Verizon's fiber race is on

Verizon Communications has stepped up its battle against cable operators with plans to debut a broadband-over-fiber service later this summer.

The service, called Fios, will be launched in Keller, Texas, and later parts of southern California and Florida, the company said Monday. At up to 30mbps (megabits per second), Fios is a quantum leap compared with Verizon's DSL (digital subscriber line) service, which runs at a maximum of 1.5mbps.

Fios can reach these speeds because it's based on fiber-optic lines that serve Internet access at a much higher clip than the traditional copper wires that support DSL.

Verizon also unveiled plans to sell cable television over the speedy Fios connection in 2005, boosting its strategy of offering customers a triple pack of services--voice calls, video and broadband--sold at discounted prices if purchased in a bundle. Cable operators have been using their own "triple play" strategy for several years to woo customers away from Verizon and the three other regional Bell operating companies

The launch of Fios opens a new front in a war between the Bells and the cable industry. Both sides are trying to lure the millions of Americans who are upgrading from slow dial-up services to speedier broadband connections. Cable leads in overall broadband market share, but the Bells have kept pace largely through aggressive DSL discounts and promotions.

Some of the Bells, such as Verizon and SBC Communications, see fiber as an answer to their problems. The Federal Communications Commission plans to allow the Bells to invest in fiber without requiring them to share their infrastructure with third parties, as is the case with copper wire networks. For many years, the Bells have protested that the line-sharing rules on copper wire networks are unfair, because cable companies are not required to share their lines.

Of the four Bells, Verizon is considered the furthest along with its fiber plans. It reiterated on Monday its goal of reaching 1 million homes and offices by the end of the year, with a third coming from expansion in Huntington Beach, Calif.; Tampa, Fla., and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

"Fiber from Verizon is coming down their streets and heading straight for their doors, and the excitement in these communities is building," Paul Lacouture, president of Verizon's network services group, said in a statement.

Fios will be only slightly more expensive than Verizon's DSL plans, even though it will be much faster, and Verizon will supply the modems needed to make the switch to fiber, a company representative said.

A 2mbps to 5mbps Fios connection will cost $35 a month if purchased along with Verizon's local and long-distance telephone service. The service will cost $40 if purchased alone. A connection of up to 15mbps is available for $45 a month if purchased as part of the same telephone service bundle, or $50 alone. The company did not reveal pricing for the 30mbps plans.

[rbannon]

Can't wait . . .

Reminds me when cable operators were offering broadband to a
select group, and in certain regions only. If Verizon were to offer
this in my area -- I paying over $100 now for basic cable,
Internet, and basic local only phone -- I'd switch in a heartbeat.
-rB

Just a matter of capital

I don't pay for cable directly; it comes as part of the complex I live in, but I use it only for TV viewing. I use DSL for my data connection.

I would still switch in a heartbeat to a fiber optic data service that gives me higher guaranteed "last mile" data rate reliably.

I use a slower DSL connection now because I don't trust cable to be reliable, because it is a shared "party line" in many cases, so both data rate and "up time" can be affected by your neighbors much more so than DSL. Yeah, yeah, DSL usable data rate still can be affected if the phone company doesn't put enough bandwidth to the central office, but at least the "last mile" is only your wires, with nobody else to share data rate with or equipment problems with.

[John Kuzak]

slower DSL connection

http://www.analogstereo.com/volvo_xc90_owners_manual.htm

People will drop cable

After working for cable for 15 years, I would buy Verizon service . I can say from my expereince that the cable companys definitly mislead customers about their service. If people are given a choice and educated they would definitly switch.

Yes, they do.

Yeah, Comcast's 3mbit connection is advertised like it's 3Mb. Ticks my off at times.
Though I'd have to say, my cable has bene pretty stable, and fast enough for most purposes.
But I don't get the imballence of upload/download speeds.

[jacomo]

Verizon FTTH SOlution

As long as Verizon depends upon the AFC FTTH solution they will be slow to deliver a product and even then they will have difficulty meeting the bandwidth they are promising. The only way they might be able to deliver on their proposed bandwidth is by deploying an AccessMax dedicated to the FTTH solution and even then the costs of supporting this solution will eventually force Verizon to make another FTTH/Premise vendor selection. Unless Tellabs is able to bail the AFC design out.

[cslibby]

Yea, but...

Unfortunately, the wait for me in my area served by Verizon will be interminable. Too far out in the country, but we are building. I wish it were here already, but I have to be realistic.

[jamie.p.walsh]

I'll believe it when I see it.

Don't forget, as reliable a service as Verizon's is, they are also notorious for being behind in technology and delaying proposed rollouts. I would love to see this happen only if it would mean the price of my current cable internet; 1.5-3mbps @ $45/month would come down to around $30. But I'm sure that won't happen. We're at a point where the technology is very reasonable, but still overpriced. I'd rather see some pricing wars rather than tech leapfrogs. Verizon's talking about delivering television through that??? They don't have the experience to deliver that service. I would never buy that from them right away. It would be five to ten years before they could compete with the lineup and service that current cable companies have today.

Please, get us internet at 2-5mbps, HDTV service, and local/ long distance calling all for under $150.

Cable and phone service

That is why I would never buy phone service by cable, talk about no expereince.
I think phone service has to be more relible then tv. When phone company bundles all services in one I think it will be the best service and pricing. I would still be mad at cable for charging price that they now do because they know they got you. Sure they will lower when they have no choice just like how they lower prices now only to compete with DSL specials. Why not be customer freindly and show us some good pricing now?

[Fray9]

Biased

This story seemed very biased to me. More like a sales pitch for Verizon than a valid news report.

Whoa!!! Verizon rocks!

Christ! I'm paying about $80/month for a cable conenction (40Kb/s upstream, 800Kb/s downstream)And I get tired of the terrible upload. Man, I'd just at the chance for a 30mbit connection!
Hell, if I get one, I'd get two or three, and run my servers locally!

When????

I live in Huntington Beach, CA and was wondering if anyone knew when exactly this was going to start being offered. Does anyone know?

no

not in your city

it's not going to happen this year

I spoke with a representative today and she indicated I shouldn't hold my breath. But you should ask them about their XHS high speed internet service...

[jabba]

Wylie, Texas Fio

As if I just awoke from a beautiful dream, I have been rubbing my eyes for a month as Verizon has been installing our Fio network.
Two months ago I was considering an extreme upgrade just so I could use my dual tuner Directv DVR box but it looks like I'll be able to dump the dish by December 2004 and also triple my current DSL throughput!
My technological weenie is going crazy!

[bestman330]

Can't wait!

I will drop Comcast Broadband in a second for fiber broadband because Comcast cables head is way to BIG & they have the worse Customer service & they are very ungreatfull to be recieving our money, So I say Verizon kick there BU**s. I have been waiting for faster internet service for ever & I know broadband that we have now is fast, but for techies like me that want to do advanced things like real video conference over the internet, then this new Verizon service will be what I will be picking.

Besides all of these foreign countrys that is suppose to be poorer then us in the USA have all of the technology & we stay stagnet in a maze of STOP EVERYTHING thats new & it makes me sick because the future is here & because of the greedy companies & our government that wants to hog all technology for themselves to kill with makes me sick because as far as I am concerned I think we can learn a few things from Japan & UK because they seem to have all the cutting edge technology while us in the USA mouths water while our Gov & MIT (Internet 2) it & we just are niglected & we are the ones that are paying for all of it & that part of it really gets me mad. Verizon go get them! I got your back,

Got Server

If you run servers from home don't get your hopes up.

[mikehessmiller]

Bring fVerizion fios to Scranton PA

I hope to see verision fios in Scranton PA soon!!

30mb? thats kinda slow, Im on 100mb

Of course Im kiding, but a 30mb is very possible if the "$" wasn't in so many eyes. Much may have changed over the last several months, but Im on 2/4.5mb at a price of around 20 to 30 bucks (still overpriced in my opinion, with whats possible out there). Plus an optic line would be nice to guarantee solid connection and no worrys of corosion or loose connection via coaxial cable, many problems with that. SENARIO- Playin' a good ol' game on Xbox LIVE/PS Online and lag reers its ugly head or even friggin' digital boxes start showin' up on my Digital Cable, in a heartbeat I run around the house tightning all the connections with Vice-Grips. Sad really, this day and age and we still have the "Aluminum foil-TV antenna" predicament.

STAY AWAY FROM VERIZON FIOS

Verizon installed FiOS for me 24 hours ago , this was their second attempt after they have could not get "light" the first time. Since then I have intermittent phone and internet service ,after 5 hours on the phone with them they want me to wait three days for a technician to come test it. This is not ready for prime time and the worst is - if you get it, you can't go back. STAY AWAY

[thunderchief]

Verizon FIOS

Just switched over to Verizon FIOS. The sales and technical people were great, courteous at all times and called to confirm all appointments and results of work. First day had some problems with configuring, engineers came right out and solved the problem. Customer Rep called to say sorry but how about a free month for the inconvenience. FIOS is up and running. At 5M down and 2M up ran a speed test and sure enough there right on the money. Called to set up email and sure enough was greeted by the same helpful and courteous people. Can't wait for TV on FIOS so I can finally cut Comcast free. Thanks Verizon, recommending to all my friends !

[isymetric]

cable companie more reliable???

To the guy that said he would rather wait 10 years and still with his current cable company because they are more qualified in TV... and you think that Comcast or any other company would be better at managing a fiber optic internet, I believe verizon has spent year testing out the new FIOS service and are able to manage.. Now remember that fiber optics have been around for about 8 years, just not for residential. This is not a new concept, Verizon just beat everyone to the punch by starting ahead, they are more qualified to run this service than any other cable company..

Desperatly waiting for Fiber Optics in Canada.. I HATE DSL AND CABLE and its network congestion and unreliability..

[John Kuzak]

new FIOS service

http://www.analogstereo.com/jaguar_xkr_owners_manual.htm

[jspfaff]

FIOS: What is Verizon thinking???

When I got Verizon?s FIOS brochure, dropped between my doors last Tuesday by UPS, I was very excited, and even more so when I went on their website and found that my house qualified, and that a technician would be installing it just 3 days later, on Friday.

The installation took about 5 hours, even with me helping by running the CAT5 from my living room to the ONT in my crawlspace. The speed was just as unbelievable as advertised. I still have Comcast high-speed data service, and I just ran a side-by-side comparison using speakeasy.net?s speed meter. Verizon FIOS measured 10.9MB down and 1.8MB up, while Comcast measured 7.6MB down and 356KB up. So I swung my LAN over to my Verizon connection, updated my domain names to point to my new IP address, and got ready to give Comcast the heave-ho.

A day after the installation, however, some of my friends said that they couldn?t get to my band?s web site. I though that DNS propagation was the culprit, but my domain names were resolving properly. I found out a couple days later when I called Verizon to complain, that they block inbound connections on port 80. Oddly, they don?t block inbound 443 ? I have a secure web server in my house that was doing just fine. I was angry, but I did have to admit that Verizon?s advertising says ?no home web servers? in the fine print. Verizon told me that I?d need to buy their $100/month commercial FIOS, with static IP addresses, if I wanted to receive inbound http connections. I didn?t want to go from $35/month to $100/month. I?m not broadcasting video, so the extra bandwidth was not worth that much of an increase.

However, the next day, a Verizon Business FIOS sales guy calls me and tells me they have a Business FIOS service for $60/month that has all ports open for inbound connections, but with dynamic IP addresses. Beautiful, I said ? I have an account with DynamicDNS, and so my hostname with them stays associated with my current IP address, within 30 minutes or so, no matter how often my ISP wants to rearrange their network. Sign me up, I say.

So the Business FIOS sales guy says that he needs to write a disconnect order for my Residence FIOS, and wait until that order has been completed before he can write the connect order for the Business FIOS. But the Business FIOS installation will happen by Friday ? one week after my Residence service came up. Fine, I can wait.

Friday comes along, and the installer is very nice, but he does not understand why he has been sent to my house. Neither do I, since all I want Verizon to do is change their firewall settings for my IP address. Anyway, to make a really long story as short as possible, after I spend 2 hours troubleshooting the new service, a Verizon guy tells me that inbound port 80 is only allowed on the $100/month static IP service. So I am furious, and get the business sales guy back on the phone, and he tries to deny ever telling me that inbound port 80 was allowed on the $60/month service. Disconnect the service, I say ? you misinformed me of its capabilities. I explained to them that I pay Comcast $35/month for more bandwidth than I really need, and they let me have web servers in my house. Not my job, was the response, which I understand ? sales people can only sell the services that the Product Development people invent.

So I really am curious about who Verizon is selling their service to? According to one source I found (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp), 72% of browsers are running on Windows XP, and another 13% are on Windows 2000. Let?s be conservative ? let?s say that 50% of people on Verizon?s footprint have either Windows 2000 or XP. Then, since Microsoft gives away IIS (Internet Information Services) with these two operating systems, giving computer novices the ability to turn their PC?s into web servers, Verizon?s ?no home web servers? policy seems really bizarre.

What is the point of having all that bandwidth, if you?re not allowed to use it?

[gagazote]

interesting..

This story is very typical of how Verizon works. I remember when I got ISDN, and then DSL from them, what hoops they made me jump through. What crappy memories! Sorry you got bait and switched.

I run a website for my band and video stuff too, but for that upload speed, I would have just used port 443. Was this not an option for you?

-zote

[200mbpsBPL]

New York is still studying the prospects of broadband over power lines.

http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=15791

Despite two years of testing, New York is still studying the prospects of broadband over power lines.

February 20, 2006


http://broadbandoverpowerlines.blogspot.com/

[ShizzleMyNizzle1]

Verizon Rocks

I Have had Verizon FIOS for Phone, Fios TV, and Internet (5mb/dn X 2mb/up) here in Murietta, CA for the past 60 days and I have to say it rocks.
I'm a die hard gamer and have the best ping rates on just about all gaming servers.
Had Cable Internet in the past but all the services cannot compare to FIOS.
FIOS 4 Life

[tom13nyc]

That is so cool but the price is alot i thought they would make a slight ch

i have brodband dsl in brooklyn ny wich my friend has in staten island because he works for the company and this way off cool though i got to have it because its way faster and more reliable then cable and im gonna have it and know one say some stupid stuff