Verizon is out and abouts in my neighborhood lately, or at least their contractors are in the area doing a lot of work (and a little damage to our water main, but that's a different story) to apparently get their fiber cables run to get FiOS run to my neighborhood.

All I can say is bring it on bee-tches.  Please bring it on.  Bring on the fiber like a geezer taking a double dose of metamucil.

Not that Comcast has been bad by me, but I'm tired of over paying them to get hi-speed and reliable internet.  Before I had my Xbox systems, I never really needed hi-speed internet, but I've always needed reliable internet access (to keep in touch with work as necessary, so that my children could do research for school, and so that I could play online games like Diablo 2, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, etc.).

Before Comcast wired up my neighborhood some years back (actually about 4 years ago now), I was at the mercy of Verizon (then possibly called Bell Atlantic) for some of the worlds crappiest phone service.  It was beyond horrible, but that could have been in large part because of 50 and possibly even 60 year old copper lines that had long since outlived their useful lifespan.  The copper in my area is old, brittle, subject to interference and damage because of rain and other weather events, and just about completely useless.  Unfortunately it costs money to replace the stuff and as long as it carried voice "ok" Verizon wasn't gonna do it.  They didn't want to spend the money on it, and I really don't blame them since they knew that fiber was eventually coming.

Flash forward 4 years and Verizon is finally running fiber every where (or at least throughout most of the state of Maryland, and many other Atlantic area states).  Within the next 6 months (if all goes well), FiOS will be an option for me.  I am very much looking forward to being able to call Comcast with more than an idle threat to take my hi-speed internet business elsewhere.  I don't need Comcast's TV service and yet I'm forced to pay for it at a minimal level just to pay the same price for their hi-speed internet service that I would pay for it without being a cable TV customer.  Why have I had to pay $15.00 extra to Comcast for every month for 4 years?  Because that is the way it works and I didn't have a choice.

Well, uh, Comcast, I have some news for you guys and gals.   I will have choice soon, and I will likely be choosing Verizon.  Given their promised pricing, promised internet speeds, and the chance to go with one provider for both phone and internet (rather than using Vonage paired up with Comcast as I currently do), I'll probably at least sample Verizon's offerings, if not jump entirely and never look back.

Comcast could have offered other package levels all along but didn't.  They could have given me discounts and not required TV service, but didn't.  They could have offered additional TV channels (such as their regular basic service) to encourage me to use their service on some of the TVs in my house and they didn't.  They'd offer very short period of time specials, or tell me I could get a great deal if I gave 'em my satellite dish (as if!) and then jack up their prices through the roof after their specials expired.  No thanks.

I hope to soon be sayin' nice knowin' you Comcast.  We'll see if that happens, as I suppose they could offer some nice discounts to keep me around, but if they aren't offering long term price reductions, I'm not sure I'm interested.