Consistency, Speed, Reliability Fuel Passion for Verizon FiOS Internet

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon FiOS Internet customers are best-positioned to take advantage of emerging bandwidth-intensive applications, due to the extremely fast speed, reliability and consistency of service they receive as compared with the services received by cable modem users.

"The Verizon FiOS experience is second to none and continues to get better," said Shawn Strickland, Verizon's vice president of consumer strategy and planning. "Cable modem users often express their intent to switch to FiOS because they get disconnected from their Internet service or experience occasional outages and, frustratingly, have to reconnect.

"Another major reason cable modem subscribers switch to Verizon FiOS is because sometimes their Internet speed does not seem as fast as speeds offered by other providers, and often slows to a crawl at key times of the day such as between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.," Strickland said.  "Verizon not only provides ultra-fast Internet speeds, including unmatched symmetrical speeds of 35/35 Mbps that make uploading photo, movies and other data a snap, but our customers benefit from highly reliable and consistent service at all hours of the day and night.  These hallmarks of FiOS Internet differentiate Verizon's flagship broadband service from our competitors."

In Verizon network performance tests conducted this fall in multiple markets, customers with FiOS Internet 25 megabits per second (Mbps)/25 mbps service received at or above the advertised tier speed for both downstream and upstream speeds more than 90 percent of the time.  This demonstrated a high level of service consistency throughout the day, including peak usage periods.

Popularity of Fiber-Optic Service Continues to Grow

Verizon introduced FiOS Internet service in 2004 and has steadily built out its all-fiber-optic network, making the service available to more than 12.5 million premises as of Sept. 30.  At the end of the third quarter, Verizon reported 3.9 million FiOS Internet customers, with a nationwide penetration (customers as a percentage of potential customers) of 31 percent, and with some of the company's more mature markets representing well above 40 percent customer penetration.

"The FiOS Internet fan base will continue to grow as Verizon continues introducing value-oriented offers that bundle broadband with FiOS TV and voice services," Strickland said.

'Nothing comes close to the capabilities of ... FiOS'

A FiOS Internet customer from Maryland posted to a Verizon blog comments about his FiOS experience, capturing the passion shared by many consumers and small businesses about the fiber-optic-based service.

"Fiber to the home is the best," wrote the customer.  "I have been a customer since it was first available in my state.  I can honestly say, in my opinion, nothing comes close to the capabilities of the FiOS fiber deployment.  Nearly 100 percent up time, and I can never recall the connection going down.  Even in the Washington, D.C., metro-area blizzard this past winter, my FiOS worked."

FiOS Network Architecture Built to Last

Verizon recently completed the world's first field trial of an advanced fiber-optic transmission technology known as XG-PON2, which can deliver a 10 Gbps (gigabits per second) broadband connection both downstream and upstream.  The upstream speeds achieved in the test were eight times faster than those provided by the standard GPON, or gigabit passive optical network, technology.

As part of the test, a 2.3 gigabyte movie took an average of just four seconds to download or upload and save to the computers.  These download and upload speeds are close to 60 times faster than the maximum speeds capable with cable's current DOCSIS 3.0 technology.  Strickland said this kind of capacity and flexibility will enable Verizon to accommodate the blitz of new and emerging consumer and business services that will entice customers to want reliable, high-capacity broadband service.

This summer, Verizon completed a field trial in which it delivered approximately 1 gigabit-per-second bandwidth to a customer on the currently deployed GPON in a live production FiOS network setting.  Verizon's GPON platform supports a total throughput of 2.4 Gbps downstream and 1.2 Gbps upstream to customers connected to the network.  This test successfully demonstrated the significant headroom built into the FiOS network for providing customers with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) service.

FiOS Internet Rates High in National Consumer Satisfaction Study

In the recently released "2010 Internet Service Provider Residential Customer Satisfaction Study(SM)," Verizon FiOS Internet and digital subscriber line (DSL)-based High Speed Internet (HSI) outperformed all competitors when it comes to overall customer satisfaction in the South region, according to J.D. Power and Associates.  In the region, Verizon broadband services outscored a dozen other providers in overall satisfaction, performance and reliability, plus offerings and promotions.

In the ultra-competitive Northeast region, representing 75 percent of all Verizon-served landline states, FiOS Internet and HSI together scored a five-out-of-five rating, scoring considerably ahead of chief rivals Time Warner and Comcast.  Only one other provider scored the five-out-of-five rating.

About Verizon

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 93 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 195,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon