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Yeah, we know a Screen Grabs about a commercial about technology is kind of cheating, but there are a couple of gaffes to point out here. First, Mr. Smug Surfer-Do "I Was In A Band But We Split Up Over Creative Differences" Verizon FiOS Guy is a total jerk, so we're totally rooting for the Zach Galifianakis look-alike, even if his bandwidth might suck. Second, waving a Kindle around might make you look like you rock at your job, but we're guessing a paper clipboard is about 100 times more functional for the actual task, unless you're supposed to read self-help books to your customers. Bitter cable users who can't get FiOS yet unite!

[Thanks, Don R.]

With DOCSIS 3.0 (and the corresponding 50Mbps download speeds) being deploying in varying parts of America, Verizon understands what it's up against. Reportedly, the carrier is gearing up to push its 50Mbps FiOS internet -- which is currently only available in a few of its more favored states -- to its entire US footprint. Best of all, we're hearing that all 16 FiOS-enabled states could have access to the service as early as next week, and if you're anxious to sign up, just know that it'll run you $139.95 per month with an annual contract. Thankfully, Verizon is also planning to boost speeds in the basic and middle tiers as well, with the former going from 5Mbps to 10Mbps and the latter going from 15Mbps to 20Mbps. Yeah, we like where this is headed, but we've still got aways to go before we can even sniff Sigbritt Löthberg's connection.

[Via Reuters]

Update: Here's Verizon's official release.

Hey, we hate lawsuits just as much as the next guy, but we're finding it hard to fault Verizon for this one. Verizon and Time Warner Cable arrived in court on Wednesday to settle a tiff over some ads that Verizon claims offer up misleading info about Verizon's FiOS service. Listed among the complaints include supposed false implications by TWC that FiOS requires a satellite dish, doesn't include phone, broadband and video, and that Time Warner's network is better. Time Warner Cable is naturally calling the lawsuit "without merit." Verizon wants TWC to stop running the ads and issue a retraction, as well as compensate them for lost revenue. We're not positive which ad Verizon is referring to, but if it's anything like the ad after the break -- which has some downright false implications about Time Warner Cable using fiber optics "for over a decade" -- then Verizon very well might have something here. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Update: Reader Max sent us in a version of the ad in which it's actually implied that Verizon requires a satellite dish for its FiOS service. Seriously, you can't make this crap up -- well, apparently TWC can. Ad after the break.

In a somewhat perplexing (okay, maybe not so much) release from Verizon, it is essentially crawling to the FCC and begging that it assist the telco in bolstering its own market share. How so? By enabling cable subscribers to jump ship without even notifying their cable company, that's how. More specifically, it's seeking to banish "a significant obstacle to consumer choice and competition in the market for bundled communications services" by allowing disconnect orders from the new provider (read: Verizon) to take the place of, you know, the customer calling up their carrier and shutting things down. Verizon argues that said procedure "significantly complicates the process of switching video providers, thereby entrenching the cable incumbents' dominant market position." Beyond the inordinately high level of ridiculousness crammed into those statements, we wonder if Verizon's all geared up to start receiving similar letters from Comcast, Cablevision and the whole gang should any of its customers decide to walk away in silence.

Here's hoping you own some Verizon stock, readers. According to the company's Q4 '07 earnings call which took place this morning, the massive telco finished out the year on an up note, with a sizable boost in subscribers, and consequently, profit. The company saw a net income boost of 3.9-percent ($1.07 billion, or $.37 a share) year-over-year, and a rise in revenue at 5.5-percent to $23.84 billion, including a 13.3-percent gain (or about 2 million new customers) in wireless sales. Analysts expectations were right on mark with the company's earnings, at $.62 a share, and the company saw growth in both its aforementioned wireless division, as well as big jumps in FiOS users. That's right kids, the rich do get richer.

With data integration in mobile handsets, it's no wonder home telephones haven't been able to keep up. But what happens when you're using a service like Verizon's FiOS and all of a sudden that boring handset has broadband data piped right into it? One example could be OpenFrame – a new home phone envisioned by John Sculley, former Apple CEO – that maybe-a-little resembles Apple's iPhone. The various devices are built on Freescale MX31 processors "with two 600-MHz ARM11 chips doing the heavy lifting" for features like streaming video, music, web surfing, and more. According to the manufacturer's chief executive, the heavily subsidized phones could be shipping out in four or five months straight from the carriers (no retail presence here). Though the phone was built specifically for services like FiOS, they're not yet saying if it's coming to FiOS. Why so shy, fellas?

Uh-oh, it looks like Verizon's been too busy ramping up speeds on its FiOS network to mind a little thing called the GPL -- the company has just been sued for using a GPL'd app called BusyBox in its FiOS routers but not providing the source code. BusyBox is a bundle of utilities used in embedded Linux applications, and the authors have been pretty vigilant in policing GPL-compliance in distributions that include it -- they've sued two other companies that have shipped devices with BusyBox, and gotten settlements both times. We're not sure what Verizon is doing with BusyBox on its routers or why it hasn't released the source, but expect this one to reach a resolution rather quickly.

Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, it is not meant as legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.

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]

Verizon FIOS customers have been feeling left out of the great HD race lately. Sure they have access to some of the fastest Internet connections in the US, but at a time when other providers are adding HD goodness in record number, FIOS customers only got one new HD channel in the past six months. Well the big V has finally broken its silence and promises that starting in the spring it'll deliver more 60 new HD channels, -- on a market by market basis -- and will have more than 150 HD channels by the end of 2008. Of course this begs the question, why is it going to take so long? Seriously, it's not like they have to wait for a satellite to launch or something. It's almost as if there's a limitation in their current infrastructure.

Well, it looks like Verizon might be out to put those rumors of it running out of bandwidth to rest, with it today announcing its new symmetrical 20/20 FiOS service that it says "redefines fast." While we're normally skeptical of such hyperbole, Verizon does look to have a case for itself in this instance, as that 20/20 stands for 20 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds. As Verizon points out, that should let you upload or download a 3GB file in 20 minutes flat. Unfortunately (for some), only those in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will be able to take advantage of all that bandwidth for the time being, where it'll run "as low as" $65 a month, although Verizon says it expects to roll out "similar symmetrical services" in the 13 other states where it currently offers FiOS internet service "soon."

Although FiOS just celebrated its second birthday last month, the third year isn't exactly off to a sensational start. Reportedly, Digital Art Services, a New York-based advertising company, has slapped Verizon Communications with a lawsuit alleging that the firm "overstated subscribers to its fiber-optic service and charged inflated prices for advertisements there." Essentially, the plaintiff is suggesting that Verizon included "pending customers" in its public subscriber reports which were "false and inflated." Interestingly, a spokesperson for Verizon stated that while he had yet to see the lawsuit, it sounded like a "garden variety business dispute." Of note, Digital Art was informed that pending customers could be included "as they were usually converted to active subscribers within two weeks," but it found that many prospective buyers "waited up to 10 months for their service to become active."

Corning announced today that it has overcome a major roadblock in the proliferation of fiber optic lines around the world (or at least where Verizon wants to pay to put them in). For years, providers have been struggling against a deficiency in fiber optic cable which causes the pipe to vent light when bent or curved, or lose it entirely if twisted too far. Now, however, researchers at Corning have developed a new variant to keep data moving: tiny, nanostructure "guardrails" that surround the fiber's core. The "rails" keep light from seeping out, yet are flexible enough to be wound around a pencil while delivering a signal at full strength. Corning hasn't put the piping into production yet, but when it does, Verizon says it's ready to use it -- which means pretty soon we're all going to be talking like that annoying kid from the FiOS commercials.

[Thanks, Larence M]

Fiber to the premises (FTTP), has the potential to deliver the most advanced HD services today, and although it isn't available in most of the country, Verizon (and others) are bleeding money digging up neighborhoods all over the US to install the magical stuff. Just because you have fiber to your home doesn't mean life is perfect though, there are still plenty of things that can get in the way of your viewing pleasure -- like franchise agreements. Verizon recently announced that they were testing HD VOD in their labs and have an internal time line for launching the service -- that they aren't ready to share. But with their competition already offering this service in some areas they can't wait forever.

Verizon may be upping the prices for DVR usage, but now we get the chance to see what that extra fee buys you. According to Dave Zatz, Verizon is launching FiOS Interactive Media Guide -- also known as FiOS 2 -- in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with rollouts occurring nationwide via software upgrades this summer. There are plenty of features to bullet-point, including an all-new 32-bit interface with 8-bit transparency, tabbed interfaces with a better central focus, global content searches (that also include local Media Manager content like photos and music), trailers and poster art for On Demand content, and traffic and weather widgets. See our gallery below for more screencaps from the FiOS presentation.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]