NXTcomm: Verizon Debuts 50/20 Internet Service

Verizon Communications Inc. plans to launch an asymmetric high-speed Internet access service with download speed of 50mbps and a maximum upload speed of 20mbps, COO Denny Strigl said today at NXTCOMM.

The higher speed offering, which will be made available over Verizon’s FTTH network across its 16-state region, builds on the telco’s success with its widely deployed symmetric 20mbps offer known as 20-20. It’s the latest news in the need-for-speed Internet access race.

“The appetite for bandwidth shows no signs of slowing down,” said Strigl in a keynote speech Wednesday morning.

Verizon is entering the fray “at a time when the likes of Comcast Corp. have been offering higher-speed Internet, and with a more attractive product,” said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for IPTV and next-gen billing and OSS systems for Infonetics Research. “I want it,” he said of the 50/20 Verizon FiOS Internet.

The faster FiOS Internet news comes as several cable companies claim a small number of power users eats the bulk of their capacity. Some are launching Internet metering trials LINK or have been throttling Internet traffic. LINK

Verizon has been upping the speed and the ante in the high-stakes, high-speed Internet game thanks largely to its FTTH network. Cable operators are looking to keep pace, but they’re working primarily from a hybrid fiber-coax network architecture. They’re working to advance and enhance it through support of DOCSIS 3.0, which bonds multiple channels to from a much faster connection.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has committed to passing 20 percent of homes with DOCSIS 3.0 by year’s end.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines