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Home > DSL Access: Is Redlining Restricting New High Speed Internet Network?
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DSL Access: Is Redlining Restricting New High Speed Internet Network?
Verizon is installing a new fiber-optic broadband Internet access network through Fort Worth, and some neighborhoods are being left out of the slated upgrade. Surprisingly, Fort Worth’s richest areas are the ones being left behind, while the less affluent Hanna-Creighton neighborhood is on track to become one of the first areas in the Midwest to receive Internet service that is over 530 times faster than dial-up.

Broadband Internet Access through Fiber-Optic Networking

With fiber-optic networks, telephone companies such as Verizon will be able to serve customers with high speed Internet access and other services. Verizon will also be able to provide cable television and VoIP services to the areas served by fiber-optic cabling.

In addition, Verizon has chosen to build the fiber-optic network all the way to the customer’s houses. This option is much more expensive when compared to the more common method of installing fiber-optic cable “to the curb” and then connecting individual customers with copper wire, but will also greatly increase the maximum connection speed of the new Internet service. This new network is only being installed in less affluent areas, while customers in the affluent Sycamore Hills neighborhood will have to be content with standard DSL Internet. 

Technological Redlining, Red Tape and DSL Access

Although the more affluent residents of Fort Worth have accused Verizon of reverse redlining, there is a simple political reason why it is not feasible for Verizon to build fiber-optic cabling to Sycamore Hills. One of the biggest roadblocks is related to the fact that past telephone service regulation has created a patchwork of telephone exchanges that regulate which areas a telephone company can or cannot serve.

The Fort Wayne exchange covering the Hanna-Creighton neighborhood is served by Verizon, whereas the Arcola exchange covering the more affluent Sycamore Hills is covered by Sprint. If Verizon wished to cover the affluent neighborhood, the company would have to seek permission from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to register as a Sprint competitor. State law also does not force broadband providers to deploy in any particular area. In this case, the decision to serve one neighborhood and not another with advanced broadband Internet access technology has nothing to do with redlining, and everything to do with red tape.