1998 already implementing 3G in Poland. It can be argued that we didn’t really get 3G – or any devices that could actually use 3G – until the iPhone.

Sorry, Philip. I won’t be checking back. I’ll keep my eye on wireless technology like the MiFi from Novatel. There will be a day that you drop a little box in your living room and all your wiring problems are solved.

Fine: I’m a crank. But don’t offer me something I can’t have and shunt me over to your lesser and less valuable offerings when I’m asking to pay for your crown jewels