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UPDATE: Verizon FiOS in one-third of Seal Beach

May 20th, 2009, 7:45 am by

Where is Verizon FiOS in Seal Beach? As of May 2009...Deserving a post of its own, here’s an update on Monday’s post about who in Seal Beach can order FiOS, the speedy Internet and full TV service from Verizon.

Michael Ho, the city’s engineer, wanted to clarify that when he said Verizon had “pretty much installed FiOS in about 80 percent of the residential areas of town,” he meant that was just in the Old Town, Bridgeport and Hill neighborhoods.

“Eighty percent of the permits that were pulled for the Old Town, Bridgeport and Hill area is complete,” Ho clarified to me.

That seriously downsizes the number of FiOS-friendly homes in Seal Beach to about  4,636 homes, if 80 percent of this area’s 5,795 homes have access to FiOS.

 That doesn’t mean the 9,000-person population in Leisure World is out of luck. Apparently, Verizon is still working with the area’s home association to deliver FiOS to the neighborhood. (I’m waiting on an update from the community).

SB neighborhood Homes FiOS?
Old town 4,270 Yes (80%)
Bridgeport 175 Yes (80%)
Hill 1,350 Yes (80%)
College Park East 1,700 No
Leisure World 6,608 No
Navy, other n/a No
Total 14,103 32% with FiOS

According to the “Seal Beach General Plan,” the city has 14,267 residential units. That means nearly one-third, or about 32 percent, is FiOS friendly.

Another 9,000 people live in Leisure World’s 6,608 apartments and condos. Plus, there are about 1,700 homes in College Park East that won’t be getting FiOS anytime soon.

Add all the numbers up and FiOS will reach about 41 percent of the city’s homes once it is 100 percent installed in the current neighborhoods. 

Future neighborhoods have been put on hold for now as Verizon focuses on selling the service in order to get some money for its efforts. Read the earlier story, “Verizon’s FiOS TV rollout slows in So Cal.”

Residents in the non-FiOS neighborhoods, don’t despair. Verizon tells me, and Ho said the same, that Verizon intends to offer service to the entire city. Someday.

“They want to do the entire city, even Leisure World,” Ho said.

More Verizon FiOS news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services.  

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

The FiOS report: Where is FiOS in Seal Beach?

May 18th, 2009, 9:30 am by

Verizon FiOS

UPDATE, 5/20, 2009: Seal Beach city engineer Michael Ho clarifies that the number he gave of completed FiOS construction is only related to certain neighborhoods. I’ve written a whole new post about it: “UPDATE: Verizon FiOS in one-third of Seal Beach.“

Welcome to The FiOS report. Readers area clamoring for alternatives to their current TV service and Verizon FiOS is one of two new services that offer this. But where can you find it? This is the first in an occasional series investigating exactly where FiOS TV is offered in Orange County cities.

Verizon’s FiOS TV service began targeting Seal Beach since late last fall (see “FiOS TV coming to Seal Beach“) and planned to reach 5,000 homes by the end of March.

But I’m still getting complaints from readers in certain neighborhoods that FiOS is MIA. Here’s the update:

According to Michael Ho, city engineer for the city of 25,000, Verizon has “pretty much installed FiOS in about 80 percent of the residential areas of town.” (CLARIFICATION on May 20: Ho meant 80 percent in certain neighborhoods. Read the update: “UPDATE: Verizon FiOS in one-third of Seal Beach.”

Key areas with FiOS are Old Seal Beach, Bridgeport and pretty much anywhere near Pacific Coast Highway.

Where is Verizon FiOS in Seal Beach? As of May 2009...The remaining portion that won’t be getting FiOS just yet is the neighborhood of College Park East, the area just north of Interstate 405 with about 1,700 homes; most of the Leisure World community (around 9,000 people); and, believes Ho, new tract homes and navy housing. (Click map image to enlarge)

That doesn’t sound like 80 percent to me…  Why the FiOS snub? Read the rest of this entry »

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

15,000 apartments in O.C. now FiOS friendly

January 27th, 2009, 5:06 pm by

Verizon’s FiOS TV and Internet service continue to expand in Orange County but exactly where is still a mystery. People here want this alternative to cable TV so badly that they’ve chased down Verizon vans (they’ve told me). It’s been difficult to find FiOS in neighborhoods where it is allegedly present.

However, the latest report the company ran for me shows that in Orange County, 600 properties now have access to FiOS. That’s about 15,000 apartments. In Southern California, the number has increased to 2,500 properties, up from 1,700 in October.

Oddly though, Verizon won’t share which properties these are. Even with my offer of free publicity for these dwellings, the company won’t budge, saying it doesn’t have clearance to release the names. Here’s my appeal to those communities: If you offer FiOS in your rental property, tell me about it and I’ll start a list. For some renters, FiOS could be a deciding factor in whether to move in.

FiOS continues to expand nationwide. Last year, it added 1 million Internet and TV customers, with 300,000 TV customers signing up in the last quarter. The service, which offers a similar TV lineup to cable plus way- faster Internet service, now covers a swath of the United States that serves 2.5 million customers. 

Still, judging from FiOS’ own report, even this cable alternative is having a tough sell. The company has tried to sell Internet service to 10 million customers, as of December 31, 2008. Likewise, it’s been marketed to 9.2 million potential TV customers. That effort has resulted in 2.5 million FiOS Internet customers and 1.9 FiOS TV customers.

According to the last update, Verizon FiOS is available in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Westminster, Garden Grove, Stanton, Seal Beach and certain unincorporated areas.

I’m continuing to track the status of Verizon FiOS and the other cable alternative AT&T U-verse. So if you haven’t already, let me know if you can get either service at your house. 

Need a customer service number? Check the Gadgetress Guide to TV services in OC. Also, here are some recent reports on U-Verse and FiOS: 

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • | 5 Comments »

A glimpse into U-verse, FiOS availability in Orange County

December 17th, 2008, 3:31 am by

Boy, O.C. really wants its U-verse TV.

I asked readers last week to tell me yea-or-nay on whether they can order AT&T’s U-verse or Verizon’s FiOS TV and Internet at their homes. I heard from plenty of people, though mostly from U-verse folks. This is probably because the U-verse post got more attention on the web.

Several readers mentioned that they can’t order the service, but their next door neighbor can. Also, lots of little issues trickled in that I’m trying to get answers to. I’m now compiling a list of addresses to help us figure out where exactly where U-Verse or FiOS is available. Right now, the map looks something like this:

Note: This is only from people I’ve heard from. FiOS is in parts of Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Westminster, Garden Grove, Stanton and certain unincorporated areas, plus it’s coming to Seal Beach in January.

U-Verse is in parts of Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Irvine, La Habra, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda. See “Guide to O.C. TV services” for more.

AT&T has responded with some answers (here’s the earlier response from Verizon regarding FiOS in Orange County):

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Help me find FiOS, U-verse in O.C.

December 10th, 2008, 11:01 am by

**UPDATE** See the first map of where FiOS and U-verse are in O.C. in “A glimpse into U-verse, FiOS availability in Orange County.”

Verizon left us feeling unsatisfied the last time I spoke to them about the expansion of its Internet-based TV service in Orange County. I had asked when FiOS would arrive in various O.C. neighborhoods but instead of clear answers, I got reasons why answers can’t be clear (construction and permitting issues, competition).  Sigh.

But at least we know we’re not the only ones left hanging.

Grant Gross, a writer at ITWorld.com, mentions his disgust with FiOS in “Waiting and waiting and waiting for FiOS.” He wants the service very much at his house but Verizon’s won’t offer it to him even though his neighbor can get it.

Separately, because of my “O.C. wants to know: When is FiOS coming to my city?” post last week, I heard from at least one potential AT&T U-verse customer who wants to know where in O.C. that telecom’s Internet-based TV service is. He, too, sees construction near his neighborhood, yet he can’t order the service.

Help me out folks. If you see FiOS or U-verse advertising in your neighborhood but can’t — or can — order service, let me know by sending me an e-mail with your address or intersection. If the companies won’t tell us what’s happening, maybe we can figure it out.

Check if you can get the services:

Verizon FiOS: CLICK HERE

AT&T U-verse: CLICK HERE

Want to make sure you get every FiOS or U-verse update? Sign up to have just those stories e-mailed to your inbox HERE.

Related:

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

O.C. wants to know: When is FiOS coming to my city?

December 5th, 2008, 5:06 pm by

Verizon FiOSOrange County residents were some of the first to get Verizon’s fast FiOS Internet and TV service that is on par with cable companies. But still, I hear, “When is FiOS coming to my city?”

Time for an update. I asked Verizon FiOS for detailed launch by city. Of course, they didn’t give that to me. Too many unknowns (city permits, construction schedules), they said, not to mention that they dont’ want their competition to know.

But here’s what they could tell me:

Right now, FiOS is available in parts of Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminister, Stanton, Fountain Valley and some unincorporated areas. In the next month, the first Seal Beach residents will be able to order FiOS.

Earlier this year, Verizon announced a long list of cities that it was given the go-ahead to launch FiOS. In Orange County, those cities include Brea, Dana Point, La Habra, Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel. A complete list of Southern California cities is available HERE.

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

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