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Verizon boosts FiOS speeds to 50 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

November 21, 2007, 11:11 AM

BitTorrent users rejoice: Just a month after offering a symmetrical 20 Mbps option for its FiOS Internet service, Verizon has boosted its maximum download speeds to 50 Mbps. For $139.95 per month, those users will also receive upload speeds of 20 Mbps.

Those not needing such connectivity can opt for a new, cheaper $89.95 plan that includes 30 Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream. Availability of both services depends on the state where the user is located. Verizon's FiOS can offer much faster speeds than traditional cable or DSL broadband because it utilizes fiber optic cables to a customer's home, but it is only available in 16 states currently.

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By fiber-optic-cables

posted Jul 7, 2008 - 7:31 PM

I have a 10/2 plan and am more than happy with Fios. As the only FttH option where I live, I like knowing it is "future proof" I'm a phone call away from getting more bandwidth if I need it, and I know that I don't need to worry about my Tivo, or other applications no longer working due to extra compression strategies.

Its nice not having to worry about Last Mile Issues.

Timbercon - Fiber Optic Cables
www.timbercon.com

Score: 0

By ejoe

edited Nov 23, 2007 - 6:04 PM

I wanted Fios but I HAVE to have a static IP for my own Web Servers.
They stated I couldn't have one. I was willing to to take Fios if keep my DSL with my static IP address as well, but they said I coudn't do that either. Apparently it's an all or none situation. Go for Fios and lose your business presence with your own Web servers entirely. I can't beleive you can't have both if you pay for it. Cable seem to be the only way to go if you need both kinds of services.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 6:15 PM

God I'm jealous. Fastest upload I can get is 256kb/s. :(

Score: 0

By Umapathy

posted Nov 23, 2007 - 9:05 AM

Me too jealous about connection speed. I am working in Eastern part of Sri lanka stuck with 64kbs leased line at the office and at home with 115.2kbs (Actual speed is much slower). America is amazing.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Nov 23, 2007 - 1:04 PM

No, Japan is amazing--- 100mb....

Score: 0

By alphaod

edited Nov 22, 2007 - 3:45 PM

I had the Verizon 50/5 package and I tried to upgrade to the 20/20, but they wouldn't do it because they said it was a downgrade. However they now have the 50/20 for the same price I paid for the 50/5 ($89.95). Kudos to Verizon!

EDIT: I didn't think this was relevent, but I've Verizon's voice as well. I just hope this plan is availale to everyone, but I don't know if this price requires you to have a phone plan or if it's available to data only customers too.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

edited Nov 23, 2007 - 2:28 PM

This is all great news of course, but as well overall / worldwide infrastructure needs to get upgraded ASAP(how about min. equipment standards?)... otherwise we will wind up like countries who have widespread symmetrical 20-100mb service: speeds are good in-country exclusively, but actually can slow down to mediocre because folks access websites 'worldwide'.

Score: 0

By robmanic44

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 7:43 AM

Verizon has informed me that Fort Wayne, Indiana is currently the only city in my area where FIOS is available. I got the impression that expansion into other cities will proceed very slowly. My present speed is about twice that of dialup.

Score: 0

By Daddy_Spank

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 4:32 PM

Thats awesome. If only they could deliver it to the highest density of population in the U.S.... MANHATTAN!!!

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 5:34 AM

We will never see it in Manhattan. There is no competition whatsoever. DSL will stuck at 3 max and cable at 5 max. And during the evening and weekend, the max speed drop to 1/5 of their advertising speed.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 1:03 PM

What are you two talking about/ingesting?

1. Fios is actually available in more than half of Manhattan-- and parts of surrounding boroughs. It's the main reason why i'm moving.

2. With some rare exceptions, we're NOT stuck at those 3/5mb levels & there IS competition(granted city-wide-- rather than on a per neighborhood basis):
A. Time Warner silently upgraded all to 10mb.
B. RCN & Liberty offer 8-10mb.
Both A & B @ sucky uploads of 4-500kb.
C. Cablevision offers 15down/2up

ALTHOUGH you are right-- those stated cable speeds often dip to half, even less sometimes... and again, there may be an exception here and there(with really low speeds).

2. Fios(& higher DSL levels 'mostly') is dedicated line per user: the only type of service that would significantly degrade in the evening is cable & 'maybe' bottom levels of regular dsl-- those rated "up to xxx speed"... as other regular DSL delivers 85-95% of stated level always.

Worst-case scenario: Manhattan is 'only' able to get 20(or 15) symmetrical-- i doubt it though, in the business capital of the world.
FYI Google headquarters here are practically on top of one of the continent's fat internet pipes.

I'd be the last Verizon fanboy, but they're turning out to be very, very useful for business work in Manhattan: as well their cellular signal is the strongest in this area.
I'm rating their stock a buy-- subject to close & constant scrutiny.

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 10:01 PM

Well they do have it in NY State.

Score: 0

By AWEInCA

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 2:59 PM

Does Tivo work with FIOS?

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 3:26 PM

Yup I got two cable cards from verizon and I'm using Tivo. Only problem is you can't get FIOS on Demand movies with it, but I never really used it anyway, and tivo has it's own on demand selection so :)

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 4:18 PM

What about Cable Card?

Score: 0

By screwdiversity

edited Nov 21, 2007 - 1:53 PM

Verizon is giving the illusion that it's a broadband and entertainment company. They are on a trajectory with folding like a cheap lawnchair when the American economy collapses due to a weak US dollar. Verizon has dumped hundreds of millions if not a billion or more on FIOS. When the middle class disappears after a collapsed economy, FIOS will be the last luxury broadband product that people will be going without..

