Verizon FiOS

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Verizon FiOS is a bundled communications (Internet, telephone, and TV) service that is presently offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon. Verizon has attracted consumer and media attention in the area of broadband Internet access as the first major U.S. carrier to offer fiber to the home/premises. Other service providers currently only use fiber optics deployment to the network backbone and use existing copper or coax infrastructure for the end user. The coverage area is still expanding, however some areas do not have service or cannot receive TV and phone service due to franchise agreements. As of 2009^[update] the number of homes with FiOS access was 12.7 million, of which 2.5 million subscribe to the Internet service, and 2.04 million to FiOS TV.^[1][2]

"FiOS" stands for "Fiber Optic Service."^[3] As noted in Verizon's trademark, fios is a Gaelic word, translated into English as "knowledge."^[4] Verizon previously called the service FTTP ("Fiber To The Premises").

[edit] Features

[edit] Internet access

Internet throughput speeds are highly variable depending upon service territory and are affected by such factors as customer location, cost, and the offerings of the competing broadband providers. Offered speeds in various areas have been changed with little notice, generally to raise throughput (but also prices in some cases). End customers usually have three or more choices for Internet bandwidth. The lowest bandwidth tier was originally 5 Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit/s up and is now 10 Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit/s up in most territories. Most customers may upgrade to an even higher download speed for a small additional fee (in most East Coast territories, ten dollars was typical as of late 2007). For example, customers in the new Baltimore service area may upgrade to 20 Mbit/s download / 5 Mbit/s upload for $10 per month (difference in stand-alone price over 10Mbit/s up / 2 Mbit/s down offering). A third (or higher) service tier, when available for residential service, tends to provide very considerable—nearly commercial—bandwidth, including substantial upload speed, in some territories reaching 30/15 or 50/20 Mbit/s download and upload. Again, depending on market conditions, the third and higher tiers may be offered for either modest per month price increases over the second tier, or for substantially more.

[edit] Current Bandwith Tiers

Residential, going from lowest to highest offered bandwidth tiers

• Fast
• Download up to 10 Mbit/s / Upload up to 2 Mbit/s
• Faster
• Download up to 20 Mbit/s / Upload up to 5 Mbit/s
• Faster Plus
• Download up to 20 Mbit/s / Upload up to 20 Mbit/s
• Fastest
• Download up to 50 Mbit/s / Upload up to 20 Mbit/s

The prices for the bundles vary based on bandwidth level and whether or not phone service is included. From the Verizon website, the prices range from $44.99/month (only with a one-year service contract, with home phone service, and 10Mbit/2Mbit internet service), to $165.95 (only on a month-to-month agreement, not including home phone service, and 50Mbit/20Mbit internet service ^[5]

[edit] Previous bandwidth tiers (download/upload in Mbit/s)

• 5/2
• 15/2
• 15/15
• 30/15
• 30/5 - Only available in highly-competitive areas, such as the Tri-State Region (New York / New Jersey / Connecticut), Atlanta, Greater Boston, and Northern Virginia.^[6]

[edit] Current bandwidth tiers (download/upload in Mbit/s)

• 10/2
• 20/5
• 20/20
• 50/20

• As of June 23, 2008, Verizon rolled out the current bandwidth tiers above to their entire FiOS network. These tiers have replaced all previous bandwidth tiers. Existing customers who wish to get the new bandwidth tiers must call Verizon and ask to be upgraded. Customer service representatives are instructed to follow an "Honor, not Offer" policy in regard to the new bandwidth tiers.^{[citation needed]} This means that agents may not initiate a discussion about the free speed upgrade. Customers will only receive the bandwidth boost if they specifically inquire about it. Those who still have the previous bandwidth tiers, without taking any action, will remain unchanged until their contracts are over. New customers will automatically have access to the current bandwidth tiers when they sign up. There has been no official announcement as to whether this free upgrade has an end date.

[edit] Port blocking

• Although the official Terms of Service (TOS) do not specify any exact blocked ports, the language does suggest that, at a minimum, incoming port 80 and outgoing port 25 may in fact be blocked. Section 4.3 of the TOS lays out restrictions on use, stating that the customer may not host any type of server, resell the connection, "exceed the bandwidth usage limitations that Verizon may establish from time to time," or use the connection for "high volume purposes." (What constitutes "high volume" is not defined.) Attachment B Section 2.2, titled "Email Security", states that Verizon reserves the right to block "selected ports".^[7]

• Business FiOS service is available in some areas, with higher upload speeds, static IP addresses and no blocked ports (for the static IP option).^[8] [1]

[edit] Television (FiOS TV)

Service tiers include:

• Local  — includes 15 to 49 channels plus locals in HD. $12.99
• Essentials  — includes 175 to 270 channels $47.99
• Extreme HD  — includes all channels in essentials, 20 additional SD channels (Fox College Sports (atlantic, central, and pacific), Outdoor Channel, GOLTV, mavTV, TVG Network, Horse Racing TV, The Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, The Sportsman Channel, Fox Sports en Espanol, World Fishing Network, Blackbelt TV, Chiller, Current TV, Retirement Living TV, RFD-TV, NHL Network and CBS College Sports Network) (those focused on sports may not be a part of this package in some areas) plus around 55 national HD channels. $57.99
• La Conexión — Spanish-language package, includes 130 to 150 channels $39.99 and Up
• Sports Package — All sports channels included in Extreme HD, required when channels are not part of Extreme HD in your area
• Movie Package — Starz, Encore, and Showtime (with multiplex channels). $14.99
• Premium movie channels: HBO and Cinemax $15.99 each
• International Channels — Individually priced international channels including ART, TV Japan, RAI, and TV5
• Spanish Language Package — More than 20 channels of news, sports, and movie telenovelas in Spanish $11.99 and Up
• On Demand library - over 11,000 titles

Only basic tier and Music channels are available in Clear QAM.^[9] All other service tiers are DRM encrypted and require renting a digital set-top box or CableCARD, which tunes the QAM television signal and decrypts for display on the television set.

Television is now available on FiOS business installations though in some circumstances Verizon will install a second optical network terminal to provide television to a location that already has business FiOS.

As of June 2008 FiOS ceased carrying analog television signals in parallel with digital channels. However, since the inception of its television service FiOS has carried analog conversion as standard definition digital (2.0 Mbit/s) on the 451 MHz frequency QAM of all analog cable channels. Reception of these channels requires a QAM tuner.^[10]

A subscription to Extreme HD with all the movie channels will bring over 100 HD channels.

Along with DirecTV and Dish Network, FiOS is also one of the few pay-TV services that includes NFL Network on its basic tier, including it in their Essentials and Extreme HD packages instead of putting it with its Sports package as with other cable and satellite operators.

[edit] Telephone

Verizon also offers analog service, or POTS, over FiOS. The common model optical network terminals have 2 or 4 analog phone jacks. Verizon claims not to do anything that would affect or disable the pre-existing copper lines that carried phone service or DSL, though the official company policy is that customers cannot retreat back to copper service without higher level management approval^{[citation needed]}. However, there have in fact been reports in various markets that Verizon has physically deinstalled the copper lines (or the Network interface device, necessary for copper-line phone service) at the time that FiOS was installed, effectively removing any "path of retreat" to copper based services.^[11] Verizon is required by law to share copper media with competing service providers, but no such requirement exists for fiber media.

Power outages may affect service availability. Since fiber-optic service does not carry power from the exchange as copper service does, the customer's power is used instead. This means that if there is no electricity at the premises, telephone service will be interrupted. This may be an issue for sites that experience extended power outages that depend on analog phone lines for remote monitoring, alarm systems, and/or emergency calls. Verizon provides a rechargeable battery backup unit free with installation of the service. Older units allow for 4 hours of power to the optical network terminal during a power outage, while newer units installed as of 2008^[update] allow for 8 hours.

