Verizon FiOS is Needed in Fountain Valley ASAP!
As a recent transplant from Huntington Beach, I am a happy and giving citizen to my new home city, Fountain Valley, CA. What I enjoyed most about working from home in Huntington Beach was the fact that I could do it on a blazing fast internet connection. For those who don’t know, Verizon offers a residential and business internet connection (like DSL and Cable) except it is run over fiber optic lines. The service provided by Verizon is called FiOS.
What troubled me most about my move to this new city was that less than 100 yards away, FiOS exists for the inhabitants of Huntington Beach. However, just a football field away, in Fountain Valley, there exists no such service from Verizon. My pleading and attempts to make a ripple of change occur have gone unnoticed.
So, I am thinking that the power of the people shall be heard… I’ve created an online petition (below) that should help us get the eyes and ears of policy makers in Fountain Valley, CA.
Why is this important?
There are a few reasons, but mainly for me, cost. The FiOS service plans – for the same price – offer a significant increase in both download and upload speed (things travel FROM the internet to you = download; things travel TO the internet from you = upload). I had a 25Mbps (download) + 25Mbps (upload) service for around the price of $75/month. I tried to get a similar service from Time Warner Cable in Fountain Valley for the cost of $99/month. However, speed was different. Time Warner offered a 50Mbps (download) + 5Mbps (upload) for the $99/month promo price.
What is the big deal? You get faster service with Time Warner for ~$20/mo more?
The average user’s answer is YES. 50Mbps is double the download speed. However, if you do a fair amount of uploading (as I do for images and movie editing) the 5Mbps vs 25Mbps is the deal killer.
Where is the price savings?
Well, the prices I am showing are current as of right now – today. But, when you get additional services, like TV, phone in addition to Internet, the Verizon packages make the most sense financially.
The Bottom Line
I am merely approaching this from the residential perspective. I know countless businesses located within Fountain Valley that are stuck with below average DSL or are stuck paying exorbitant fees for business class cable internet service. While we as residential users may not see $20/mo as a big difference, the business gap in price of services can be hundreds to thousands of dollars per month in savings by using Verizon FiOS. If we can make a better environment for existing and new businesses to come and open shop in Fountain Valley, we create more jobs, more revenue, and more income for our city services. If we want to stimulate the local economy, allowing Verizon FiOS as a service option may be the icing on the cake when choosing between the higher-price retail city name of “Huntington Beach” versus the next door neighbor, better price per square foot city name of “Fountain Valley”.
I’d love to have FiOS coursing back into my home for my internet services, for my own reasons. But without leveling the playing field we are simply encouraging a Time Warner monopoly on our TV, phones, and Internet services. Competition is the driving force of our American economy… Let’s open the game to more players and let us all be rewarded by the stampede of innovation and free market economics. Take a moment and sign the petition below.