Although Verizon Communications has stopped expanding its FiOS fiber-to-the-home service outside of areas it already committed to serve, its gradual rollout continues in Philadelphia.

Gradual is right. On Kalos Street in the Wissahickon section of Philly, it all depends on which side of the road your house resides. Odd-numbered customers were in luck this week as Verizon took its marketing efforts to the street, with a temporary tent emblazoned with Verizon’s logo installed on the sidewalk, giving pedestrians a few minutes of warmth from a portable heater.

FiOS tent (Courtesy: J. Chakars/WHYY NewsWorks)

Inside the tent, would-be customers are given a preview of the fiber optic service and some free gifts just for stopping by on the cold winter night. Those who took Verizon up on its offer walked away with free ice skating tickets. Those that didn’t got a refrigerator magnet and a tote bag as consolation prizes.

Verizon’s sales force, braving the weather, has made inroads in the city that is home to Comcast’s corporate headquarters.

Joanne Weill-Greenberg told WHYY/NewsWorks she called Comcast to deal for a lower rate and Comcast refused to match Verizon FIOS’ introductory offer. She is now an ex-Comcast customer, and not just for the money. She explained FiOS offers channels Comcast does not carry, and because FiOS also carries Comcast’s regional sports channel, there is nothing holding them to the cable company.

The Verizon tent does not stay in any one location too long.

In a few days, they will relocate to another neighborhood that is now primed for fiber upgrades from the phone company.

Pennsylvania residents can just be thankful the winter weather has not gotten brutal enough for Verizon to deploy its inflatable igloo.

All new homes must be equipped with fiber broadband connections if they are located in a county or city where fiber service is provided, according to a new mandate from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The Chinese government has learned turning over national broadband policy to self-regulating providers reluctant to invest in super-fast broadband service is a mistake other countries will pay for dearly as they fall behind in broadband rankings and digital opportunities only available to the broadband “well-connected.”

Now the government has taken measures to level the playing field for ordinary consumers and businesses who will share the right to equal service from various telecommunications companies over the country’s state-of-the-art fiber to the premises network.

The mandate takes effect April 1, and is anticipated to bring explosive growth in domestic fiber broadband, according to the China Daily.

With an open fiber network, expensive network redundancy and cherry-picking lucrative customers are reduced or eliminated, allowing the country to deploy fiber more rapidly in areas providers would typically deem “unprofitable.”

The new fiber policy will mean at least 40 million Chinese homes will have fiber broadband by 2015. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the nation’s second largest telecom company, is among the most aggressive providers, adding 10 million Chinese families to its fiber network in the last year alone.

The bare minimum fiber speeds for Chinese families will be 4Mbps in rural areas, 20Mbps in urban zones, with 95 percent of the country blanketed with broadband within a few years.

The Chinese government’s broadband plan is laser-focused on fiber optics, with satellite and wireless service filling in rural coverage gaps. The country sees 21st century broadband as a national priority and is well on its way even as North American broadband companies are pulling back on fiber deployments. Instead, American and Canadian companies are incrementally upgrading inferior copper wire and cable HFC broadband networks. The Chinese government does not believe these older technologies will suffice.

Optical fiber manufacturers who assumed telecom companies in North America would continue aggressive fiber deployments and ramped up optical fiber production as a result have taken a financial beating, slashing prices to reduce inventory. The price for fiber cable has dropped at least 90 percent in the past decade. The Chinese government has even resorted to tariffs to stop American and European manufacturers from dumping fiber cables and equipment at rock bottom prices to the detriment of its domestic manufacturers.

China remains the largest driver in global fiber demand. In 2011, China accounted for about 50% of the global demand, reaching nearly 60 percent by the end of 2012.

A CenturyLink official made a remarkable concession in the state of Minnesota last week when he admitted the state’s community-owned broadband networks are better equipped to deliver 21st century broadband speeds that CenturyLink simply cannot provide.

Duane Ring, midwest region president for CenturyLink publicly told an audience at a Minnesota High Tech Association-sponsored discussion in Minneapolis that community-owned networks don’t have to meet shareholder demands for return on investment and other corporate metrics that have left CenturyLink broadband customers with far lower speeds than municipal broadband customers. Minnesota Public Radio was on hand:

Noting that CenturyLink wants every customer it can find, Ring pointed out that the company nonetheless needs a return on investment that satisfies shareholders and meets the demands of larger commitments and fiduciary responsibilities.

The small phone companies that have laid high-speed fiber networks, some of whom are cooperatives whose customers are the owners “can make decisions that maybe the economic return is 25 years,” Ring said. “They can do that.”

CenturyLink concedes Paul Bunyan offers better speeds over a superior network.

Only 62 percent of Minnesotans can today purchase what qualifies as broadband service. Those lucky enough to be served by public providers like Paul Bunyan in the Bemidji area and Farmers Mutual Telephone in western Minnesota benefit from some of the fastest broadband speeds in the state. That is because those cooperatives and public ventures laid fiber optic cables connected to individual homes. Those in rural Minnesota served by CenturyLink or Frontier get much less from slow speed, copper-based DSL, if they can get broadband at all.

CenturyLink has proven itself an obstacle for community broadband, opposing the construction of improved networks in areas they already service, condemning rural customers to substandard broadband speeds indefinitely. While the company says it is not opposed to public-private partnerships, any attempt to bypass them will result in a hornet’s nest of legal protests and blocking actions.

While community-owned networks struggle for financing and approval in a hostile atmosphere created by incumbent providers, the government is handing out money to companies like CenturyLink to get them to extend their slow speed DSL network. CenturyLink is spending $11 million in Connect America funds in Minnesota alone.

In other areas, residents have no interest in waiting around for single digit DSL speeds. In Lac qui Parle County in western Minnesota, local officials have joined Farmers Mutual Telephone to build a fiber network.

CenturyLink’s admission proves it answers first to shareholders, much later to customers.

A traditional metrocell, designed to be installed on a utility pole or side of building.

AT&T’s wireless network expansion plans include more than 10,000 new HSPA+/LTE cell sites, 40,000 small “metrocells,” and 1,000 distributed antenna systems (DAS) that will improve network performance, broaden Wi-Fi service, and reduce traffic on its traditional cell tower network.

With much of urban and suburban America (and the roads that connect communities) already covered by cellular networks, AT&T has embarked on an effort to more efficiently manage its wireless traffic.

AT&T, the lowest-rated wireless carrier by Consumer Reports, has suffered from a reputation for dropped calls and inadequate network infrastructure investment. The company has sought to correct those mistakes with the implementation of its multi-billion dollar Project Velocity IP (VIP) program that will expand capacity and bring Wi-Fi to new places.

John Donovan, senior executive vice president of AT&T’s Technology and Network Operations division told attendees at the Citi Global Internet, Media & Communications conference in Las Vegas the company was shifting investment towards deploying small cell technology like “metrocells” that provides service to 32 or 64 concurrent users in a small geographic area. These fiber-fed, low-power small cells traditionally cover areas less than 1.2 miles wide, and can be hidden on utility poles or on buildings.

AT&T intends to leverage its U-verse fiber to the neighborhood network to provide much of the expanded network’s backhaul connectivity, at least in cities where AT&T provides landline service.

With an in-house fiber network, AT&T can more cheaply deploy expanded Wi-Fi that will help the company offload cellular data traffic. AT&T says customers will benefit because Wi-Fi use currently does not count against a customer’s monthly data usage allowance. With Wi-Fi accompanying new metrocell and DAS installations, AT&T customers will eventually see a much larger area of Wi-Fi service on their wireless devices, especially in urban areas.

AT&T’s fall announcement of a renewed push for U-verse compliments plans to expand its wireless network. In cities where AT&T is not the landline provider, the company often contracts with other telecom companies to handle traffic to and from cell sites.

Donovan noted a crucial key to the plan’s success is to demand a more seamless transition to and from Wi-Fi from device manufacturers, automatically switching customers off the cellular network in favor of Wi-Fi, where available. At present, customers make the choice. In the future, the device itself could ultimately become the final arbiter, choosing the strongest, most reliable wireless technology available automatically.

The company has not given up on traditional cell tower networks.

AT&T intends to expand its HSPA+ footprint to 300 million homes by the end of 2014. It reaches around 288 million homes at present, with LTE service available to around 170 million. The company intends to provide both its slower HSPA+ and faster LTE 4G service.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Metrocells.flv[/flv]

Alcatel-Lucent is a supplier of metrocell technology and produced this video explaining why offloading network traffic was important, particularly in large congested cities and at major event venues.  (2 minutes)

Telecom door fees and other accommodations are often illegal under New York State law.

More details are emerging over Verizon’s complaint to the New York Public Service Commission after the company was refused entry to several New York multi-dwelling buildings to restore phone service after Hurricane Sandy and upgrade tenants to the company’s fiber optic network FiOS.

The New York Times reports the management blockade of telecom companies is nothing new. In some instances, landlords even expect to receive compensation for unlocking the front door for Verizon and Time Warner Cable, despite the fact it is illegal.

Verizon spokesman John Bonomo declined to tell the newspaper how much landlords are asking, but cable industry executives tell stories of building owners demanding as much as $150 per apartment in what they call “door fees.”

Verizon noted DSA Management, the company that takes care of 11 Maiden Lane, has asked for compensation. Theoretically, if DSA requested the same amount, it would run more than $10,000.

A DSA Management executive claims tenants in the building never lost phone service because of the storm and had no interest in the additional services Verizon FiOS had to offer. But a Stop the Cap! reader living in one of the impacted buildings shared a very different story with us.

“My phone has not worked right since even before Sandy hit,” shares a reader who wishes to remain anonymous to avoid possible retaliation. “You can get a dial tone but you also get to hear half of Manhattan when you make a phone call. I can’t hear myself over the other conversations. Verizon has let their copper network go to crap.”

The reader says Verizon is aware of the problem and a trouble ticket is open, and the company indicated it was having trouble arranging access to fix the problem.

“I want FiOS yesterday. I guess some of these building owners already have it and will let us have it if the kickback is finally high enough. Time Warner Cable comes and goes whenever they like.”

Bonomo told the Times Verizon has paid “nominal fees” to building owners before, ostensibly to post fliers and set up sales tables in the lobby.

In some states, renters don’t have much of a choice. Cable operators have been known to sign lucrative deals with property owners to sign everyone in the complex up for cable, bundling the monthly bill into rent payments or mandatory fees. Customers can refuse the service, but they will still pay for it.

Some building owners claim they have a natural hesitancy allowing telecom companies into their buildings because they do not always take care to hide their work or avoid inconveniencing tenants with noise or damage.

TF Cornerstone says Verizon should not be in a hurry to effect repairs at 2 Gold Street or 201 Pearl Street. Both luxury high-rises have been uninhabitable since Sandy struck and until heat, hot water, and electricity is back, FiOS can wait, they say.