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Bay Ridge Courier Life, Week of August 27th, 2001 At least David had a slingshot. All Bruce Kushnick has in his virtual one-man battle against communications giant Verizon is a heavy stockpile of determination. The Bay Ridge resident is waging an all-out assault against what he sees as rampant corporate greed and deceit. "Right now it's the sound of one hand clapping' says Kushnick. 50. "I'm considered a pariah." That may be so. But the big boys in the gilded towers are listening. "He's a classic Bell-basher, " says Verizon spokesperson John Bonomo. "He'll bash whatever Bell he's into." But there's plenty there to bash, according to Kushnick. As an independent analyst, Kushnick has compiled extensive studies about Verizon and the Bell companies on his http://www.newnetworks.com web site. Of major concern, according to Kushnick, is the actual age of the copper communications network servicing telephone customer in New York, and Bay Ridge in particular. "Fees are based on the age of the network, " Kushnick says. "The wiring in Bay Ridge is probably about 75 years old. Why are we paying retail for an old network" he asks. Not long ago, when Kushnick's phone service reportedly went dead, he interviewed repair crews dispatched outside his apartment about the problem. According to Kushnick, the foreman on the job informed him that the wiring in the street had been installed in the 1920's when the apartment house was new. Most of the wiring had never been replaced, he added, and according to the workman, it was in fact crumbing. "The network is going to be different ages" said Cliff Lee, another spokesperson for Verizon. "You can't actually put a set age on the network. We're constantly replacing the copper with fiber-optics or expanded copper. The vast majority of the network is newer rather than older." Reportedly, Verizon will spend roughly $6 million this year on outside plant facilities in Bay Ridge, and has already spent $3 million in the area as of this past June. Verizon's central plant in Bay Ridge is located on 77th St. According to Bonomo, approximately 60 blocks in the neighborhood are now being rehabilitated and new facilites being added. New projects include underground vaults outfitted with fiber-optics at 86th St. and Ridge boulevard, 87th St. and Ridge Boulevard, 70th street and 11th Avenue and 60th Street and 4th Avenue.. There is also a new 5th Avenue conduit for copper wiring according to Bonomo. Burt it is that copper wiring that is at the crux of Kushnick's beef. The original plan was for the Bells to wire fiber optics to the home," he says. "NYNEX took a $3 billion in deductions to replace the copper with fiber-optics. How many times was it written off? How many times have we paid for it?" Kushnick asks. "The age of the copper, as long as it hasn't deteriorated, is serving the function. It can last for decades," Lee said. "No. It's not the goal to go completely fiber" Bonomo says. "There's not enough money to refit the entire network, and there never will be." "They should go back to their own annual reports" Kushnick counters. Back in the early 1990's, Kushnick contends that an all-fiber-optic network was indeed the stated goal of Verizon. " We were really lied to. They gave us a snow job. Most people don't have a memory beyond 1997. We were supposed to be living in a fiber--optic world." A Bell press release dated July 1996 on Kushnick's website, http://www.newnetworks.com reads "Later this year, Bell Atlantic will begin installing fiber optic facilities and electronics to replace the predominantly copper cable between its telephone switching and customer. Fiber-optics provide higher quality and more reliable telephone services at lower operating costs and maintenance costs." "Copper is just as good as fiber, " says Bonomo. "This is nothing fiber can do that copper can't. It's preposterous." "Sometimes it (fiber optic) is better to have" says Lee. "We have fiber running into most commercial areas." "It (fiber optic) does have its advantages" Bonomo concedes. "It's easier to splice back together. It stands up better to the elements." For Kushnick the question remains "What happened to the fiber optic plans? It is Verizon, Kushnick charges, which is responsbile for failing to provide optimal online service to subscribers and relegating them to a substandard ADSL technology. "This old copper network is one of the reasons the author's 56K modem has a maximum speed of 44K," Kushnick writes in a New Networks report. Verizon has been criticized for monopolizing its network and freezing out other online service providers who are forced to pay prohibitively high fees to use the telecommunications giant's existing lines. "Is ADSL going to be the best we're going to get?" Kushnick asks. |