I have some excellent news to share with the community. After a series of conversations and meetings over the past four months, Verizon has agreed to deliver FIOS high speed internet to both the Pines and Cherry Grove. Today’s announcement is to share this great news. There will be many more communications to come, and FIPPOA will be playing an integral role in its partnership with Verizon to make the roll-out as quick and efficient as possible. Verizon will be in the communities this week working on the infrastructure. We expect every home that ultimately wishes to sign up for service to be fully wired and operational by the Fall of this year.
If you are interested in Verizon FIOS, there is nothing for you to do now. We will be in contact at the appropriate time with more information including how you can evaluate service offerings and how to sign up if interested. We will also provide information about work being done in the community to place the necessary infrastructure.
The Task Force will be sending a separate communication summarizing internet options as they currently exist in the Pines.
How did we get Verizon to bring FIOS into the Pines and Grove?
Precisely one week after this past fall’s FIPPOA election, I convened the FIPPOA Internet Task, and we adopted the long-term objective to bring to the Pines upgraded internet service from existing providers and/or to bring high-speed broadband with state-of-the-art offerings via additional service carrier(s).
In order to progress on this long-term objective, which we realistically acknowledged could take years to accomplish, we asked the Pines, Cherry Grove and Water Island communities to participate in a survey so that we could collect the information we would need to approach providers in an effort to make our case for bringing high speed broadband to the East end of Fire Island.
The response rate to the survey was impressive. With a single request, we received enough results to create a full deck of information comprising 40% of the homes in the Pines.
We compiled data driven, documented evidence that there is not only the desire, but also the willingness of our community to financially commit to obtain high speed broadband internet service. Through the tireless efforts of the Internet Task Force members, we were able to get the attention of Verizon and present the business case to bring Verizon FIOS to both the Pines and the Grove.
Verizon was very receptive to the case we presented and after a nearly four month series of bi-weekly meetings, they concluded that providing FIOS service makes sense both from a business perspective and from their desire to partner with FIPPOA and the Pines to become a leading provider.
It cannot be understated enough that our community encompasses some of the most innovative, creative, and forward-thinking individuals who require high speed fiber optic internet service to thrive. And I am immensely grateful for the talent, dedication, and professionalism of all of the Task Force members who joined me in this ambitious effort: Leland Rechis, Ed Schulhafer, Claudia Tropp, Anthony West, and Suzette York. This group of individuals is evidence of the power of what we as a community can accomplish when we come together and work to achieve common goals for the community.
While there are still many details to be worked out, Verizon anticipates that it will be able to complete the infrastructure necessary for the Pines and Grove to become “wired” by the Fall of 2021. There is much that must be accomplished before this becomes a reality, and there are scenarios that could result in delay. However, Verizon has made a commitment to both the Pines and the Grove, and they plan to begin executing on that commitment by beginning work in both communities this week.
I will be providing updates as this initiative progresses, and there will be many questions that we will answer as our work with Verizon continues. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me or any member of our Internet Task Force. And may I also encourage you to thank them for their hard work.
