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Verizon FiOS ‘on track’ even as many wonder when can they order it

March 17th, 2010, 8:28 am by

We here in Orange County were one of the first in the country to get Verizon FiOS TV and Internet service. It excited many readers who looked forward to 50 mbps Internet service and an alternative to cable TV. Then last year, we found out that the company stopped expanding to new areas locally in order to concentrate on where it already built the infrastructure (read: “Verizon’s FiOS TV rollout slows in So Cal“).

Now it looks like the same is true in East Coast cities of New York and Philadelphia, where Verizon made a big push for FiOS after jilting us here in O.C. Bill Kula, part of Verizon’s media relations group, wrote in the company’s At Home blog that Verizon is focusing on “increasing FiOS availability in those areas where we already have video franchises in place.”

Some interpret this to mean that if you don’t live in an existing FiOS-friendly neighborhood, it’s not coming anytime soon. It’s difficult not to make that assumption especially if you’ve been checking the FiOS availability site for the last couple of years only to get the same “Not available, but we do have DSL…”

Still, Verizon is sticking to the interpretation that FiOS hasn’t slowed down. In fact, Verizon is right where it had expected to be. Kula emphasizes that the company is on track to meet its goal of reaching 18 million premises by the end of 2010.

“At the end of the last quarter, we had 3.4 million FiOS Internet customers and 2.9 million FiOS TV customers. That’s a national penetration rate of 28 percent for FiOS Internet and 25 percent for FiOS TV – a very healthy growth clip for a service that we began selling from scratch nearly five years ago. That makes us the 8th largest among cable and satellite providers, some of whom have been in the business for decades,” Kula writes.

A reminder: When FiOS does enter a new neighborhood and starts selling TV door to door, the local cable TV company does the same, matching or beating FiOS rates. And we know FiOS isn’t cheap. Verizon, apparently, isn’t getting the kind of reception it had anticipated as it discovers that potential customers just signed long-term contracts with their existing TV service.

But those contracts, especially in Orange County, are approaching the 2-year mark so Verizon is going after those customers again. We saw some evidence that FiOS really is still expanding when the company announced earlier this month that FiOS added 166,000 new households in California last year (read: Verizon says FiOS now available to 1.2 million in SoCal).

I’m awaiting the latest word from my Verizon sources on more specific availability here in Orange County. Perhaps now that Verizon is no longer concerned about applying for new video franchises on the East Coast, it can finish what it started here. In Orange County, FiOS is available in some parts of Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton, Westminster and certain unincorporated areas.

More on FiOS:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

2 free passes to MacWorld 2010

February 1st, 2010, 3:35 pm by

MacWorld 2010For the first time, Apple Inc. won’t be at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, which starts next week. But the show must go on, apparently.

There is a large enough cottage industry to keep running the show and it’s even attracting new exhibitors, like Brea-based Apogee Inc., which sells all sorts of Apple video-adapter accessories under a recently launched brand Kanex.

“The brand is fairly new. We want to immerse ourselves into the Mac community and plan to do so at MacWorld,” said Denise Truong, with Apogee.

The company is also giving away 2 free Expo Hall passes to the event. Just leave a comment on the Kanex blog. There’s only a handful of comments so chances of winning are pretty good. Here’s the post: “MacWorld Expo Hall Pass Giveaway: Participate to win.”

Right now, those same hall tickets cost $25 each — and $45 after the show starts. Looks like there are around 230 exhibitors including Anaheim bag maker Targus Inc., Western Digital in Lake Forest and CarMD in Fountain Valley.

And yes, show organizers plan to talk about the upcoming Apple iPad, though there is no mention that the iPad will actually be at the show.

Recent Apple news:

Posted in: Apple mania • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Psssst: Digital cable TV is cheaper than analog cable

December 17th, 2009, 9:22 am by

Time Warner Cable signHere’s a little known fact about cable TV service from Time Warner Cable: Digital cable is cheaper than analog.

In Orange County, Time Warner’s digital cable package includes 200 channels, on-demand video and one special tier of channels (movies, variety, sports, etc.) for $50.95. This is the published rate, not a special promotion. You will need to rent a digital cable box for $6/month.

