Rural residents angry at fiber cable's reach

Verizon officials say cost too great to extend lines

Friday, May 8, 2009

During the county's Cable Advisory Commission public hearing Wednesday night, a handful of residents voiced their frustration at the service boundaries and network limitations in the proposed cable franchise agreement for Charles County.

"At the very best, people will be served after five years," said Paul Livingston, a resident of Bryans Road who lives near Route 227. "What this effectively does is redline the western portion of Charles County from television services. You're isolating these people from modern, technological resources."

County residents in Nanjemoy, Tompkinsville and along the border of Charles County municipalities either have more than a decade to wait for the service or have no service to anticipate.

Jim Lynn, chairman of the county's cable commission, inquired on behalf of those distant dwellers whether there was a chance of connecting those rural areas.

Lori Edwards, Verizon cable franchising manager, said that the agreement in front of the commissioners would not change, but that didn't mean a future buildout would not be considered.

Jim Krieger, cable commission member, asked why the company could not stretch the fiber to get closer to those rural areas, to which Daniel Clark, Verizon FTTP design manager, explained even a seemingly unlimited network had its boundaries.

"Fiber does extend the capabilities of the copper network. There are no electronics located within the system. It's a passive network," Clark said. "But while it can expand, there are still distance limitations. It's just too far."

Clark said a signal can be sent through about 11 miles of fiber before it must be regenerated. To ensure a strong-enough signal is sent to those distant homes would require additional equipment at "an unbelievable cost."

But it was the residents living in between the initial service area and excluded properties that had the most vocal concerns.

Port Tobacco resident Jon Johnson related his story of getting an $8,000 estimate to connect his home into the Comcast network because the house was located some 400 yards off the road.

He indicated he would go without Verizon cable if the same price tag applied.

Johnson said the county makes no exception for collecting taxes, but the same residents unable to escape those taxes can't always enjoy the same basic services as other residents of the county.

Livingston and fellow neighbors expressed their worry over living within a service area that lacks the density requirements.

While their established neighborhoods have no room to expand, the new developments going up around them will meet the requirements.

"We don't have the density," Livingston said. "You've effectively doomed [us] to an aging and increasingly unreliable copper plan that barely supports voice."

"I'm just a very frustrated consumer, and I'm very frustrated that I'm at the tail end of the service agreement," Nan Fremont said. "I have no high-speed Internet. I'd be virtually unable to pay my Verizon bill online."

The service Livingston spoke of is included in Verizon's guarantee to provide cable to so-called "extended service" areas of Charles County within 15 years; depending on density and the approval of the franchise agreement by the Charles County commissioners.

The agreement was introduced before the cable advisory commission last week, after nearly a year of negotiations.

"We're out there constructing the network, bringing it to the right of way at the front or back of the home," Edwards said.

As the franchise agreement stands, most of those homes in Charles County fall into the initial service area, which means cable service would be available within 24 months to a large number of households and to all homes in that service area within three years.

Household density would need to be met before work would commence. The Verizon agreement indicated 30 houses per square mile would be connected within five years and 15 houses per square mile within six to 15 years.

The 15-year agreement would dedicate four channels for public, education and government access, and Verizon would give $250,000 up front as a grant for such uses. Public schools and government buildings would also get free cable service.

The county will receive 5 percent of the gross revenue from the cable service provided by Verizon, 1 percent of the gross revenue through the term of the agreement and 0.06 percent of the gross revenue through June 2017.

Until Verizon approached the county with a franchise proposal, the government, schools and neighborhoods were limited to Comcast Cable, though satellite TV is available.

Verizon's introduction into the county will mean direct competition between the two providers and the opportunity to tap into cutting-edge cable technology.

Edwards explained that the FiOS network is a step up from the current copper wires under the county's soil.

Less susceptible to weather and age, the glass fibers employed are capable of carrying an immense amount of information Edwards said, because what determines the speed of the connection is not in the cable underground, but on its ends. Even if the cable connecting the broadcast center to regional transmission hubs is all fiber, if the cable coming out of the home is copper, it's no faster.

msomers@somdnews.com