FiOS to Offer 100 Mbps in 2009? Perhaps Not
Verizon is disputing a report that it plans to roll out 100-Mbps FiOS Internet service for consumers next year.
Trade publication Telephony Online reported Thursday that Verizon is preparing to offer 100-Mbps broadband services next year, citing an online presentation by Vincent O’Byrne, Verizon’s director of FTTP architecture and design.
Asked about the report, Verizon Telecom director of media relations Jim Smith said, "We clearly have no product plans ready for announcement at this point regarding speeds like that in ‘09."
According to Smith, O’Byrne wasn’t speaking about commercial launch plans.
"Vincent reviewed the fact that our technolgy and network folks have been examining the delivery systems and testing actual service rates approaching 100 Mbps in the context of the burgeoning need for bandwidth in the home," Smith said, adding that "this is our FTTP design expert talking, so he sees the world through engineering eyes and was speaking via his engineering mouth."
Todd Spangler commented:
Dave: exactly, it's a marketing/go-to-market decision. What's technically feasible is not the same thing as what Verizon will make available commercially. As you know, DOCSIS 3.0 has the capability to go to 100Mbps -- also a product management decision, not a technology decision per se.
Dave Burstein commented:
Todd
The GPON that Verizon is now putting in is designed for 200 meg in each direction, and the new boxes for home use can easily go over 100 meg. The first 8M lines or so Verizon put in were the slower BPON, which shares 622 downstream but needs tweaking for 100 meg to many homes.
So technologically about one half of Verizon FIOS will easily deliver more than 100 meg sometime in 2009, and half may be a little bit more difficult. I'd guess they will turn it on fairly soon, as Comcast is fast rolling 50 meg DOCSIS.
It's a marketing decision. The technology is ready. db
