Verizon Woos Young, Urban Apartment Dwellers Tries to Increase Take Rate in Major Cities With FiOS expansion over with the exception of large city franchise obligations (DC, Philly, NYC), Verizon for several years now has been focused on beefing up subscription rates in apartment complexes and MDUs (multiple-dwelling units). In 2009 Verizon started using smaller ONTs and bendable fiber for these installs, and now they're ramping up their FiOS marketing message in order to lure young urban dwellers. According to Verizon, they're running " hyper local marketing campaigns" in DC, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles. "To make it easy for young professionals to find MDUs with FiOS, we’ve created region-specific microsites, or landing pages, that show the MDUs in each market where FiOS is available," says Verizon, who directs users in the above cities to this URL.
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 Reviews:
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| The problem with that is most of these people are tech savvy enough to search and see how poor customer service is from FIOS which I think will slow them down in pulling younger customers. The other side of that coin is that the cable companies they are competing with are terrible and have been crapping all over those same subs for years so who knows. I just recently left FIOS due to price and went back to CV and to be honest Verizon wouldve had me back in a few months but the problems Ive had since cancelling with fees and garbage have made me stay with CV so far and really write FIOS off again. | |
|  | | | Re: The problem with that is Young people don't give a shit about "customer service." We don't need it.
We need a top-notch Internet product that is faster and more reliable than the competition by several orders of magnitude. Verizon delivers that.
Verizon wins. | |
| | |  N3OGHYo Soy Col. "Bat" GuanoPremium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
kudos:1 | Re: The problem with that is Young people.
And the Honey Badger. Honey Badger don't care, Honey Badger doesn't give a shit.... 
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Petty people are disproportionally corrupted by petty power | |
| | | | | I'm 28 and I agree. As long as the product works the way it should, I can care less about the customer service b/c i'll hardly need to call anyway. I have BH for broadband, CS not good but service is excellent and Uverse for TV, service works as it should never had to call. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: The problem with that is I get a discount and BH didn't have total home DVR at the time | |
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| | |  SteveConIBEW 2222 Boston, MAPremium
join:2004-09-02
Boston, MA | said by shortyd999: As the product works the way it should, I can care less about the customer service b/c i'll hardly need to call anyway.
HUH?
Who the heck calls customer service when "the product works the way it should"?
I don't care how smart or tech savvy you think you are, you will not be able to fix every problem that happens. I think you're suffering from illusions of grandeur.
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UNIONS: The anti-theft device for working people. | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: The problem with that is That happens so rarely I'd rather have incredible service most of the time and have to deal with an occasional annoying problem on Verizon's Internet than have shitty service all the time on cable but with people who will help you keep that shitty service running shitty on a consistent basis. | |
| | | | | | | Re: The problem with that is Xizer, did you take a breath when you typed that???
NYC Girl is right: Verizon's Customer Service is piss poor. For a company that has product that runs 24/7, their billing support is 8:01am to 4:59pm. And good luck if you get someone that knows what they are doing (aside from the horrible "Katie Couric" robot..."I'm Sorry, did you say Customer Service?")
VZ's Tech support is fine, if you need it. But Billing ... I stopped writing the PUC with complaints.
As a young, plugged in person, I find it silly that VZ put FioS is some areas that I wouldn't want to live, or if there is an area I like, I can't afford the rent!
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Splat | |
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| | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Exactly. And as long as they give an equal opportunity to MDUs to get installed, this is a great way to see what MDUs are with the program and which ones aren't. | |
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| | | You're wrong about young people and customer service. As a young person I really don't care about the people I just care about getting great service. I would jump at the first opportunity to get FIOS. | |
| | | Reviews:
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| Re: The problem with that is said by TriForce:You're wrong about young people and customer service. As a young person I really don't care about the people I just care about getting great service. I would jump at the first opportunity to get FIOS.
I am 27, so i suppose i qualify as young people... Anyways I agree here, I am in a uverse market and have bright house. But I don't care about customer service. I'm more about faster and better for the right price and hope i dont have to call them.
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| | | | | | Re: The problem with that is A wise move. I'd go with Bright House too if I could. They have the most HD channels of ANY provider be it cable, fiber or satellite in the nation; as well as better picture quality than U-verse's horrendous sub-YouTube PQ.
