N.J. Mayors: Verizon Is Discriminating In Essex And Hudson Counties

There may be as many as 6,723 properties in East Orange that are unable to be hooked up to Verizon’s high-speed FiOS Internet service.

If you’re living in one of these high-speed voids, here’s why you should be concerned.

The Statewide Cable Franchise Act – a 2006 deal between Verizon and New Jersey that gave the company full statewide franchise rights – was clear on one point:

Verizon would make its high-speed Internet service available to New Jersey’s 70 densest municipalities… regardless of their income levels.

But so far that isn’t happening, according to two N.J. mayors and the state’s largest public employee union.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka are alleging that Verizon is using a loophole in the 2006 law to avoid hooking up its FiOS high-speed Internet services in low-income areas of their cities.

The two mayors’ claims were supported by Hetty Rosenstein of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the labor union that represents thousands of Verizon workers across the nation.

“Verizon has reaped a profit windfall from the 2006 law, but is now aggressively exploiting a loophole so that it won’t have to live up to its end of the bargain,” Rosenstein told NJ.com.

A company spokesman denied the accusations, telling NJ.com that “Verizon New Jersey is not ‘redlining’ any neighborhoods in any of its franchise area, and no one has credibly alleged as much.”

LANDLORD ACCESS

The allegations revolve around an exception to the law, which lets Verizon off the hook for installing FiOs capabilities if a building’s landlord refuses the company into the building or attempts to charge them for access.

While the company has a legitimate excuse if property owners won’t allow them access, “each block that refuses is another expensive portion of fiber that no longer needs to be paid for,” TheVerge.com stated.

The number of these access exemptions varies dramatically between municipalities.

In Jersey City, Verizon “couldn’t obtain approval” to provide FiOs service at 25,311 addresses, according to public records submitted to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

In Newark, the company is “unable to access” 21,392 properties, documents indicate.

But in other nearby cities, the numbers are significantly lower:

• Weehawken – 1,319
• Union City – 5,235
• Paterson – 6,311

“What we understand the practice to be is that, if you’re in a wealthy high-rise next to the water in Jersey City, they will bend over backwards trying to get into that building,” Seth Hahn of the CWA stated. “But if you live on the other end of the tracks, they’ll send you a letter saying, ‘We’d like access to your building.’”

“Neither the union nor the mayors have any hard proof that Verizon is pushing for more waivers in poorer areas, but experts say the strange pattern of exemptions suggests there’s something out of the ordinary,” The Verge reported.

“Unfortunately for tenants in some buildings in these towns, their landlords do not want Verizon New Jersey’s FiOS service,” a Verizon company representative told The Verge. “However, if a customer in one of these building requests service, Verizon New Jersey files a petition for Mandatory Access with the Board in order to be able to access the building and serve the customer.”

File photo via flickr

Have you had problems with getting Verizon high-speed Internet (or FiOS) installed in your building? Share your story with the Patch community in the comments section below.