Throughout the dense urban regions of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)'s footprint, the company has been negotiating building by building to bring its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) FiOS network directly into apartment buildings and other multiple dwelling units (MDUs). (See Fiber-to-the-MDU: Verizon's Manhattan Project.)

Today, as part of Verizon's campaign to get its fiber into city high rises, the telco invited many of the major property owners of New York City to its "MDU Summit" in Manhattan's Ritz Carlton for a day-long panel of Verizon execs, industry analysts, and content providers.

The message: Put FiOS in your building and watch your property value rise and rent for your units increase. [Ed. note: If fiber's so valuable, why are people still stealing copper?]

But Verizon is also hoping to tone down the negative message that a handful of customers have been sending regarding longer-than-average installations and ugly optical equipment boxes being placed in people's homes.

For a slideshow of some of the optical gear on display at Verizon's meeting today, click the image below:

{Image 1}Verizon says it has been listening, and the company says it is testing a newer and much smaller ONT for single-family units that could be available by the end of this year or early 2008.

It is not clear yet whether or not a similar solution is being worked out for the MDU version of its ONTs, which have similar size-related problems.

The majority of Verizon's rollout of FiOS has occurred in suburban areas with mainly single dwelling houses. So a smaller, less intrusive ONT could give residents in these areas one less reason to stick with cable.

As for the MDUs, Verizon today pointed to studies that show a buiding could gain around 1 percent in value when becoming FiOS-enabled. The company still expects the majority of MDUs in New York City to be wired within one to three years.

— Raymond McConville, Reporter, Light Reading