We all should massively sign up for the Googlemania initiative to convince Google to select RC as a pilot city for their 1Gb fiber project (http://www.rcrda.us/index.aspx?NID=385)

Verizon FiOS installation halted in three cities
Daily Bulletin: 03/16/2010 04:57:07 PM PDT

Verizon has temporarily stopped installation of its fiber-optic network, or FiOS, in Claremont, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga.

The broadband and telecommunications company must finish a certain percentage of the installation in diverse, underserved cities before starting work elsewhere, said Gary George, Verizon director of government and external affairs.

Verizon has agreements with 21 cities to install the network.

“Rancho, Upland and Claremont do not fit in that category (of diverse, underserved cities) … So those are the three cities we had to pull back,” George said.

The installation was stopped in December.

Work had started in southern Claremont as well as Upland and was about to start in Rancho Cucamonga.

FiOS installation was completed in about 20 to 40 percent of south Claremont and Upland, George said.

“The fourth quarter of 2009 was when we were set and ready to go when it got pulled,” George said.

George said he did not know when the FiOS installation would begin again in Claremont, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga.

“I was hoping for 2010, but obviously that didn’t happen,” he said. “Now in 2011, we won’t know until the fourth quarter, or December, if we’ve satisfied our commitments. If not 2011, it just keeps going on down the line.”

Verizon FiOS is a bundled communications service - consisting of Internet, telephone, and TV - operating over a fiber-optic communications network.

Where I live (Tennessee) Charter offers 4 speed options: 1, 5, 10, or 20mbps. For a couple of years I’d been paying for the 10mbps, but various internet speed tests never clocked me at higher than 5.5. An employee at our local Charter office said it was probably my modem. It’s an older model and “may not be able to handle” the 10mbps. So I downgraded to the next slower option - figured if I’m only getting 5 why not just pay for 5, right? It was fast enough for my needs.

I downgraded, and now speed tests show me at around 2.5-3.5 mbps.

So I logged onto their online support chat. First I was told that 70% of the speed advertised is “acceptable” - as far as they’re concerned, 3.5mbps is fine when I’m paying for 5. I asked about my results that were under 3mbps? She told me that Charter no longer accepts results from other speed tests and to go to Charter’s speed test site, run it 3 times and get the average.

My average on THEIR test was 6.2mbps. Riiiiiight.

I told her that I doubted the accuracy of Charter’s test result, when moments before an independent site clocked me at 2.54, and lo and behold, I somehow got disconnected from the chat. I logged back into the chat, had to go through the whole thing again with another support person, and as soon as I repeated that I questioned the accuracy of Charter’s speed test I got disconnected again.

Not sure what I’m going to do next. I live in a rather rural area and my internet connection options are limited - it’s pretty much Charter cable or dial-up.