Basic analog cable, which is $55.50 to $58 per month depending on what city you live in, offers much less. That number shrunk this week as Time Warner moved some of these analog channels (ABC Family, The Weather Channel, TruTV) to digital to make room for more digital services for the majority of its customers. Time Warner has said that 80 percent of its Southern California customers are digital subscribers. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 48 Comments »

AT&T’s official list of Orange County cities getting U-verse TV

July 21st, 2009, 8:13 am by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service?

Readers, I’m heading to my second day of jury duty so posts will be on hold. But here’s something for Orange County readers who are hoping to get AT&T’s alternative TV service, U-verse, in their city.

To supplement an ongoing series of updates as to what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County, the company gave me this updated list of cities where it is building U-verse.

Keep in mind, service may not be available in all the cities yet, but AT&T is working on building the service there. 

Is your city listed? Or is it listed but you still can’t order TV service? Comment below or send me an e-mail and I will try to verify. If you have more information yourself, please share!

More on the U-verse impasse
  1. Aliso Viejo
  2. Anaheim
  3. Brea
  4. Buena Park
  5. Costa Mesa
  6. Fountain Valley
  7. Fullerton
  8. Garden Grove
  9. La Habra
  10. La Palma
  11. Laguna Hills
  12. Laguna Niguel
  13. Mission Viejo
  14. Orange 
  15. Placentia
  16. Rancho Santa Margarita
  17. San Juan Capistrano
  18. Santa Ana
  19. Stanton
  20. Villa Park
  21. Westminster
  22. Yorba Linda

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 23 Comments »

O.C. iFans rewarded with early Apple store opening for iPhone 3GS (UPDATED)

June 19th, 2009, 7:23 am by

iPhone 3GS goes on sale in Orange CountyUPDATE: Slideshow posted so you too can see what it was like to be in line for an iPhone 3GS way before the rest of the county was awake. Also more updates posted on lines at other Orange County Apple stores.

* See latest line updates, as of 4:20 p.m., below…

* Best Buy stores, Wal-Marts and AT&T stores are also selling the new iPhone 3GS today.

* Just got a call from AT&T at 10:07 a.m. that AT&T stores have relatively short lines compared to Apple stores. Of course, you can order an iPhone online and get it mailed to you within 7 to 14 days. But that’s no fun!

LINE UPDATES:

iphone3gs-mark6

*As of 4:37 p.m., the Apple store at the Irvine Spectrum has a 10-15 minute line wait. All colors and sizes of 3GS phones are still available.

*As of 4:30  p.m., the Apple store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa is sold out of iPhone 3GS,  unless you reserved one ahead of time.

* As of 4:25 p.m., the Apple store in Mission Viejo has a very short line and there are limited quantities of all the phones.

*As of 4:22 p.m., the Apple store at Fashion Island in Newport Beach is sold out.

*As of 4:20 p.m., the Apple store in Brea still has a line. The store only has 32 GB iPhone 3GS left in both white and black.

* As of 11:21 a.m., the Mission Viejo Apple store says the line is about 10-15 people and the store is almost sold out of every iPhone 3GS in stock.

* As of 11:14 a.m., the Irvine Spectrum Apple store reports a 2-hour wait in line. All phones are still in stock.

* As of 11:11 a.m., the Fashion Island Apple store says the line is about 2-hours long. The 16-GB white iPhone 3GS is sold out.

* As of 11:08 a.m., the Brea Apple store still has a line and is expected to be there most of the day.

* As of 9:49 a.m., the Apple store at South Coast Plaza HAS NO LINE. There are still plenty in stock, according to the store.

* As of 9:25 a.m., the Apple store at The Shops in Mission Viejo has about a 1-hour long line for folks who didn’t reserve a phone ahead of time. They’ve run out 16 GB white iPhone 3GS and is in short supply of other models. However, the online reservation system opens back up tomorrow so the store expects to recieve more units tomorrow. 

* As of 9:22 a.m., the Apple Store at Brea Mall has a “pretty long line.”

* As of 9:20 a.m., the Apple Store at Fashion Island has a 1.5-hour wait in line. The store is also sold out of the 16-GB iPhone 3GS in white. 

