{"id":8119,"date":"2022-08-23T00:37:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T04:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=8119"},"modified":"2022-08-23T01:50:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T05:50:07","slug":"toms-river-mayor-opposing-verizon-bid-to-withdraw-fios-from-multifamily-complexes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2022\/08\/toms-river-mayor-opposing-verizon-bid-to-withdraw-fios-from-multifamily-complexes\/","title":{"rendered":"Toms River Mayor Opposing Verizon Bid to Withdraw FiOS From Multifamily Complexes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Verizon<\/a>

Verizon FiOS truck. (Photo: B2B Media)<\/p><\/div>\n

Toms River Mayor Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill has penned a letter to the state Board of Public Utilities stating his opposition to a proposal from Verizon to withdraw its FiOS service from some multifamily housing complexes in the township.<\/p>\n

Verizon, unlike most cable providers, has a statewide franchise for its FiOS data and television service and does not negotiate agreements with municipal governments. In exchange for the statewide franchise, the legislature required the company to install the service in the most densely-populated municipalities in New Jersey, and in each county seat. In Ocean County, only Toms River, along with small portions of Brick and Seaside Heights, can receive FiOS service. Lavallette is expected to receive<\/a> the service soon, though no other expansions are being planned, Verizon has said.<\/p>\n

Specific to Hill\u2019s concern, Verizon has requested the BPU allow the company to deny service to certain large multifamily housing complexes in 70 municipalities, including Toms River.<\/p>\n

Lawanda R. Gilbert, Director of the BPU\u2019s Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications, informed Hill of Verizon\u2019s request for a waiver to their obligation to provide TV and Internet access to 24 multi-dwelling units in Toms River because the company \u201cwas unable to negotiate an access agreement with ownership\/management\u201d of those properties.<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s office has been in touch with Verizon and offered to help them contact property owners they have been unable to reach, if any, a spokesman said Monday.<\/p>\n

The list of multifamily communities is included below, along with the text of Hill\u2019s latter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s letter appears below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy office has been in touch with stakeholders from three of the twenty four MDUs you referenced. We spoke with property managers, Home Owners Association Board Members and tenants. EACH of the MDUs represented indicated that their properties HAVE ACCESS to Verizon FiOs services now.\u00a0 One of the properties has been wired with fiber optic cable within the last couple of months and the residents offered free service on a trial basis, according to their stakeholder.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn your letter you state that should the BPU grant the waiver of Verizon\u2019s legal obligation that residents of the listed MDU\u2019s would not have access to FiOs or Broadband Internet.\u00a0 Based upon available information, such a waiver could disrupt Toms River residents of the MDU\u2019s access to vital communication, reduce their choices, and cause them undue inconvenience.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI urge BPU to decline Verizon\u2019s request for a waiver of access to MDUs in Toms River Township.\u00a0 At the very least, I encourage the Board to postpone action on the waiver request until the matter is further investigated. Verizon\u2019s request is inconsistent with the information that Toms River residents have provided to my staff.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toms River Mayor Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill has penned a letter to the state Board of Public Utilities stating his opposition to a proposal from Verizon to withdraw its FiOS service from some multifamily housing complexes in the township. Verizon, unlike most cable providers, has a statewide franchise for its FiOS data and television service and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1080,11,1653],"class_list":["post-8119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-featured","tag-toms-river-nj-news","tag-verizon-fios"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/fios_truck.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}