The FIOS Factor

In case folks in the City of Falls Church haven't figured it out yet, the new "fiber-to-the-premises" technology being offered to City residents, and some in North Arlington, by Verizon is the biggest, baddest Internet access technology there is.

It's a veritable embarrassment of riches for City residents right now. Not only is Falls Church probably the only jurisdiction in the entire United States with, now, three separate wired options for access to the Internet and, eventually in Verizon's case, video, but with the new Verizon service, it truly has the state of the art.

For the City, it means competition is going to bring relief from the amazing price creep that has ballooned cable costs here, and wherever sole cable provider conditions exist (which is almost everywhere else).
More importantly, however, Verizon's decision to introduce its new technology in Falls Church represents a tremendous window of opportunity for economic development.

Currently, Verizon is offering its new so-called FIOS ("fiber-optic service") to residences, only. To get their effort off and running here, Verizon is willing to absorb the cost of installing a fiber connection to each and every home that orders it. Once installed, the monthly service cost will already be lower than some competitors, and when up and running, the speed is incredible compared to coaxial cable or "digital subscriber lines" (DSL) that use telephone wires.

Our reporting this does not constitute an intention to favor one of the three companies competing for your business over any other. It is simply reporting the facts, and we do so because of their implications for the potential commercial development of Falls Church.

Verizon is already experimenting in California with providing the same FIOS service to businesses. Once it is ready to offer that service, it will be available immediately in Falls Church and North Arlington.

Because of the time involved in building a national FIOS network, it will be years before other areas of Northern Virginia have the same capabilities that not only Falls Church residents, but businesses will enjoy.
This means that Falls Church will soon have a built-in huge incentive for the most trendy, cutting edge high-tech businesses to locate here. They will want the jump that a few years of access to a vital communications technology not available anywhere else will give them.

It is too bad that Falls Church is not better positioned by now to take advantage of what this could mean for its economic future. The surge of interest in locating in Falls Church to access Verizon's FIOS will result in much frustration due to the current lack of first-rate commercial space. Still, the City should work feverishly to examine how it can market to and accommodate all the potential new commercial activity this new technology could bring its way.