While Comcast lobbyists tried their best to slow the encroachment of Verizon FiOS into their hometown of Philadelphia, the Philly city council authorized a citywide franchise back in February (you can read the agreement here (pdf) if you're into that kind of thing). As per the deal, Verizon has around seven years to wire the whole city, though these agreements (as with NYC and DC) often have loopholes that let Verizon extend deadlines or wiggle out of obligations should certain adoption numbers not be met. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, service this week went live in Chestnut Hill, South Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, near Girard College. Additional neighborhoods should come online this year, but Verizon isn't saying which ones. Verizon does keep a PA construction notice (pdf) on their website, but it's quite often outdated.

After his company won approval of its bankruptcy plan this week, Charter Communications CEO Neil Smit tells Bloomberg that upon exiting from bankruptcy, the company will raise prices and consider consumption-based billing. Charter Communications hasn't been profitable since the company went public in 1999, posted a $2.45 billion loss last year, constantly ranks at the bottom of most customer satisfaction surveys, is swimming in debt, and was just forced into bankruptcy and reorganization. Of course these problems were caused by poor management, not flat-rate broadband pricing -- a model that's been perfectly profitable for most ISPs. Despite Charter's constant failings, Smit himself was paid $7.4 million in cash compensation for 2008, and remains one of the highest paid executives in St. Louis. Perhaps he'll volunteer a fresh pay cut in addition to socking his customers with higher prices? For the team?

Back in September we noted how it seems like only a matter of time before Verizon engaged in metered broadband billing. After Time Warner Cable's PR implosion, most ISPs are in a holding pattern on the idea until they can sell consumers on it, something they haven't done a good job of so far. Verizon also continues to face competition from Cablevision, who has publicly stated they think metered billing confuses customers and they "think broadband is a pretty powerful drug and we want people to consume more of it." But Verizon continues to dream, telling Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM they still dream of a metered future:Again though, the kind of metered billing models carriers propose have nothing to do with fairness.

Given the high costs of deploying fiber to the home, we're starting to see new models emerge whereby if customers really want it, they can share the cost of having it installed (one Norwegian ISP gives a $400 rebate if you dig your own fiber trench). Now Utopia, the nation's largest municipal fiber deployment, is testing a new model whereby communities who want the fiber deployed can share the cost of installation. As more Utah cities look to connect to Utopia but debate how they should pay for it, Brigham City has decided that if users want fiber they can pay for it themselves. 1,600 local residents have already ponied up $3,000 a piece, helping the city install a $5.5 million network while the city itself only puts up about $700,000 of the required cost.

For many years now companies (including some of the biggest broadband ISPs) have been issuing gift cards instead of cash as rebates. Why? Companies can impose a number of restrictions on the cards that statistically reduce the amount of actual cash companies have to pay out. Many companies make it so the cards aren't redeemable for cash, can't be used for cash withdrawals, or expire several months after issue -- yet don't really make these restrictions clear in promotions. AT&T for one got in trouble with NY's Attorney General earlier this year for advertising that these cards were "the same as cash."

Retail store gift cards often rely on the same stable of tricks, and this has apparently gotten the attention of the Federal Reserve. The Reserve this week issued a missive saying they'd be cracking down on misleading gift card practices.

According to the notice, they'll be crafting new rules that would "protect consumers from certain unexpected costs and would require that gift card terms and conditions be clearly stated." Judging from the initial draft, promotional rebate cards will be covered:Under the new rules, both rebate and gift cards will now be required to have an expiration date no less than five years after the date of issue, and all marketing practices involving these cards will need to be made transparent to the end user. Those interested can file a comment with the Federal Reserve on the proposed rules.