[Grovenet] Here we go again ! ! ! !

[Ed Davie]

I've had FIos for almost a year now, from whenever it was available in FG, 
and it's been great. No dropouts, consistent speed (actually just over 
13:MB) down.
It doesn't cost me any more that DSL did.
Ed


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Allen Warren" <osubuckeye59 at yahoo.com>
To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Here we go again ! ! ! !


Being somewhat familiar with fiber-optic service (FIOS) vs. cable modem vs. 
digital subscriber line (DSL), I'm going to wait awhile before I switch from 
Clear service to FIOS in the home. Why? Thought you'd never ask. :-)

Fiber optic is the future. No doubt about it. I can easily foresee in my 
lifetime (I hit 50 this year!) where fiber optic transmission will exceed 
plain old copper wire transmission. There are multiple reasons on the 
advantage of transmitting via fiber vs. copper: bandwidth, distance (copper 
requires frequent refreshing of the signal), lower maintenance costs, and 
the biggest one: SPEED. With fiber, you're transmitting light pulses vs. 
electrical impulses over copper, and we're talking gigabits of information 
transmission vs. megabits.

With all the advantages of fiber vs. copper, increased speed being a key 
selling point for consumers, why aren't all companies going all-out with 
fiber optic service? The answer? Cost. Fiber optic transmission equipment 
and fiber optic cables are by themselves very expensive. Even if the fiber 
optic cable network was well-established, the transmission (company office) 
and reception (customer home and/or office) costs are pretty high. And 
remember, every time a company would want to deliver another 10 gigabit 
faster speed capability, it would require new equipment at both the 
transmission and reception ends.

For me, today, I'm okay with my current upload and download speeds. I just 
don't need FIOS right now, especially since I just switched to Clear two 
months ago and am very, very pleased with the capability of continuous 
internet service just about anywhere in FG, not to mention service to/from 
Portland on the MAX (except in the tunnel).

Allen Warren


________________________________
From: Bob Browning <rab at jurislex.com>
To: Grovenet <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 9:20:57 AM
Subject: [Grovenet] Here we go again ! ! ! !

I wish I knew if this was good or bad, but I was just about to make the jump 
to Verizon Fios, but now I am not sure ! ! !

bob
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Frontier to buy rural Verizon lines for $5.3B
Verizon to sell rural phone lines in 14 states to Frontier for $5.3 billion
* Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer
* On Wednesday May 13, 2009, 11:08 am EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Verizon Communications Inc. said Wednesday it reached a 
deal to sell scattered phone service areas outside its main Northeastern and 
Californian territories for $5.3 billion in stock.
The buyer is Frontier Communications Corp., based in Stamford, Conn. The 
company focuses on serving small towns and rural areas and will triple in 
size with the deal.
The deal continues Verizon's strategy of focusing on its core areas, where 
it is upgrading its phone lines to fiber optics, enabling it offer TV 
service and faster Internet access. It sold off its phone lines in Maine, 
New Hampshire and Vermont for $2.3 billion last year to Fairpoint 
Communications Inc.
The agreement would give Frontier 4.8 million phone lines to residential and 
small business customers and 1 million broadband connections. Frontier 
currently has 2.3 million customers.
The sale includes all of Verizon's phone lines in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, 
Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, 
Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin as well as some assets in border 
areas of California.
Verizon shareholders will receive one share of Frontier stock for 
approximately every 4.2 shares of Verizon stock, depending on the price of 
Frontier shares at closing, which is expected within a year.
Frontier shares were up 39 cents, or 5.2 percent, at $7.96 in premarket 
trading Wednesday. Verizon shares gained 9 cents to $30.49.
Verizon is also extracting $3.3 billion from the units before selling them 
off, by having them pay cash to the parent company and letting them assume 
debt.
Frontier will issue so much stock to Verizon shareholders that they will end 
up owning 68 percent of the company.
"This is a truly transformational transaction for Frontier," Maggie 
Wilderotter, Frontier's chief executive, said in a statement. "With more 
than 7 million access lines in 27 states, we will be the largest provider of 
voice, broadband and video services focused on rural to smaller city markets 
in the United States."
Frontier also said it is cutting its annual dividend to 75 cents from $1, 
freeing cash to invest in the acquired areas, including for broadband 
buildouts. The cut takes its dividend yield to 9.9 percent.
Analyst Christopher King at Stifel Nicolaus noted that buyers of Verizon 
phone lines have fared badly in the past -- Fairpoint is struggling with its 
debt load, and the buyer of Verizon's Hawaiian business is in bankruptcy. 
But Frontier will actually reduce its debt load relative to its earnings 
through the transaction, King said.
The roughly 11,000 workers that support the local landlines will move to 
Frontier with union contracts intact, Verizon said.
Verizon lines in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, 
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
Texas and Virginia and most of California are not affected by the deal.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information 
contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 
or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated 
Press.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights 
reserved. ------------------------------------------------------ 




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