High-Speed Internet Bypassing DC

"This bus isn't the only thing passing you by," say bus ads that roll out tomorrow throughout the District, "Verizon is bringing high-speed Internet to the suburbs: Not to DC." The bus ads - part of the Connect-DC campaign - comes ahead of two DC City Council hearings next week on utility quality of service in DC and a Council vote Tuesday to deregulate telecommunications services. "Verizon has moved over a third of its jobs from the District to the suburbs in the past three years to bring high-speed internet to the suburbs while leaving DC residents with increasingly poor phone service," says CWA 2336 President Jim Pappas. "My members [Verizon service technicians] tell me that many customers have service trouble every time it rains and the troubles end up getting left so long that the sun dries out the cable only to disappear - until the next rain." The Connect-DC campaign has also been conducting surveys of DC residents (Verizon Not Connecting with DC Residents 1/24/08 UC) on Verizon's quality of service and will host a free training on testifying before the DC City Council this Saturday. "From our surveys it's clear that Verizon has not been able to meet existing service quality standards for regulated phone services," said Mackenzie Baris, lead organizer with DC Jobs with Justice. Click here to take the Connect-DC survey.