Verizon ups its FiOS speeds to 50Mbps, sets the internet on fire
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted November 21st 2007 4:14AM
posted November 21st 2007 4:14AM
Not content with blazing up your local connection at 20Mbps downstream and up, Verizon has once again bumped its already-painfully-fast FiOS broadband service into the realm of ridiculous. According to reports, the company is now offering a 30Mbps / 15 Mbps service at $89.95 a month, and the nerve-shattering 50 Mbps / 20 Mbps speed at $139.95. The telecom has also introduced symmetrical connections in all 16 states where it currently offers FiOS service, with a 20Mbps / 20Mbps on the up and down, starting at $64.99. Of course, it's all bleeps and buzzes in our particularly lonely corner of Brooklyn, where we'll have to suffer the indignation of a lowly 10Mbps connection until the big V blesses us with some real speed... you hearing us, dudes?[Via GigaOM]
I guess engadget has timewarner then. IF you are in a cablevision area you can get the 38/5 package. ITs better then the 50/20 packag though because you can actually run an email or web servr. You can open those ports up.
Id rather get 15 less upload and 12 less download for the ability to run a webserver.
Yes! What is up with the lack of FIOS in Brooklyn! Dammit I need that FIOS. I think I know what Verizon should get me for Hanukkah.
Oh, and don't forget - you need to sign for a 2 year contract with Verizon.
Unless Verizon changed something, you don't need any type of contract to get their service. I've had 20/5 since May and it has been terrific. No contract in North Jersey.
...*Sigh*...
...something tells me that this service won't make its way to South Carolina until it's about to sink into the ocean.
Right now I pay $56.90/month for 8mbps down/768kbps up. Seems a little unbalanced, don't it?
will they EVER have this for Florida residents !!??!?!?
Up here in Tampa in the Verizon office where I work FiOS is offered to everyone not sure about this speed.
However FiOS covers entire Florida region as far as I know
well i am all the way down south (miami) n they dont have it here
GOD DANG IT!!!! Im in that lonely corner of brooklyn. Farthest from the city. Cant Verizon show Marine Park Brooklyn some Love!!!
And whats the word on Verizon TV compared to cablevision. In terms or channel and clarity and quality?
Much Love
Joey China
I live on the only house on my road. Verizon would not offer DSL to me, but they would run 800 ft of fiber up the street. Who am I to say no? As soon as FiOS tv comes to NH, I may 'accidentally' rip the cable lines off the side of my house. Oops, sorry! (As long as FairPoint doesn't hose everything when they buy Verizon's New England service)
I've had FIOS (15mbit/2mbit) here in maryland now for a couple of months and it's great. Speeds NEVER go down and it's right where it's advertised, great deal.
Well this would be nice, if I didn't live in dead zone where the big V is trying to unload all its service so it doesn't have to provide internet to the rural areas. I've moving soon to a house with dial-up as the only option. Believe me the first the I do when I walk in the door will be to figure out how the heck I can convince someone (or anyone) to get service to my door. Internet in the US is miserable, overpriced and under serviced. Thankfully small companies up here in VT are trying to step in and change things. Burlington Telco gave the V a big up yours and started running FiOS to all the homes in the city. They have had some growing pains, but they brought Fiber to the market long before V. Maybe some day I'll have 10mbs at my desk, at the moment I just need to figure out how to avoid the 56k line.
To gloaters from Sweden, S. Korea, and Japan:
The reason you have such FAST internet so cheap is because your governments HEAVILY subsidize the construction of infrastructure and the service as well. And hey, guess where those subsidies come from? Yes, your taxes. Verizon has to pay for everything: ripping up the street, laying the fiber, doing a run to the house, repairing the street, then doing it again on the next street many thousands of times over for a medium-sized city.
To say nothing of the hardware costs (which are likely significant). It's all very expensive, and the only way verizon can recoup the cost is through monthly fees, which have to be competitive and attractive. So you really can't blame them for charging $60-100 a month for the latest tech/highest speeds when it costs many thousands of dollars PER CUSTOMER just to get them hooked up.
I'd personally rather have a lower tax rate and spend my dollars the way I want to. Let the free market decide what fast internet should cost.
Let's try that again, with the reply function working...
Preach it brother! You're exactly right on all counts. And I love my FiOS! I'd pay twice what they charge for the QoS I get.
"I'd personally rather have a lower tax rate and spend my dollars the way I want to. Let the free market decide what fast internet should cost."
I'd Personally would rather not be the big bully of the world with the "Oh So Awsome, Shock and Awe" military and enjoy speeds of 100Mbs+ instead, thankyouverymuch.
Wot, a Gov't that pays for infrastructure? They are outta control those commie Sweedes. Who cares if the gov't is more efficient and more conscious of the public good when I can tout my political party's marketing screed. (lemme amend that - their gov't not our corrupt cronies.)
I mean really. Even all but the most strict Libertarians agree that the gov't is SUPPOSED to make sure we have a decent infrastructure so our citizens and businesses can operate competitively. But here in the US a tree branch can take out the entire NW's electrical system.
Hell we can't summon up the cahones to regulate out monopolies, which are VERY destructive to industry and individuals alike. And that is an even more basic function of gov't. Mindless deregulation is about as useful as mindless regulations, which is to say not very useful at all.
Preach it brother! You're exactly right on all counts. And I love my FiOS! I'd pay twice what they charge for the QoS I get.
Verizon FIOS isn't even availible in my loney corner of Brooklyn...
what can I do?
Move?
Man, in South Africa, we get maximum 4mbits/256kbs dsl with a 3 gig cap from Telkom which we pay roughly $200 per month for. Verizon would make a killing down here.
I'm in Park Slope Brooklyn. And it makes no sense at all that we dont get FiOS, and places like Hackensack, NJ does. It makes even less sense that some rural town in PA is where Verizon is test marketing their 200Mbps service! Doesnt Verizon realize how many tech bloggers live in Brooklyn?! Come on people!!!
I just went with FIOS a few months ago and my only complaint is just with the router they give you. Once I can make it into a bridge and use my Linksys 54WRTGL to handle the wireless, I'll be good. I'm staying connected ethernet cables to the router and it's definitely fast as hell. No complaints on my 15mb down plan (or is it 20mb.. I can't remember)
We're moving from the Bronx to Yonkers and the #1 priority on my list is the FiOS symmetrical package.
Thanks for the clarification, Mark. I tend to mix the two up and the fact I didn't sleep last night probably didn't help either. Sorry about the double post, not sure what's up with that.
Just upgraded!!!
Thanks Engadget
My 30/5 package from Verizon is more than enough for what I'm doing. I just can't figure out what I'd do with 20 upstream...
Perhaps the only benefit I'd personally gain is the ability to remotely download my own files faster than I can at 5mbit...
Can anyone think of another good reaon. I'm fearful that V would crack down on any others like P2P, webhosting, and gameserving?
So what else can we use 20mbit upstream for? Let me see your ideas!
The only thing I can think of is being able to use Windows Remote Desktop Connection or VNC at full-quality. But as it is with 5Mb upload, I can turn on all of the options except for the desktop background.
And it wouldn't matter anyway, since then I'd be capped by the downstream bandwidth where I'd be accessing the remote session from.
Shoot, my upstream bandwidth is already more than the downstream at many of my remote workplaces...
Here in Utah, we have Utopia - a municipal fiber network with multiple ISPs. MSTAR (http://mstar.net) has been offering symmetrical 50 mbs for over a month now - For 39.95/month!
I have a fiber optic line direct to my basement - my ISP (http://www.nuvont.net/) gives me 15 mbs down / 10 mbs up... But now I am thinking I should switch - I am jealous of my neighbors!
Speed is relative, you can never have enough!
the sad thing is.... I worked in the Hampton Fiber Solutions Center... yet I don't have it in my area... but I'm only paying 56/month for 15/2 on Cox (time warner).
Ok then what is the excuse for charging between $30-75 for DSL and Cable internet that is using cables that have been buried in the ground for half a century or more. The same reasoning as charging us $50 a month for 300 minute cell phone plans.
US Telco companies have a virtual monopoly everywhere they are. The cell phone companies fix their prices and actually compete to raise prices rather than lower them.
There may be subsidies in Europe and Japan for the construction of new infrastructure. But what do you think the US goverment does. They hand out billions of dollars in funds to communication companies as well. Maybe if we didn't spend $700 billion a year on welfare handouts, $400 billion on Medicare and Medicaid, and what will be close to $1 trillion on Social Security we could have a better telecommunication infrastructure.
Also the government heavily subsidises farmers to produce corn for ethanol. This is causing anything that uses corn to drasticly go up in price. Look at frickin milk and beef prices. Because the animals are corn fed milk is $4 a gallon and beef has gone up by 30%. Gas is also more expensive because of ethanol, not cheaper.
Telecommunication is one thing that actually falls under the federal government mandate, unlike 90% of what it does. National infrasturcutre just like the highway system should be built by the government. Utilities should be provided by the government. There is no possible way to provide competition when you only have one choice. You're just asking for corruption and price fixing. I'd have no problem if $30 out of the insane taxes I pay to provide me with even 25/25 broadband internet. Every American with a decent job pays between 40-50% of thier total income to taxes and gets virtually nothing for it. At least when you pay 50% of your money to taxes in Europe you get health care, great transportation, and cheap communication.
So I collectively say FU to Verizon, Cox, Warner, AT&T, and the others. Thanks for nothing and thanks for raping me for a service that is worse than what they have in Somalia.
We've had Verizon FiOS 20/5 for a while. Amazing service. We were thinking about getting the 20/20 service, but decided against it; we have no use for that lovely extra bandwidth... I never thought I'd say that. :o
Yes, that's plenty fast - with my 20/5 service I was able to upload a 330MB file in about 8 minutes! But I still want faster just for the hell of it, but last week when I inquired about it in MA, the Verizon rep did not know what I was talking about...
