MacUpdate Weekend Sale :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013.      
toggle

Verizon triples FiOS speeds to 150Mbps

updated 08:25 am EST, Mon November 22, 2010

 

Verizon FiOS reaches 150Mbps by end of year


Verizon today added an ultimate 150Mbps tier to its FiOS fiber optic Internet access. The speed is three times the previous 50Mbps peak and also boosts the upload speed from 20Mbps to 35Mbps. At maximum speed, a typical 720p movie could download in about four and a half minutes, and 100MB of photos could upload in under 23 seconds.

The faster speeds will carry a premium and will cost $195 per month, or $55 more than the 50Mbps tier. It should reach the existing 12.5 million subscribers by the end of the year. About 18 million homes will eventually have the option of FiOS, Verizon said, though it didn't say when this would occur.

Verizon's upgrade is partly an attempt to head off competition from cable Internet providers like Comcast or Cablevision that have offered 50Mbps or even 101Mbps access. The move is also a preemptive upgrade for services that have previously been impractical on home Internet access, such as quick cloud backups, high-quality live video chat and 3D support on FiOS TV.

The use of fiber optics has given Verizon a major advantage in bandwidth so far and is mostly limited by the technology used at local nodes. It has already tested 1Gbps and recently 10Gbps access, although neither is expected to arrive for several years without the capacity to handle dozens of simultaneous users at that level of performance.


By Electronista Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :  

computers, industry, Verizon, networking, Comcast, FiOS, CableVision

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Previous Comments

  1. TexasRules

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2010

    +4
    11/22, 09:24am | report spam | reply

    Jealous

    I'm so jealous. Comcast is all that we have available where I live. Bummer!


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    -1
    11/22, 10:03am | report spam | reply

    Big deal

    Like any home user really is going to throw $200 a month for internet access.


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +3
    11/22, 10:18am | report spam | reply

    Head-off competition?

    Verizon's upgrade is partly an attempt to head off competition from cable Internet providers like Comcast or Cablevision that have offered 50Mbps or even 101Mbps access.

    Um, as long as Verizon hires intelligent, friendly people that actually can get the service to run the first time, there really isn't any fear of competition.

    You know the competitor's motto is: "At Comcast, we promise to get it working within the first six house visits*. "

    (*Some restrictions apply. This 'promise' should not be taken as any sort of guarantee that it will be working. Comcast not responsible for the ineptitude of our field service team, since they don't actually work for us, we just hire out to the companies that offer the cheapest rates. Comcast is the sole determining party that decides if the service actually works. Not responsible for outages caused by winds of 3mph or more. Comcast reserves the right to insist you install our useless software on your computer, regardless of whether you get internet service. Comcast recommends using Comcast supplied digital converters and DVRs, as we make most of our money from the fees to rent these overpriced and over-complicated boxes. Oh, and be forewarned we're actively trying to get the FCC to dump CableCard because, even though we've tried to make it as user and manufacturer unfriendly as possible, there's still some people who think they shouldn't have to pay us $20 a month for a DVR.)


  1. gudin

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2000

    +3
    11/22, 12:14pm | report spam | reply

    Verizon

    Verizon is good technically, and their actual people are reasonably friendly, but their customer service system was designed by sadistic drunken monkeys. It's virtually impossible to get to the right people the first three times through the queue, and none of the people you do get to have any ability to send you to people who can actually do anything.

    So the people might be fine, but if the system is designed to annoy and harass, they can only do so much. I was much happier with Cox's customer service, but Cox lacked the technical specs to measure up.


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    11/22, 04:54pm | report spam | reply

    Re: Verizon

    Depends who you call. If you have a FiOS problem, I've found their customer service easy to get to.

    Now, if you've got a phone problem/issue, esp. if it's billing, forget about it. I had to call the 'local' office, and actually got told by their phone system "We're sorry. All phone lines are busy now. Please call back later."


  1. CmdrGampu

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2009

    +1
    11/23, 02:54am | report spam | reply

    comment title

    "About 18 million homes will eventually have the option of FiOS, Verizon said, though it didn't say when this would occur."

    My guess would be sometime between 2050 and never. They keep scaling back their plans.


Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

Recently Commented Articles

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

Sponsor

Recent Reviews

Brother HL-3170CDW LED Printer

We've mentioned before that we are far from a paperless society. For now, at least, there are tasks that require a piece of paper for ...

HTC One

It is hard to overstate just how critically important the HTC One is to the Taiwanese company’s fortunes. Despite its alarming decline ...

Samsung Galaxy S 4

Samsung's new flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S 4, faces even stiffer competition than its popular predecessor. With a five-in ...

Sponsor

 
toggle

Popular News