* As of 9:17 a.m. the Apple Store at the Irvine Spectrum says the line is 3-hours long, but it hopes to have phones available all day.

* At Orange County AT&T stores, which also opened at 7 a.m., AT&T reports there were lines at every store. For the greater Los Angeles area, there were, on average, 40-60 people in line as the stores opened, according to an AT&T spokesman. 

Lines were all over Orange County and by 7 a.m. phones were moving out of the Apple stores. Over at South Coast Plaza, doors opened 45 minutes early for the nearly 100 200 people in line.

Follow me on Twitter @gadgetressPeople continue to Twitter about waiting in line, including the first in line at South Coast Plaza (pictured on right), who our South Coast Plaza reporter Candice Shih interviewed below. Elsewhere in the county, Twitter user neilgreene said he was picking up an iPhone at the Mission Viejo store by 7 a.m. While carolynhimes said she was the 25th in line at the Apple store in Fashion Island just after 7 a.m.

Candice Shih, who blogs for the Register’s South Coast Plaza blog , arrived at the Apple Store at the Costa Mesa mall by 6:15 a.m., just in time to catch the first people in line before they headed inside the store. Here’s her report (or see her special SCP take “Apple store sees steady stream of iFans for launch of new iPhone“), which includes a couple of photos from Register photographer Mark Rightmire (the Gadgetress appreciates the hard and early-morning work!):

All Apple stores in Orange County were supposed to open at 7 a.m. to sell the new iPhone 3GS. But the store in South Coast Plaza opened at 6:15 a.m. I don’t know why they opened the store early but good thing I got there at 6:15 — just in time to talk to the first guy in line.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Apple mania • iPhone • • • • • • • • | 45 Comments »

iPhone 3GS lines start; Here’s where you can get one in O.C.

June 18th, 2009, 5:27 pm by

Boxes of iPhone 3GS on their way to stores for June 19 launch.Another summer, another iPhone. The new iPhone 3GS goes on sale as early as 7 a.m. Friday (June 19) and if you’re smart, you would have pre-ordered the phone online or from a store. But if you didn’t, you can still get your hands on one if you’re willing to get to a store early and wait in line.

According to Irvine Spectrum mall officials, customers are already in line in front of the Apple store as the long night begins. (It’s even been Tweeted, with pics of course. See who’s Twittering about lines at the Irvine store  HERE.)

Sonya “iGirl” Smith, the OC Register’s resident iPhone expert, won’t be in line tonight, as she has been for the past two years. She ordered her 3GS the day it was announced and now eagerly awaits its arrival via snail mail. She has already shared her initial thoughts with readers, which I appreciate since I’m not an iPhone user.

Candice Shih, who pens the South Coast Plaza blog (yes, we have a reporter covering just South Coast Plaza!), will be checking in on lines at 7 a.m. Friday, and reporting her findings right here. I’ll also be posting updates throughout the day on sell-outs, lines, etc.

For those who plan to get a phone Friday, please know that people who pre-ordered will have priority at AT&T stores and most everywhere else. It does look like some Apple stores in Orange County will let people in line buy a phone as early as 7 a.m. See details below.

Apple Stores

Orange County’s Apple stores open at 7 a.m. (though some stores say 8 a.m. on their phone message). Expect two lines, one for pre-orders, one for everyone else. See more details about individual stores below:

  • Brea Mall, 1065 Brea Mall, Space #1024A, Brea, CA 92821, 714-255-5610. Store opens at 7 a.m.
  • Fashion Island, 367 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660, 949-729-4433, Store opens at 7 a.m. Mall officials plan to let people line up starting at 7 a.m. but you might try getting their earlier.
  • Irvine Spectrum, 85 Fortune Dr. #311, Irvine, CA 92618, 949-255-1500. Store opens at 7 a.m. Your best bet if you want to line up all night. People are in line right now (Thursday afternoon), according to the mall.
  • South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, 714-424-6331. Store opens at 7 a.m. Mall officials plan to let people line up starting at 4 a.m.
  • The Shops at Mission Viejo, 936C The Shops at Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, 949-365-0727. Store opens at 7 a.m.