When I dealt with AT&T they had great customer service but I don't care how much their reps try and sweet talk me; they're putting a shiny face on a turd of a product. No way would I go back to AT&T's overpriced, bandwidth-capped Internet and horrible HD quality TV service. I don't care how friendly and easy the customer service is. | |
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| | | said by margaf77:most of these people are tech savvy enough to search and see how poor customer service is from FIOS which I think will slow them down in pulling younger customers. The other side of that coin is that the cable companies they are competing with are terrible and have been crapping all over those same subs for years so who knows. I just recently left FIOS due to price and went back to CV and to be honest Verizon wouldve had me back in a few months but the problems Ive had since cancelling with fees and garbage have made me stay with CV so far and really write FIOS off again.
Well, pretty much all companies are crap when it comes to customer service. I'd at least rather have fibre optics internet and bad customer service than slow DSL/ Capped UBB Cable internet with bad customer service.
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"You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it."-Malcolm X
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| | The message being... "Ain't got FiOS? ...move!" | |
| |  dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | Re: The message being... yep! because if its not available to one currently, they ain't getting it! | |
| | | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Re: The message being... I'm pretty sure they are still wiring MDUs in markets that have FIOS. | |
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cybah
join:2000-03-09
Chelsea, MA | While we wait.. And they do these elsewhere while we wait in Boston (city) for it to become available.
All because Verizon wants to cherry pick the better (richer) neighborhoods, and not wire the poor ones (like the mayor wants).
sigh. | |
| | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: While we wait.. Where do you get your facts from? I work some of the shittiest neighborhoods imaginable. Tired of the people that say Verizon picked only wealthy areas.
I have news for you. The majority of the country is irate that they cant get FioS. Its not because Verizon wants to "cherry pick" , its because most dont even live in a Verizon landline area. | |
| | openbox9Premium
join:2004-01-26
japan
kudos:2 | said by cybah:All because Verizon wants to cherry pick the better (richer) neighborhoods, and not wire the poor ones (like the mayor wants). I suppose Verizon is racist too? | |
| | | cybah
join:2000-03-09
Chelsea, MA | Re: While we wait.. The Mayor has been very clear about this.. he wants the entire city 'live', and Verizon won't do that.
Facts, ummmmm because I live in the city (my city is wrong on here), and because I've talked to enough Verizon Techs at my job (I'm a IT Person) and they've told me that the most neighborhoods are wired in the 'richer' part of towns. (i.e. BackBay, South End)
And attend a city council meeting once in a while or read the minutes, you'll see exactly what has been said. | |
| | | | openbox9Premium
join:2004-01-26
japan
kudos:2 | Re: While we wait.. So is Verizon racist too?
Anyway, the cherry picking allegations have been demonstrated false several times. I'm sure there's more to Verizon's decision than simply not honoring your mayor's desires. What exactly is the dispute between VZ and the City of Boston? | |
| | | | | | | Re: While we wait.. I doubt it , Verizon does cherry pick , they pick the areas where they can cover the high incomes areas, if the co happens to cover a portion of a poor area they wired it just to get access to the higher income area.
I live a city over from Boston and need to say that our area is "low income" but yet one city over is another low income area that was wired. The difference is my city doesn't share a co with a high income city, the next city over however does.
Either way Im moving out of the area and one of the top things on my list is Fios. I want options for broadband. Especially with no download caps. I like using a tivo and having netflix and amazon as "on demand" with out worrying about going over the limits.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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Reviews:
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| oh wow, too bad not in Chicago It would have been really great if it was here in Chi-Town. In downtown, high-rises, At&t runs fiber to the premises but their weird marketing plan restricts it to FTTN speeds.
Well there is at least RCN, cable overbuilder that will give u high tier D3 for cheaper than Comcast. Its only in eastern part of Cook county though. Other areas are served by Comcast and Wow. | |
| | | Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
·Mediacom
·T-Mobile US
| Re: so? no one smart buys house or rents apartment based on must have criteria:
umm, does this have fiber to the premises internet. There is still plenty of other options available, especially around in areas where FIOS is present. I as a buyer/renter always look first at how nice apt is, what neighborhood, utilities (AC, sundeck, dishwasher, in-unit washer, etc), how close to work and price. | |
| | | | | Re: so? Fios was one of the things we looked for... | |
| | | | Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
·Mediacom
·T-Mobile US
| Re: so? said by jjeffeory:Fios was one of the things we looked for...
most people on this forum, probably, but its unlikely my friends who main interest, hobby is toward finance, consulting, biology would care. Most would take FIOS into consideration, but doubt would weight all other decisions against it.
P.S. 2 years ago when i was in college in Chicago, I lunched internet/facebook group campaing "bring Google Fiber to Chicago" Most people I sent invitation to join group, did not care and never responded.
Also there are towns, like Los Angeles and DFW split between at&t (uverse) and verizon (fios). Those looking for TV, will be better appealed by u-verse, I dunno due to nice cisco dvr boxes and lot of features they offer. As long as pixelation, compression doesnt suck I guess. Those looking for super high speed will bundle with cable internet or move to the area with FIOS. And of course there are fantastic cities, Chicago with just u-verse only and New York City with FIOS only. U'll move to either based on job, cost of living, connections, etc before what ISPs server these areas. | |
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| | | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| quote:
bla bla bla... FIOS a higher priced product than it was 2 years ago. There's really no getting around that at the moment.. Haven't really seen paychecks rise 25% in the last 2 years.. did yours?
Wheres your facts from? Please tell us all, what was the average FiOS bill 2 years ago, what is the average FIOS bill today. Youre insinuating that FIOS prices have gone up 25% in the last 2 years, thats a heap of BS.
quote:
Not that I care that much... the FIOS extreme tv package has lost MORE channels and value over the last 2 years while the price went up..
Please give us a list of channels that have been taken away from Extreme. Please enlighten us. And once more, please tell us exactly by what price margin prices have gone up. I can make you a nice list of channels that have been ADDED within the last 2 years.
Tired of you spewing out these opinions that you try to portray as factual. Im not saying prices havnt gone up AT ALL. You greatly exaggerate the facts. All the providers prices go up. What prices for services have gone down? Ever heard of inflation? | |
| | | Reviews:
 ·ooma
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·Verizon FiOS
| Re: so? said by ITALIAN926: quote:
bla bla bla... FIOS a higher priced product than it was 2 years ago. There's really no getting around that at the moment.. Haven't really seen paychecks rise 25% in the last 2 years.. did yours?
Wheres your facts from? Please tell us all, what was the average FiOS bill 2 years ago, what is the average FIOS bill today. Youre insinuating that FIOS prices have gone up 25% in the last 2 years, thats a heap of BS. quote:
Not that I care that much... the FIOS extreme tv package has lost MORE channels and value over the last 2 years while the price went up..
Please give us a list of channels that have been taken away from Extreme. Please enlighten us. And once more, please tell us exactly by what price margin prices have gone up. I can make you a nice list of channels that have been ADDED within the last 2 years. Tired of you spewing out these opinions that you try to portray as factual. Im not saying prices havnt gone up AT ALL. You greatly exaggerate the facts. All the providers prices go up. What prices for services have gone down? Ever heard of inflation? Bundle price late 2009 $79.99 for 25/25, extreme tv pkg, and digital voice. Price in 2012? 109.99 (maybe you can get $10 off, maybe not.. but more than likely you'll be in a CONTRACT for the nugget of $120/yr with a more than twice that amount as an ETF with no prorate) At a minimum that's about 25% more..
As far as channels.. in the 2 years.. they got rid of half the music (audio) channels many of which were kind of duplicates of 2 music services they had since 2003. Then there are some channels which either no longer exist or that were clipped from the FIOS package.. off the top of my head.. abc family, funimation, couple of sports channels, mgm, etc
»www.highdefforum.com/verizon-fio···big.html
I rarely spout eggerations on this forum (unless for effect)-- but I have the facts to back this one up.. Still average price includes their "bundle deals"-- whoever decides to pay the regular undiscounted rates is a fool. FYI, the bundle price does NOT includ taxes & fees which you will be nicked & dimed for maybe not in your first few months.. but as time goes on.. they look to boost revenue any way they can and not save consumers money. | |
| | | | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: so? FYI, Ive been installing $79 triple plays for Prime every day. Just a few months ago, we were doing Extremes for $69 ! Extreme is a $10 add on here in NY, thats where you are, correct? But you would never mention any of that, would ya?
You dont mention how Showtime , The Movie Channel and Flix are all included as standard channels as well, even in Prime. You fail to mention how we now have free for life DVR's and free Standard boxes for triple plays.
I Just went on the website and found $119 for ULTIMATE, in NY thats every single movie channel. That either included a $300 gift card or a free for life DVR if you lock for 2 years. Thats not a good deal either I guess. As far as internet speeds, they have all been boosted from 2 years ago.
About 2 years ago, FiOS didnt have a digital voice option, now they DO. There goes some of the fees and overall price increases you boast about in a 2year span.
All in all, its still an awesome value even though they shuffle things around. When I get home, I'll be making you a list of all the channels they ADDED to Extreme in the last 2 years. | |
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
·Verizon Broadban..
| They can wire Springfield MA Plenty of MDUs here. From what I heard, one of the reasons hampering FiOS deployment in urban areas is the large number of MDUs in urban areas. I live in a townhouse style duplex and that would be a simple install (although they would have to bury the drop as our utilities come in underground and they would have to go under a driveway and a sidewalk) and they could mount two ONTs on the outside by the electric meters and run the cat5 and coax cables into my basement (as my unit is the side where the utilities come in and the POTS demarc (not in use as I have Comcast for phone and the neighbor is cell-only) for both units is in my basement) and they could tie into the existing inside phone wires (which are currently being used for Comcast digital voice) and they could use my existing coax wire. As for the other side, they could run the phone wire, coax wire and cat 5 wire through my basement into the other unit (as the phone for the other side comes in through our basement) and the cable for the other side used to come in through our basement but since went bad and now comes in as an overhead from a pole in an adjacent lot.
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All of my CPE (including my EMTA) is customer owned. The only Comcast owned equipment in my house is the CableCards in the two TiVO boxes I own. | |
| | | why? In nyc people shouldnt need a fios finder. I thought their agreement with nyc states they have to have the whole city wired before a certain time. Meaning a fios finder should not be needed in nyc. | |
| | OwlSaverOwlSaverPremium
join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA | Re: why? said by majortom1029:In nyc people shouldnt need a fios finder. I thought their agreement with nyc states they have to have the whole city wired before a certain time. Meaning a fios finder should not be needed in nyc.
They have to wire the city. But owners of MDU's do not have to allow FiOS. I imagine that Verizon is doing this in part to encourage MDU owners to take up FiOS fo their tennants. | |
| | |  PacketeersPremium
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
kudos:1
·Time Warner Cable
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: why? here's a dose of reality for you;
my building has a bulk rate contract with TWCable and can get DOCSIS3 Wideband.
a few years ago RCN skipped my building because they knew they could not get the
50% penetration needed to justify the MDU service distribution plant costs.
Even if FiOS came to my building, our rate contract would ruin their cost advantage.
Verizon is doing the same math, and would rather pay Lawyers to keep NYC off
their backs in 2015, then have to build in areas they can no longer profit from.
Verizon is way too busy doing profitable wireless, to give a shyt about any new
high cost Union labor intensive FiOS. That's why they build that yuppy web sight,
so if you want FiOS so badly, let it's geographic availability be part of your next move,
since young tech savvy people move more often than old - that's their target audience. | |
| | | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Exactly. Hopefully it will put pressure on the MDU's that are still in last century to get with the program and get wired up! | |
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| | Fios is an overrated me-too product Seen it. Not impressed. I really don't know what the big deal is honestly. DirecTV's PQ is similar and Cablevision has improved with 4 channel bonding and node splitting. Happy with the service for now. The only reason why the kiddies would want Fios is the novelty. That or if the only other options in their neighborhood are Time Warner or Comcrap. Understandable since I would choose Fios in that scneario as well. Other than that it's a me-too product. Overhyped, overrated. Like Siri on the iPhone, the novelty wears off after a while especially when the bill goes up and they call the cable co crying to come back. | |
| |  clock
join:2007-05-02
Roslindale, MA
·RCN CABLE
1 edit | Re: Fios is an overrated me-too product You mean like this?
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIp63U7AIY
FiOS does have the advantage of better upload speeds over cable, but at this point, my cable company (RCN) has a offers a better DVR (TiVo), decent speeds (75/6), and more channels at a better price point.That's enough to keep me off the FiOS bandwagon for now. | |
| | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | And where else would I get Un-recompressed HD and a 43/41 internet connection? | |
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 KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:7 | It sure would be NICE if FIOS were ever available in the Northern VA area, just 23 miles outside of DC.
But noo, just Comcrap. | |
|  newviewEx .. Ex .. ExactlyPremium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
kudos:1 | Tell it like it is quote:
According to Verizon, they're running "hyper local marketing campaigns" in DC, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles.
Translation:
Cherry-picking | |
| |  Huh
@charter.com | Re: Tell it like it is said by newview: quote:
According to Verizon, they're running "hyper local marketing campaigns" in DC, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles.
Translation: Cherry-picking How is wiring and marketing MDU's in already serviced areas "cherry picking"? | |
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