Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable are all sniping at each other, emphasizing the minor advantages their overpriced service has over the competitor’s overpriced service. They’re trading whiny potshots over whether the fiber goes to the house, what “compression” means, and so on, when they should be doing that other stuff cable companies do, like throttling my bandwidth and reporting my usage statistics to the Department of Homeland Security. You know when there’s this kind of catfight that none of them have anything decent to offer. If any one of them really had a truly superior product, they would be able to say so with authority and the benefits would be manifest. But this kind of little dust-up just means they’ve all got nothing and their lawyers just needed a workout. → Read More
If you happen to live in one of the lucky areas of the 16 states where Verizon has made FiOS available, you’ll be able to top your Internet connection out at 50 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up. Verizon says the speed enhancements will begin next week. Some markets already have the 50/20 speed tier, but Verizon will be rolling out faster connections to FiOS customers where 30 Mbps had previously been the highest download speed available – about ten states in all. At those speeds, service isn’t cheap. The 50/20 plan apparently costs $140 per month unless you live in New York or Virginia, where it’s somewhat more affordable at $90 per month. → Read More
Verizon released some b-roll of FiOS being prepared in New York with the promise that as soon as “city officials” approve of the service we’re going to get some sweet, sweet downstream speed. Until FiOS arrives in your area, however, Verizon suggests doing one or more of the following: 1. Reorganizing your wallet. 2. Finally calling the 311 on the man who keeps putting his Christmas Tree out in February and getting needles all over your stoop. 3. Cutting your fingernails on the train. 4. Walking angry. 5. Visiting your aged mother upstate. → Read More
Cable companies’ ads are typically woeful, but misleading? That’s unthinkable. Or is it? Not if you ask Verizon. And, please, do, they’d love to hear from you. Verizon filed suit today against Time Warner, Internet darling, claiming that one of its ads is a pack of lies. You can see the ad for yourself right up there. Verizon says the ad misrepresents its FTTP service, FiOS, and makes consumers think that you need to install a satellite dish in order to receive TV. That’s what I got out of the ad, too. Oh, and Verizon, please come up with a better way to tell your potential customers whether or not they can get FiOS. Your Web site says I need to enter a landline telephone number to see if my residence qualifies. Well, it’s 2008 and I don’t have a traditional landline. Why isn’t my address sufficient? (Yes, I tried my address and it comes up with something like, “We’re not sure if you qualify, try your Verizon phone number instead!”) I’d gladly switch over to FiOS. → Read More
Guess what? There are 17,000 outdoor U-verse boxes containing backup batteries made by Quebecois company Avestor, a company that no longer exists due to bankruptcy. Wait there’s more. These batteries are exploding and catching on fire. Nobody’s been injured yet but if you see one of those boxes on the side of the road, treat it as though it were a giant bear. This setback might just, um, set back AT&T a little bit as it tries to catch up to Verizon’s FiOS service, which covers every area of Boston except mine (and a bunch of other cities, too). AT&T hopes to sign up a million customers by the end of the year. Verizon hit a million last June. Exploding Batteries Plague AT&T’s U-verse [InformationWeek] → Read More
If you live in a neighborhood serviced by Verizon’s FiOS, you should send them a fruitcake for Xmas. Or cookies. Or something, as FiOS is expected to have a library of over 1000 shows and movies on-demand in HD by the end of next year, much of it free. This is troubling to cable TV providers, as they’ve traditionally been the monopoly in the HD delivery marketplace. While it’s still uncertain what the FCC will say on that subject, the fact is Internet providers mike make cable TV redundant. Super IPTV to the home at breakneck data rates? Ok! Thanks, Verizon! HD Video-on-Demand Now Playing on Verizon FiOS TV [Press release] → Read More
I remember my first week of college way back in 1997 and the weird adrenaline rush I got the moment my brand new Pentium 166 (with MMX extensions) first connected to the school’s high speed network. The change from a 33.6 modem to a high speed internet connection was exhilarating. I felt like burning a cigarette into my forearm. I was alive. → Read More
In just a little bit, we’re going to hear from Vince about his experiences with Time-Warner cable. Here in Seattle, we don’t have that as an option. I’m stuck with Comcast, for better or worse, but I sure do wish I had Verizon. Comcast has a handful of HD channels, and most of them are crap, (I swear I was watching something at 10 frames per second in “HD” last night,) while Verizon’s FIOS customers are soon getting 150 HD channels. One-hundred and fifty. I am so jealous. Not only that, Vzn will be adding thousands of HD movies to its on-demand system. This is all happening in the next year. Hopefully, with the support of the FCC, there will be more competition in the cable TV neighborhood and I can choo-choo-choose the provider I want. We can dream. Verizon Plans Fivefold Increase in HD Channels on FiOS TV in 2008 [Press release] → Read More
Om is quoting a study on Verizon FiOS in the wild and came away with a starling realization: fiber optics will probably tear cable Internet and TV a new poop hole. Although only a few places have FiOS now, when Verizon rolled it out in Massachusetts: Comcast lost 5,216 subscribers across a base of 204,160, a drop of 2.6%. RCN lost 1,813 subscribers, or 7% off its base of 25,895 subscribers. While that’s not earth-shattering, it does mean that someone out there knows a good thing when they see it. Hrm… maybe a little FiOS in Brooklyn? Nah… just checked. No FiOS in Bay Ridge. Study [via GigaOm] → Read More
Groundbreaking! Hey, John, I like FiOS. Nuts to your crazy, East Asian “technology,” OK? Now, thanks to Zatz, I can look (no touching!) at FiOS TV 2.0, what the kids will call IMG. The jazzed up interface++, which now includes super helpful widgets and a free hard drive space indicator(!), is currently available in select FiOS neighborhoods. Verizon is expected to announce IMG’s wider, nationwide rollout soon, complete with the soul-crushing news that it still has no intention of making my neighborhood FiOS-compatible. Hands On With Verizon FiOS TV 2.0 [Zatz Not Funny!] → Read More
http://admin.brightcove.com/destination/player/player.swf We at CrunchGear have been mean to FiOS because we’re dumb and don’t understand that fiber is the future. Just to rub it in, Verizon sent us this video of the Bayer family out in Longuyland saying that fiber is supergreat. I’m kind of a futurist when it comes to connectivity — I’ve seen too much cool wireless stuff in Asia to think that wireline networking is the way to go but until that day comes, good on ya, Verizon. One Millionth FiOS Customer Video [Verizon] → Read More
Michael McKeehan, Verizon director of Internet and technology, declared today at FTTH that Verizon’s FiOS is ready for whatever bandwidths its competitors ramp up to. “If they offer 6Mbps, we go a bit better. We don’t see the need to ramp up the speeds just yet,” said McKeehan. The problem that I see, is an availability that comparatively is more limited than other broadband companies. Fiber to the premises is great, but a quick look at an availability list shows that its proliferation is sparse. Hopefully Verizon will spread it more drastically this year. I’d love to get some fiber in my Internet diet. TTH 2007 Europe: Verizon Deals Cablecos FTTH Blow [via Broadband Reports] → Read More
