Verizon Communications will try to boost the numbers in its DSL business by offering six months of free service to customers who commit to a one-year agreement, and the telco also announced price breaks and three months free multiroom DVR for new FiOS bundle subscribers.
The six-free-months offer is available until Jan. 16, 2010, for Verizon's 1-, 3- or 7.1-Mbps DSL tiers service as part of a one-year agreement. In addition, customers who order new DSL bundles online also will receive a free modem and an additional $5 off qualifying bundles.
That means new customers can order a triple-play bundle that includes 3- or 7.1-Mbps DSL, DirecTV Plus DVR package and Freedom Essentials unlimited local and long-distance calling for $70 per month for the first six months. During the second six months of an annual plan, the bundle with up-to-3 Mbps service is $94.99 per month and the bundle with up-to-7.1 Mbps service is $104.99 per month.
Even as it has added FiOS Internet subscribers, Verizon's DSL business has been shrinking. In the third quarter, the telco lost 135,000 DSL customers -- its worst losses ever in a three-month period, according to analysts -- while it posted 198,000 net FiOS Internet adds.
On the FiOS front, Verizon has already been offering new customers who sign up for a triple- or quad-play bundle by Jan. 16 a $150 Visa prepaid card.
Now, the telco will offer new FiOS customers a $10 off per month for the first 12 months of certain FiOS triple-play bundles, and customers in Verizon's Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets who add new FiOS TV or Internet with a Verizon Wireless calling plan in their FiOS bundle will receive $15 a month off for the first six months.
In addition, new customers that take FiOS TV in a bundle will receive a multiroom DVR at no additional charge for three months (which Verizon says is a $60 value). The DVR lets customers watch recorded programming on up to six other TV sets in the home, as well as stream personal music, photos and videos from their PCs to their TV, and access online videos from blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh.
