Connect DC - A Campaign for DC’s Technological Future
Residents of the District of Columbia – the nation’s capitol – deserve the best. But Verizon, the company that provides phone and Internet service to thousands of households and businesses, is neglecting its customers and denying DC access to the best available technology.
Currently, Verizon is building its newest and best technology, FiOS, everywhere but DC. While the company is bringing cutting edge technology, good jobs and quality service to consumers in Montgomery and Fairfax Counties, it’s leaving the District behind. At the same time, the quality of Internet and phone service in DC is getting worse each day because Verizon is no longer investing time or money in its existing cables. Verizon is leaving its own workers behind as well, moving jobs out of DC and into areas where Verizon is profiting from FiOS.
Connect DC advocates for top-level services for ALL consumers in DC. Our demands are simple: Verizon must build FiOS across all parts of the city by the end of 2008, maintain quality phone service for all DC residents, and employ DC residents in DC facilities to complete the work that must be done.
What’s at stake?
Equal Access: Technology for All
Verizon is building FiOS lines all over the United States, including in Maryland and Virginia, yet they have announced no plans to build in DC.
In our nation’s capital, we need the best technology, not just for lawmakers and government officials, but also for the DC community. DC residents need FiOS in their homes, enabling residents to stay connected to our fast paced global economy.
Like much of the country today, DC is a victim of the “Digital Divide” – a phrase used to describe the striking differences between individuals and communities that are connected technologically – and those that are not. The median household income in DC is $46,211 per year. The Digital Divide phenomenon – when looked at on a national scale - shows that just 27% of those making between $30,000 and $49,999 per year have access to Internet subscriptions at home, compared to 62% of households earning over $100,000 per year. That difference represents a huge disparity in access to technology between the rich, middle class and poor.
One of the ways that we can advocate for connected communities is through investment in technologies and a sustained commitment from both government and corporate interests to provide equal access to all communities.
As long as Verizon does not build FiOS in DC, they are denying our community access to the newest and best technology.
Good Jobs: Communities with FiOS are gaining jobs
Everywhere Verizon installs FiOS, communities gain jobs. Everywhere that Verizon neglects to install FiOS, communities lose jobs. We see booming job markets for technicians in parts of Maryland and Virginia, while the number of technicians who both live and are able to work in DC shrinks.
FiOS has contributed radically to job growth on a national and local scale in the last few years. In 2005 Verizon hired between “3,000 and 5,000 new employees, including hundreds in Virginia.” In 2006 Verizon added “8,200 new fiber-related jobs alone [which] amounted to nearly $400 million in wages and salaries as well as $1.2 billion in economic activity resulting from increased demand for household goods, etc. ” A Verizon press advisory in March 2006 reported that Virginia gained “more than 600 new full-time positions to build and support the network of FiOS services.”
It is not just the FiOS technicians who win when FiOS is built. By Verizon’s calculations, “every fiber related job we [Verizon] create leads to another four jobs created elsewhere in the community.” Verizon therefore estimates that 32,800 new jobs in the community result directly from building FiOS.
DC residents should not have to travel into surrounding states to find work. DC residents deserve good jobs in their own communities.
Quality service: What happens to existing customers and cables?
As Verizon continues building FiOS in new areas it moves its capital and labor resources from the communities without FiOS to those that will get FiOS, resulting in poor service for customers using older cables.
Not only is DC losing jobs to areas where FiOS is being built, but existing cable lines are not being serviced or repaired. Verizon has demonstrated that it no longer cares about its old wires, nor does it care about the millions of customers who rely on them. Old copper wires, if not serviced regularly, can break down after heavy rains and leave customers without a lifeline for days.
In Maryland, an investigation by the Public Services Commission (PSC) found that Verizon Maryland Inc. violated state regulations by missing more than 20% of service appointments in the first half of 2007 the PSC discovered more than 300 complaints filed by customers against Verizon. A similar investigation is underway in Virginia.
The elderly community is particularly affected by faulty phone service. Not only is this community typically hesitant to adopt new technologies – potentially leaving them without any other way to connect – but they also are at high risk of medical emergency. This group especially needs to be able to rely on its landline phone service. The Chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission highlighted this danger during an August 2007 hearing: “Not having service is a public safety concern. . . for a person who doesn’t have phone service for five days, an elderly person, that’s the kind of thing we need to be concerned about.”
Economic Development: Essential for Success
Verizon has said it will spend almost “$20 billion by the end of the decade to reach 16 million homes” with FiOS across the nation. District of Columbia residents need this kind of investment from a Verizon product like FiOS. We need an influx of the new technologies to help adults compete in the job market and ensure that students not just keep up, but succeed in school.
Even though the cost of installing FiOS in cities is higher than in suburbs, the cost hasn’t stopped Verizon from planning to spend around $3 billion to wire New York City alone. New York City is home to over seven million people, almost 14 times the size of DC, which has fewer than one million. Verizon can afford to wire DC.
Consumers benefit from competition among service providers. Competition drives rates down and results in better overall service. Comcast, a Verizon competitor, currently holds a franchise in DC. In order to provide TV service, Verizon must gain a franchise from the DC government. Verizon has shown that in other areas they are willing to do what it takes to give consumers a fair choice. In Montgomery County, Verizon went so far as to sue to gain a franchise and won, arguing that Montgomery Country consumers deserved a choice of service providers.
