May 29, 2008

Verizon Fios installation underway in North Lakewood CA

Verizon has finally started doing Fios installations in North Lakewood, the part of the city north of Hardwick St. that is controlled by the Bellflower Central Office on Oak St. LAAG has spoken with "Curt" the Director of "Verizon's FTTP Program, West Coast Region" in Newbury Park, CA. He advises that Fios will be ready for sign ups by Oct-Nov 2008 in both the SW quadrants (west of Bellflower Blvd. north of Hardwick, east of Lakewood Blvd and south of Flora Vista St.) and SE quadrants (east of Bellflower Blvd. north of Hardwick, west of the San Gabriel River and south of Flora Vista St.) of Lakewood (but likely only a small percentage of homes in those quadrants). At this point it looks like the SE quadrant will be the first quadrant wired. We spoke to Verizon engineers "on the ground" near Eastbrook and Allington on 5/29/08 and they confirmed placement is starting in that location and should be available within 2 months to homeowners in that area around Allington and Eastbrook. There is no orderly progression as to how the fios installation flows. It is based on permits and where engineering tells the installers to go. It does not necessarily run east to west or north to south or in any contiguous or progressive fashion. The first sign that you will be getting fios is the cable stringers that go behind your property to string the fiber under the existing copper cables. Once they string that "dark fiber" it then needs to be hooked up to trunk lines. Then they install the beige metal boxes on the street and hook it up. Hooking up to the boxes at the ends of the block seems to be the last step before they turn on your service and offer you a 'drop" to your house. (They place a door hanger on your door to tall you its available to you)

In addition Curt also advises that the Bellflower Central Office will be the better GPON technology. Their current BPON technology splits 622Mbps downstream and 155Mbps upstream among 32 users. GPON technology will allow Verizon to offer 2.4Gbps downstream and 1.2Gbps upstream among 32-64 users (eliminating ATM, making it also more efficient). Read more on that here.

For a map of the quadrant boundaries and installations so far click here. Please email us if you see verizon fios installations underway or if you have fios up and running in Lakewood and you are within the SE and SW quadrants outlined above.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
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1 comment:

http://alberico.net said...

When I first saw this headline I though, Oh I hope they didn't protest the installation... sorry for the assumption, but I guess it comes with the territory.

Let me say, as a resident of Lakewood who's had Fios over a year now, it is AMAZING!!!

Can't state that enough. If you are fortunate enough to get it, GET IT. When you see those guys with the vans at the end of your street, talk to them, they'll give you a card with a number on it. Call that number and talk to that guy. Eventually you will have Fios. It does take 2 - 3 months to get fully built in your area so be patient.

Once you have it you'll give Time Warner the finger (hey they offer TV and Phone also!) because their quality of service is so great and their prices are decent.