Buffalo’s communications labor unions are behind an organized effort to push Verizon Communications to expand its fiber-to-the-home service to the city of Buffalo, despite the fact the telecom company has a moratorium on service expansion beyond its existing commitments.

Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Michael Hoffert and CWA (Communications Workers of America) Local 1122 President James Wagner teamed up with the city’s elected officials and community advocates to pressure the phone company to expand service beyond several suburbs that currently get the service.

A professionally designed website, DontBypassBuffalo.com, is the home of the campaign, collecting signatures from interested residents and sharing late-breaking developments.

Verizon has a moratorium on further expansion of its fiber to the home service.

“Verizon’s FiOS service is a cutting-edge technology that brings ultra-fast internet and superior video programming over fiber optic cables that run directly into customers’ homes,” reads a statement from the coalition. “While Verizon is deploying FiOS throughout many of the suburbs of Buffalo, they are not building FiOS in the City of Buffalo.  The residents of Amherst, Tonawanda, Kenmore, Orchard Park, Hamburg, West Seneca and Lackawanna, where Verizon has built FiOS, are, taken as a whole, more affluent and less diverse than Buffalo residents.  The deployment of broadband technologies is a key to economic redevelopment in the City, especially since health care and higher education, both very dependent on cutting edge technologies, are leading employers in our area.  If Verizon continues to bypass Buffalo, residential consumers, children, and area businesses won’t be able to thrive in the 21st century economy.”

The union shares an interest in bringing the advanced service to more residents across Erie County as it collectively represents some of the Verizon employees who will service the fiber network.  Three western New York chapters of the CWA – Locals 1122, 1115 and 1177 – represent nearly 750 Verizon Workers across Erie, Genesee and Niagara counties, as well as across the Southern Tier, including field technicians, central office technicians and clerical staff.

Curry (WIVB-TV)

Verizon stalled new rollouts of its fiber optic network more than a year ago, and has consistently said it would only expand service in areas where it already has signed agreements with local communities.  In many regions, Verizon has completed agreements with towns and villages before reaching accommodations with larger urban areas.  Buffalo is not alone in protesting for improved broadband service.  Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Boston have also complained about being bypassed.

Last week, Coalition Director Janique Curry stepped up the pressure on the phone company at a press conference in front of Verizon’s Elmwood Avenue headquarters.

“Verizon’s lack of commitment to the minority population in the city of Buffalo is unacceptable,” Curry said.  “This community deserves an equal opportunity as our neighbors in the suburbs experience.”

Verizon’s FiOS network in New York State currently serves parts of metropolitan New York City and suburban areas around Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/DontBypassBuffalo Apr-May 2011.flv[/flv]

Here are three reports on the protests: WIVB-TV and WKBW-TV’s coverage of the protest in April, and WIVB’s most recent story covering last week’s return to Verizon headquarters to apply additional pressure on the company.  (3 minutes)

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSAZ Phoenix ATT Customer Satisfaction 5-17-11.mp4[/flv]

The morning news team at Fox affiliate KSAZ-TV in Phoenix were slightly in over-their-heads trying to cover the results of a satisfaction survey about cell phone companies.  Poor Kristin Anderson was coping with a personal AT&T crisis all her own — she lost her cell phone.  Her luck didn’t get much better when she tried to explore the survey’s results from the University of Michigan.  Instead of a slide ranking the winners and losers, viewers got a pop quiz question asking which country in the news is run by President Bashar al-Assad.  While you might have wanted to answer the Republic of AT&T, the correct answer is Syria.  AT&T scored rock-bottom in the survey with T-Mobile not far behind.  Among the major carriers, Verizon and Sprint tied for first place.  When asked which carrier scored the highest overall, the morning anchor team guessed Cricket.  Yes, Cricket.  (The correct answer turned out to be Tracphone, which is a prepaid reseller using other carriers’ networks.)  (4 minutes)

Homes and businesses across Singapore are rapidly being wired with fiber to the home broadband service as part of the country’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network.

Under the Intelligent National 2015 Master Plan, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has specified fiber broadband as the only technology capable of meeting the country’s requirement that all homes, offices, and schools have a minimum capacity of 1 Gigabit per second broadband no later than 2015.

Government officials have declared Gigabit broadband “a national priority” to keep Singapore a world leader in high tech business, medical care, and innovative education.  The country considers older broadband standards, including ADSL, cable broadband, and wireless service inadequate or outdated, and began installing fiber optic cables in 2009.

Singapore’s advanced fiber network is a public-private partnership between four partners – Axia NetMedia (Axia), Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and SP Telecommunications (SPT).  Government policy has helped reduce red tape and the country’s largest telecommunications companies are working together to build a single fiber platform on which various services can deliver what they call “a richer broadband experience with more choices at more affordable prices.”

Residents and businesses are being encouraged to participate with incentives like free installation, which represents a savings of $300 or more over regular installation costs.  A third-party company, OpenNet, has been contracted to handle wiring, installation, and maintenance of the fiber network.

Once installed, customers can choose any provider they like to establish service.  One of the country’s largest — SingTel, is already selling access at speeds currently up to 150Mbps:

Once the country’s fiber network is firmly established across the entire country, speeds will be increased.  Singapore has solved the domestic broadband speed problem, but like other countries in and around the South Pacific, international capacity remains constrained, and so are broadband speeds for international destinations.  But several undersea fiber projects are expected to vastly expand capacity within five years, allowing providers to eventually lift speed caps.

While many of Singapore’s residents live in multi-dwelling units like apartments and condominiums, many others live in individual homes.  Singapore decided fiber access must be ubiquitous, so coverage will extend to all types of buildings.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/OpenNet Overview Singapore 5-2011.flv[/flv]

This video contains an overview of Singapore’s fiber network, how it will be installed, what services it brings, and how it is being marketed across the country.  (14 minutes)

T-Mobile has announced it is giving some of its smartphone customers unlimited free calling, when you are within range of a Wi-Fi signal.

This new feature is available on Even More and Even More Plus postpaid rate plans for customers with Wi-Fi Calling-capable phones. Wi-Fi Calling is based on the Smart Wi-Fi application that comes pre-loaded onto many of T-Mobile’s latest smartphones.  It comes from Kineto Wireless, which provides a similar app for Orange UK and Rogers Wireless customers in Canada.

When enabled, T-Mobile customers will see a blue ‘talk bubble’ icon in the status bar.  Once active and running, all voice calls made on your phone while within range of a connected Wi-Fi signal are reportedly not counted against your plan minutes.

Judging from anecdotal reports across the web, T-Mobile customers have been able to add the free calling feature to their accounts as of last Friday.  The fastest route to a quick activation is calling T-Mobile customer service.  Those subscribed to a Family Plan must activate the feature individually for each smartphone on the account.

Wi-Fi Calling is primarily pitched as providing a solid signal where none exists, a helpful feature for T-Mobile customers who find reception less than robust indoors.  Offloading wireless traffic to Wi-Fi benefits T-Mobile as well, reducing demand on its cell towers.

The technology differs from femtocells — small devices that connect with your broadband connection and deliver a 3G wireless signal in your home or office.  Because the Smart Wi-Fi app that powers Wi-Fi Calling is software-based, there is no hardware expense and little customer configuration required.  But Wi-Fi Calling is more restrictive.  A femtocell delivers a 3G signal to any nearby device registered to access it; Wi-Fi Calling only works with phones pre-equipped with the feature.

T-Mobile is also reportedly readying its own femtocell solution for low signal areas.  Their Cel-Fi Microcell is undergoing focus group testing at a price point of a $50 refundable deposit, and a monthly cost of $1.99.

T-Mobile’s website has created some confusion over their Wi-Fi Calling by delivering contradictory information to what customer service representatives are telling customers.  Customer service and an internal company memo suggest the use of the feature does not count against plan minutes, but their website says the opposite.

T-Mobile’s latest innovation begs the question: Would AT&T  — potential future owner of T-Mobile — ever offer Wi-Fi Calling to its customers for free, with no deduction of plan minutes when used?

AT&T femtocell users find the company does deduct plan minutes, unless customers pay for a $19.99/month add-on plan for an unlimited calling option.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Smart Wi-Fi.flv[/flv]

Kineto Wireless produced this video explaining how Smart Wi-Fi Calling works, and we’ve included a second video from the company explaining how to access the application from a T-Mobile smartphone.  (6 minutes)