Score: 0

By ShadowMajere

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 2:52 PM

we have dumped around 3.5 Billion In Long Island New York Rigging Fiber. But don't worry we will make it all back :) If you really want to nit pick how much were spending. We invest around 3500 Per House we connect.

Verizon Account Exec
2020companies ltd.

Score: 0

By mrow

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 5:58 PM

lol

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 2:08 PM

you need to stop doing drugs ASAP...

Score: 0

By shicaca

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 1:45 PM

haha my thoughts exactly

Verizon, I'm pretty sure, knows what they're doing ... being the multi-billion dollar corporation they are, and all. ;)

Score: 0

By robmanic44

posted Nov 24, 2007 - 1:13 PM

Multi-billion dollar corporations are, in fact, those least likely to know what they are doing. Dilbert has been saying this for years.

At the executive level it becomes truly frightening.

Score: 0

By timatl

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 1:51 PM

if they get any faster they will exceed the transfer limit of the hard drive.

Score: 0

By AkumaKuruma

posted Nov 26, 2007 - 8:34 AM

considering SATA-II interface runs at 3 Gbps, I dont see anyone having a residential connection thats faster than their hard drive. and i dont think many home users connect to the internet using 10Gb network cards.

Score: 0

By jrizznit

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 7:10 PM

I think you are confusing bits and bytes.

Score: 0

By gimmay

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 1:31 PM

I live in NH, Verizon is pulling up shop and selling it's lan lines to another company. no FIOS here (some areas got it before verizon decided to cut its losses).

Score: 0

By tazandpig

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:48 PM

Oh please come to the UK!

*begs*

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 1:19 PM

I have been on the Virgin 20Mbps service for a while, and have applied for the Virgin 50Mbps trial and been told it will take a few months to come on-line.

http://www.digitalspy.co...-50mbps-triallists.html

Not as good for uploads though as the quoted speed is 1.5Mbps but its an improvement on what I currently achieve. More than happy with the speed but expecting 50Mbps to be quite a bit better. I will use the upload increase for certain, but you need to be a serious downloader with buckets of storage to get the most out of it im sure.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

edited Nov 22, 2007 - 1:14 PM

Yeah, what are they thinking with puny 1.5 up... if need be, throttle download to half or even a third-- & bump upstream to at least 10...folks would be willing to pay even more for that.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Nov 23, 2007 - 3:58 AM

You would think so, I certainly would.

I like being able to dump gigs of data to my home PC during the day, but when im at home I have to save to USB when I need to take stuff to work. Not a big bind, but I have to make sure the USB is encrypted incase I lose it.

Score: 0

By Diam0nd

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:43 PM

God bless Verizon and please come to europe ;|

Score: 0

By skimore

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:34 PM

Comcast will be hit the hardest on this one.. Time to DUMP cable co's stocks..

Score: 0

By AkumaKuruma

posted Nov 26, 2007 - 8:38 AM

Comcast already demoed a 150mbit cable connection last year. granted it involved bonding 4 cable modems together.

comcast already runs 100% fiber networks in a lot of areas. where I'm at, its fiber to the curb, and they offer massive bandwidth with it. digital cable offers ALL channels (2-999) in digital for cable boxes with cable ready still broadcast in analog, my 16/1 mbit internet never drops below 15mbit durring peak hours.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 4:17 PM

dude, their stock is in the crapper right now and it is supposed to even go lower. I was reading it is supposed to hit ~$12

Score: 0

By cap737

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:27 PM

Very good to know about! Can't wait!

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:08 PM

Stuck with slow Comcast here. Nothing like watching your speed slow to a crawl because all your neighbors are online.

Score: 0

By rseiler

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 1:56 PM

Can't say I've ever seen that happen no matter the time of day or night. I hit my 6Mbps, server willing, pretty much anytime I want.

Are you perhaps on an overpopulated node that's due for an upgrade?

Anyway, I certainly wouldn't mind one of those FIOS connections, which finally brings Japan/S.Korea-like speeds to the U.S., albeit at several times the price (far above what I'd pay).

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 4:16 PM

I don't know what the deal is...all's i know is me and all my neighbors complain about it, but Comcast never does anything.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 1:10 PM

Comcast is getting on fiber bandwagon as well-- but very, very slowly.
Depending on what part of the country, their speeds can be abysmal or actually very decent.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 10:51 PM

Sure, fiber to the node, then you have to share that node with all your neighbors. More neighbors hop on line and the slower you get.

Comcast is dead. Fiber to the door is the only way to avoid the slowness.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Nov 23, 2007 - 2:26 PM

You know what i think.... some kind of very fast wireless broadband may arrive 'before' fios and/or other wired equivalent goes truly mainstream in the US(not just urban pockets here and there only).

Score: 0

By bobenhaus

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 11:47 AM

I got Verizon FIOS a few days ago and I am getting 15d/5d and its totally awsome! Verizon FIOS pawns!

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 1:22 PM

I've had it for over a year. Can't complain either, I'm just waiting for my Directv contract to expire, and then I'm getting FIOS TV as well.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 4:16 PM

no Sunday Ticket on FIOS TV though :(

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Nov 22, 2007 - 1:08 PM

Yeah, i can't see ever getting rid totally of satellite-- I will end up having both.

Score: 0

By Metshrine

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 12:16 PM

I assume you mean PWNS, not PAWNS right?

Score: 0

By horsecharles

edited Nov 22, 2007 - 1:07 PM

Ha, ha-- misspell leetspeak and/or common acronyms & what do you get? A complete & correctly spelled word!

Score: 0

By trafsta

posted Nov 21, 2007 - 11:24 AM

Hmm, wonder if anything like this is available or starting up soon in Canada, specifically Toronto (GTA) area.

Score: 0

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