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Verizon Announces FTTP Prices

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the extra-t-for-your-money dept.

ffejie writes "C|NET News.com is reporting that Verizon has announced its pricing on Fiber-to-the-Premises - it 'will cost $35 a month if purchased along with Verizon's local and long-distance telephone service', and more if bought on its own. The high speed internet service, dubbed Verizon Fios, brings speeds up to 30 Mbps to the home. FTTP could lead to a sweeping change, especially in the television industry. According to News.com: 'Verizon is considered the furthest along with its fiber plans. It reiterated on Monday its goal of reaching 1 million homes and offices by the end of the year...' It looks as if FTTP is coming to the masses."

38 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. Can the backbones handle it? by digitalvengeance · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the article:

    A 2mbps to 5mbps Fios connection will cost $35 a month if purchased along with Verizon's local and long-distance telephone service. The service will cost $40 if purchased alone. A connection of up to 15mbps is available for $45 a month if purchased as part of the same telephone service bundle, or $50 alone. The company did not reveal pricing for the 30mbps plans.

    That is subsantially less than the $210 I currently pay for my 3Mbps/1Mbps small business connection. I wonder how many of these will roll out as people like me jump to them before the major internet infrastructure starts to suffer? I mean, think of it: end point capacity could literally be upgraded by a factor of 10 in some areas. Will the backbones and their major tributaries be able to handle it?

    Either way, I am looking forward to it.

    Josh.

    --
    How many roads must a man walk down? 42.
    1. Re:Can the backbones handle it? by Martin+Blank · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What about all the dark fiber that was laid down in the late 90's in anticipation of the big boom? Was that all a myth, or is it just waiting to be used by the creditors that took possession after the crash?

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    2. Re:Can the backbones handle it? by dmayle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Um... Yeah... Dark Fiber... That's a bunch of fiber optic lines running along railroads (mostly), that doesn't have equipment on either end. The backbone isn't the problem. If one of the major provider's is low on bandwidth, they can just upgrade the current equipment they've got. (Fiber has so much available capacity, that when you want to upgrade, you normally just replace the sender/receiver, and the repeaters, and you suddenly have more available.) It's cheaper to upgrade the equipment than to lay new lines/

      As to the dark lines in place? Backbone isn't the problem. It's the fact that no one can afford more than a single twisted pair to the office/home since laying fiber is so expensive. I've got a friend who works at an office where the building is lit up (which means fiber is run to the building and in use), and each company has 100Mbit ethernet to the fiber equipment, and a guarantee that the company has at least that much bandwidth (per customer) to all of it's peering points.

      That's the power available with fiber. Once everyone's got that kind of connection, we'll see a sudden leap, from 256Kbps or 1Mbit up to 15, 30, 50, 100. Look at how far we've stretched copper already, and we're at the extreme end of what it can do. We're only at the beginning of fiber, and once you get it to your home, the service levels will increase much faster than lines do today.

      Kinda makes me want to move back to the U.S... (though not if I have to live in Texas... ;)

    3. Re:Can the backbones handle it? by ces · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Net-centric computing will have finally arrived, and it will no longer be worth saving video, music, or even your own spreadsheet and text files on your local hard drive as they can be instantly downloaded from a server somewhere that is getting backed up regularly. In other words, current hosting companies will have the chance to transition from points of presence to storage, archiving, and application server facilities.

      This will all demand an end to the nonsense of operating systems which can be easily hacked into. Microsoft will replace the Windows underpinnings transparently with something that is standards based (probably BSD variant), but Linux will continue to thrive for those who want to have complete control over what they do with their own hardware.

      I think the demands of content owners like the RIAA and MPAA for some sort of DRM and policing of copyright violations will keep this from taking off as you predict as well as give me an incentive to keep a local copy of all my files.

      In addition there are the privacy concerns, I don't exactly want John Ashcroft to be doing fishing expeditions against data I choose to store simply becuase he feels like it. At least with data on my own hard drives I have a pretty good idea if the FBI has been by to have a look. If I store everything on google's "Gdrive" I may never know until I'm dissapeared to the Gitmo if somebody's been snooping.

      Also there is a memory-hole problem. I often save local copies of news stories or other interesting web pages. All too often I will return to a story or site later and find it either gone or altered. My most recent encounter with this was the USGS high-resolution color aerial photograph database. Photos of the White House, US Naval Observatory (the VP's Residence), and US Capitol building are blurred. In addition many road and rail bridges have had small blacked out areas added along side them. Sometimes it is something as simple as someone taking down a personal page for whatever reason.

