Everyone but Peter Ha loves FiOS. It’s fast, relativity cheap, and not Comcast. But now the deal is a little sweeter thanks to a cool promotion. Read More

Peter might not be able to pay his FiOS bill, but apparently a lot of folks can. The Verizon fiber optic service now has over 2.5 million subscribers. That puts Verizon above Bright House Networks, but of course way behind the gigantic 25+ million subscriber base of Comcast. Read More

Are you a FiOS customer? Want free access to Wi-Fi hotspots across the country? Of course you do! Starting today Verizon is offering free hotpsot access to new FiOS customers with the 25/15 package Mbps package. Those, like me, who joined before the increase in speeds and have the 20/5 Mbps package are also privy to free Wi-Fi. HSI customers with 3Mbps or 7.1Mbps plans can also tap into Verizon’s network. Check here for available hotspots in your area.
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If you happen to live in one of Verizon’s FiOS coverage areas, you might be interested to know that at least one ISP is reselling the exact same internet service for almost $50 per month cheaper depending on the speed tier.

DSL Extreme, a California-based ISP, has introduced what it’s calling “Fiber Extreme” — not to be confused with organic cereal — at between $40, $55, and $100 per month for 10, 20, and 50Mbps download speeds, respectively, over Verizon’s FiOS network.

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It’s a pity that not everyone can get Verizon’s FiOS but for those in the service area, now might be a good time to look at the service. New customers can score either a free year of a HD DVR or HD Home Media DVR. Current subscribers can upgrade and get a free month of HBO and Cinemax; sucks that current customers always get shafted. The offer is good through October 4.

Sounds like a good deal to us if you’re a new customer.

Details

Verizon reported another strong quarter, with little thanks to the few remaining landline customers. Verizon Communications, the 51% parent to Verizon Wireless, says its second quarter earnings were up 12%, reaching $1.88 billion, or 66 cents per share, up from $1.68 billion, or 58 cents per share a year ago, even as more landline customers disconnected service. The company reported an 11.4% percent decline in residential landline customers, up from the 10.9% slide in the first quarter.

Which means most of that growth was again coming from its wireless arm: Verizon Wireless reported adding 1.5 million new customers during the second quarter, with the lowest record churn rate (or number of customers leaving for another carrier) of 1.12%. Verizon Wireless said its total revenues were up 11.8% from the same quarter last year, and that its average monthly reveneue per customer increased for the 9th consecutive quarter, coming in at $51.53, monthly data revenue was up 31.3%.

Verizon also said it successfully sold more FiOS services including 176,000 new FiOS TV customers, and 187,000 net new FiOS Internet customers.

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Look for Verizon to start infiltrating select NYC neighborhoods in the “coming weeks” while they deploy their fiber-optic network. The telco giant has received approval from the New York State Public Service Commission to start selling its FiOS cable TV service in New York.

As Verizon FiOS is 100% fiber-optic all the way to your home, expect the transition to take some time. It would seem Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and RCN have some time before they start actually losing customers.

In the vast hinterlands known as the American suburbs a great evil has awoken. While those in the cities lie quiet in slumber, FiOS pumping out Usenet data at alarming rates, the poor victims lying quietly in their McMansions are still using cable modems.
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Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable are all sniping at each other, emphasizing the minor advantages their overpriced service has over the competitor’s overpriced service. They’re trading whiny potshots over whether the fiber goes to the house, what “compression” means, and so on, when they should be doing that other stuff cable companies do, like throttling my bandwidth and reporting my usage statistics to the Department of Homeland Security.

You know when there’s this kind of catfight that none of them have anything decent to offer. If any one of them really had a truly superior product, they would be able to say so with authority and the benefits would be manifest. But this kind of little dust-up just means they’ve all got nothing and their lawyers just needed a workout.

If you happen to live in one of the lucky areas of the 16 states where Verizon has made FiOS available, you’ll be able to top your Internet connection out at 50 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up. Verizon says the speed enhancements will begin next week.

