Verizon ups the broadband stakes

For the home consumer, at this point in time, yeah 50mbit is pretty excessive. Especially when I’ve seen research done that shows that the casual broadband user rarely has a need above 1mbit (note I said casual, i.e. your mom & dad, or your liberal arts major sister, not the übergeek you are).

However, like anything in technology, what’s bleeding edge today, will be cutting edge tomorrow, and old news within a few years time.

My problem is that they’re offering 50mbit to selected areas, yet some areas (not even rural ones!) can’t get any type of broadband. My parents live in a town of 60,000 (and $500k avg home price) and only could get 1.5mbit DSL about a year and a half ago.

What if Movielink’s download/burn service became a viable option? Of course, you would need a server that could handle the load, but it sure would be nice to download a burnable move in a snap.

WOW… As a New Yorker (Suburbs) I am VERY spoiled, and forget that cable modems have not penetrated many areas yet at all…

I also found that NYC has it rough with new tech just because of the sheer amount of people.

Verizon is building a new fiber network in order to provide these high-speeds. They are pouring billions into a fiber to the premisis solution that will take us through the next 100 years like twisted copper pair took us through the last 100 years. (Full disclosure, I am an employee of Verizon) I cannot say how much it costs vz to run fiber to a home & hook it up, but let’s just say… it’s quite an investment.

With fiber Verizon is able to offer voice, data, and video all over the same pipe just as the cable providers are trying to do. Their FiOS data product is available in many speeds, some as low as 5MB down. You say 50 MB down is excessive, well fifteen or even ten years ago a 250 MB hard drive and a 28.8 modem were all you ever thought you’d need.

Shit, I only got 3 megabit down, I want 50.

satellite is always an option…not sure how fast it is

From what I’ve heard, satellite is a horrible connection option. The only real use of a satellite connection is for rural areas that have not yet been blessed with a hard line connection as connectivity often drops depending on the satellite orbit. Latency anyone?

Here’s HughesNet’s satellite option:

Our upfront option lets you pay $599.98 now, and then just $59.99 for Home service or $69.99 for Professional service per month for 15 months.

Or select our promotional option. Simply pay $99.99 up front, and $99.99 for Home service or $109.99 for Professional service per month for the first 15 months. Both plans include 15 months of Service Assurance, HughesNet’s service protection plan. After the 15th month, your monthly service fee will revert back to the standard monthly rate, currently $59.99 a month for Home or $69.99 a month for Professional. Both promotional options for Home and Professional service include equipment, delivery, and standard installation of your satellite dish and modem by a certified professional installer.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It would be nice if they would come up with something so I can make my own plan. Like $1 per meg down, and $3 per meg up, that why I coul customize my plan to fit what I actually think I’ll be using.

I am a CableVision subscriber also. Since I have all 3 of their offerings (CATV, Internet, VOIP) I am charged about $55.00/month for a 30/2 connection (called Boost). This is 10 bucks more then the standard 15/1 offering.

Actually it is a little less because I get a discount across the board each month for having all their services.

You’d be amazed what you can find out there to make use of a very fast connection. Streaming HiDef videos is one example.

Verizon is starting to string FIOS in my neighborhood so I suppose it will be available at some point in the near future for me. This will only force CableVision to offer more, cheaper, or both to compete.

And keep in mind that Verizon is not a charitable organization. While they might lose money rolling out FIOS once they ‘engulf and devour’ the opposition then their position changes quite a bit.

When I see people with connection speeds this fast for that cheap, it really starts to piss me off. Why should one area get blazing fast internet and great prices while others get stiffed?

Matthew,

Not to be too sympathetic with the big providers, but it is way cheaper per customer to wire a city than a town. Also, there are so many potential customers in a city, there’s actually competition for business (so prices drop). Unfortunately, rural areas pretty much have to bribe someone to run lines to them, and then are subject to the monopoly that runs the town.

It sucks, but on the other hand, people in cities pay a lot more for almost everything else (rent, food, taxes, gasoline). So, we need fast connections so that we can read UES, get offline, and proceed to our one-hour commutes as quickly as possible.

i live in mpls and them fiber lines run two blocks from my house. i live close to downtown. but the best thing my isp is offering is 6mb.

I said this on digg too.. can I just pay 9 dollars a month for 5meg down 256k up? I’d be much happier with that