Wow, when I move to a place of my own I am actually considering FiOS being one of the choices I would have in property.
the RIAA is really gonna cry when every is stealing their music at 50mbps
gah. i wish fibre would hurry up into the UK. at the moment i am paying £28 ($48) a month for 8Mbps/512Kbps, and even during off-peak times i never get above 475Kbps down.
i mean, wtf is up with that, my nearest telephone exchange is less than 900 metres from my house! :(
You misspelled fiber. It's not fibre. it's not even pronounced like fib-ree at all. or fi-bree.
I can see tyre, and neighbour... and even aluminium... but not fibre.
Has anyone even taken into consideration the true economics and the scale of this project in the United States? based on mass alone. Where have all the critical thinkers in the world gone? population Density
JAPAN Land Mass = 374,744 sq km SLIGHTLY SMALLER THAN CALIFORNIA
JAPAN roads = 1,180,092 km
KOREA Land Mass = 98,190 sq km SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN INDIANA
KOREA roads = 100,279 km
US Land Mass = 9,826,630 sq km
US roads = 6,430,366 km
Not to mention our terrible goverment and their complete lack of understanding in relation to anything tech. If you think its the Federal government with all their advisors and lobbists, you would only be partiually correct. its the local governments i.e. http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/u-verse.ars that are delaying the inevitable. Granted this is Fiber to the Node, buit it IS a start. Tell you local governments to shove the 5.00% they get to allow the cable companies exclusivity in their town and open the pipe !
I'd gladly pay $150/month for a reliable 10/5 or 20/10 fiber connection. I used to have 6/1 SBC "lightspeed" DSL, which meant fiber to the neighborhood, then copper for the last half mile. Flawless VOIP, always on, quite reliable. They even allowed it on a $5/month "dialtone" line.
Now, in the country, we could get Verizon's 1500/256 DSL. Maybe. But first we'd have to sign up for a $40/month landline. $60 buys as fixed-wireless from one of two wireless providers. One is LOUSY. The other one is pretty decent. VOIP works the vast majority of the time, but speed is limited around 4/1 and drops in (really) bad weather.
Gimme fiber!
some of u guys should do some research before making comments. From the hub each address has a dedicated fiber. Once the fiber leaves the hub it is not shared with any other address for single family homes. In my area the hub has splitters inside that can split a single fiber coming into the hub either 16 or 32 times depending on the splitter. Cable companies cannot match this. Their nodes which are fiber feed and leave with coax lines handle anywhere from 500 to 1200 customers. Give or take a few.
I spoke to Verizon in Massachusetts last week inquiring about the 20/20 FiOS (I currently have 20/5 FiOS) and they didn't know anything about it and weren't offering it.
Stop complaining. How do you think I feel? I'm still stuck with dialup.
Don't need the bandwidth. At home I use the PC for eBay and checking email. I'm saving a lotta money with my Fry's, $5.99 a month dial up service.
My ISP has had the following for some time. Their network is fiber to my buiding, then Cat5 to my appartment. I'm just on the 10Mbps, although I did try the 30Mbps for a while but was overkill for what I need. I'm in Vancouver, BC btw.
$37.50/mth >> $32.50 FIRST FOUR MONTHS
- Download Speed: 10Mbps
- Upload Speed: 10Mbps
- Dynamic IPs: 2
- Email Accounts: 10
- Email Account Space: 100MB
- Personal Web Space: 100MB
- Domain Hosting: Optional
- Data Transfer: 70 GB
GET $5.00 OFF WHEN BUNDLED WITH ANY TV PACKAGE
- $89.95/mth
- Download Speed: 30 Mbps
- Upload Speed: 10 Mbps
- Dynamic IPs: 2
- Email Accounts: 10
- Email Account Space: 100 MB
- Personal Web Space: 100 MB
- Domain Hosting: Optional
- Data Transfer: 160 GB
GET $7.00 OFF WHEN BUNDLED WITH ANY TV PACKAGE
- $179.95/mth
- Download Speed: 50 Mbps
- Upload Speed: 10 Mbps
- Dynamic IPs: 2
- Email Accounts: 10
- Email Account Space: 100 MB
- Personal Web Space: 100 MB
- Domain Hosting: Optional
- Data Transfer: 320 GB
I am happy with my 30/5 cablevision for $45 at the moment.
good for verizon tho.
Oh don't worry too much Brooklyn folks, I pay INR 1150 (US$29) per month for a 256Kbps connection here in India. Yea, don't strain your eyes too much, bring down the eyelids a bit. U read it right. There are worse things than a lowly 10Mbps connect.
Sigh. Still no one has mentioned the internet access in Australia.
I pay ~$62 USD a month for 8/1Mbps with 40GB download allowance. And I get an AMAZING deal.
Obviously you guys haven't heard of Tel$tra... 1.5Mbps/256kbps 12GB data allowance (uploads counted) for ~$65
:weep:
It's a nice improvement, but really nothing compared to Japan and Hong Kong. For just 30 dollars a month the slowest connection in Hong Kong is 25 Mb/s, with the fastest being 1 Gb/s (1000 Mb/s). So as to FIOS, an improvement but in comparison to some other nations, it's a yawn.