If you live in New York City, you most likely don’t have access to Verizon’s very 21st-century fiber optic internet service, FiOS. And you should be because Verizon told the city in a contract that it would deliver fiber to every household by 2014. As of today 75-percent of New York City is still without FiOS.
That number comes from a audit released today and originally ordered by Mayor Bill DeBlasio. The audit basically outlines how Verizon promised FiOS to the whole city and delivered FiOS to a small and probably privileged minority. This really isn’t surprising at all since Verizon has pretty much let the whole country down with its pitiful FiOS rollout. That’s the final map above.
Of course, Verizon says it’s all the landlords’ fault. The audit, however, suggests that Verizon’s inability to reach an agreement with its workers over healthcare is actually the cause of the failure. It’s worth noting, however, that the process coincided with recovery efforts from Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause.
Either way, Verizon continues to fail, but we should’ve expected as much from the start.