06-07-2016, 07:21 AM
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/If-Bo...low-137130
Quote:Last month Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told investors that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's administration was "more willing to help us get rights of way, help us push fiber into the neighborhoods, and do more pre-subscription a la the Google model." That's effectively code for the fact that Google Fiber has made it cool to cherry pick certain neighborhoods, unlike the "olden days" where franchise agreements required a company service an entire city (again, not that Verizon actually did that).
Like Google Fiber's "fiberhood" initiative, Verizon is only the latest ISP to copy the idea in which the first neighborhoods to get fiber will be the ones that show the most interest. Granted nobody really audits to determine how this interest is calculated or if the end tallies are real, though it does help ISPs give the impression that selective deployment of a necessary utility is a democratic process. Critics have frequently highlighted how such a system only amplifies the digital divide, as poorer communities by nature often have greater struggles to deal with than begging for next-generation broadband.