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Seen & Heard: Fios Frustration
••• I asked David Bouley for clarification about the closing last days of Bouley at its current location (previously announced as around now)—and its reopening at 17 Harrison (supposed to be the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019).
••• A psychic is moving into 61-65 Broadway. How are psychics even legal?
••• I was disappointed to learn that Community Board 1 decided to allow a street fair (benefiting CB1) on Warren between Broadway and Church on July 13. At the January meeting of the CB1 Tribeca Committee, they had said that they’d ask the organizer, Mardi Gras Productions, to look into other locations for this fair. Let’s hope they at least insisted that it not include any amplified sound.
••• “For years now, Verizon has been claiming they are going to put Fios in our building,” emailed L. “They even came to our building did a survey and presented us with a plan which we responded to and haven’t heard a peep since, despite repeated calls and all the rest. It’s been a very frustrating, agonizingly slow experience. Somehow I came across your old article and I was going to contact the gentlemen at Verizon you mentioned in your piece (John Bonomo) but he has since left the company. And now I am back to square one.” Back in 2013, Bonomo said this:
I don’t know offhand exactly (what streets) where we have deployed Fios, but it’s a good bet that we are in Tribeca and North Tribeca, but just not in the building your reader is asking about. The challenge we have with a city like NYC is that when we bring it “down the street” we need to negotiate with landlords and property owners to bring it into that building. That’s vastly different than in the outer boroughs or suburbs where there are more (and sometimes exclusively) single-family homes. The homeowner says install it, and we install it the next day. In a multi-apartment building, there are negotiations as to where will you bring it in? How does it get up to each floor? How does it get to each apartment? Once in the apartment, how is it wired? These and other things are negotiated, because it’s important to the building owners, and us too.
I don’t have any more info, other than a New York Times article from March 13 about how “nine years after Verizon promised to make its high-speed Fios internet service available to every household in New York City, the city sued the company on Monday, saying it had failed to keep that pledge.” Has anyone else out there had luck getting Verizon to deliver? UPDATE: Jay Beasley of Verizon emailed to say this: “I can be a resource and would like to help ease frustrations. It’s my job to bring it everywhere across NYC.” Not sure if he’d like me to post his contact info, so email me at tribecacitizen@gmail.com if you’d like it.
••• Soho Photo’s April shows, opening April 5, include David Kutz’s The Stranger’s Path and Future Obsolescence: “Inspired by an essay titled The Stranger’s Path by the renowned American geographer, J.B. Jackson, and the great panoramas of the early 19th-century, this 21-foot long, 210-degree panoramic work considers the commonality of the modern travel experience. Intermediate zones, such as the arcade connecting two non-places at Schönefeld Airport in Berlin and known as the ‘tunnel,’ epitomize the experience of arrival and departure in today’s globalized world. Unlike the panoramic presentations of the 19th-century, there is no admissions price to view this picture.” Below: a detail from the photograph.
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We just got Vios at little over a year at our building. Both Verizon and TWC/Spectrum are a huge rip off!!! I switched because TWC was just ridiculously over price for our neighborhood (in queens and the Bronx my friends were paying 110 dollars for everything) as I was paying close to 200 for not even premium channels. Waited waited and waited for Vios they give you a better pricing but after a year now I pay 250. Tried to go back to TWC but they are just as expensive.
My next step is firestick. All you need is wifi and you get all the Chanel’s.
I’ve had decades of frustration with Verizon on Lispenard St. in Tribeca. This is the modern equipment on the back of our building I’ve been trying to get replaced trying to get Fios. There is no issue with a building owner. I mocked up this billboard to fu*k with them. Finally went with TWC, (Spectrum) and I’m so happy.
/Users/tommy/Desktop/verizon_billboard.jpg
New York State Penal Law
Section 165.35 Fortune telling.
A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation which he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses;
except that this section does not apply to a person who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement.
Fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor.
I went to a fortune teller, and I asked what he saw……. he looked me in the eye and said, “You want Verizon Fios yes??” and I replied with excitement, “Yes! Yes! I’ve been waiting since 2008!”. I couldn’t believe this man knew this. I never believed in this kind of thing. I mean, his turban still had the price tag on it. And after a while of awkward stares back and fourth, along with slow hand movements over the crystal ball with hues of neon lighting reflected through the slight mist surrounding it , the fortune teller looked at me and said, ” Well….. you’re shit out of luck!”. Now I know what you are thinking…. why would you believe a hack like that? Well, is he wrong?
In all seriousness…. I live in one of the best cities in the world. But in my neighborhood, you only have one provider and the prices are jacked to the moon. Fios is installed across the street from my house! But they are too lazy to bring the wires across to me! Is verizon an overweight beer drinker on a Lazyboy thinking about it’s life choices??? Optimum just charged me $270 tonight! My last bill was $179 which was bad enough, but wtf!?!? When I live in NYC and my friend out in west bumbafu@k Kentucky can get Google fiber, it really gets you thinking…. “Should I get myself a Uhaul and get the fu@k outta here? Or should these providers get their act together and stop bullshitting us New Yorkers.”
I have to admit though, after everything I read on here, I got a little nervous about when they finally do decide to grace me with their presence. But, I’ve known many people who have gotten the Fios service and didn’t have any complaints at all. So I guess some people just had bad luck with them, but I gotta try it…. if I get the opportunity. And I promise, if they do my wrong, I will be here to rant and shre my story. But for now, screw them all….. and thank God for my Fire TV.
I was so excited when Verizon came to my building, only to be disappointed by sky rocketing prices and very slow internet. I had to get a second router (more money) and still, the service in my main living space is painfully slow. Beware – they only guarantee high speed Internet if you are physically connected to the router. If not, it’s too bad so sad. The main excuse I get from the techs is that “I live in a big city”. This I already know. What I don’t know is why Verizon isn’t bothering to improve its product, because at this pace, it will eventually go the way of the dodo bird.
They only guarantee speeds tied to a physical connection because they do not control wifi. My wifi shows 20 or so networks that can interfere. And anything from your computer monitor, cordless phone, and even you microwave can mess that up. Nothing they or anyone can do about it.
How are churches even legal?
touche
They’re installing FiOS right now at my place on Murray Street – along with the buildings to either side of us. Lots of drilling and putting in conduits on the stairwell…next comes the tech running a line in my apartment, I guess. I hope this is worth it.
Thank you for reviving the FiOS issue. I’ve been pushing them with all my might for 5 years. You’ll never get the full and correct story from them because it’s not about practical issues of deployment, but about labor relations. It’s a very long story that I won’t go into here. Our block has FiOS in the large buildings. My building, despite my having arranged the internal cabling years ago with Verizon, despite my landlord being completely flexible about it and designating me in charge of arrangements, has only eight apartments. And so for five years I’ve been begging. There are no good guys in this scenario. It’s largely about venality.
I want to qualify that, the men and women who handle the technical stuff are excellent, and the customer service is at least courteous, if unhelpful.
I have been working with the city, and with Verizon, to get FIOS on Lispenard St for almost two years. Despite repeated promises (and excuses) there doesn’t seem to be any real effort underway. I read that Verizon was killing FIOS anyway, because it couldn’t make money from the service. They pretend to be fulfilling their contract with the city, and they have city officials believing them (despite current lawsuit), which has been maddening since they obviously aren’t making a serious effort at all. They blame delays on building owners and getting permission to run lines, which is a convenient excuse…what the hell did they think when they signed the contract with the city in the first place? Or did they? It all reeks of corruption, incompetence, and bureaucracy. I’m waiting to see which happens first; FIOS on our block, repaving Wooster between Canal and Broome, new LaGuardia airport, or my death.
They are in the process of installing VIOS in our Gateway Plaza building as I write.
I was very excited to switch from TWC to Fios a few years ago. Let me tell you it’s hasn’t been so great. In the last 3 years anytime a neighbor on the same floor got Fios the techs would knock our service out installing in the new apartment. We’d have to call, go through the motions of checking our equipment (we always knew it wasn’t our equipment), set up an appointment for them to come out, take time off of work to be there (all the while being without phone, cable or internet). Then once it was back up and running they would leave the wires hanging out of the ceiling in the hallway. When the building would have a contractor put the molding back up – the contractor would somehow do something to the wires and knock out our service again. It became ridiculous. We had to fight them to rewire our apartment and treat it as a new installation. Those wires they use are so flimsy. WiFi service is also slow at times – they are constantly asking me to upgrade for faster service – For what I pay a month I should already be getting the fastest service available. Beginning to miss NY1!