[jsz0]

The cable industry has been working on ramping up speeds for the last decade starting with DOCSIS 3 to compete with Verizon FIOS. The development of DOCSIS 3.1 for gigabit speeds over cable actually started before Google Fiber existed. It seems like people don't want to give Verizon credit for this because perhaps Google offers a more compelling story or maybe because it would suggest that competition in the telecom duopoly actually worked out pretty well. Even after Verizon scaled back / halted their build-out of FIOS they had dumped so much money into it that we suddenly had a competitive market for FTTH/G-PON equipment and trained contractors to build it. Google Fiber and muni FTTH projects couldn't have existed without Verizon basically seeding the market for it in the US.

[xenadu02]

Yeah, and Verizon couldn't exist without the government taking away the rights to my land and giving it to Verizon to run their cables without compensating me in the slightest. What's your point?

Verizon could be selling gigabit FIOS today but they don't because there is no competition in most markets. FIOS is profitable, just not as profitable as wireless.

Guess what Verizon uses to provide wireless? (Hint: public airwaves, most of which they got for free too)

[rayiner]

It's impossible to talk about this in general terms, but in most places, the utility poles are owned by the power company and Verizon pays to string fiber along them. It's unclear whether FiOS is profitable when taking into account the capital investment. They're running a small operating profit, but they have $23 billion to recoup. Almost all the traffic on Verizon's network runs on LTE, and that is spectrum Verizon bought the license to for billions of dollars in auctions.

It's staggering how much FUD there is on these issues. This is stuff you can just Google to inform yourself about.