      Thanks but I'll keep the master copy of my data local for now

      --
      Happy Fun Ball is for external use only.
    4. Re:Can the backbones handle it? by Afrosheen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What he (the parent poster above yours) was trying to say is what I've seen a million times already. Basically, there's a critical mass speed that the majority of 'big sites' have preset. I was on an unlimited wireless connection before, and could pull down well over 10MB/sec at any given time, with unlimited throughput for uploading as well.

      The problem I saw time and time again was that nobody could feed me enough bandwidth to max out my connection. I never knew what top speed it was capable of because nobody could serve me faster than around 10MB/sec which is the fastest I ever saw it, and this was from leeching 15 sites at once.

      Generally, most big file shops (fileplanet, gamespy, download.com) have QOS and bandwidth limiting in effect on their routers. They all started doing this when broadband became more common to make more of their measley bandwidth available to more simultaneous users. When you have 100 people leeching from you on cable at 500KB/sec you start sweating, and choke them down. Ultimately everyone started charging for leeching services.

      I don't see this attitude changing, and fiber to the curb, with widespread adoption and availability, will only exasperate the problem further. They thought it was bad when people got cable and dsl...just wait until the leechers can leech orders of magnitudes faster.

      Then again, those with privileged upstreams tend to serve and share..so maybe there will be a balance point eventually. I still think a sort of Bittorrent-ish webserver app needs to hit the mainstream and run as a background service on broadband-enabled computers to prevent slashdottings.

  2. Bandwidth / byte charges by suckfish · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What terms & conditions?

    Is this flat rate, or are there extra costs?

    Are you allowed to run servers at home?

  3. Monthly Bandwidth Limit by umrgregg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Does Verizon throttle your connection if you use a certain ammount of bandwidth a month? I ask because I can see subscribers hitting any limits fairly quickly with 15Mbit/s. pr0n servers beware.

    --
    NMG
  4. going to smoke cable by havaloc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Let's face it, cable companies can offer one thing that the phone companies can't, and that's television. If this FTTP thing works out, things are going to be great. More choices is always a good thing. If they build their own fiber, they won't have to share, which I think is one of the things that are holding things back. I realize that regulation got us into this mess, but it's time that the phone companies grow up and do something about it, instead of whining about it.

  5. How much for a static IP? by sonofagunn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a Tampa-area resident I am stoked. I just hope they can offer static IPs for a price competitive with RoadRunner's cable-modem static IP ($60).

  6. Too Bad Verizon is Evil by Anomalous+Canard · · Score: 5, Interesting

    First, I don't like this bundling of services. I want lockin in one area to constrain my choice.

    Verizon already restricts people using Verison DSL. SMTP traffic is filtered unless it goes through their server and if it does go through their server, you can only use a verison.net email address.

    Plus Verizon is the local telephone monopoly in this area, I don't want to voluntarially give additionnal business to any monopoly. They've sucessfully challanged the law which requires them to share their wires with competitors.

    So, while FTTH is an excellent idea, bundling it with a lot of services I don;t need isn't.

    We need a regulated monopoly to bring IP to the home and then allow companies to compete in providing services over that wire. The regulated monopoly *must not* be allowed to compete in ancillary services.

    --
    Anomalous: deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected
    Canard: a false or unfounded repor
    1. Re:Too Bad Verizon is Evil by renehollan · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Verizon already restricts people using Verison DSL. SMTP traffic is filtered unless it goes through their server and if it does go through their server, you can only use a verison.net email address.

      This is misleading. I have Verizon service (POTS and DSL) in Monroe, WA, and they don't touch my traffic and don't give a fig about what servers I run.

      See I have DSL service from Verizon, but they are not my ISP, so I don't have to put up with assanine ToS. I get my internet connectivity from blarg.net. Verizon just provides the backhaul from the DSLAM to Blarg! And, to their credit, Blarg! doesn't use MTU-mangling PPPoE. Just one long virtual circuit private "electonic highway" onramp for me (well, a dedicated lane on that onramp, if you really want to push the analogy -- work with me here :-)). My "always on" connection is very much always on.

      Verizon sucks rotten eggs, as far as serivce is concerned (took 'em forever to acknowledge that, yes, I had an international long distance plan, and no, my calls to Canuckistan were not to be billed at $0.75/minute), but I'm stuck with them as a telco. So, I subscribe to what little I can. In this case, that means just the data pipe from me to my ISP.

      There is a bit of a downside, of course, and that is price. But, it is not unreasonable: instead of some $30 a month for neutered dynamic IP access, I pay them closer to $40 a month just for the pipe and another $35 a month or so to Blarg!. Static IP? No problem (well, it costs a bit extra, included in the above price). NATed hosts? No problem. Inbound SMTP? No problem (but don't relay please: the IP address is ours and we like to keep a clean anti-SPAM reputation). Inbound telnet? Hey, it's your security, do what you want. Sure. Inbound HTTP? It's your box you're Slashdotting, not ours.

      Now, of course, there are a few things I shouldn't do that'd hurt Blarg!, like run a busy site at the end of a DSL link, but those kinds of things would be bad to me too. Still, no one is going to cut me off for opening up port 80 for a day or two of private testing.

      So, yeah, sure, sell me a fatter cheaper pipe Verizon. If all you can do with a modest degree of competence is sell pipes, do that.

      --
      You could've hired me.
  7. Why does stuff go to middle of Noplace first? by haplo21112 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why is it that Cable and Telcos always luanch these things in the middle of No place...

    Wouldn't make more sense to launch it in MA where nearly the entire Easteren half of the state is sreaming for this kind of thing... or in the Valley In CA...

    Tech savay places that could really take advanage of things like this...

    --
    Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
  8. Bandwidth is unnecessary for 1 way connections by vijayiyer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm sure that they'll have clauses that it's for entertainment only and give you a dynamic IP with most ports blocked. What's the use of that kind of bandwidth then? I'd rather get 1.5 mbps from a place like Speakeasy which allows me to get work done. (Note: Not a plug, not even a happy customer - more of a customer-to-be)

  9. Fine Print.. by asdfasdfasdfasdf · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's all well and good until you read
    A 2mbps to 5mbps Fios connection will cost $35
    towards the end of the article. It's not exactly $1 per mbps.

    Still, exciting.. More competition is good. Lets hope the upstream capabilites are very good as well.

  10. Re:Article text for the lazy by gcaseye6677 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If they do things correctly, they can offer television packages that give customers a real choice, as opposed to the cable monopoly. For example, have a no-ESPN package that costs significantly less than standard cable. Google on ESPN and cable TV for more info on how ESPN is the single most expensive channel on your cable bill. Then it will be possible to get a decent TV package for less than $50 a month. Whatever they do, it's about time somebody breaks up the Comcast monopoly over cable TV in most of the US.

  11. Pricing by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd be curious what the uplink speed is. I pay about $50/month for Comcast cable. This price includes all taxes and a fee for a separate bill (from my cable) so I can expense it. My speed is 3Mbps/256Kbps. So, it is definitely competitve if it is an async type connection, and very competitive if it a sync type connection.

  12. I'll never see broadband out in East Bumble. by TwoPumpChump · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's all well and good that Verizon is offering Yet Another last-mile solution, but for us insensitive clods out in the rural areas, we'll still never see any of it in our lifetimes. I live right on the border of two counties, which do not share some sort of necessary agreement to share cable providers. (I don't know the details other than Comcast telling me "We can't cross that line.") But all my other lines (Power, phone) come in from the adjacent county because there is no right-of-way cut alongside the road coming in from county I actually live in. So I'm stuck in some sort of mythical no-man's land of can't-get-cable, can't-get-DSL and I know ain't no way in hell Verizon or anyone else will ever lay cable out to us rural folks. What Verizon needs to push is not this damn fiber that'll only be deployed in the major cities and 'burbs, but their own wireless broadband option which could work anywhere. (And while I'm complaining, make it competative to DSL in pricing, at least.)

  13. Re:Article text for the lazy by nelsonal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The problem with that is that cable companies would each have to charge considerably more (ESPN gets about $2/mo from everyone others get up to $1 or so CSPAN and the house version get about a nickel). They survive with pricing like that because the cable company bundles them together. With full ala carte pricing ESPN would be one of the cheaper channels (due to it's higher popularity) and niche channels would probably be more like $5-$10 each. Meaning that you could only pay for the channels you watch but you would still pay $50 per month.

    --
    Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
  14. Did I miss something? by Pii · · Score: 2, Interesting
    How come everyone in this thread is under the impression that this is an Asymmetric connection?

    I read the article, and don't remember seeing anything that implied to difference between upload and download speeds.

    Is there any reason to believe that this isn't a plain old 30Mbps pipe? (2/3rds of a DS3?)

    Further, it there any reason to believe that this will be anything other than FastEthernet over fiber, with some rate limiting?

    --
    For those that would die defending it, Freedom
    has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
    1. Re:Did I miss something? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Could be because every time a service provider has come out with a "better, more powerful" connection, that's the way it has been? History, and all of that sort of thing.

      What's going on here is that they want to attract more consumer business, not cut into business business. The average consumer is not interested in high uplink rate, because what they are doing is downloading (pr0n?).

      This is intended as a consumer product, to get consumer accounts. If it is used on the business side, you can assume because of past practices, that the uplink rate will be reflected in the cost.

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  15. Not any time soon... by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Either way, I am looking forward to it.

    Don't get too excited. It's only coming to one town in Texas, then California, then Florida- and "2005" was in there somewhere- and rarely do those dates, especially when given that vaguely- mean anything. It most likely won't hit most major population centers until several years later, if at all; fiber gear is even more expensive than DSL gear, and with the US's low population density, even less likely to be profitable.

    This is what I like to call a Trophy Rollout. DSL was the same way for me; I live about 25 minutes west of Boston, next to one of the richest communities in the state(thanks to all the execs, doctors, lawyers etc from Boston living there), but because AT&T Cable is in town, Verizon didn't want to compete against them, or they had a gentleman's agreement- but our CO has been wired for at least 4 years for DSL. We also don't have a choice in cable companies- it's cable, or satellite.

    Within the last year or two, Verizon is finally offering service- but ONE plan, and no other ISPs save Verizon are offering service. 1.2Mbps/128kBit. Yes, 128kBit upload. Ie, useless for "sharing photos" or "sending files to work" etc. All this costs MORE than 3Mbit/384kBit offered by AT&T, which Verizon makes up for by marketing as "a line you don't share with all your neighbors." Sorry, but AT&T actually has plenty of capacity now, and I routinely get things like OS X software updates -at- 3Mbit/sec, on the dot(a friend and I theorize they set the cap a teensy bit over 3Mbit to account for protocol overhead). Yay, wonderful- except AT&T is draconian with their acceptable use policy, and can't keep their mail servers up worth a damn.

    If I lived ONE town over, Framingham, for example- I could have my choice among about 5 different major providers/subproviders, including Speakeasy, Covad, Megapath, and a couple of Worcester based ISPs..and about 10 different residential and business rates.

    How sad is it that I live right next door to the technology center of the east, but I have next to no choice in high speed internet access?

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
    1. Re:Not any time soon... by jrmann1999 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's coming to Keller TX . As we speak they are pushing conduit down my street.

    2. Re:Not any time soon... by Hitmen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wow, that really sucks. I live in Framingham, and it was nice to have so many options, but actually making the choice is a bitch when it comes down to it. So far I've been really happy with RCN's service over the past few years though. 5Mbps(which they upgraded me to for free from the 3Mbps service when they rolled out the 5Mbps one)/800kbps for a reasonable price.... I'd suggest moving one town over.

  16. How do you spell "NO!" ??? by Sparkle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have only been trying for 4 or 5 years to get something better than POTS from Verizon. Live in service area of a CO that is one outside of Austin metro. Answer?

    No, no, no! No DSL, no ISDN, just forget it. I will be taking my eternal dirt nap before Verizon brings me any fiber.

  17. Re:FTTP vs. FTTH by ffejie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well the truth is that FTTP does about 625 Mbps but VZ is splitting it over 10 homes or so. As a result, everyone can get up to 60 Mbps (when they need to roll out that service). In New York where there are large scale apartment buildings, expect a ton of fiber to be laid to the building, to keep the ratio correct. Verizon's dream here is to do television offerings, not match current cable bandwidth. If they want to stream HD Feeds (which they do) then they're going to need at least 10 Mbps to that one TV, plus whatever you need for internet. If I lived in a metropolis, I would be itching for this stuff. And with any luck, I'll be moving in a year to Boston.

    --
    Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
  18. Deployment in Massachusetts by Willy+K. · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On Friday morning, I was leaving my house, headed to work. I noticed that some contractors were digging up the phone pedestal on my lawn next to the sidewalk. I stopped to interrogate them, being a good paranoid Slashdotter.

    They said they were prepping the street for Verizon to come in and lay fiber. Now I live in North Reading, and this guy claimed that mine is the first town in the state to be getting Fiber to the home. He claimed that they would be offering service in my area before the end of the year.

    Needless to say, I'm very excited. With prices like that, I'll definitely switch from Comcast. I like Comcast, but I like bandwidth more, especially upload, since I work remotely and host a few small websites from my home.

  19. Re:Inducement of copyright infringement? by Fareq · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ok, I'll bite.

    1: Large-scale distribution of material to which *I* own the copyright. Maybe I wrote a book, maybe I made a movie or a videogame, or maybe I wrote some usefull piece of software.

    2: Large-scale distribution of copyright material with the express permission of the copyright holder(s). (for instance, Linux ISOs)

    3: High-Speed distribution of files from my computer at home to other computers around the world (kind of like an external hard drive that I dont have to carry).

    4: Downloading something that I just bought (software, in the future perhaps a movie) in seconds instead of minutes/hours.

    5: Downloading something free in seconds/minutes instead of hours (Linux ISOs, patches & updates for various software applications)

    6: Network no longer a consideration or limitation in the implementation of video games, this also decreases the need to waste CPU power compressing & reformatting the data for network transmission.

    7: Set up a media streaming service that allows me to watch any movie or listen to any song that I own from anywhere around the world (authentication required so that its only me)

    8: Run permanent servers for all your favorite games all at the same time (one or two per computer, times how ever many computers you have)

    9: Infinitely many fascinating new uses for global-scale networks that nobody ever thought of because the amount of data generated was so absurd that it was dismissed as "try again in 2150"

    10: Really interesting new types of distributed computing, such as the SETI project, which can have individual machines on the network communicate with each other during processing. It will now be possible to send both to the initiating server and to other clients, large quantities of data generated from whatever the current "work unit" is.

    11: Name anything that a business might want with high-speed internet service, add the words "home-based" in front of the word "business"

    12: This message would post to slashdot in nanoseconds instead of milliseconds, or something like that.

    I need to get back to work, so I will leave this list off here, but if I had to I could go on.

    I'm dead serious about this too... It'd be really cool to have my external hard drives with me wherever I go without having to lug 7 pounds of crap with me, just because I have 200 GB of stuff that I might want. Just because people would use the item to commit crimes does not mean that it is a criminal device.

    Consider: A crowbar is used for more than just theft.

    A gun is used for more than just murder.

    A camera/photocopier/scanner/printer/... is used for more than juist making illegal copies of printed materials.

    A computer is used for more than copyright infringement.

    The internet is used for more than copyright infringement. In fact, it is used for legitimate businesses all the time. (see Amazon.com, or iTunes Music Store, or eBay, or ...)

    </rant>

    -- Fareq

  20. Just called by jarito030507 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just called my local Verizon office and they really had very little idea of what I was talking about. The manager told me that it would be available in a month or two and put me on a waiting list to be called when the order was available. This is in Bethlehem, PA. No more information about the pricing or upload or anything, though.

    1. Re:Just called by LinuxHam · · Score: 2, Interesting

      YARDLEY!?!?!? Me too! My development off Heacock can *never* get DSL b/c they ran fiber from the CO by the duck pond to our distribution point and then copper to the units. The Verizon CSR suggested that I walk up to the Verizon truck with a $20 bill (or a sandwich) if I see some guys working and ask them to try to track down any unused pairs that may have been run straight thru for some now-unused ISDN.

      I didn't need the $20 when I asked, but the guys couldn't find any pairs. My Comcast cablemodem has been doing fine for a couple years now, and work pays for it. Is that your Saturn I've seen around town with all the /. stickers all over it?

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
    2. Re:Just called by jratcliffe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Initial trials are in Keller TX, Huntington Beach CA, and Tampa FL. They didn't say aye or nay on doing anything in PA this year on the conference call, but they did say that NJ will _not_ be included this year. Looks like they're starting out with the old GTE properties, since there are fewer potential regulatory entanglements there.

  21. Property prices by catalupus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can't help wandering how this sort of connection will start effecting house prices, ie cheaper areas in a town because they are without Broadband. Incidentally, I live in Campbell - next door to San Jose, as in Silicon Valley, and I can't even get DSL or Cable modem. Dial up speed is about 28k, and it's not my modem - that gets 48k at work.

  22. long distance by zogger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    why break them up? Because when they were monopolies they got to be price gougers and slowed way down on the innovations and upgrades and just wallowed around in profit slop for years, and masses of people complained about it, and finally they got broken up. I remember paying at and t LD rates , sheesh o rama, you didn't talk long to grandma, tell ya whut... you didn't own your own phone either, you leased it from your telco, and paid it off over and over again for years. Electric deregulation, no idea, I never saw it go down ever, just gradually goes up. I don't think it was really deregulated, I think they just made it easier for hordes of new middle men commodity trader skimmers to cut out lucrative slices of it. City gas, don't use it,I use propane and get it in the summer when it's cheaper. Last I used natgas in a house it was allegedly deregulated,so I checked out the so called competition, and all the prices were almost identical, there was no practical difference that I could see so I stayed with the same company.

    As to airlines, I don't have to fly really, last time I flew was a long time ago, like 10 years and I (would potentially) boycott them now since 9-11 turned everyone in the nation but the government (the real crooks) into a terrorist. I am not digging on "you are guilty by default" by those bozos, just the thought of it is abhorrent, the airlines and big bro can byte me, I'll drive. I know some people like ya'all and other business folks *must* fly, oh well, guess that's what you will put up with then. I thought by now everyone would be telecommuting anyway, maybe this fiber to the house idea will catch on and a lot more people will do that. I'll certainly get it if it ever shows up. I know my local phone guys told me (a few months ago when I had POTS installed) there's fiber all the way to the nearest switch box, so I asked them when they were going to offer it to the individual homes down the road,because I was interested in broadband, they said "never, no way, unless they are ordered to by the government". And dsl is out, too far away and they have all the twisted pairs maxed out, I don't know the nitty gritty tech details, something about they "share" the lines or something because of the new houses down the street. So I got fiber a bit over two miles away, and my chances of getting any broadband will be wireless or wireless, that's it.

    Point is moot anyway,back to the airlines, we are *one* unpredictable wildcard event away from airline travel being too costly for all but the government and ultra rich. It wouldn't take much for oil to get to 100-150$ a barrel, just another random war (probably happen whenever we provoke iran enough for the next war to start) in the mideast or some massive domestic terrorist deal happening. Probably happen late summer or early fall is my best guess at this point.

    Thinking about it,just your situation in general,as it applies to everyone who know travels with the airlines a lot for business, it *might* be a good idea to develop a non travel work around for it "now", as a backup solution so you don't have to scramble to create if something weird hits.

  23. Cynical point of view by Captain+Spam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cute press release. I'm waiting for the press release stating their equally enticing terms of service. Like stating you can't host any sorts of servers, they'll cut you off if you're downloading too much, all your privacy are belong to Verizon, etc...

    In this case, I take the cynical point of view that, for the power user or system administrator (so, most of the reading audience at Slashdot), it'll turn out to be little more than a speed benchmark. I'd rather hear what you're allowed to do with this line rather than just a speed and cost figure.

    --
    Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
  24. "Pedestal" perhaps? by Migraineman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "FTTP" used to mean Fiber To The Pedestal - the local distribution point for a community or apartment building. That was an architectural offshoot from things like SLC huts and buried distribution vaults. The "pedestal" architecture ties in to the Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) cost optimization. They run the expensive fiber to a distribution pedestal, then coax or twisted pair for the customer connection.

    Granted, "premesis" makes it sound like it's coming right up to your doorstep. I'll bet there's a greasy marketing weasel behind the terminology selection.

  25. Re:30mbps down.... by aldoman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is actually a really, really good point.

    Will Fiber stand the test of time like copper has... copper has been on the go for over 100 years. Copper is now being used over 1000 times it's specification when it was designed (3kHz back then, way over 5MHz for VSDL etc).

    To acheive the same result with fiber it would have to run at 622Gbps. Before you laugh, in 100 years we will probably be downloading the latest 'holographic DVD' off suprnova.org which will be 1PB ;).

    --
    IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
  26. 30mbps.. is this synchronous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Any word on what the uprate is, and what kind of hosting you can do?

  27. great service but what about caps... by zxflash · · Score: 2, Interesting

    badnwidth limits could change my opinion about the service... i'd love to have the fiber but if you could theoretically drain your dl quota in a few days time the service isn't worth it... still, it's nice to see a company building out new infrastructure...

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    All the torrents you could want.
  28. And the upstream will still be 300kbit.. by cbreaker · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can't be running SERVERS now! That would be a bad little web surfer, yes it would. And make sure you renew your DHCP lease once every 10 minutes!

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    - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -