Customer ServiceeRegister
The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill

Archive for the 'Cypress' Tag

« Previous Entries

AT&T U-verse TV non-update update for Orange County

March 31st, 2010, 11:30 am by

Readers searching for an alternative TV service have been asking for months: Any updates on the AT&T U-verse roll out?

It’s been 8 months since last summer’s series detailing the company’s decision to stop pursuing 7 Orange County cities, including Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin. AT&T ran into roadblocks with the city governments to install large utility boxes above ground. The cities wanted underground structures. AT&T decided it wasn’t worth the time or money.

So, what’s happened since? AT&T just got back to me with an answer and you’re probably not going to like it.

“No updates to report on the OC cities,” said Katie Keating, with AT&T.

More on the U-verse impasse

> More on U-verse Impasse<

Keep in mind, U-verse has expanded tremendously in the past year. According to the company’s 2009 earnings report, it doubled the number of U-verse customers to 2.1 million and it still plans to make the service available to 30 million by the end of next year.

AT&T continues to market to new customers in Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

But like the other newish TV service, Verizon FiOS, there have been no expansions into new cities. This week, the Associated Press reported Verizon is winding down FiOS expansion. We already knew this was happening in Orange County last year and the company confirmed as much just a few months ago.  If you can’t get FiOS today, you probably won’t be getting it for a very, very long time. Sounds like the same is true with U-verse, at least for the 7 cities previously mentioned.

There is still some hope that Orange County cities will get fiber Internet, if not TV service. Google’s recent pitch to help out cities build fiber networks did attract some local attention. Fullerton, Mission Viejo and Anaheim all made a bid (read earlier story: “Orange County doesn’t go crazy for Google’s 1 gbps fiber Internet“).

More on U-verse:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 25 Comments »

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 »

AT&T improves reception in Cypress and Laguna Niguel

December 8th, 2009, 5:46 pm by

AT&T WirelessIt’s time for the monthly cell-phone reception update from AT&T. This month, the lucky winners are the cities of Cypress and Laguna Niguel. Both cities received a new 3G cell site, offering improved reception for AT&T mobile subscribers.

To collect the prize, city residents or anyone passing through, should notice better reception when near these intersections:

  • Lincoln Avenue and Valley View Street  in Cypress
  • Beacon Hill Way and Niguel Road in Laguna Niguel

Both are 3G cell sites, which means faster downloads and Web browsing.

AT&T even has this message for Orange County customers:

“We have a long history of investing in our network throughout Orange County to improve the quality of service we provide to our customers,” said Richard Porras, AT&T External Affairs, Orange County, in a press release. “Our customers will experience enhanced wireless coverage and an improved user experience as a direct result of the activation of this new cell site.”

Outside of Orange County, AT&T added nine new cell sites in the greater Los Angeles area. The additions are part of the 320 site upgrades to 3G plus 200 brand new cell sites AT&T is adding in California this year.

More on cell reception in Orange County:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

AT&T explains why it can’t build its TV service underground

August 18th, 2009, 7:40 am by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County. The company said in July 2009 that it was halting further expansion in seven O.C. cities. I’m talking to each city so keep checking back for updates! This story, in particular, is the long promised update on why AT&T can’t build its U-verse TV technology underground, as every city prefers.

When AT&T said it would stop pursuing expansion of its highly anticipated U-verse TV and Internet service in seven Orange County cities (Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin), readers blamed the cities. Why would a city not want to offer residents another TV option?

Closeup

U-verse box in Brea

Most of the cities responded, saying, no, they haven’t rejected AT&T U-verse. Rather, they’re waiting for their laundry list of requirements to be fulfilled or at least answers to their multiple questions. Cities want AT&T to build the large U-verse utility boxes underground. Otherwise, cities believe they’ll be deluged with ugliness complaints or spray-can wielding vandals.

AT&T tells me it has responded to all concerns among the cities. Multiple times.

“Over the past two years, we’ve met with cities repeatedly and answered the same questions on the same issues,” said an exasperated H. Gordon Diamond, with AT&T’s public affairs, after reading some of the responses from the cities.

Cities have nitpicked AT&T, some asking for the company to pre-engineer each location (which takes 50 hours a pop, says Diamond), others putting requiring a list of “standard” conditions be met. While some cities say they just care more than those cities, AT&T says this is holding up progress and keeping an alternative TV service out of reach of residents.

So, let’s look at AT&T’s response to the biggest issue: AT&T says it can’t build these utility cabinets underground.

And why not?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | 24 Comments »

Update: What happened to U-verse and FiOS in Cypress

July 7th, 2009, 9:00 am by

Installation of U-verse at customer home. Image from AT&T.Readers: This is the first of several updates on what happened to the U-verse rollout in Orange County. I’ll be updating the blog after checking in with various cities. So keep checking back!

Cypress is one lucky Orange County city. It’s one of the few cities in the county where both Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse  want to expand their TV service.

But while Cypress was one of Verizon’s launch cities in 2007, the FiOS rollout has been on hold, according to city officials. And as we learned Monday, AT&T has given up on applying for needed permits because of hassles it faced during the process (read: “AT&T U-verse comes to a halt in Irvine, 6 other O.C. cities“). 

The U-verse impasse

“Their arguments have been about aesthetics even though the cabinets are no different than any others we have placed in the public right of way,” said H. Gordon Diamond, with AT&T Public Affairs, in response to why seven Orange County cities — Irvine, Cypress, Dana Point, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin — are now off the U-verse expansion list.

“To date, we have been successful in working with more than 230 other California cities on our upgrade to bring next-generation services to their residents,” Diamond said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

AT&T U-verse comes to a halt in Irvine, 6 other O.C. cities

July 6th, 2009, 12:14 pm by

AT&T U-verse

Major correction on this post, which earlier was titled, “AT&T U-verse TV expanding to Cypress, Dana Point, elsewhere.” 

In fact, H. Gordon Diamon, AT&T’s public affairs representative, said that it has been so difficult to get permits in seven Orange County cities that the company has stopped applying for them.

“Specifically, the seven cities that I mentioned to you are not issuing us any permits so we have, in fact, stopped submitting them,” he said. Earlier, he said that AT&T U-verse was “working to secure the required permits for the upgrade” in these seven cities:

The U-verse impasse
  1. Irvine
  2. Cypress
  3. Dana Point
  4. Lake Forest
  5. Newport Beach
  6. San Clemente
  7. Tustin

The company still offers service in five of those seven cities — to all those lucky enough to get it before AT&T ran up against local bureaucracy. Two other cities — Cypress and Dana Point — are new to the list of cities AT&T was targeting. That’s too bad for those residents who were seeking an alternative TV service.

UPDATE: I’m checking with every city to see what happened in regards to AT&T. One has told me that it’s due to aesthetics but it hasn’t officially denied AT&T’s request. Watch for a full report on this blog soon. Meanwhile, I’m also responding to comments below.

Here’s the original post, corrected as necessary with changes in bold and red:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 39 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 »

« Previous Entries
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline