Fiber optic Internet closer

Verizon moving ahead with FIOS

Friday, May 2, 2008

That’s what Charles County Technology Council members concluded after listening to a presentation Tuesday by Joseph Daniels, Verizon’s assistant vice president for external affairs, on the company’s plans to bring its newest broadband technology to the county.

Daniels assured the audience at the April 29 meeting Verizon will soon bring FIOS — fiber-optic Internet, television and phone service. The fiber-optic lines are already being laid in ‘‘high growth areas.” But the company must still secure franchise agreements and permits with the towns of La Plata and Indian Head, and with Charles County to provide access to major corridors in Waldorf, Hughesville and their immediate areas. They will begin by providing service to new residential construction, followed by commercial buildings. Residents who don’t fall into either category and who live in designated service areas will be able to install it at an additional cost.

Fiber-optic runs at speeds of up to 30 megabits — up to 10 times faster than cable and DSL. If there is a power shortage, fiber-optic lines allow a home or office to keep a telephone dial tone, unlike with cable or DSL.

Discussions about the rollout have begun between one of America’s largest communications companies and Charles County’s Economic Development Department. Though Daniels could not pinpoint a date, he said Verizon is ‘‘extremely close” to providing service to La Plata and Indian Head.

‘‘A lot of it has to do with Verizon and their willingness to invest in the infrastructure,” said Marcia Keeth, acting director of Charles’ economic development department. ‘‘The biggest challenge is that so many big companies haven’t been willing to make the investment in the county. We have been begging Verizon for years to put in and activate the high-speed Internet services. The demand is there. They have been slow at it. No one can do business now without high- speed Internet. Having high-speed Internet in your office is like having electricity. You can’t do business without those things.”

‘‘I recognize the growth in Southern Maryland. We’re taking a risk but we feel that’s the way we want to go,” Daniels said. ‘‘I have an understanding of the need for broadband in rural areas. There are a lot more rural areas under our footprint than ... urban areas.”

Tech council members hope that Verizon’s FIOS broadband network will also bring choice (currently only Comcast offers fiber-optic broadband and only in populous county corridors), much wider high-speed access for Charles County’s working professionals and residents, and hopefully, lower, more competitive prices. Daniels said depending on the speed, Verizon’s broadband Internet alone will cost anywhere from $42.99 to $139.95 per month.

But Verizon’s concentration in towns around U.S. 301 and Route 210 left tech council members concerned about those in more rural, off-the-beaten-path parts of the county. Residents might live in what are considered ‘‘rural” areas but in large communities of 40-plus homes, and they too, want the ability to telework or access the Internet in a flash.

‘‘Everyone is hungry for some sort of Internet access,” said Eric Kriemelmeyer of Studio 553. Kriemelmeyer lives in a somewhat rural Charles community with many homes, but must use dial-up Internet service or his USB air card, which doesn’t get very good service.

‘‘We all require some type of Internet access. A lot of us are getting into this to support our clients, especially military contractors,” said Carlos Montague, owner of Port Tobacco Consulting and president of the tech council.

Many defense contractors are required to have high bandwidth to protect sensitive information and send large amounts of information to clients. ‘‘We need things to go very fast. We wish it was yesterday. We support the efforts,” Montague said.

Montague currently uses DSL Internet for his company because ‘‘it’s the only game in town.”

‘‘Dial-up stinks,” said Ed Erslev, an Internet services consultant who attended the meeting. ‘‘I want to see business coming down to the county. We offered a long time ago to get it down here and faced obstacle after obstacle.”

‘‘This is a global economy. [FIOS] allows you to level that playing field a little bit,” Daniels said.

Brian Slagle, a PNC Bank business adviser, agreed.

‘‘In the business sense we would like to see more broadband connections because online bill pay is very popular,” and expansion of the service is needed to increase the bank’s market share, he said.

The self-described ‘‘closet techie” came to the tech council meeting not only for business inquiries, but for himself. He said he’s been using Comcast’s newest broadband service for about 18 months.

‘‘It was faster. It’s my opinion that Verizon FIOS is a superior product. If they bring it at a lower price, there’d be no reason not to switch,” he said.