An Update on Verizon’s FiOS Grounding Problems

The Company’s at 94 Percent Compliance

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is taking a beating in the press for improper grounding of its FiOS installations in New York. The New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) actually has been on Verizon about the matter since August 2006, but things flared up in late September as more reply comments were due and as commissioners appeared prepared to decide on their next step.

In a development that took place after this article was written, New York's public service commission recommended that Verizon halt all new FiOS installations in New York City. Click here to read that update.

At issue is how Verizon technicians have grounded and bonded a number of FiOS optical network terminals (ONTs). Not all installations are troubling, but many, as evidenced by New York DPS photos and explanations, were questionable enough that the state got involved. As a result, Verizon spent the past two months re-checking its work in 16 cities and communities. By Sept. 14, according to stats Verizon gave to the DPS on Sept. 25, the carrier had achieved 94 percent compliance. Its target is 95 percent. Also, Verizon noted, only .8 percent of new installations inspected Sept. 1-14 had no ground at all.

“Although all non-conforming ONTs in the embedded base will be remediated within the time frames discussed in the preceding paragraph, any ‘no ground’ situations will be given a very high priority,” Verizon wrote to New York state commissioners the week of Sept. 22.

That said, John Bonomo, media relations director for Verizon in New York, noted that: “The commission has said publicly that the risk here is minimal, and we agree with that.”

“We are not aware of any instances in which it has been determined that the failure to ground an ONT was the cause of harm to a person or property, nor are we aware of any similar action being taken by any other state commission,” he added.

While these issues should not be downplayed, these kinds of problems are not unheard of and, as Verizon wrote to the New York DPS, its independent auditors have noted that some of the non-conformities identified by the state often have adequate grounding, they just aren’t complying with “some technical requirement” of Verizon’s or the National Electric Code.

“Examples would be situations in which an ONT mounted on the outside of the customer’s house is grounded to a cold water pipe located six feet — instead of the required five feet — from the main entrance to the building, or ones in which two wires are connected to a grounding point with a single clamp,” Verizon wrote.

“All providers have this problem,” said Don McCarty, vice president of McCarty Products Inc., referring to grounding and bonding in general. McCarty worked for years as a plant technician and trainer. He now serves as a consultant to CLECs and ILECs.

James Denn, spokesman for the New York DPS, confirmed that similar issues have arisen in the past. The Empire State “did see a few examples of improper installations develop when cable television was first introduced into homes,” Denn said. “Those issues with cable have long since been resolved.”

As for Verizon’s grounding and bonding issues, whether those are being resolved adequately remains to be seen. Another round of reply comments was due Friday. There’s no set date for when commissioners expect to offer their input on the comments.

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