Re: [Swprograms] OT: FCC Issues BPL Rules

[Joe Buch <joseph.buch@xxxxxxx>]

At 02:17 PM 10/14/04 -0700, Bill wrote:
>Great....online "radio" is the wave of the future it seems.....
>Joe do you have any update on the Fios system being tested in Keller Texas/ 
>( For those unaware of what Fios is, its an extremly FAST fiber optic system 
>VERIZION is working on, which from what I understand will make BPL look like 
>its as slow as dialup).
>

Yes, Fios is a Verizon service mark for "fiber to the premises".

Read more:

Verizon details FTTP offering, geeks rejoice 
7/19/2004 4:30:58 PM, by Eric Bangeman

For many consumers in the US, getting a phat broadband pipe is still, well, a pipe dream. Many areas with broadband only have a single vendor to choose from, and others with more than one option are still hampered by infrastructure problems. One technology, Fiber To The Premises (FTTP), has been touted as the Next Big Thing for broadband in the US, and a couple of the Baby Bells have announced plans for rolling out the service. Most aggressive has been Verizon, which today announced more details about their FTTP services.

Verizon customers in Keller, Texas, soon will be the first to receive groundbreaking high-speed Internet services over Verizon's fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The company is raising the bar on consumer broadband today by introducing data speeds of up to 30 megabits-per-second (Mbps) in Keller later this summer and in other markets later this year. Prices start at $34.95 per month.

Verizon will also be offering the service, called "Fios," in the Huntington Beach, California and Tampa areas, hoping to make it available to 1 million residences by year end. Plans for other areas are unknown at this time. The base US$34.95 package is for Verizon local and long-distance customers, offering speeds of 5Mbps down and 2Mbps up. An additional ten bucks will get you 15Mbps/2Mbps, and a 30Mbps/5Mbps package will also be offered, with pricing undetermined as of yet. 

Other phone companies have also announced plans for FTTP networks, although they are not as aggressive with deployment plans as Verizon. While it is expensive to replace current copper infrastructure with fiber, recent technological advances have made it a more economically-viable option. Beyond broadband, fiber networks would also allow the Baby Bells to get into the cable television business, allowing them to offer packages consisting of cable programming, broadband, and phone service. In addition, the FCC rules that require the Baby Bells to share copper wire infrastructure with third parties do not apply to new fiber networks, which is a further incentive to build out FTTP.

Consumer broadband adoption has been steadily on the rise in the US, with more consumers choosing cable than DSL. Recent price cuts have given DSL adoption a boost, as have plans by Qwest and Covad to offer naked DSL. Fast DSL packages like Fios will give DSL a further boost, especially as it makes other much-hyped broadband offerings such as movies on demand and "video blogs" realistic possibilities. If Verizon's current price points for FTTP service stick around as fast DSL and FTTP are rolled out across the country, it won't just be bandwidth-starved geeks who will be signing up. 

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