Rockville Goes FiOS

It appears that the Rockville Council will put an agreement to bed with Verizon, allowing FiOS service to provided to residents of the City of Rockville. The Council is set to approve the agreement this Monday, June 9, 2008. If you're interested in attending, the meeting is at 7pm, although the Verizon items are slated for 8:35pm.

Reading between the lines of the documentation that Rockville has made available, it appears that Rockville backed down on their demands for Verizon to pay Rockville's standard utility permit fees. It looks like Rockville has saved face by outsourcing much of their work, thereby cutting down on their own bills. At the same time, Verizon got a much better deal that it originally faced; however, it is taking a certain gamble that Rockville's new contractors are more efficient and won't leave Verizon with problems. We'll know in a year or so if this made sense.

The documentation is quite vague about when service can be expected. Rockville residents might see service as early as this year. And some will receive service no earlier than next year. King Farm is specifically mentioned because it is served out of Verizon's Gaithersburg central office and Verizon does not even expect approval from Gaithersburg before next year.