Boxes of iPhone 3GS on their way to stores for June 19 launch.

AT&T Stores

For those heading to AT&T stores (you can search for O.C. locations HERE), the stores open at 7 a.m. but only to allow customers who pre-ordered and notified by e-mail to leave with a phone.

Doors open for everyone else at 8 a.m. If you pre-ordered and miss the 7 a.m. opening, AT&T will let you go to the front of the line until 9 a.m. However, if you pre-ordered a phone and got confirmation that the phone is available, then an iPhone 3GS with your name on it will be waiting at the store no matter what time. You just may not be able to cut in line though if you arrive after 9 a.m. Don’t forget: Bring your receipt!

If you pre-ordered online at AT&T, your phone should arrive beginning Friday. Others could come as late as 14 days from now.

Elsewhere Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Apple mania • Cell phones • iPhone • • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Verizon’s FiOS TV rollout slows in So Cal

May 13th, 2009, 4:58 pm by

Verizon FiOS rollout slowing down for SoCal? Yikes!Verizon confirmed today that it has slowed expansion of its much sought-after FiOS TV service in Southern California to focus on adding customers where service is already available.

“We started in 2004 and have been really aggressive at getting fiber out there. But in order to get the return on our investment we need to focus on areas that we’ve already built,” said Jon Davies, a spokesman for Verizon FiOS.  ”We slowed down the build and really did a lot of direct marketing and door-to-door to get those customers to sign up.”

Davies says FiOS TV is still expanding in our area, just not as fast as planned. I guess that means if you’re getting FiOS sales people knocking on your door, you are still on the list to get service soon.

In Orange County, FiOS is in certain parts of Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton, Westminster and certain unincorporated areas.

This is a major detour from the glowing report the company gave two weeks ago to announce that FiOS service was now available to 1 million California households. Not to mention, the slowdown goes against the statement made by Eric Rabe, Verizon’s senior vice president of media relations, that Verizon is building as fast as it can.

Davies said Rabe was referring to the national rollout. This slowdown, as far as Davies knows, is specific to Southern California.

The delay has absolutely nothing to do with the economy, Davies said, despite notices like the one on the city of Walnut’s web site (and confirmed after a call to the city) saying otherwise: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

How many homes in O.C. can order FiOS?

May 6th, 2009, 9:24 am by

Verizon FiOSAfter two years of digging up streets to lay fiber-optic cables, Verizon FiOS TV is now available to 85,000 homes in Orange County, according to Jon Davies, a spokesman for much sought-after TV service.

That’s up 35 percent from two years ago, when FiOS TV first entered the county and offered service to 63,100 homes. 

Now if we take the number of housing units in Orange County –1,023,194 in 2007, according to the U.S. Census — that means the county is about 8.5 percent FiOS TV-ready.

This is a hopeful, yet disappointing number based on the fact that last week, Verizon said 1 million homes in California were now FiOS TV-friendly. The majority of those were supposed to be in Orange County and Los Angeles. But with a scant  85,000 in O.C., I’m left to assume that L.A. nabbed the bulk of the FiOS installations. 

Davies also offered an updated list of O.C. cities that have some FiOS TV service (without actual numbers since he can no longer disclose them), which I’ve compared to the original figures from 2007:

2007 2009
Fountain Valley: 300 homes Brea
Huntington Beach: 40,000 Cypress
Westminster: 12,500 Fountain Valley
Garden Grove: 5,300 Garden Grove
Stanton: 1,500 Huntington Beach
Unincorporated: 3,500 La Habra
  La Palma
Total = 63,100 Los Alamitos
  Seal Beach, 5,000
  Stanton
  Westminster

(Note: Verizon began rolling out service in Seal Beach earlier this year. And according to one of my previous posts on FiOS TV expansion here, Verizon is still targeting Dana Point, Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel.)

Where is FiOS and U-verse in Orange County?Thank you to all who have e-mailed me about FiOS or U-verse service in their neighborhood. I’m using the information to create something better than this previous map showing where these alternative TV services exist in O.C. 

More FiOS TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services 

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 12 Comments »

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