FIOS

Verizon Communications is nearly finished building its Fios fiber-to-the-home network. And now it will concentrate on expanding its customer base, say executives.

Verizon, which began building its all-fiber network nearly six years ago, is quickly approaching its goal of passing 18 million homes in about 70 percent of its original customer footprint by the end of this year.

Verizon took a bold risk when it decided to build the Fios fiber network. Its telecommunications counterpart SBC Communications, which is now AT&T, decided to invest substantially less capital to extend fiber to the node or to the neighborhood. AT&… Read more

If you're looking forward to a future of streaming movies, gargantuan Internet file exchanges, and other high-bandwidth activities, cheer up.

Broadband service providers in most of the major markets around the country will soon be able to deliver 100Mbps broadband service with no problem. That's enough to download a music album in as little as 5 seconds, an hour-long TV show in about 30 seconds, and a high-definition movie in roughly 7 minutes, 25 seconds. But it's going to cost you.

This should make the Federal Communications Commission's goal of getting 100Mbps service to 100 million homes by 2020 … Read more

We're surprised that Wilson is still standing after going under the knife yesterday to get his wisdom teeth pulled. Luckily, Wilson explains that his disturbingly small mouth, combined with the supreme skills of his dentist, led to a speedy recovery--less than 24 hours after the surgery, we've got our Wilson back! And besides, all of his wisdom is localized to his hair.

Speaking of folks left half-standing from the three-day weekend, my sincerest apologies for my raspy voice on today's episode; we celebrated my birthday on Sunday by laying waste to the hits of Madonna, Weezer, Third Eye Blind, Four Non Blondes, and many more songs (sans Lady Gaga - BOO) at Maru Karaoke Bar in NYC. After a weekend of partying it up for 26 years ill-spent, it sounds like I'm in worse condition than my post-op co-host.

Wilson's happy pills come in handy when he tells Jeff and I about how the U.S. stacks up against the rest of the world in average broadband speed trends over the past few years. We're down in 18th place compared with the rest of the world; we're behind Japan, Hong Kong, Romania, and Sweden, with many countries reporting 50Mbps! What's our excuse? Listen in for the full story.

We also have news on ATM skimmers, like the one in "Terminator 2," making a serious comeback in the new millennium and an absurd story from CNN about folks reporting "Avatar" withdrawal. It sounds like a story you'd find on the Onion News Network, but the phenomenon is very real, and very pathetic. We can make a convincing argument that these individuals reporting depression after seeing "Avatar" were actually disturbed prior to watching the film, but we'll withhold our clinical diagnoses and just say that these people are straight up crazy.

It's a simple principle of economics: competition and more customer choice results in lower prices.

And so it is true of broadband services. With about 65 percent of the U.S. population now subscribing to broadband, cable operators and telephone companies are duking it out for new customers. The companies are offering cut-throat prices and new promotions to win over new subscribers.

For consumers in areas of the country where competition is heating up, the savings can be huge. For example, Verizon Communications, which has been losing DSL customers to competitors, this week announced aggressive new promotional deals for … Read more

Verizon Communications posted on Monday a third-quarter dip in profits, though the company's wireless business showed strong results.

The carrier's overall profits were hurt by the continued decline of its wireline business. But the company is making up for much of the loss with wireless.

That said, Verizon did not add as many customers in the third quarter as AT&T, which had a stellar quarter due to strong sales of the Apple iPhone. Verizon is hoping to pick up ground through its broad partnership with Google announced earlier this month. In addition, Verizon is adding Research … Read more

Comcast announced Tuesday it will offer 100 Mbps broadband service to businesses in the Twin Cities as the company increases speeds on its network as a result of network upgrades.

The company is offering the service over its newly upgraded Docsis 3.0 network. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul region was selected as the first area to get the service because it is one of the most mature Docsis 3.0 deployments that Comcast currently serves.

Comcast hasn't provided a schedule for when the service will be expanded. But a spokesman said the company will eventually introduce it in all its … Read more

Verizon Communications is getting ready to launch a new feature that allows its Fios TV customers to interact with their sets using their Verizon Wireless cell phones, according to a story published by Dow Jones News service.

The company has been talking about the capability for months, and it recently demonstrated an application that will turn Verizon phones into a remote controls for the Fios TV service. The application is expected to be commercially available in the next three months.

The handset remote control application will only work with Wi-Fi enabled handsets and will use a Wi-Fi network instead of … Read more

Verizon Communications is about to open up its new Widget Bazaar to third-party developers to create an "app store" for its Fios TV service in a move that could forever change how people watch TV.

Verizon first announced the Widget Bazaar just a couple of weeks ago. Initially, the company described it as a storefront for new widgets or applications developed by Verizon partners for its Fios TV customers. At the time, Verizon executives downplayed the possibility of a sprawling Widget Bazaar teeming with thousands of applications developed by third parties.

But now Verizon is making it clear … Read more

Verizon Communications has had a change of heart about using Wi-Fi to extend its wireless broadband offering as the company announces free access to Wi-Fi hot spots for its Fios and DSL Internet customers.

On Monday the company announced that customers subscribed to its Verizon Fios Internet service with 20Mbps per second downstream and 15Mbps upstream or faster and customers who subscribe to its 3Mbps/768 Kbps or higher DSL service will be able to connect to Verizon Wi-Fi hot spots, at no additional charge as part of their broadband service.

Verizon has partnered with the Wi-Fi service Boingo to … Read more