[edit] FiOS Digital Voice

Feb'2009 Verizon launched the 'Fios Digital Voice' in Maryland region. There will be an unlimited plan and a pay by the minute plan at launch. FiOS Digital Voice Account Manager (FVAM) to manage and control their FiOS Digital Voice features. The FVAM can be used to set calling options, listen to voice mail, manage their mailboxes, including recording their own customized greeting or to track all Incoming and Outgoing calls that includes times, dates, phone numbers, etc. ^[12]

[edit] Availability

While Verizon says it is expanding its coverage, there is speculation that FiOS may never materialize in some markets. For example, according to a May 10, 2006 Wall St. Journal article by Dionne Searcey and Dennis Berman: ^[13]

Verizon Communications Inc. is fielding offers for [sale of] ... of traditional telephone lines ... part of the New York-based phone giant's strategy to delve deeper into the wireless and broadband arenas, while getting out of the traditional phone business in U.S. areas that aren't slated for fiber upgrades ... Verizon also has been shopping a package dubbed "GTE North" that comprises about 3.4 million access lines in former GTE Corp. territories in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan.

In the markets of Northern New England that were once controlled by Verizon Communications it has been reported that fiber to the premises projects in those markets will be renamed as "FAST", (short for Fiber Access Speed Technology.)^[14]

[edit] Technology

Verizon FiOS products are delivered over the FTTP (Fiber To The Premise) network using passive optical network (PON) technology. Voice, video, and data travel over three wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. To serve a home, a single-mode optical fiber extends from an optical line terminal (OLT) at a FiOS central office or head end out to the neighborhoods where an optical splitter fans out the same signal on up to 32 fibers – thus serving up to 32 subscribers. At the subscriber's home, an optical network terminal (ONT) transfers data onto the corresponding copper wiring for phone, video and Internet access.^[15] FiOS TV service is broadcast from two Super Head ends to local Video Hub Offices (VHO) which insert local news and regional sports channels. The ONT then modulates the optical wavelengths into a RF signal.

One of the three wavelength bands is devoted to carrying television channels that are compatible with Cable television products. The other two wavelengths are devoted to all other data, one for outbound and the other for inbound data. This includes IPTV video, telephone and Internet data.

This allocation of wavelengths adheres to the ITU-T G.983 standard, also known as APON or BPON. Verizon initially installed slower BPONs but now only installs gigabit PONs (GPON) specified in the ITU-T G.984 standard. These bands and speeds are:

• 1310 nm for upstream data at 155 Mbit/s (1.2 Gbit/s with GPON)
• 1490 nm for downstream data at 622 Mbit/s (2.4 Gbit/s with GPON)
• 1550 nm for RF (non IPTV) video with 870 MHz of bandwidth

Unlike AT&T's U-verse product, Verizon's video service is not Video over IP (IPTV). Video On Demand (VOD) content and interactive features, such as Widgets and Programing Guide data, are delivered over IP. However, the vast majority of content, including Pay Per View (PPV), is provided over a standard broadcast video signal which carries both analog and digital content up to 870 MHz. This broadcast content originates from a traditional cable head end that combines analog channels with digital QAM channels and travels over a various SONET networks and eventually arrives at a local serving office. The RF signal occupies 870 MHz and is modulated onto the 1550 nm wavelength. The optical Video signal at 1550 nm is then coupled with the IP Data signal at 1490 nm via the use of a Wavelength-division multiplexer (WDM) and is sent out to the PON. The WDM also directs the incoming 1310 nm return from the ONT back to the OLT. At the ONT located at the subscriber's home, the RF video is sent over a coax connection most typically to an FiOS hybrid set-top box that handles both RF and IPTV video. The ONT provides Internet connectivity via an RJ45 connector, but also transfers IPTV video and internet IP packets onto coax using a 1.1 GHz channel to provide 100 Mbit/s of bandwidth as specified by the MoCA standard. Alternately, analog video may be played by any cable ready device, and traditional digital video may be accessed by any CableCARD certified television or digital video recorder such as a Tivo Series 3. However, interactive services such as VOD and Widgets are delivered by IP and are only accessible through use of one of FiOS's hybrid set top boxes manufactured by Motorola to support RF as well as the IPTV video. Verizon utilizes an IP return path from the Set Top Box (STB) so that subscribers may order PPV events, however users may call and order over the phone, then tune to a specified channel (starting at 701) to watch this content. The FiOS STBs play IPTV only from FiOS delivered via MoCA and not from video sources on the Internet. FiOS's IPTV implementation does not follow cable television formats and conventions for two way television and instead follows the DVB standard.^[16]

MoCA is also used by FiOS for streaming video from the FiOS "media hub" for the home, a role currently filled by Motorola's QIP6416 hybrid QAM/IPTV digital video recorder (DVR). There are several limitations to video connectivity in the home via FiOS. Standard definition (SD) resolution video may be streamed to any television, but High definition (HD) content may only be streamed to other HD equipment. Network transfers of shows between DVRs is not allowed, but the currently-issued DVRs include a USB port for external media backup. Transfers to DTCP ("5C") compliant devices via firewire is possible, but nearly all digital content except ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and locals are flagged via CGMS-D as "copy once" and so may not be transferred.

Most of the optical network terminals (ONT) being deployed by Verizon are Tellabs 1600 series ONT. This ONT provides up to four provisionable voice telephone ports, a 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet interface for data traffic, and one coaxial connector for CATV services. The Motorola ONT1000V is increasingly used on the west coast but is being supplanted as of September, 2008^[update] by the Motorola ONT1000M ONT's, which are MoCA capable.

Verizon includes the Actiontec MI424-WR coax-enabled broadband home wireless-G router with installation of the service. This device is used for both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet. Verizon initially used the D-Link DI-604 and DI-624 routers but switched to a Verizon-cobranded model of the Actiontec MI424-WR for the added MoCA capabilities. Before the introduction of the MI424-WR, Verizon used the Motorola NIM100 for MoCA functionality.

FiOS ONT installed in Montclair, New Jersey	Underside of FiOS ONT	Open Tellabs ONT611	Close-up of ONT611 panel
Inside the Tellabs ONT611	Front of Actiontec MI424WR	Rear of Actiontec MI424WR

[edit] Challenges of FiOS Service

Although Verizon's FiOS offers service at rates faster than ordinary cable and DSL connections, its price is one of the barriers to make it more popular. As of March 2009, it charges from $50 per month for a connection reaching up to 10 megabits per second to $145 per month for a connection reaching up to 50 megabits per second. Its price is more expensive than AT&T’s fastest DSL ($35 per month for 6 megabits per second, as of March 2009) and Time Warner’s cable internet service ($45 per month for 10 megabits per second, as of March 2009).

FiOS availability is still in infancy but growing steadily. As of December 2008, 10% of the Verizon customers ( around 4.4 million in 16 states ) using various FiOS based services.

[edit] See also

• Fiber-optic communication — High-speed broadband used by Verizon's FiOS infrastructure.
• DOCSIS 3.0 — High-speed broadband specifications for use over Cable lines.
• VDSL2 — High-speed broadband specifications for increased speeds over copper telephone lines.
• Dynamic Spectrum Management — Attempt to achieve Fiber-Optic speeds over copper telephone lines.
• List of Verizon FiOS channels

[edit] Notes

Marsan, C. D. (2008). Verizon FiOS tech heading to enterprises; Claims new high-speed optical networks slash floor space, electricity needs. Network World, (1). Retrieved on March 8, 2009.

Searcey, D. (2006). Telecommunications; Beyond Cable; Beyond DSL: Fiber-optic lines offer connection speeds up to 50 times faster than traditional services; Here's what early users have to say. Wall Street Journal, (R9). Retrieved on March 7, 2009.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• Verizon FiOS Internet (Consumer)
• Verizon FiOS Internet for Business
• Verizon FiOS TV

[edit] Unofficial

• Verizon FiOS availability/tracking using google maps
• Verizon FiOS Availability - List broken down by state and city
• Broadband Reports FiOS FAQ
• Installing Verizon FiOS fiber-optic Internet service to my house, by Dan Bricklin — many photos of the process
• Verizon FiOS TV - an in-depth user review
• Verizon FiOS High Speed Internet - Guide and Resource to Verizon FiOS TV and High Speed Internet
• [2] Consumer Reports article on FiOS