Verizon FiOs, Broadband Cut In Toms River Opposed By Mayor

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Verizon Wireless is asking the state's permission to cut residents' access to FiOs-TV and Broadband internet at some multi-dwelling units in nearly 70 New Jersey communities, including Toms River.

Verizon said it "was unable to negotiate an access agreement with ownership/management" at 24 Toms River addresses, according to a July letter from the state Board of Public Utilities. These two dozen addresses (listed below) include duplexes, apartment buildings and mobile home parks.

Mayor Maurice B. "Mo" Hill Jr. said the company's request is inconsistent with information residents have given his office about their Verizon service. Hill is urging the state Board of Public Utilities to decline the company's request in Toms River, or to postpone action on the request.

Verizon asked the BPU to exempt them from having to provide FiOS and Broadband service at those places where they couldn't reach an agreement, according to a letter from the board. If the board grants that request, residents at the affected addresses will not have access to these Verizon services, the letter said.

Toms River is one of 70 municipalities in New Jersey where Verizon has to make cable TV available to all residents — and if they cannot, they must submit a waiver exemption from the BPU.

"Because Verizon has been unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary access agreement required by law, it has submitted a request for the waiver exemption" in each of the addresses (listed below).

BPU Director Letter to Toms River Mayor 07.13.2022 by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson on Scribd

Verizon also said the people living at these addresses don't have access to either FiOS or Broadband. But Mayor Hill said he checked with three of the 24 residences, and each had access to Verizon FiOs. One of the residences had Verizon fiber optic cables installed in recent months, a stakeholder told Hill's office.

"I am OPPOSED to Verizon receiving a waiver of their obligations and I question the veracity of the company's claim," Hill said in an Aug. 15 letter to Board of Public Utilities director Lawanda R. Gilbert.

He also said the waiver could disrupt residents' vital communication access, reduce their choices, and "cause them undue inconvenience."

"I urge the BPU to decline Verizon's request for a waiver of access to MDUs in Toms River Township," he wrote. "At the very least, I encourage the Board to postpone action on the waiver request until the matter is further investigated."

Toms River Mayor Letter to BPU Director 08.15.2022 by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson on Scribd

Hill said his office has been in touch with Verizon and offered to help them contact property owners they have been unable to reach, if there are any.

Here is the list of addresses (in cases where an entire road is listed, a township spokesman said he believes it to mean all Verizon customers on that road):

• 77 E Water St
• 1171 Fischer Blvd
• Friendly Village Mobile Home Park
• 593 Clifton Ave
• 657-675 Ellicott Ave
• East Brighten Ln
• Dover Walk
• 600 Clifton Ave
• Penny Lane
• 1 Dune Terr
• 1660 Bay Blvd
• 1901 Bay Blvd
• 113 Strickland Blvd
• 2 Sixth Terr
• 1917 Bay Blvd
• 1920 Route 35 North
• 1930 Route 35 North
• 3100 Route 35 North
• 2011 Route 35 North
• 2016 Route 35 North
• 2030 Route 35
• 1650 Route 35 North
• 1709 Route 35 North
• 1919 Bay Blvd

The BPU renewed Verizon New Jersey's Cable Television System-Wide Franchise for 379 municipalities in December 2020. As part of that renewal, Verizon had to submit information to the BPU about its access agreements at multi-dwelling unit buildings, the state said.