Dear Editor:Verizon has stopped their expansion of their FiOS fiber optic data and television service. They've cut a deal with cable companies that seems to cut down on competition, which will likely hike the price of broadband service. Downey is without a good competitor to Time Warner Cable's miserable cable modem service. I say miserable because when I had it, it would slow to a crawl every evening and would often stop working. One look at the rats' nest of dangling wires hanging between poles around town is enough to tell you that Time Warner Cable's infrastructure is falling apart. They need competition to encourage them to fix it. This deal with Verizon all but eliminates this pressure. It's going to get worse. My question is what are the Mayor and City Council doing to make sure Downey has state-of-the-art internet services available to homes and businesses? A lot of surrounding cities do have Verizon FiOS. Why not Downey? The City of Downey cannot afford to ignore the importance of state-of-the-art internet services as people will consider its lack of availability when deciding where to live and where to build businesses. If Verizon refuses to provide modern services, the City of Downey has a duty to explore other options including Google's broadband service and building a municipal system. Just the threat of that may spark some action among competitors. Brian Bock Downey

********** Published: August 23, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 19