Some markets already have the 50/20 speed tier, but Verizon will be rolling out faster connections to FiOS customers where 30 Mbps had previously been the highest download speed available – about ten states in all. At those speeds, service isn’t cheap. The 50/20 plan apparently costs $140 per month unless you live in New York or Virginia, where it’s somewhat more affordable at $90 per month.

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Verizon released some b-roll of FiOS being prepared in New York with the promise that as soon as “city officials” approve of the service we’re going to get some sweet, sweet downstream speed. Until FiOS arrives in your area, however, Verizon suggests doing one or more of the following:

1. Reorganizing your wallet.
2. Finally calling the 311 on the man who keeps putting his Christmas Tree out in February and getting needles all over your stoop.
3. Cutting your fingernails on the train.
4. Walking angry.
5. Visiting your aged mother upstate.

Cable companies’ ads are typically woeful, but misleading? That’s unthinkable. Or is it? Not if you ask Verizon. And, please, do, they’d love to hear from you.

Verizon filed suit today against Time Warner, Internet darling, claiming that one of its ads is a pack of lies. You can see the ad for yourself right up there.

Verizon says the ad misrepresents its FTTP service, FiOS, and makes consumers think that you need to install a satellite dish in order to receive TV. That’s what I got out of the ad, too.

Oh, and Verizon, please come up with a better way to tell your potential customers whether or not they can get FiOS. Your Web site says I need to enter a landline telephone number to see if my residence qualifies. Well, it’s 2008 and I don’t have a traditional landline. Why isn’t my address sufficient? (Yes, I tried my address and it comes up with something like, “We’re not sure if you qualify, try your Verizon phone number instead!”) I’d gladly switch over to FiOS.

Guess what? There are 17,000 outdoor U-verse boxes containing backup batteries made by Quebecois company Avestor, a company that no longer exists due to bankruptcy.

Wait there’s more. These batteries are exploding and catching on fire. Nobody’s been injured yet but if you see one of those boxes on the side of the road, treat it as though it were a giant bear.

This setback might just, um, set back AT&T a little bit as it tries to catch up to Verizon’s FiOS service, which covers every area of Boston except mine (and a bunch of other cities, too). AT&T hopes to sign up a million customers by the end of the year. Verizon hit a million last June.

Exploding Batteries Plague AT&T’s U-verse [InformationWeek]

If you live in a neighborhood serviced by Verizon’s FiOS, you should send them a fruitcake for Xmas. Or cookies. Or something, as FiOS is expected to have a library of over 1000 shows and movies on-demand in HD by the end of next year, much of it free.

This is troubling to cable TV providers, as they’ve traditionally been the monopoly in the HD delivery marketplace. While it’s still uncertain what the FCC will say on that subject, the fact is Internet providers mike make cable TV redundant. Super IPTV to the home at breakneck data rates? Ok! Thanks, Verizon!

HD Video-on-Demand Now Playing on Verizon FiOS TV [Press release]

I remember my first week of college way back in 1997 and the weird adrenaline rush I got the moment my brand new Pentium 166 (with MMX extensions) first connected to the school’s high speed network. The change from a 33.6 modem to a high speed internet connection was exhilarating. I felt like burning a cigarette into my forearm. I was alive.

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In just a little bit, we’re going to hear from Vince about his experiences with Time-Warner cable. Here in Seattle, we don’t have that as an option. I’m stuck with Comcast, for better or worse, but I sure do wish I had Verizon. Comcast has a handful of HD channels, and most of them are crap, (I swear I was watching something at 10 frames per second in “HD” last night,) while Verizon’s FIOS customers are soon getting 150 HD channels. One-hundred and fifty. I am so jealous.

Not only that, Vzn will be adding thousands of HD movies to its on-demand system.

This is all happening in the next year. Hopefully, with the support of the FCC, there will be more competition in the cable TV neighborhood and I can choo-choo-choose the provider I want. We can dream.

Verizon Plans Fivefold Increase in HD Channels on FiOS TV in 2008 [Press release]