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Verizon Taking FTTP Installation Orders

ooglek writes "Verizon is now qualifying and accepting installations for FTTP (Fiber To the Premises)! $39.95 for 5MB/2MB, $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB. No word yet on whether Verizon will block ports (25, 80, etc) for incoming or outgoing traffic; with 2MB upload, I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement. Both phone and Internet will come through the fiber, and there is an unofficial rumor of video services as well by the end of this year. Got Fiber? My install date is November 2nd in Falls Church, VA (near DC). Several people in Keller, Texas have posted pictures and reported 14,679 kbps download and 1,794 kbps download speeds." Update: 10/26 23:52 GMT by T : That second "download" ought probably read "upload."

624 comments

  1. Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It takes me to the DSL order page, and tells me I already have it. Yes, I do, I never noticed. Thanks Verizon!

    1. Re:Form doesn't work for me by SilentChris · · Score: 5, Funny

      I just called, and the reason it doesn't work is because it's currently in a "test phase" in certain markets. Thanks Slashdot for getting my hopes up.

      Actual conversation with Verizon:

      Verizon: Yes, we're very excited about this service. What's your phone number.
      Me: *Give my phone number*
      Verizon *silence*: Let me speak with my manager. *comes back a little while later* Where did you hear about our FIOS service?
      Me: Uh, an internet site called "Slashdot". Lots of tech news.
      Verizon: We were wondering. I've been getting calls all day. We only have FIOS in test markets right now like Florida, Texas... rattles off a few more names.
      Me: Any idea when you're going to support the NY metropolitian area?
      Verizon: I'm sorry, I don't know at this time.

    2. Re:Form doesn't work for me by redheaded_stepchild · · Score: 1

      Now see? If the above post had been modded up, I wouldn't have spent the last ten minutes trying researching this, I would've gone on to something else.

      MODDERS! GET TO IT!

      --
      Don't use the Troll mod just because you disagree with me.
    3. Re:Form doesn't work for me by waynelorentz · · Score: 1

      It takes me to the DSL order page...

      They must be running their server on DSL, too. This is what happened when I went there:

      Server Error in 'FiosForHome' Application.
      Runtime Error
      Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

      Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".



      configuration
      system.web
      customErrors mode="Off"/
      /system.web
      /configuration


      Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

      !-- Web.Config Configuration File --


      configuration
      system.web
      customErrors mode="RemoteOnly"
      defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/
      /system.web
      /configuration

    4. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry for the post as anonymous coward...I work in the call center in question, and they haven't sent us any info about the FIOS service other than a memo that it was going to be available only in some test markets...I noticed that the form doesn't seem to work for people who already have DSL if that helps at all.

    5. Re:Form doesn't work for me by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Interesting

      FYI, Verizon has wired much of Northern NJ for FTTP, but NJ State legislation is preventing them from turning their network on. However, verizon has given the order to make the network 'ready to turn on with the flip of a switch' which is pretty cool IMO. Now just to wait for a new governor. The present one hasn't accomplished ANYTHING, and is unlikely that he will now.

      Sorta a pity how they are stifiling innovation in this state -- as I watch one of AT&T's former largest test centers be demolished piece by piece. (which managed to hold on for quite a while after the breakup, but is sadly no more...)

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    6. Re:Form doesn't work for me by thisissilly · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Curiousity makes me ask, as a fellow NJ resident, what legislation is preventing it, and who I should be writing to get things moving.

    7. Re:Form doesn't work for me by wo1verin3 · · Score: 1

      Hey, those steers and queers need their porn as well!

    8. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /.'d

      Online ordering is currently unavailable.
      Spacer Spacer Spacer Spacer Spacer Spacer Spacer

      Package Price
      System Requirements
      FAQs
      Order Now

      Spacer

      Our system is unable to determine if Verizon Fios Internet Service is available at your location.

      Please try again at a later time or call (888) 662-8275 Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-11 p.m. EST or Saturday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. EST to speak with a Verizon Online representative.

    9. Re:Form doesn't work for me by galbro · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ah, another ASP.NET site /.'d to death.

    10. Re:Form doesn't work for me by synthparadox · · Score: 2, Informative
      Did a simple google search for news/press releases on the Fios fiber service.

      http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Oct/1085658.htm

      A quote:

      At a news conference here today, the company plans to announce new fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployment to homes and businesses in Virginia as well as in parts of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania -- bringing to nine the total number of states where work is under way. The company had previously announced FTTP deployment in California, Florida and Texas as part its plan to pass some 1 million homes and businesses with the new technology this year. Verizon plans to pass some 2 million additional homes and businesses with the new technology next year.
    11. Re:Form doesn't work for me by cheezus_es_lard · · Score: 1

      I was told on Monday that I was the second customer in my town, Grapevine, TX, to get wired. I'm on the 15/5 package, it's done via PPPoE, if you get the wi-fi router package they send you a D-Link DI-624. I've recorded download speeds of ~9950kb/s and uploads of ~5400kb/s from multiple sites. So far I love it... only downside is *UGH* PPPoE and the voice lines (I have 3) are strangely louder and sound somewhat distorted (not your usual CO dialtone generation sound). I had to call the VZ service order center and request it by name. Essentially, if you see VZ vans on your streetcorners splicing cable, and then you stop seeing them, you can order. That's pretty much the sign that the fiber loop in your subdivision has been completed.

      So far it's very nice ;-)

    12. Re:Form doesn't work for me by synthparadox · · Score: 1

      Sorry for replying to my own post, found the official press release from Verizon.

      http://newscenter.verizon.com/proactive/newsroom/r elease.vtml?id=87633

    13. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Verizon has wired much of Northern NJ for FTTP, but NJ State legislation is preventing them from turning their network on.

      My understanding, based solely on reading the forums at dslreports.com is that Verizon wants monopoly rights to the fibre they are laying. As in no second source ISP like Covad or Earthlink would be able to lease bandwidth or connectivity on the fibre lines at (low) state-set rates, like they are able to today on the copper lines.

      Based on that, I think Verizon is in the wrong. They are dangling shiny trinkets of high-speed internet at a reasonable price in order to distract people from the inevitable long-term result of monopoly control over public works - erosion of price competitiveness and technological stagnation.

      Sure, 15MBps at $50 looks GREAT today, but will it be that great in 5 years? What if the price goes up to $100? Pay no attention to the details behind the curtain!

      Again, without knowing more than I've read at the forums, I think that if it were up to me, I'd be looking at a compromise. Verizon can have monopoly control over the fibre network with three caveats:

      1) A viable competitor exists in each segment (neighborhood, town, whatever) such as cable which is priced within say 20% for equivalent levels of performance.

      2) They agree to a more relaxed test for market collusion than what the FTC/DoJ uses in order to absolutely prevent Verizon and whoever their local competitor(s) are from abusing their certain oligopoly. Punishment for collusion being immediate and permanent loss of control of all the fibre in the area in which the collusion occurred plus enough of a geographical radius to cover enough more customers to equal 200% of the total affected. (The state would probably assume control and lease it back to Verizon and any other ISPs.)

      3) Yearly review of their performance with a regular 5-year major examination of their quality of service and evaluation of their technological currentness.

      These all assume that the details are worked out by Verizon and a team of negotiators for the state that are not biased by bribery of any sort (no cushy jobs at Verizon 6 months after the contracts are signed).

      I am a big believer in "free markets" - as long as care is taken to prevent monopolistic abuses that can naturally arise in a loosely regulated market. But, public utilities are a natural monopoly and so special care, much better care than is usually applied, must be taken to keep a check on the monopolistic business practices that inevitably settle in. To do otherwise would be the equivalent of giving Verizon a money pipeline into the community's bank accounts.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    14. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your governor spends all his time buggering Israeli immigrants. Illegal immigrants.

      Too bad the Supreme Court made sodomy legal, his pink ass would be in federal prison right now.

    15. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      Call it 'monopolistic' all you want. Verizon just doesn't want to be forced to rent the fiber *they completely financed* to competitors at lower than Verizon's cost. That's like saying, "Here, you pay millions of dollars to build out and deploy all of the infrastructure. BUT we're going to force you to allow your _competitors_ to utilize it at a discount and below your cost."

      That's what happened with the copper lines and DSL. Back during the boom, all these competitors lined up and are mostly gone now.

      If you want companies to deploy (and finance) advanced technology, you have to make it worth their while.

    16. Re:Form doesn't work for me by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Verizon: We were wondering. I've been getting calls all day. We only have FIOS in test markets right now

      This is a very good sign. You might not be able to get it, but keep calling.

      Once they get a MILLION people calling them in a day, asking for FTTP, they might just soil themselves, and decide it's time to deploy it EVERYWHERE right away...
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    17. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Verizon just doesn't want to be forced to rent the fiber *they completely financed* to competitors at lower than Verizon's cost. That's like saying, "Here, you pay millions of dollars to build out and deploy all of the infrastructure. BUT we're going to force you to allow your _competitors_ to utilize it at a discount and below your cost."

      Verizon may have arranged financing on the fiber, but who do you think actually provided the base capital and will pay off the rest of it in the future? Yeah, that's right, the citizens of the communities. The same ones who are guaranteed to get hammered if Verizon is given unfettered right of control over this public utility.

      What about the valuable right-of-way they have, rent free, to run the fiber over private property? Think that might be worth a buck or two?

      As for Verizon's position here, maybe they should not have run the fiber BEFORE getting an agreement hammered out?

      Don't be a sucker, like he said, bright and shiny things for the easily distracted.

    18. Re:Form doesn't work for me by ggy · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, maybe I should try it from Sweden where I live? Altough I already pay ~$50 for my 10MB ethernet connection... Yet it would be fun to hear what they say.

    19. Re:Form doesn't work for me by jlgolson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Verizon wants monopoly rights to the fibre they are laying If they are laying it, it is their right to use it however they want. If Earthlink wants to run fibre, they can... If Verizon is spending millions of dollars to run fibre everywhere, don't you think they should be compensated fairly for it? You say you are a believer in free markets, but apparently not free enough.

    20. Re:Form doesn't work for me by raju1kabir · · Score: 5, Insightful
      If they are laying it, it is their right to use it however they want. If Earthlink wants to run fibre, they can... If Verizon is spending millions of dollars to run fibre everywhere, don't you think they should be compensated fairly for it?

      They are laying it on public land with forced easements. Very different from building something on land they own. The fiber is there because the public (i.e., the government) enabled it.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    21. Re:Form doesn't work for me by selfabuse · · Score: 1

      "As in no second source ISP like Covad or Earthlink would be able to lease bandwidth or connectivity on the fibre lines at (low) state-set rates, like they are able to today on the copper lines" I don't think that is the case. I work for a small ISP near Philadelphia, and Verizon has already started sending us our partner program info on reselling this service..

    22. Re:Form doesn't work for me by yerfatma · · Score: 1

      Some cell phone provider: I need a home phone number to find out if I qualify? How 'bout a zip code for those of us without landlines?

    23. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering what goes on there, how exactly would that be punishment for him?

    24. Re:Form doesn't work for me by pcmanjon · · Score: 1

      Okay.. if this is fiber, why is it limited to $199.95 for 30MB/5MB?

      Isn't fiber capable of much faster speeds?

      If you have a fiber coming in to your house, why wouldn't you be capable of quicker?

      Also, I live 3 miles from Keller texas and yet I don't qualify... wtf?

    25. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's right, the citizens of the communities.

      So let Verizon recoup their costs, then open it up.

    26. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yepe you can blame the liberal democarts in tentron

      They tax the rich and then don't give us broadband..

    27. Re:Form doesn't work for me by JoeyLemur · · Score: 1

      Yay for the rest of New Jersey. Hunterdon County and its surrounds are still boned, thanks to having United Telephone/Sprint/whatever locked in for their service. I was amazed when my dad could get DSL a year ago...

      No, I don't live there anymore. But I'm still bitter. :)

    28. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that stupid. Service availablity is based on physical location but the monkeys ask for a f'ing phone number. How 'bout asking for a freakin' address you idiots?

    29. Re:Form doesn't work for me by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Fiber is full-duplex and synchronous. What's the point of making it async? And what's with the PPPoE spew? It's not like your neighbor is gonna steel Fios service from you without them knowing. (The same arguement goes for DSL.)

      Haven't they heard of .1x?

      (Bandwidth ain't free. And high bit rate optical gear is very expensive.)

  2. typo's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i don't know how useful it is to have that "contact the on-duty editor if you see a problem" e-mail link if no one checks it... "Mbps" and "upload"

  3. Pricing looks good by erick99 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The 5MB/2MB pricing is great for my area. I get about 4MB/256KB right now for around $29/month. The biggest advantage to the fiber would be the 2MB upload speed which would be great as I send a lot of photos to my dad for a genealogical project. I went to Verizons site and my phone number doesn't qualify yet, but, I'm sure it will be eventually....

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
    1. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I thought you said "gynecological project."

    2. Re:Pricing looks good by davesplace1 · · Score: 1

      Yea thats a lot of speed for a little money, I hope it comes to my area soon. Verizon is starting to get its act together. Soon I will be surfing at hyper speed :)

    3. Re:Pricing looks good by garcia · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The 5MB/2MB pricing is great for my area. I get about 4MB/256KB right now for around $29/month. The biggest advantage to the fiber would be the 2MB upload speed which would be great as I send a lot of photos to my dad for a genealogical project. I went to Verizons site and my phone number doesn't qualify yet, but, I'm sure it will be eventually....

      Feel special. DSL here is 2048/256 for a bit under $60 here. Cable (with all its port blocking glory) is $39.99/mo for 3000/256.

      I would do ANYTHING for inexpensive high bandwith connections. I don't even care about the upstream. Just give me reasonable speeds downstream with reliable service. No random disconnects, hours and hours of downtime w/o anyone to fix the problem, and crappy DSL routers required.

    4. Re:Pricing looks good by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 3, Informative
      Don't go by the web site. I kept going there as well after they finished in fiber lay down in my neighborhood. It kept saying "not available" but then I called the telephone number and I qualified (I'm in Keller). Call the number!

      I got the 15/2 service and it's great.

    5. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      "I would do ANYTHING for inexpensive high bandwith connections."

      Would you give up soliciting hobos for oral sex?

    6. Re:Pricing looks good by Monkelectric · · Score: 5, Funny
      I send a lot of photos to my dad for a genealogical project

      Allow me to translate this: "I download a lot of porn on Bit Torrent any my ratio is terrible"

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    7. Re:Pricing looks good by zardoz342 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah, I'm paying $49 for 512/256 DSL, best I can get here. The cable setups I've worked on locally have almost the same actual speed, and they are paying $70+ for supposed 1/512 which is no faster than my DSL. Argh

    8. Re:Pricing looks good by erick99 · · Score: 1

      I upload photo's to my dad, not download. Porn is not a problem as I get 4MB down, even faster at night. But, when you are sending groups of hi-res photo's up, the 256KB speed seems to crawl.

      --
      http://www.busyweather.com/
    9. Re:Pricing looks good by catbutt · · Score: 1

      That's why he mentioned ratio...you get a better ratio if you have better upload speed.

    10. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You upload porn to your father? Sicko

    11. Re:Pricing looks good by YU+Nicks+NE+Way · · Score: 3, Funny
      I send a lot of photos to my dad for a genealogical project

      Allow me to translate this: "I download a lot of porn on Bit Torrent any my ratio is terrible"
      I think you're confusing genealogical and gynecological.

      Then again, maybe the GP poster is the one confused.
    12. Re:Pricing looks good by Temporal+Outcast · · Score: 0

      I hope so too, however its only a matter of time before other competitors jump in.

      Which might be a good thing, since it may bring about some more price-cuts (okay, now I'm asking for too much, but hey!). On the other hand, I'm not really certain about how long the cheap rates may last.

      If everyone gets in on the bandwagon, then there is likelihood of unilateral increase, too.

      --

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.
    13. Re:Pricing looks good by blwtech · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I live in Sacramento and have Sure West's fiber service. It's 10MB/10MB and includes my phone and television service as well. We pay $120.00 a month for all three. I love the service.

    14. Re:Pricing looks good by brsmith4 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.


      I'm sorry, but you've no idea how ridiculous you sound. God I hope you aren't voting.

      P.S. Its libertarian, not liberatarian.

    15. Re:Pricing looks good by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      Cable here is 2500/512. Fairly reliable (the occasional morning when it's dropping 80-90% of packets), but I haven't checked out whether there's port blocking. They don't ban servers, and don't have caps (IIRC). It's Earthlink. We had Sprint (read: Earthlink) DSL before, and they explicitly allowed servers.

    16. Re:Pricing looks good by Jaysyn · · Score: 5, Informative

      FYI I'm actually working on this project right now (my company is designing the Dorrs Corner & one other C.O. in Anne Arundel county) & I can tell you there will not be any competition for this as Verizon had to basically get a franchise for the municipality. This also means that they are having to run FTTP throughout the entire C.O. & not just in the more affluent areas.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    17. Re:Pricing looks good by Cyberai · · Score: 1, Funny

      You haven't had a job since Clinton was president? God, whose fault is that?

      --
      Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.
    18. Re:Pricing looks good by pezpunk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      not to mention, libertarians are often to the RIGHT of republicans on issues like taxes, gun control, and the environment.

      people this ignorant shouldn't be allowed to vote.

      --
      i could live a little longer in this prison
    19. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    20. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I don't even care about the upstream.

      You should. TCP/IP wasn't made for grossly asymmetric pipes. In my area, Charter is an obscene 100:1 download versus upload ratio. That means I still have to use dial-up when using SSH because of the huge outgoing latency.

      15 years ago at Clemson we played around with simulating the affects of asymmetric pipes on TCP. It was not pretty. If you can't transmit your ACK's out or your DNS look-ups, things don't work well at all.

    21. Re:Pricing looks good by Temporal+Outcast · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I'm sorry, but you've no idea how ridiculous you sound.

      As ridiculous as all those people making caricatures of Bush and comparing him to a Chimp and what not?

      God I hope you aren't voting.

      Why? Because you disagree with me?

      Nice.

      --

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.
    22. Re:Pricing looks good by csgarvey · · Score: 1
      It might help to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but I pay Eur 204.49 (~ US 260.71) per month for 2048/256 here in Ireland, where our government keep pitching us as the e-hub of Europe. There are a handful of broadband (dsl & wireless.. no cable) available to me, but for an uncapped reasonable speed, that's the best I can do!

      .cg

    23. Re:Pricing looks good by Malc · · Score: 1

      Anything? Would you move to Canada?

      I pay ~CAD$32 after taxes for 3Mbs/800Kbs (down/up) DSL with static IP and no restrictions. That's about USD$25.60 (and getting more expensive by the day for you due to the increasing weakness of the USD$).

    24. Re:Pricing looks good by brsmith4 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      >> God I hope you aren't voting.

      > Why? Because you disagree with me?

      No. Because your signature conveys such a profound sense of naivete and absurdity that I can only hope you were joking when you said what you said. John Kerry is no libertarian. Libertarians are far-right wingers (isolationism, pro-gun, privatization, etc) that make Bush look like a liberal. That and the fact that you misspelled libertarian, indicated to me, a level of political awareness more in line with a "My daddy said this so I'm voting for Bush" voter than your typical slashdotter thus reminding me of my personal desire for politically uneducated individuals to be barred from access to the ballot (In a comical sense).

    25. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my phone number doesn't qualify yet

      If people would RTFF from Verizon:
      "Eligibility for Verizon Fios Internet Service is based on your service address, not your telephone service. Therefore, your eligibility for Verizon Fios Internet Service is determined based upon where you live not based on your telephone number."

    26. Re:Pricing looks good by slapout · · Score: 1

      "Feel special. DSL here is 2048/256 for a bit under $60 here."

      Well, I guess I should feel real special. Cause I only pay $22 a month for unlimited access. Course that's for dial up. DSL's not available and the cable company won't even run cable tv down a dirt road.

      I would do ALMOST ANYTHING for a high bandwith connection.

      --
      Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    27. Re:Pricing looks good by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 4, Funny

      He's Al Gore, you insensitive clod.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    28. Re:Pricing looks good by kzinti · · Score: 1

      Cable (with all its port blocking glory) is $39.99/mo for 3000/256.

      Not all the cable providers block ports. I've got Earthlink (resold Time Warner Road Runner) in the Houston area and they don't block any of my ports. Speed is decent too: 3000/350 for $39.99/month. Best of all, Earthlink/Time Warner don't make you load any of their crappy PC software. It's just plain old DHCP+TCP/IP from the PC/router's point of view. I've been very happy with their service, although I wouldn't mind getting the Verizon 5MB/2MB for the same price.

    29. Re:Pricing looks good by Afrosheen · · Score: 1

      Hey, maybe he was Clinton's dope man. Irie irie wit' de presidential ganja mon!

    30. Re:Pricing looks good by Emugamer · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was looking for a "+1 I hate you, you lucky bastard" mod but I couldn't find it... this reply will have to do

    31. Re:Pricing looks good by Naffer · · Score: 1

      Surewest's deployment is painfully slow in Sacramento city. Live in east sac? Sure, you can get fiber. Live in south sac? Nope.

    32. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some slashdot moderator needs to grow up.

    33. Re:Pricing looks good by cheezedawg · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, my speed tests have been about 9Mbps down/18Mbps up. Not sure why my upload is so big, but its still cool.

      --
      "The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
    34. Re:Pricing looks good by Temporal+Outcast · · Score: 1

      Okay, not bad. Am too tired to continue the charade. Atleast one Slashdotter gets it.

      This is more in league with the AST Troll.

      Hook, line, sinker :-) Cheers, mate.

      --

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.
    35. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its up and running in Elk Grove.

    36. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Get over it, you've been trolled. Grand parent is a classic troll and you actually fell for it.

      Sheesh, kids these days.

    37. Re:Pricing looks good by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 1

      What's with all these 256Kbit upload speeds in the US?

      In SW Ontario, all our DSL/cable broadband providers give you 3Mbit/800Kbit. I can upload files at 80KB/second, even with eMule running....

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
    38. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elk Grove != Sacramento Elk Grove is Sacramento County

    39. Re:Pricing looks good by ruvreve · · Score: 1

      Do ANYTHING except pay more money right?

    40. Re:Pricing looks good by egarland · · Score: 1

      The 5/2 looks good, but what's up with the 30/5! It's less than 4 times the bandwidth and it's 4 times the price! That's ludicrous. When are these providers going to understand that price to bandwidth should be a logarithmic relationship. 10 times the speed should be two to four times the price.

      I'd understand $75 a month or even $100 a month but $199! That's horrible!

      --
      set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
    41. Re:Pricing looks good by gregmac · · Score: 1

      I pay ~CAD$32 after taxes for 3Mbs/800Kbs (down/up) DSL with static IP and no restrictions.

      That's pretty good .. who's your provider?

      I pay $32 at home and I get 3Mb/600Kb (i think?) with dynamic IP (but otherwise no restrictions) via Internet Horizions (who is a reseller for Trytel)

      --
      Speak before you think
    42. Re:Pricing looks good by gregmac · · Score: 2, Informative

      I would do ALMOST ANYTHING for a high bandwith connection.

      How about satellite?

      --
      Speak before you think
    43. Re:Pricing looks good by crasher35 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Wow... I feel really special because I'm only paying about $15 a month for Adelphia's Powerlink (3mbps down/?? mbps up). I don't remember exactly how much my upload speed is, but it's perfect for how much I upload. I think it might be at 512k... not sure. But that $15 a month ends in December... it was through a promotion that I got it that low and it was only for a year... still, it's been sweet while I've had it.

      I am excited about Verizon's Fiber service!

      --

      I don't like to sit. Sitting is for people who like to sit.

    44. Re:Pricing looks good by Gaijin42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From a technical perspective :

      Because (just like every other service) they are over selling.

      People who buy the 5/2 pipe will tend to not use it all the time. They can toss hundreds of people on and still get their speeds.

      People who buy the 30/5 pipe WILL tend to use it, because they are hosting, or running some sort of service where they can afford the extra cash. Therefore they cannot get shared pipe, and they pay for the full thing.

      It isn't a price inflation for the high-bandwidth option. It is a discount for the low bandwidth option.

      Or alternitavely from the economic perspective :

      Prices have nothing to do with actual costs. People who need the extra bandwitdh are likely willing to pay more, therefore they are charged more. The joy of elasticity of demand, and low competetion.

    45. Re:Pricing looks good by rhetoric · · Score: 1

      I've been told bbb.se offers 10Mbit full duplex service for the equivalent of 20USD/month... why does the USA, the most envious of nations, have inferior options?

      --

      "where words meet intent, lies rhetoric's lament"
    46. Re:Pricing looks good by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      I thought you said "gynecological project."

      Unfortunately for the average slashdotter, that would require more download and less upload capacity. Verizon's 2MBps upstream wouldn't help a bit.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    47. Re:Pricing looks good by SonicSpike · · Score: 0, Troll

      "All I know about Bush is I had a job when Clinton was president."

      Allow me to translate: "I have no understanding of how economics and policy interact"

      --
      Libertas in infinitum
    48. Re:Pricing looks good by BillTheKatt · · Score: 1

      Gore - I invented Internet Pr0n.

    49. Re:Pricing looks good by valkraider · · Score: 1

      Just goes to show how people see different things different ways. I saw it and immediately thought it was making fun of Bush, and Bush followers...

      And for those who think Libertarians are right (idealogically right) - not entirely true. Libertarians are all over the map idealogically. Libertiarians believe that the GOVERNMENT should not LEGISLATE idealogy. Libertarians tend to seem to be right-focused because many Republicans USED to believe in smaller government. That has largely changed, but the stereotype remains.

      But the basic point is there is not one size fits all. People can support a "party" even when they disagree with some or many of their platform standings. Sometimes, people even (gasp!) disagree with candidates they vote for or parties they support!

      No room for thinking in politics I guess.... ;)

    50. Re:Pricing looks good by cooldev · · Score: 1

      You could move to South Korea...

    51. Re:Pricing looks good by NerveGas · · Score: 1


      A combination of government interference where it's detrimental, and little or none where it would be beneficial.

      As an example, if I want a t1 line to my house, the phone company is prohibitted by law from charging less than a government-chosen rate. Stifling competition is rarely good for the consumer.

      On the other hand, when phone companies in my area have prevented competition through monopolistic practices - not only in violation of FCC ruling, but in direct disobeyance of a judge's ruling - there has been nothing but a slap on the wrist.

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
    52. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I don't even care about the upstream."

      Fucking leecher.

    53. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elk Grove = southern border of south sac.

    54. Re:Pricing looks good by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      At 5MB/2MB, that has got to be near heaven in terms of playing any games online with virtually ZERO ping times.

    55. Re:Pricing looks good by afidel · · Score: 1

      Uh, 30/5 for $199 is DAMN cheap. I got quotes recently for a client with a bunch of sites and 1.5Mb SDSL is around $350/month for business class with a weak SLA. If you want an actual T1 with accompanying SLA it is closer to $650/month and thats for 1/20th the download and less than 1/3rd the upload! Hell that download is 2/3rds of a T3 which is going to cost the provider a hell of a lot more than $199 no matter how big they are.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    56. Re:Pricing looks good by Temporal+Outcast · · Score: 1

      Oh yes, indeed. You're absolutely right in saying that people see things in their perspective and in their perspective alone!

      I'm quite well aware of the libertarian idealogies -- ironically, more aware than the folks who fell for my troll :-) Which goes onto show that the idiots who talk a lot know just as little as the people they make fun of.

      It's quite funny, though - you would think that on a place like Slashdot, people would be a little smarter. It's as bad as folks falling for trolls on places like Adequacy.org.

      And I did notice that the site on your sig supports for a libertarian president ;-)

      --

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.
    57. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    58. Re:Pricing looks good by enigmatichmachine · · Score: 1

      don't feel so bad, i had this deal myself for awhile, untill i realized that the upload is capped at about 3 gb per month or something like that. sure, its fast, but i worked out that if i were running a server, i could only average 15 KB/s without going way over my bandwidth limit. ( I switched to speakeasy dsl)

      --
      -and occasionaly a giant moose.
    59. Re:Pricing looks good by Combuchan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except latency sucks, and DirecWay's Fair Access Policy means that if you download more than 169 MB in some period of time (their website doesn't say), you get dropped to 47 kbps for 8 - 12 hours.

      The software for my roommate's digital camera was a 125 MB download from HP. Using this for anything like installing or upgrading a Linux box is out of the question. I've seen 50 MB government documents doled out like candy.

      Ergo, as long as the world keeps getting more byte-bloated, the technical limitations of satellite internet will plague it into highly rural markets, as even many small communities have some form of land-based broadband.

      I'd suggest DirecWay if you've got a cabin in the middle of nowhere, but that's about it.

      --
      "[T]he single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom." -- Barry Goldwater
    60. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he's uploading gynecological project jpgs of his relatives: a slashdotter, all the way!

    61. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You bastard!

    62. Re:Pricing looks good by Shaklee39 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thanks for the really insightful comment! Fucking shiteating karma whore, go fuck yourself asshole. You and your dad are fags.

    63. Re:Pricing looks good by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      Throughout the entire C.O. should be throughout the entire area. Oops.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    64. Re:Pricing looks good by Thrakkerzog · · Score: 1

      Boo Hoo Hoo. I'm stuck on dialup. I would do ANYTHING for your "slow" dsl.

      Not even regular dialup. 21.6 - 28.8 dialup.

    65. Re:Pricing looks good by bertvl · · Score: 1

      All of you should feel special: In South Africa it costs around $140/month for 512/256, with a 3 gigabyte monthly download cap!

    66. Re:Pricing looks good by Malc · · Score: 1

      IStop.com

      Ask about them on can.internet.highspeed... you will get some interesting answers. You could also search on groups.google.com first. People are either strongly for or against them, mostly due to the attitude of the owner and the way they handle troublesome customers. I've been with them for three years and been mostly happy.

    67. Re:Pricing looks good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prices have NOTHING to do with costs? Sure, pal. Ever run a business?? Take your meds. Prices are greater than costs ONLY for companies that stay in business - notwithstanding deep-pockets monopolies.

    68. Re:Pricing looks good by jmrSudbury · · Score: 1

      It is also important to note that the numbers quoted in the article summary are misleading. It says "$39.95 for 5MB/2MB, $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB", but the units should not be MB, but Mb. They are bits per second, not bytes. Why do so many keep getting this wrong? I used to get excited about seeing Byte, but now I have to verify the units from the company. Many stories get this wrong.

    69. Re:Pricing looks good by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      "How about satellite?"

      I've had DirecWay for 2 years, and this does not satisfy his criteria:

      1) No random disconnects. DirecWay fails here. My DW-6000 spontaneously loses its signal even in perfect weather. It happens about 3 times over the course of every couple months.

      2) No hours and hours of downtime. DirecWay fails here. When I lose the signal those ~3 times every two monts, it usually lasts about 4-5 hours.

      3) Someone to fix the problem. DirecWay is hit and miss here. I used to call tech support. The very first time I did this, they refused to fix their network when I told them that I am running Linux. On all subsequent calls, I pretended to be running Windows. They then fixed their network problems on those 1% of occassions that the Indian on the phone wasn't 100% clueless. The other 99% of the time I just had to wait it out. Now I don't call tech support, but just wait it out. The results are identical.

      My connection most recently died five weeks ago. After spending three and a half hours on the phone with "advanced" tech support and not getting the problem resolved, DirecWay sent out an installer twice (I'm still covered by warranty) to fix the problem.

      The first visit was two and a half weeks after I reported the outage. He went to the roof, attached a device called Bird Dog to the dish, and said the satellite wasn't transmitting a signal. He left without fixing the problem.

      The second visit was a week and a half after that. He came to the house, said the LMB was bad, talked with DirecWay tech support for an hour, and left without fixing the problem. He tried to collect a service fee from me (for not fixing the problem!) because his office said this wasn't covered by warranty. I spent an hour on the phone with DirecWay (from work) getting them to acknowledge that it was covered by warranty.

      Now, five weeks after the problem started, I am still without Internet access. DirecWay refuses to transfer the warranty work to a local installer (the other installer is several counties away) without voiding my warranty and making me bear all the costs.

      Since I live way out in the country, I have zero other options for broadband. If you have any other options, take them. DirecWay is a last resort, and then only if you have a high threshold for pain.

    70. Re:Pricing looks good by Blue-Footed+Boobie · · Score: 1

      My Adelphia Powerlink connection costs $49.99 a month, with taxes, about $60. Gonna be painful when that promotion ends!

      --
      DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
    71. Re:Pricing looks good by michrech · · Score: 1

      Ok.. how about this service? I haven't had their service in over 2 years now, and having visited their web page, looks like they have moved on quite nicely. A visit to the newsgroup may provide better information. Back when I had the service, the web page was all smiles and kisses, and the newsgroups (both the official one that only customers could access and the unofficial one) were full of piss and venom.

      Still an alternative to DirecWay and their FAP..

      As a side note, I have only two service options available for me in the tiny town I reside:

      Marktwain.net

      Using Airspan equipment in the home. I get a static IP and 256k/128k for $44.99 a month, no port blocking whatsoever. I just have it on a Linksys router and can share to however many PC's I want (of course, the more PC's, the worse the speeds).

      Missvaley.net

      I don't know their equipment. You are FORCED behind a firewall at the ISP end. NO ports can reach you. You are REQUIRED to have a PCI wireless device (they provide) put into ONE PC. No sharing unless you use ICS (or it's equivelent). 384k-1.5mb/128k for $39.99.

      I went with Marktwain.net's service so I could run my own mail/web server (and use the machine for learning how to setup other services). Wish I had better available, but I don't. =[

      --
      bork bork bork!
    72. Re:Pricing looks good by brsmith4 · · Score: 1

      I didn't really fall for a troll, I was thrown off by your sig. One person might read it and find it humorous while another reads it and finds you to be a moron. Such is life. What _wasn't_ a troll was the fact that you misspelled the word which was my actual initial reason for causing this whole mess to begin with. Obviously, this was not intentional as you went and corrected the spelling later.

      I'm also pretty well aware of libertarian Ideologies. They say some things that I agree with and then they say that markets should dictate certain things and corporations should dictate certain things and I become a little disappointed that they are really just the "Corporate" party. The American Libertarian is a member of the Business Party. Libertarian Ideology is not in line with this as Corporate control is not in line with Personal Freedom.

      There is a big difference between the Libertarian Party (e.g. Michael Badnarik) and Libertarian Ideology (e.g. Dalai Llama, Ghandi, etc).

    73. Re:Pricing looks good by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Earthlink isn't a cable company. They are an ISP, but they don't run the HFC network. So, who's cable network are you on? That determines what gets filtered. I have an Earthlink (mindspring) IP but it's all within RR's network. My packets mingle with every other ISP-reseller's packets.

      Surprisingly, nothing is being filtered.

    74. Re:Pricing looks good by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'd bet that the ToS for the 5/2 pipe will limit your bandwidth usage.

      OTOH, if you have the $200/mo package, they'll turn a blind eye to the amount of bandwidth that you use or what traffic goes over that link.

      (Which is why I convinced work that I needed a static/business DSL linkup instead of the consumer-level account.)

      --
      Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
    75. Re:Pricing looks good by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      Time Warner is the actual provider.

      FWIW, you don't need cable TV to get cable internet, or we'd be on... nothing, as we got cell phones to avoid getting a phone line, and DSL (let alone naked DSL) isn't available in our area.

    76. Re:Pricing looks good by Gaijin42 · · Score: 1

      They don't need to limit the 5/2 pipe. The point is that people who are using that level are going to tend to not se it all the time. They are self limiting.

      You will have the occasional bittorrent/kazza leech who uses up tons and tons, but then you also have granny who just checks her email once a week.

      It averages out.

      Also, if you read the fine print, they are only promising those rates from you to the central office. Past there there are no guarantees, and they can dilute the bandwidth all they want.

    77. Re:Pricing looks good by Temporal+Outcast · · Score: 1

      Ofcourse.

      You're right about the spelling part too, that was my bad. However I figured that it would help more people fall for it ;) and have decided to let it stay that way.

      Btw, the sig _was_ the troll -- I had a perfectly normal, albeit useless, comment on topic. However the sig was in bold and took two lines.

      Most people would look at the sig and be like, duh what the hell. Wait and watch for more fun ;)

      --

      Vote for a Man, Vote for Bush!
      Not a liberatarian flipflop hippie.
    78. Re:Pricing looks good by brsmith4 · · Score: 1

      Looking back on this thread, I'm quite amused at how far it went. Well done on the sig, for it has served its purpose.

    79. Re:Pricing looks good by gregmac · · Score: 1

      I used to have istop when I lived in Ottawa. When I first went on, they were having a lot of problems.. I was considering moving some colo's I have there. But their network would go up and down constantly. It was at the point that I was pinging one of their routers and graphing it, just to show how much they went down. After a month or so though, they seemed to get it straightened out, and it was good after that - however, we decided against colo there. The one thing I can say for them is that they posted every outage on their status page, along with the reason.

      --
      Speak before you think
    80. Re:Pricing looks good by gregmac · · Score: 1

      Except latency sucks, and DirecWay's Fair Access Policy means that if you download more than 169 MB in some period of time (their website doesn't say), you get dropped to 47 kbps for 8 - 12 hours.

      We're moving our office just out of town, and I'm kind of stuck for internet. Originally I said no to satellite, because I use SSH a lot and the latency would kill me. I would also definately only go on a plan where I could download, ie, a linux iso, with no problems.

      Cable company ways $3k to install (which spread out over a year works to paying $350/mo for their crappy service, as opposed to $99); DSL is not available; fiber (while cheaper to install than cable!) is too expensive per month (even if I move my colocated servers in-house); T1's are even more expensive than fiber (and yet, slower); and though a wireless provider is coming 'soon', they're not setup yet.

      So I called a satellite provider just out of due dilligance. First thing he asked was "dsl or cable isn't available?". He also ended up telling me that ssh would be faster over dialup..

      What we actually decided to do is go on dialup (I think I'm going to be working from home a lot..) and wait out the wireless guys. I know the owner through a friend that used to work there, and I've been talking to them .. right now they're waiting for the township to approve an antenna location, and we have some contacts with the township so we've been telling them that it's quite important to us to finish this asap.

      Ergo, as long as the world keeps getting more byte-bloated, the technical limitations of satellite internet will plague it into highly rural markets, as even many small communities have some form of land-based broadband.

      Provided you had a large enough subscriber base, and weren't trying to make money, it'd probably be cheaper and faster to bring in a T1 or fiber line and do wireless than for people in a rural community to go on satellite.

      --
      Speak before you think
    81. Re:Pricing looks good by Malc · · Score: 1

      Yes, a couple of years ago (right after Sympatico announced bandwidth quotas) they expanded too quickly and suffered major network problems.

      I've had a couple of outages recently (10 mins & 2 hrs), but they're generally quite stable now. I wouldn't trust my business to them though. I do like their openess on their status page.

  4. Sustainable speed? by fembots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Verizon has clearly stated that the "actual throughput speed will vary based on factors such as the condition of your wiring inside your location; computer configuration; network or Internet congestion; and the server speeds of Web sites you access, among other factors. Speed and uninterrupted use of the service are not guaranteed."

    So how long will the 15/2Mbps last, and is Verizon at least giving guarantee on a minimum sustainable speed?

    1. Re:Sustainable speed? by TiggertheMad · · Score: 1

      Speed and uninterrupted use of the service are not guaranteed

      Yeah, parent post makes a good point. Sometimes congestion on the Internet can slow light down quite a bit...

      --

      HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    2. Re:Sustainable speed? by 77Punker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Get real! Those factors affect every single connection between two computers in the entire world! They MUST have that disclaimer or else non-techie jurors will be awarding oppotunistic internet users money in civil suits all over the place.

    3. Re:Sustainable speed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mod parent up as insightful, grandparent down as flamebait, thanks

    4. Re:Sustainable speed? by narad · · Score: 0

      hopefully someone will open a good Movie Site to buy digital movies something akin to iTunes.

    5. Re:Sustainable speed? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 0, Troll

      >non-techie jurors will be awarding oppotunistic internet users money in civil suits all over the place.

      Really? How many lawsuits are there regarding speed?

      If you have ever worked in tech support you'll know that a good % of the calls are of kiddies who goto dslreports and complain that "Im getting ripped off." Usually they dont know the difference between mbps and kbps or they have a shitload of spyware and Kazaa running at the same time. Or they are so far from the CO that their DSL speed suffers.

      No need to drag out the "lawyers are bad!" bogeyman. I suppose you also think the case against MS was a big conspiracy and if you got arrested tomorrow you would defend yourself in court.

      I know this is crazy to say around here but a lawyer can take a good case or a bad case(or client). Many class-actions are very ethical, some aren't.

    6. Re:Sustainable speed? by nexex · · Score: 1

      you'll be lucky to get over dsl/cable modem speeds (there is the rare exception) when downloading with ftp/http -- p2p usually depends on the file and the time of day

      --
      Winter 2010: With Glowing Hearts
    7. Re:Sustainable speed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are already a few of these, like Movielink and CinemaNow, among others. But why bother? It's so much easier to just get a DVD from Netflix/Blockbuster or to download the same film with BitTorrent and not have to worry about all the DRM crap.

    8. Re:Sustainable speed? by aksuur · · Score: 1

      Those factors would affect any connection, from fiber to ISDN. I'm sure it will last a long time, since they're building a whole new network for it.

    9. Re:Sustainable speed? by Naffer · · Score: 1

      But honestly, if anyone can deliver these speeds, verizon can. Cable is limited by total bandwidth on a node, DSL is limited by line legnth, but theoretically fiber should only be limited by router capacity and Verizon's pipes to the backbones. If comcast said they'd give me 15/2, I'd be awful suspicious, but verizon can probably do it.

    10. Re:Sustainable speed? by derF024 · · Score: 1

      "It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea." Robert Anton Wilson

      I'm sure this sig of yours seems profound to you, but if you can go 20 years without changing a single idea or opinion, you fit the very definition of a conservative.

    11. Re:Sustainable speed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how long will the 15/2Mbps last,

      It'll last for about 4 days, and then the number of hijacked Windows boxes running as fiber-connected spam relays will overwhelm everything. The Internet will pick back up again after the rest of us add Verizon's netblocks to our firewall's and router's blocklists, but the poor Verizoners will be screwed.

    12. Re:Sustainable speed? by will.murnane · · Score: 1
      If there's a speed guarantee, it's BS.

      I'm connected at 32/160 right now (down/up!) over my dsl line from them. Earlier this WEEK I was getting 864/160 regularly. This does not make me happy-happy.

    13. Re:Sustainable speed? by NerveGas · · Score: 2, Informative


      I've seen providers with bandwidth and latency guarantees before. But, keep in mind that:

      1. They only guarantee bandwidth within their own network, and under certain conditions
      2. They only guarantee latencies within their own network
      3. They only guarantee bandwidth and latency a certain percentage of the time, not 100%.
      4. They are usually very expensive
      5. Your recompense if they don't meet the guarantees are minimal.

      As far as items 1 and 2, you really just can't do anything else. Company A simply cannot stake financial risk on the performance of Companies C, D, E, and H through M.

      As for numbers three through five combined, if you wanted to guarantee bandwidth/latency 100% of the time, you end up having to pay horrendous amounts for the ability to do so. Remember, script-kiddies with $10/month dialups have brought people spending millions for connectivity to their knees without much trouble.

      When you're talking "9's", each 9 that you add drives the cost up exponentially. It doesn't take many 9's before the cost to actually provide the service level is much greater than most anyone is willing to pay for it.

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
    14. Re:Sustainable speed? by rizzo420 · · Score: 1

      there's no lawsuits regarding speed because no lawyer will take it because of the disclaimer.

      and i do work in tech support and hear the students calling and complaining all the time, even though it's the same ones that have virus loaded computers that call while they're taking down the network. nevermind the email i got from a boyfriend who goes to a different school complaining about his girlfriend's speed at our school. idiot.

      but if you notice, there is no guarantee on the speeds for any ISP. and there is always a disclaimer. that's for people that are far from the CO or with older wiring.

      --
      please me, have no regrets.
    15. Re:Sustainable speed? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 0, Troll

      >but if you notice, there is no guarantee on the speeds for any ISP.

      That's not true. In the residential market, yes, mostly because of DSL. But if you get some commercial services, leased lines, ATM, T1, etc your contract will have (or you will negotiate) a level of service they cannot go under.

      This is all just about contracts. It seems to me that people just like to bitch about lawyers and would rather be lied to than deal with a company being honest with them by stating that speeds are variable.

      Not to mention, its not some carte blanche to do whatever they want. The early days of broadband when the cable companies oversold their product really are gone, and if they come back you at least have the choice between dsl, WISPs, leased lines, etc.

      Also, if someone wants a guaranteed minimum level of service, they can pay commercial rates and be done with it.

    16. Re:Sustainable speed? by .killedkenny · · Score: 1

      Churchill said it best:

      "One who is 20 and not a liberal has no heart; one who is 40 and not a conservative has no brain."

    17. Re:Sustainable speed? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      What about in network? If I want to send data from my home to work and they are both on Verions network? VPN maybe?
      Do they offer this for businesses? IF so how much.
      Think of multiable offices in one location doing VoIP and file shareing with a vpn.

      Does anyone have a map of places with Inexpensice REAL high speend access?

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    18. Re:Sustainable speed? by rizzo420 · · Score: 1

      and the fiber to the hope that verizon is offering is a residential service, which will has a disclaimer.

      we're not talking about commercial services here, we're talking residential, completely different.

      --
      please me, have no regrets.
  5. Monthly costs? by fredistheking · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are these going to be the monthly rates as well or are these just installation costs?

    1. Re:Monthly costs? by CrazyPyro · · Score: 0

      per month, no installation charge (RTFS ;)

      What makes me wonder is the " An additional Verizon Online monthly Supplier FUSF recovery fee applies and will be added to your monthly bill" in the fine print.

    2. Re:Monthly costs? by SlamMan · · Score: 2, Informative

      There is no installation costs. If you cancel the service in the first year, you have to give back to the router or or pay em another $50.

      --
      Mod point free since 2001
    3. Re:Monthly costs? by needacoolnickname · · Score: 1

      I have many additional surcharges from Verizon on my phone and all I have is a basic line, no caller ID, no VM, no DSL, no special from MSN for using them (cause as it says in the tiny fine print in white on the screen that it is not compatible with Macs) - yadda yadda yadda.

      $8.61 for a dial tone
      $.99 in calls
      $11.46 in SURCHARGES (6.38 for FCC line, .40 for LNP, $1.00 for 911, .61 for Federal USF and .98 for just Surcharge) I left out the actual taxes.

      That's $10.70 for phone and calls, then $9.37 for bullshit charges, okay $8.37 if you take out the 911 charge...

      Verizon is on government welfare with all these surcharges and recovery fees. How can I get the government to pay me to build things and then charge my customers for recovery fees for actually adding services?

  6. That is wierd by Orgazmus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As far as i got it, the ADSL lines had low upload because of technical limitations.
    But why would these lines come in 5Mb/2Mb and not just 5/5 ?

    --
    The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
    1. Re:That is wierd by erick99 · · Score: 1

      They charge a lot more for DSL then ASDL. I believe it is more expensive and more difficult to go upstream than it is to push the 'net downstream. Someone else may have a more detailed answer. Businesses are the biggest buyers of DSL in this area.

      --
      http://www.busyweather.com/
    2. Re:That is wierd by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only does upload cost more to peer at places like LINX but offering 15mb upload would significantly undercut their (much!) more expensive leased line options.

      Immagine that you were a business owner and you could buy three of these (cheap) and a pair of backup T1 lines (not that expensve) to replace your OC3 (very expensive). Bad news for their profits.

      I wonder what the transfer cap on these things is? Probably something rediculous like 1gb/day that allows you to operate your line at full speed for all of 550 seconds before you exceed your quota and get terminated.

      --
      Beep beep.
    3. Re:That is wierd by metalhed77 · · Score: 1

      Bandwidth costs money too. Most people don't care about upstream speed. Let's say our network has 40 users. Let's say that for every person who cares about upload speed (likely telecommuting geeks and those who run their own servers) there are 30 people running eDonkey / Kazaa. Those 30 people don't care if their uploads are capped at 2mbps. The techie might, but he'll live with it or buy a better plan if he really needs it. This way people don't waste tons of upstream bandwidth.

      Besides, where are the apps that use this kind of bandwidth anyway? When they're available and demand is created upstream caps will be lifted. Anyway bandwidth always gets cheaper with time anyway, expect this to happen regardless.

      --
      Photos.
    4. Re:That is wierd by cozzano · · Score: 1

      Basically they presume that you are going to be taking a lot more infromation off servers (download) than you will be uploading - as fair assuption for the general user. So they devote more bandwidth to the download - hence the A in ADSL - asymetrical.

      Coz

    5. Re:That is wierd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet the reason they doen't come in 5/5 is because their choice is not 5/2 or 5/5 but 5/2 or 3.5/3.5. Most people still download more than upload. This is a nice improvement over the 3M/256K I have now.

    6. Re:That is wierd by chewy_2000 · · Score: 2

      Peer to peer (emule, BT) relies on a fast upload for a fast download, because of an anti-leeching quota system. So anyone who uses P2P extensively (a bloody big market) care very much about upload. I know I do on my 256/64 for AU$40 a month.

    7. Re:That is wierd by digitalsushi · · Score: 2, Funny

      if you needed a 155 megabit oc3 and converted to a couple 30 megabit fiber connections, someone would probably have your head on a platter. a couple of very expensive T1 lines with IP on them (maybe 450 bucks each per port plus the distance run, which could be about 0 to double the cost again). fortunately, the 30 meg cap is assuredly an artificial limit, and they will be able to ramp that number up for quite a few years, whenever the competition starts getting their attention.

      capping it would be the ultimate frustration. i haven't gotten The Call from my current provider, comcast, yet. is it general slashdot knowlege that the magic number at which you get their attention is 90 gigabytes within a 30 day window? 3 gig a day is hard to chew up without stealing 4 movies every night. in 2004, that is :D

      if they block the mail port, or worse (and impossibly, at this stage of the game i think) the web port, they ugh... hell, i'd rather have the 3 meg service from comcast for a higher price.

      --
      slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
    8. Re:That is wierd by St.+Arbirix · · Score: 1

      As far as i got it, the ADSL lines had low upload because of technical limitations.
      But why would these lines come in 5Mb/2Mb and not just 5/5 ?


      Perhaps they too have limits on bandwidth into and out of their area. If they have a suitable array of caching proxies most of your web requests can be fullfilled within the Verizon system. Uploaded content wouldn't be cached on the Verizon corner of the internet nearly as often as what you download.

      In essence, with a very large caching proxy, the whole Verizon system gets a 1/1 download/upload rate and the individual nodes in it will be pulling 3/5ths of their data from within the Verizon system.

      --
      Direct away from face when opening.
    9. Re:That is wierd by metalhed77 · · Score: 1

      True, but how much are they willing to pay for it?

      Let's not forget that the reason you can buy this bandwidth so cheap (and it is cheap) is that they don't expect it to all be used.

      --
      Photos.
    10. Re:That is wierd by spitefulcrow · · Score: 1

      It's because the passive fiber splitters they're using are capable of 622Mbit downstream and 155Mbit upstream on a given wavelength.

      --
      Sorry, my karma just ran over your dogma.
    11. Re:That is wierd by j1m+5n0w · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are quite a few reasons to limit upload:

      • Most people pull stuff down more than they push stuff up, so download speed affects user's perception of the quality of the service more than upload.
      • Limiting upload puts a cap on the amount of traffic a single rooted box can generate, when participating in DOS and DDOS attacks.
      • Most people only spend a small fraction of the time downloading stuff, so the connection stays idle 99% of the time or so. Those who run file/web/p2p servers, though, can utilize their link more fully because their computers are "used" by a potentially large number of users on the rest of the Internet. If, for example, I hosted fedora ISOs from a web server on my home cable modem account, my upload bandwidth could easily dwarf what I could possibly download by surfing the web 24/7, even with my upload capped at about 10% of download.
      • The upload cap provides a disincentive from running potentially bandwidth hungry applications like videoconferencing, which require high throughput in both directions.
      • The upload cap provides a disincentive for people to try to use multicast trees and bit-torrent-like applications, by which a user can generate a disproportionally large quantity of traffic from a single connection, by utilizing other user's idle connections.

      -jim

    12. Re:That is wierd by sndtech · · Score: 3, Funny

      yeah i got "the call" it was because I transferred over 1 terabyte in 30 days and the neighbor hood was complaining that the speeds were really slow. i download and share about 200 movies through a direct connect hub and they got pissy.

    13. Re:That is wierd by 6.023e23 · · Score: 1
      That's certainly one of the points in why they are continuing to promote asymmetric bandwidth allocations ;-) They are not interested in supporting P2P (most providers aren't interested in supporting ANY form of serving from your home - read the user agreements).

      From their perspective, most users' traffic is going to follow the paradigm of download >> upload (no, not 'bit-shift', 'much greater than' :-D ). While there is no technical limitations necessarily requiring the download/upload skewing (though they could have ul/dl bw agreement w/ the tier 1/2 providers they're peered with, etc), it helps serve as a deterrent/hurdle for serving from your home, especially services such as P2P that are heavily upload-centric.

      I suspect if the "typical" usage patterns change (and/or if P2P and its brethren cease being shunned), we'll see a change to more equality between upload and download allocations.

    14. Re:That is wierd by Detritus · · Score: 1

      ADSL had a low upload speed because of business and marketing, not technical limitations. Symmetric lines are for businesses, and cost more. Asymmetric lines are for web "consumers", cost less and have restrictive TOS.

      --
      Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
    15. Re:That is wierd by Erwos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The thinking is that businesses are the ones who need synchronous connections. Therefore, in order to help differentiate between the customers (you charge businesses a LOT more), you alter the features so that the customer gets a lot of what he needs (download) and businesses don't get as much of what they need (upload). This forces businesses to pay the higher prices they're "supposed to".

      Basic economics, in other words. Especially if you're a local phone monopoly.

      At $30 a month for 5/2, I'll be all over this in a second. ESPECIALLY if I can get a static IP.

      -Erwos

      --
      Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
    16. Re:That is wierd by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Insightful

      All modern filesharing software allows you to set upload speed limits. Do it. No offense, but this is exactly the kind of crap that ruins it for everybody. I'd have been pissed if all the sudden my link slows down because my HTTP GET can't get through due to 40 people downloading Gigli and Catwoman.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    17. Re:That is wierd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why can't the damn routers just implement traffic shaping? Never trust the client.

    18. Re:That is wierd by cozzano · · Score: 1

      Yes - they use spliters like that for the same reason as i posted before...

    19. Re:That is wierd by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1

      Damn!

      I thought *I* was a bandw... oh, wait. Nevermind.

      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    20. Re:That is wierd by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      "Limiting upload puts a cap on the amount of traffic a single rooted box can generate, when participating in DOS and DDOS attacks."

      A 2mbit link could saturate a T1 without breaking a sweat. It would not take many rooted boxes to take out even an oc3

      "The upload cap provides a disincentive from running potentially bandwidth hungry applications like videoconferencing, which require high throughput in both directions."

      Um 2 mbits is plenty of bandwidth for video conferenceng. What are you dplaning on doing sending HDTV over it?

      "The upload cap provides a disincentive for people to try to use multicast trees and bit-torrent-like applications, by which a user can generate a disproportionally large quantity of traffic from a single connection, by utilizing other user's idle connections."
      I thought the whole idea of bit-torrent was to spread the load. Seems like 2mbit would be plenty for that use.

      The limit will really only be a problem for.
      1. Slashdoted personal webservers.
      2. Warez and porn sites.
      3. maybe game servers.

      For most of what someone would want to do at home like run a small web, ftp, game, or chat server this would be fine. Even for a VPN, VoIP, or Video conferenceing to your office it would be pretty nice. What I would like to see is something like this for "small" companies to replace T1s which where I live cost $700 a month.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    21. Re:That is wierd by srvivn21 · · Score: 1
      No offense intended, but your comment on videoconferencing is a bit out of date. From http://www.twacomm.com/Info/ViaVideo.htm:

      Will ViaVideo support speeds below 64KBPS?

      Bandwidth requirements for business quality video begin at 64Kbps--with 128kbps being the most common minimum acceptable data rate for business quality video. ViaVideo does not support transmission below 64Kbps.


      You get VERY smooth conferences with just 384k of upload, and latency (even sattelite) has a suprisingly small effect on video quality.
    22. Re:That is wierd by mt+v2.7 · · Score: 1

      I think if people are uploading Gigli and Catwoman from you there's a bigger problem than a clogged pipe..

    23. Re:That is wierd by j1m+5n0w · · Score: 1
      A 2mbit link could saturate a T1 without breaking a sweat. It would not take many rooted boxes to take out even an oc3

      But, it will take 2.5 times more boxes to take out an oc3 if they have a 2 mbps cap instead of 5.

      Um 2 mbits is plenty of bandwidth for video conferenceng. What are you dplaning on doing sending HDTV over it?

      Sorry for the confusion, I was speaking generically about caps in general: a 768k/128k connection like I used to have wouldn't be that great for videoconferencing, but 2mbps would be more than reasonable. But, now that you mention it, hdtv (or at least near-dvd-quality) videoconferencing doesn't sound too bad (most DVDs have a bitrate of about 5-8 mbps, and that's with mediocre (compared to what a typical monitor can display) resolution and 24 fps, and non-realtime compression).

      thought the whole idea of bit-torrent was to spread the load. Seems like 2mbit would be plenty for that use.

      More is better.

      -jim

  7. Online ordering is currently unavailable. by Donoho · · Score: 1

    Our system is unable to determine if Verizon Fios Internet Service is available at your location.

    Please try again at a later time or call (888) 662-8275 Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-11 p.m. EST or Saturday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. EST to speak with a Verizon Online representative.

    What an Evil tease...

    1. Re:Online ordering is currently unavailable. by amigabill · · Score: 1

      Heh, at least you got an answer. All I got was

      Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application. :)

  8. /.'ed by OffTheLip · · Score: 3, Funny

    and my phone no longer works either. sigh.

    1. Re:/.'ed by Door-opening+Fascist · · Score: 1

      I doubt this will be a problem. I don't think it's clear, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're multiplexing IP and analog phone.

  9. Host a Webpage by OctaneZ · · Score: 4, Informative
    They don't say if they will be blocking ports but FAQ 11, "Can I host a Web page?" is answered as follows:
    Yes, Verizon Fios Internet Service includes 10 MB of personal Web space.

    I wouldn't hold my breath.
    1. Re:Host a Webpage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      that probably means "not from your home"... which i would take to mean that they do block those ports. besides... if you're hosting a webpage and it gets slashdotted, good luck calling anyone to congratulate yourself.

    2. Re:Host a Webpage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, yeah, because using your bandwidth means your phone doesn't work... Not everyone use VoIP.

    3. Re:Host a Webpage by treke · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well I can't speak for this service specifically, but I have Verizon DSL and they don't block any ports that I've noticed. Ports 25 and 80 are both open to the world at this moment. This is the Ventura California area, in case it varies by region. To bad anything over 1.5mbit is unstable on the wiring in my apartment.

    4. Re:Host a Webpage by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      But using your phone may mean your bandwidth doesn't work.

      In my old apartment, the DSL connection would be fubar for about 30-90 seconds after a phone call. Yes, we had filters on all the phones. No, we didn't have VoIP.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    5. Re:Host a Webpage by falcon9x · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I just got off of the phone with a Verizon rep and asked a few questions. He said that they do indeed block port 80, but mentioned that they do not block any other ports.

      Another downside, dynamic IP.

      Its PPPoE (haven't used PPPoE personally, but sounds like a hassle).

      He said that they are working on static IPs for business accounts.

    6. Re:Host a Webpage by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 1

      Check your TOS, I was on Verizon for about 2 years, and decided to run a server. Since I actually care about following the rules sometimes, I checked out the TOS and they specifically state that you are not allowed to run a server. So I switched to DSL Extreme and have been very happy with my little web/ftp/mail server ever since. Though, I think you are right that they don't block any ports.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    7. Re:Host a Webpage by Moloch666 · · Score: 1

      It could be faulty filters, internal wiring issue, faulty modem, too long of a phone cable from wall to modem, to name a few. Ugh, I'm glad I don't do DSL tech support. They'd end up sending a tech out, only to stick his fingers up his ass and claim there's nothing wrong.

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
    8. Re:Host a Webpage by treke · · Score: 1

      Well I don't actually run anything on there except for an sshd for access from work. I just checked it to see if they did block anything off. I more or less assume any ISP is going to disallow servers unless I have information to the contrary.

    9. Re:Host a Webpage by Malc · · Score: 1

      Personally I think all *big* ISPs should block this common ports. Most big ISPs attract less competent customers and these are the ones that cause all the problems on the internet with the worms. I chose a small ISP in my area and get to do as I please... well, except bring down their network or send spam.

    10. Re:Host a Webpage by Reece400 · · Score: 1

      My 512K/128K DSL ISP comes with 10MB of webspace... with a whole 25MB of bandwidth per month! When I read that I must've laughed for half an hour. On top of that I can only connect to my site through FTP (which is awsome,) that I can only connect to when I'm using thier connection so I can't upload files at school etc. (not awsome,,) All of the examples on thier website use screen shots of Netscape 4

      Reece,

    11. Re:Host a Webpage by xenoandroid · · Score: 1

      They do block ports for normal home DSL, at least in my area.

    12. Re:Host a Webpage by ibennetch · · Score: 1

      Interesting..it must vary by region because here in Pennsylvania we have port 80 blocked...I think 25 is also but haven't checked recently. Pretty much everything else is wide open, though. Maybe I should move to CA ;-)

    13. Re:Host a Webpage by tyrione · · Score: 1

      Everything you list is exactly why they won't make headways into small businesses.

      Clearly, they want to drive your business needs through their expensive line leases.

      End result: Nothing new, just a different face with the same predatorial business practices.

      The FCC needs to back off and let small ISPs reinvigorate the tech sector. Clearly, the large Telcos won't.

    14. Re:Host a Webpage by blackops · · Score: 1

      I don't understand :s If the customer is 'Hosting' a webpage, how does the Verizon Fios Internet Service create a personal web space on a customers machine and limit it to 10MB? The question and answer were really unrelated, Verizon obviously misunderstood the question as being "Can I host a web page on a Verizon server, which is not in my house and not on my fibre connection?" On the other hand, Verizons answer to "Can I host a web page on my own machine, in my house on the end of a Verizon fibre connection?" would still be unknown.

    15. Re:Host a Webpage by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      too long of a phone cable from wall to modem

      That was it.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  10. I work with a guy who has FTTP already by Kentamanos · · Score: 0

    A coworker here lives in Keller and has had the service for a while now (I want to say 3 weeks, maybe it's just been 2).

    1. Re:I work with a guy who has FTTP already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great, so how about you tell us about it?

    2. Re:I work with a guy who has FTTP already by Kentamanos · · Score: 1

      I guess my point is...

      Why is this just now a story? Did that page just come up today, and that's the story?

      I talked to him earlier and confirmed he's had it for 3 weeks.

  11. But it's download only! by YetAnotherName · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the summary:

    ... and reported 14,679 kbps download and 1,794 kbps download speeds.

    Sorry Verizon, but if I can't upload those HTTP GET requests, I don't need any of your one-way fibre. Talk about asymmetric!

    1. Re:But it's download only! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeh, and 1794 up is still 8 times faster than most US DSL/Cable subsribers.

      Gotta understand that the passive optical fiber network that Verizon is using only has a back channel of 155Mbit/sec that has to be shared with up to 32 subscribers.

  12. As a Verizon DSL Customer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    What I can tell you is this:

    When I started with DSL 5+ years ago, they allowed servers, and no ports were blocked. After a couple years, they blocked port 80 and changed the TOS to disallow servers. If servers aren't already disallowed, I imagine they will be eventually.

    1. Re:As a Verizon DSL Customer by Nermal6693 · · Score: 1

      Wow, I'm happy with my current ISP then! From their FAQ:

      Can I run my own webserver on my paradise.net High Speed service?

      You can run a webserver on a paradise.net cable or DSL connection. We provide a static IP for every cable connection and will provide one for a DSL connection on request.

  13. FTTP. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    FTP and HTTP were combined to form FTTP which gets rid of the shortcomings of both original protocols.

  14. why asymmertric? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Given that this is fiber, what possible technical reason can there be for offering asymetrical speeds? With fiber, I'd expect uploads to be as fast as downloads. Sounds like they want to make sure their customers act like good little consumers instead of possible publishers.

  15. Excellent work, Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You broke it.

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.

    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    1. Re:Excellent work, Slashdot by bettlebrox · · Score: 1

      It looks like they're using .NET. I get the same issues and almost the exact errors with Dell when they get Fatwallet-ed!

      --

      I have a very small mind and must live with it.
      -- E. Dijkstra

  16. bandwidth is great, but.. by Orestesx · · Score: 1

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.

    All the bandwidth in the world won't do you any good if your servers aren't up to snuff.

    1. Re:bandwidth is great, but.. by Proc6 · · Score: 1

      All the servers in the world won't do you any good if your c0d3rs are idiots. I've seen as many or more PHP MySQL taco's as I have .NET.

      --

      I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

  17. don't you mean.. by trybywrench · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement.

    don't you mean your mom's basement?

    --
    I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
    1. Re:don't you mean.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in the upstairs room at my parents. Anyays you could still run an irc,bt, kazaa, winmx, and your other favorites at once.

    2. Re:don't you mean.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > > I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement.

      > don't you mean your mom's basement?

      Hey! Mom already has a kitchen. Why can't the basement belong to him?

    3. Re:don't you mean.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Another stupid slashdot stereotype. Do you really believe that everybody on slashdot lives in their mom's basement?

      Not every house has a basement you know!

    4. Re:don't you mean.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I want to run an iroffer xdcc and a private ftp server. I am sick of low upload speed, it is hindering my mp3 trading. Not to mention bittorrent would scream and I could download the back episodes of tv shows my wife likes like arrested development and celebrity poker hoedown or whatever. I already run a small datacenter in the corner of my living room on cable modem, with 425 gigs online over 2 units.. I have contemplated getting a residential T1 before just to get some decent upstream bandwidth. As soon as this hits NYC I am on it !

  18. Nice ... .NET to the rescue by Tenareth · · Score: 1

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.

    Runtime Error

    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    --
    This sig is the express property of someone.
  19. hmm... by lingqi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am getting fiber to the premisis installed this week, and it's 100Mbps up/down for ~25 bux / month.

    I was complaining because VSL limits that to ~55Mbps.

    Being in Japan just put things into a dirrerent perspective, I guess. So here is to consumers of America (of whom I will become one again all too soon) - DEMAND MORE!! it's kind of weird when the post get so excited even though it... erm... relly slow.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

    1. Re:hmm... by russint · · Score: 1

      I'm using Bredbandsbolagets fibre connection. 10Mbit full duplex for about $55/month. 100Mbit is also availible for about $95/month, but it is limited to 300gb traffic each month, so I don't want it.

      Still doesn't feel like its enough though. I want that Japanese shit.

      --
      ^^
    2. Re:hmm... by achurch · · Score: 1

      Worth mentioning that that price only works if you live in an apartment and your apartment already has fiber installed (or if you can convince the owner to do so). The rest of us pay about $60/month.

    3. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      OMG JAPAN!
      *fap fap fap*

      /anonymous /. user

    4. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I am getting fiber to the premisis installed this week, and it's 100Mbps up/down for ~25 bux / month.

      I was complaining because VSL limits that to ~55Mbps.

      Being in Japan just put things into a dirrerent perspective, I guess. So here is to consumers of America (of whom I will become one again all too soon) - DEMAND MORE!! it's kind of weird when the post get so excited even though it... erm... relly slow."

      I live in a house that's 4400 SQ Ft (408 sq m). Large in Japan is half that.

      I'll take the 408 sq m and the piss-ass slow (3.0M/256K), expensive Comcast broadband.

    5. Re:hmm... by FyRE666 · · Score: 1

      Not that I'm jealous or anything with my puny 512kbps ADSL, but what the hell are you doing to need more than 300gb per month?!

    6. Re:hmm... by womby · · Score: 1

      taking into consideration that japanese people are more likely to want to visit japanese sites rather than american sites the US speeds are more than acceptable.

      when downloading using bittorrent I have hit 10MBytes a second on some very popular torrents, they finish very very quickly at those kinds of speeds.

      direct downloads, of course these depend on the originating servers, in japan I can on occasion hit 5+ Mbytes a second (ftp.jp.freebsd.org), from the US I can hit 2 megs on occasion but typically I will hit 500k to 1 meg.

      game servers, there is only one consideration when connecting to game servers, ping times, it doesnt matter if you have a 128k connection or a 1gig connetion, all that matters is ping. Ping times within japan are fast but there is a 90 - 100 ms penalty for a transpacific hop.

      the problem I am having right now is that my ISP only has 2 international links.
      one serves south america and asia (all via San Francisco)
      one servers the rest of the world (all via LA)

      the LA link has been buggered stupid for 3 weeks now, it is going into a cable and wireless hub that has been over allocated, connecting to anywhere in north america and europe has been abysmal for 3 weeks, though the last week has improved somewhat.

      --
      **** lying is wrong even for sleeping dogs
    7. Re:hmm... by darkmeridian · · Score: 1

      Hate to be annoying, but Japan really had an opportunity to start over when their systems were being built and rebuilt after WWII. The States have a lot of old crappy wire stuck there for ages and underground where they can't really be redone easily, etc. Also, Japan is a smaller place. Easier to do.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    8. Re:hmm... by russint · · Score: 1

      Warez, porn.

      --
      ^^
    9. Re:hmm... by n17ikh · · Score: 1

      Here I'm still on $15/month 300 hours a month dialsuck. No bandwidth caps or port blocking but that doesn't help much when max speed is 5 kB/s. If I wanted DSL I could pay $57.90/month for 768/128. Static IP addresses are an additional $25/month and installation is $95. Only the local phone company offers it. It's a blatant huge fucking ripoff and when you say demand more, I say we should.

      --
      Hard work pays off tomorrow, but procrastination pays off NOW!
    10. Re:hmm... by laird · · Score: 1

      "Japan really had an opportunity to start over when their systems were being built and rebuilt after WWII"

      I'd look at it a bit differently. In Japan, they had minimal infrastructure in place after the war, so they had no choice but to build a new, clean system. In the US, the telco's could have done the same thing, but instead they decided that they'd rather waste billions of dollars trying to find a use for the copper wires and switches that they'd already paid for. It turns out, of course, that it would have been cheaper for them to have simply written off the old copper network and deployed fiber (which some new telco's have done, and are doing very well vs. the old telco's once you factor in the dinosoaur's legislative maneuverings), and the end result would have been a much lower cost, higher performance network. Oops! We'd have been better off if the telco management hadn't had the option of being short sighted.

    11. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you experience any problems of that sort with fiber in Japan, or have they managed to lay phat transatlantic pipes to support the vastly increased local bandwidth?

      Hmmmm...don't you just think that Japanese internet users would see better throughput from a trans-PACIFIC cable?

    12. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah but I can park my car for free free and drive it for $2 a gallon. That and I can go out back on my farm and fire my shotgun whenever I want and my neighbor who lives a half mile down the road doesn't care. You can keep your damned 100mpbs crap, my 14.4 is good enough for me, but I guess if all you do is download tentacle porn you need all that extra juice.

  20. cable tv over verizon fiber by DARKFORCE123 · · Score: 0

    Whats even more interesting is this:

    http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/general/200 4/10/26/generalprimemedia_2004_10_26_eng-primemedi a_eng-primemedia_113013_9170893455375305453.html?p artner=yahoo&referrer=

    Looks like Verizon also wants to put cable TV over the same fiber. When will Verizon be able then to offer cable TV as well ?

    1. Re:cable tv over verizon fiber by Tongo · · Score: 1

      So what's the big deal. The phone/ISP/Computer company I work for has been offering fiber for over a year and a half. Next spring we will be offering TV over the fiber. We already have a prliminary channel line up. I live in central Washingto FWIW.

  21. WTF!? by clambake · · Score: 3, Interesting

    $39.95 for 5MB/2MB, $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB

    In Tokyo (my home nw) that's DSL rates! Fibre STARTS at 100MBps! WTF?

    1. Re:WTF!? by clambake · · Score: 1

      doh, misread, it's not FTTH, it's FTTP...

    2. Re:WTF!? by MourningBlade · · Score: 1

      Infrastructure costs, length of runs, costs of right-of-way, etc.

      In Tokyo, how many feet of fiber do you pay for? ie take all the fiber all the way to the NOC, divide each run by the number of customers on it - all the way out to you. I'll bet you pay for around 10 feet. Maybe 30. Actual number doesn't matter, really, just be assured that it's several orders of magnitude higher in Kellar, TX.

    3. Re:WTF!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, Tokyo is much more densely populated then the US/Canada (Is this available in Canada?). I would assume that makes most of the difference (You lucky bastard :-)).

    4. Re:WTF!? by arbi · · Score: 2, Informative

      Same here in Hong Kong with DSL. We get symmetrical 10mbps/10mbps for about $20USD/month.

      http://www.hgc.com.hk/eng/res_net_bb_hgcbb.html
      (1 USD = 7.8 HKD)

    5. Re:WTF!? by womby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Tokyo is only 25 to 30 percent more densely populated than New York City, so though cable cost might be orders of magnitude higher in Kellar, TX I am sure residents of NY would be happy to pay $30 instead of the $20 I pay (a whole 50% increase, let the profits roll)

      --
      **** lying is wrong even for sleeping dogs
    6. Re:WTF!? by MyDixieWrecked · · Score: 1

      I was just in tokyo for vacation 2 weeks ago and the DSL I dabbled with there was crazy-fast. I was uploading pictures from my digital camera to my website at around 600K/sec, which was incredible. I was talking to a friend of mine there who has DSL and she said that speed was normal.

      I wanna move to tokyo.

      --



      ...spike
      Ewwwwww, coconut...
    7. Re:WTF!? by MourningBlade · · Score: 1

      NYC has the problem of onerous regulation, and cronyism. Only group that would be allowed to run the fiber would be a major political power in NYC. IIRC, the Tokyo fiber movement was part of their "modernisation of communication" (or whatever they called it) plan, thus there was a limit on the price that could be charged.

      In NYC, the fiber would be viewed as "for the rich." I mean, this is the same city that has serious housing problems at least partly caused by rent control.

      Sigh...but if any city had the right layout for fiber-to-home, it would be NYC.

    8. Re:WTF!? by womby · · Score: 1

      It is depressing to know that when I leave Japan there will have been zero progress back home, the leap from half meg adsl to 12 meg and then to 100 megs fibre has changed the way I use the internet and how I use my connection to offer services to friends and family. dropping back to ADSL 512/128 kb will mean I loose my website, forum, mail server and blog.

      The fact that Japans governmental control of its largest telecoms provider has allowed hundreds of small business to offer internet services just by forcing the barrier to entry so low. who would have ever though that such a wasteful bureaucratic monster could get this so right when so many others have done so badly.

      --
      **** lying is wrong even for sleeping dogs
    9. Re:WTF!? by Choron · · Score: 1

      Amen, dude. Same problem for me, except that I'll be back to Europe, some day in the future. Japan is the place to be for geeks, great communication infrastructure, always best and newest gadgets, man it will suck to get back in time...

      --
      "Naughty, naughty, naughty, you filthy old soomka !"
    10. Re:WTF!? by NardofDoom · · Score: 1
      Yes, but in Hong Kong your elections are rigged by single ruling party.

      In America we have two ruling parties that rig elections!

      Smells like freedom.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    11. Re:WTF!? by elandal · · Score: 1

      Depending on where in Europe you're moving back, the step down might not be THAT drastic. At least Sweden has 10 & 100Mbps connections, and Finland has 10Mbps (not everywhere, but I doubt trees need it - maybe the bears would).
      Still, now that I've had 10Mbps (symmetric, ethernet) for three years, I've come to yearn for more.. 100Mbps would be nice.

  22. Ultra fast broadband for cheap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... fastest ... slashdotting ... ever ... !

  23. skeptical by vijayiyer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I live in Huntington Beach, one of the first places this is rolling out. That said, I'm going to be content with my 3Mb/768k DSL until I'm sure there aren't any ridiculous "for entertainment only" policies on Verizon's books. My current ISP (SurfCity DSL) doesn't block ports, sells me a static IP for a small fee, and even sells IP address blocks for reasonable (~$20/mo) fees. Having all the bandwidth in the world is practically useless with a dynamic IP and having the major ports blocked.

    1. Re:skeptical by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 1

      I'm in HB also, right on the edge next to Westminster.

      Anyone living here know what areas have it? They havn't got to me yet :(

    2. Re:skeptical by pio!pio! · · Score: 1

      Hey I also use Surfcity!I had a 1.5/384 static ip for 40 a month and moved to a 3/768 dynamic ip for 45 amonth..but the kicker here is that they forgot to modify my account so I still have a static ip...when the change happened I switched my router to dynamic and I got no internet service! I had to remain on static to get it..woot!

      Now if Surfcity would be the ISP over Verizon's FTTP network that would kick all kinds of booty

    3. Re:skeptical by CyberVenom · · Score: 1

      Speaking of SurfCity, they will be providing fiber service over Verizon's hardware as soon as Verizon gets around to actually installing said hardware. Just ask Rosemary. :-) (I'm a SurfCity customer too, unfortunately I don't live in any of the fiber roll-out areas and my current apartment wiring is barely dealing with 768/128...)

    4. Re:skeptical by rhyno46 · · Score: 1, Informative

      You should try dyndns.org. They make dynamic IPs usable.

    5. Re:skeptical by entrigant · · Score: 1

      Everyone and their mother knows this, and there're reasons why many of them don't want to use it. It's like "fixing" lack of IP's with NAT, closing a security hole by disabling a feature, running your web server in port 8080 because 80 is blocked, or any of the hundreds of other of little hacks you are forced to do because of stupidity. Some of us just want a REAL domain. Some of us want our IP to resolv into that name as well. If that is vain then so be it. I'm sick of my domain names ending up being 15xf.7uh65.4fh.block21.net45.7892.someretardedisp. com.

  24. Have had this for years in Sacramento... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have had 10MB bi-directional (actually 100MB rate-limited to 10MB) FTTH for years in Sacramento through WINFirst (now Surewest, unfortunately).

    Works great, just long haul fiber to the side of the house into a simple converter with a 100BaseT jack that goes to an "Ethernet Gateway" with both 100BaseT and phone jacks on it. TV also provided but using separate hardware.

    Glad to see this coming to the rest of the country. Now everyone and their mother can have their virus-infected Windows boxes launching truly crippling DDoS attacks and devaluing the colocation market by running third-rate datacenters in the hall closet. Yay.

  25. Google cache of the Info page: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  26. 6 meg DSL by BrookHarty · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can't get Verizon to fix my 6 meg dsl, since DSL isn't supported, only voice lines are. Lucky Speakeasy isnt charging me the 99 dollars a month because I cant use the service.

    I'm close to the CO, but something is wrong with the burried wire, and Verizon wont help me locate the issue. They tested the house, Covad did testing, thought the DSLAM was bad because it was bouncing, tested my PID, but everything looks fine. Just 3-6 times a day, the line drops and reconnects, all freaking burried wire too.

    I'd kill for 5/2meg for 40 bux a month, 99 for 6/768 DSL that doesnt work is major suckage. Lucky comcast has 3/256, so im not bandwidth less, I just can't host any of my domains.

    Verizon has such bad policies on support on copper, fibre must be a god send to customers needing support... Could even switch to VoIP too.

    I'd even shut down my vanity domain Fuck Verizon if they fixed my DSL! Currently I have it re-directed to verizon eats poop...

    1. Re:6 meg DSL by Phosphor3k · · Score: 1

      Incdiently, I had the same problem pop up after 2 years of DSL service. Nothing changed inside or outside the house to my knowledge when the issue started. A verizon tech I knew was dispatched to attempt to fix the issue. After scratching his head for a few hours, he ran a home run from my tele box to the modem, and the issue went away. Never figured out why the line quality in the house spontaneously dropped after 2 years of no issues.

    2. Re:6 meg DSL by Bombcar · · Score: 1

      Had a similar problem caused by a wire tester on the line just inside the junction box. It would cause my DSL to drop every time the phone rang.

  27. I don't have a home phone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ok, here's a question:

    they need your phone number to determine if fttp is available in your area. I don't have a land line--only a cell phone... suggestions?

    1. Re:I don't have a home phone. by adzoox · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your cell phone is still registered your residence - besides you can just give them a neighbor's phone #.

      --
      Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
    2. Re:I don't have a home phone. by nuclear305 · · Score: 2, Informative

      " ok, here's a question:

      they need your phone number to determine if fttp is available in your area. I don't have a land line--only a cell phone... suggestions?"


      Use the # of a neighbor or nearby business. There isn't going to be much of a difference if you use a number from a building across the street or nearby location unless you happen to be on the edge of some kind of service area.

    3. Re:I don't have a home phone. by eap · · Score: 1
      Use the # of a neighbor or nearby business. There isn't going to be much of a difference if you use a number from a building across the street or nearby location unless you happen to be on the edge of some kind of service area.

      Actually it's hard to know where service for one Central Office begins and another ends unless you have the land line number for that location.

      One apartment complex I looked at had all units on the first floor serviced by one CO and the second floor was a completely different CO. Made it so the residents on the second floor didn't qualify for DSL but those on the first floor did.

    4. Re:I don't have a home phone. by rent-a-zilla · · Score: 1

      enter your neighbors phone number, or if you don't have neighbors/don't know their phone number how about a number of someone in the area

    5. Re:I don't have a home phone. by raju1kabir · · Score: 1
      Your cell phone is still registered your residence - besides you can just give them a neighbor's phone #.

      Oh, can you? From the FAQ on Verizon's site:

      Q. My neighbor has Verizon Fios Internet Service, but my phone line doesn't qualify. Why?
      A. Verizon Fios Internet Service availability is determined based on your individual address, not by your telephone number. Therefore, changing telephone numbers or your neighbor's telephone number(s) cannot guarantee your address is eligible for FiosSM Internet Service.
      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    6. Re:I don't have a home phone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you call ... they will tell you this only is applicable if you are near a county or city line or your neighbor is more than 100 yards away.

  28. porn by mekanizer · · Score: 1

    14,679 kbps download, damn, now that's some porn!

  29. And the best part? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    MSN® Premium Internet Software

    Awww yeah!

    1. Re:And the best part? by peeon · · Score: 1

      MSN Premium comes with a mlb.tv 9.95 subscription. Most of the movies can be played on mozilla using the realplayer plugin. So it isnt half that bad cuz I subscribed just for the baseball and i get local games too even tho they are not allowed.

  30. Maybe they should run their webserver on FIOS by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

    Because then at least couldn't blame the bandwidth problem for their IIS issues.

    https://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome/Channels/F io s/ErrorPageHSI.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/FiosForHome/cha nnels/OrderFios/olo_addtodb_futurenotification.asp x

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    1. Re:Maybe they should run their webserver on FIOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha! addtodb_futurenotifications.aspx

      In other words, putting in your number and checking means when it DOES become available in your area, they'll call you incessantly.

  31. But do you want to deal with their tech support? by AnalogDog · · Score: 1

    I just spent about 3 hours on the phone with Verizon Tech Spport today. All that is required is to get my little 10Mb "Personal Web Space" working. It took that amount of time, 2 lost connections to tech support, one discussion with the Customer Advocacy folks, to finally get it up to Engineering. And they are supposed to fix the problem in 48 hours. Its probably just a permissions issue. Verizon? Blech!

  32. You slashdotted verizon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you evil geeks

  33. You Bastards by cranos · · Score: 1

    Okay for all of you people with the obscene ADSL/DSL connections all I can say is "You Bastards". Try living in Australia and having to pay out a minimum $80 a month for 1500/256 connection.

    Mutter mutter grumble grumble

    1. Re:You Bastards by Carnildo · · Score: 1

      Lucky! The only DSL available in this part of the United States is 768/256 for US$79.99, and because of some wiring decisions made about 15 years ago, the only DSL available at my apartment (in the heart of downtown, no less!) is 144/144 for US$150.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  34. It's Mb, not MB by Patik · · Score: 1

    The first plan is 5Mbps/2Mbps with a lower case b. That means 625KB/s down, 250KB/s up.

    1. Re:It's Mb, not MB by Carnildo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's still faster than the fastest cable available around here (3Mbps/256Kbps) and much faster than the fastest DSL (768Kbps/256Kbps). It's also about a third the cost of DSL and half the cost of cable.

      I just wish they were offering it here.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  35. The spammers will be pleased by codepunk · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Man can you even imagine how fast those trojaned windows boxes on fiber are going to be able to throw spam at the world.? Hell I bet it will only take 10 seconds vs the normal 20 seconds for a windows machine to be exploited.

    --


    Got Code?
  36. verizon sucks by loonicks · · Score: 1

    I hate to put up flamebait how such and such just plain sucks, but this is an exception. Verizon sucks. It's too bad they're pretty much the cheapest around here and the only broadband provider where I live. I'm using a subsidiary of Verizon called VerizonAvenue, which is focused on apartment communities. We have a DSLAM on site and connect directly to it. Nice that we don't need a land line, however the service is just plain awful. This might be a faster service but don't count on it making you much happier, the company behind it is terrible. The horror stories are out there to prove it.

    1. Re:verizon sucks by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      I tend to agree, just from what I've heard anecdotally. I've never used any Verizon services (mostly because of what I've heard, anecdotally.)

      I have Comcast providing my home service (4 mb/sec down, 256 up) and while the upstream cap sucks black holes I have to admit that it pretty much performs as advertised. Of course, their phone support could use some work but the service itself works well.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    2. Re:verizon sucks by loonicks · · Score: 1

      I have also used both RCN and Comcast cable with great success.

  37. Just like Verizon. by SQLz · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I go to the page:

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.
    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>

  38. America's too big! by Orestesx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Smaller countries such as Japan and Korea can more easily change their network infrastructure (see cell phones, broadband, etc.) We should compare America's network infrastructure to Russia or China or heck even Australia. Comparing it to a much smaller country (in both square footage and population) will not lead to any meaningful conclusions.

    1. Re:America's too big! by Norgus · · Score: 2, Informative
      Although this logic is great, the guys who make decisions in the UK must just not see it that way...

      I mean its about £30/month for a plain 1 Mbit cable connection. *curses*

    2. Re:America's too big! by aldoman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Don't worry. The UK has been focussing too much on getting DSL everywhere (99.5% of the country can get it at the last count). I'm sure now that BT have nearly finished using govt money for putting ADSL everywhere, they can get to start on fiber.

      Also, it doesn't help that BT's main rivals (NTL and Telewest) - or should that be only rivals -- have been in bankruptcy protection for the last 3-4 years...

    3. Re:America's too big! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Australia is a reasonable comparison, but Russia and China are practically third world countries these days. And if the area covered by the network infrastructure is the problem, why don't places like New York City and LA already have Japan-class bandwidth?

    4. Re:America's too big! by womby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What about breaking it down to areas that are of similar size.

      The most densely populated city in Japan is Tokyo. 8 million people in 630 square kilometres (13,000 per k2)

      The most densely populated city in the US is New York. 8 million people in 830 square kilometres (10,000 per k2)

      The most densely populated city in the world is Seoul. 10 million people in 615 square kilometres (17,000 per k2)

      In Tokyo we have 100% ADSL availability offering 40 mbits down
      there is also limited (~10%) FTTP availability offering 100 mbits

      Why is there not even one company attempting to offer something similar in New York, Korea has near 100% availability of dsl and cable yet they too are limited to US like services.

      The real reason we have insane connection bandwidth in Japan is because the telecoms monopoly is restricted from price gouging, they must lease there cables at a flat rate irrespective of the amount of data that flows over them.

      When I had an ADSL connection I would pay $20 a month to NTT for the ADSL connection, then my ISP could push as much or as little data over that connection as they wished.

      Now I have a Fibre connection, I pay $40 a month for the wire, I actually pay $70 a month to my ISP but I get a static IP range and national wireless coverage too over the AirH network.

      The reason Japan has stupid fast internet connections, and the second highest broadband penetration in the world? Competition, who would have thought of it.

      --
      **** lying is wrong even for sleeping dogs
    5. Re:America's too big! by fairlane32 · · Score: 1

      Only reason I can say why NY isn't there is because of 9/11? Huge data centers were destroyed and were mostly housed in that area of the city? Not sure though.

    6. Re:America's too big! by rkelly · · Score: 1

      The most densely populated city in Japan is Tokyo. 8 million people in 630 square kilometres (13,000 per k2)

      The most densely populated city in the US is New York. 8 million people in 830 square kilometres (10,000 per k2)

      The most densely populated city in the world is Seoul. 10 million people in 615 square kilometres (17,000 per k2)

      In Tokyo we have 100% ADSL availability offering 40 mbits down
      there is also limited (~10%) FTTP availability offering 100 mbits

      I own 35 acres in Costilla County, Colorado

      I don't think there will be fiber there in the
      near future.

      Area: 1227 square miles
      persons per square mile: 3.0

      Looks like I'll be getting a satellite link.

    7. Re:America's too big! by Orestesx · · Score: 1

      Ok, I see your point about the population density but I don't really understand what you are saying about price competition. First you say "the telecoms monopoly is restricted from price gouging" then you say "Competition, who would have thought of it." Which is it? Is there a telco monopoly that is regulated by the government or is there many companies resulting in competition? I am not disagreeing with you I would just like a little clarification. In America, we are taught that competition always results in the best possible sitiuation for the consumer, but there are exceptions. Please clarify.

    8. Re:America's too big! by Orestesx · · Score: 1

      I don't know why this was modded as troll, I guess I should be more careful when choosing my subject...

    9. Re:America's too big! by womby · · Score: 1

      of course, a clarification.

      the telecoms company (there are multiple but only NTT is regulated) own and manage the wires. It is required to provide 100% availability and not introduce artificial price differentials, in return the government gave financial aid in creating the network.

      A wire is just a wire, there is no technical reason why you should pay more to the phone company for transferring 40 megabits down the wire instead of 2. so NTT offer there connections at a flat rate. adsl is $20, fibre is $40. (there are a variety of connection methods on offer but we dont need to list them all)

      So I have my wire, to connect to the internet itself though I then have to subscribe to an access provider, this is where the regulation has created competition. The ISPs are not regulated in any way they can offer any speed or combination of services they wish to differentiate there service, and bill for them in any way they wish, what they don't have to do is deal with the phone company restricting them.

      In the UK, because that is where my non Japanese experience is, British Telecom bill the ISP for the connection and then the ISP passes those charges on to the customer.
      a 512k connection costs the isp £12.50 a month
      a 1meg connection costs £35 a month
      and a 2meg costs an insane £90+ a month.
      If an isp wishes to offer a 2 meg connection in japan, they just configure there equipment to 2 megs for that subscriber, in England they have to bill the customer an additional £90 a month to pass on to BT.

      hope that makes the distinction clearer, with the phone and fibre lines being a natural monopoly regulations are in place to protect the customer from gouging, ISPs on the other hand are in no way a monopoly and because the barriers to entry are so low, more competition than you could imagine.

      As a cultural observation, companies in japan are not used to real competition in the market place, with collusion and oligopolies the norm it normally takes a high profile upstart with deep pockets to reset the balance.
      Just over 2 years ago softbank (who run the Yahoo franchise in Japan) stepped into the ISP business with a vengeance, almost halving the current access charges, the complete implosion of the ISP market was predicted but as we can see from the increases in bandwidth offerings and services it didn't, ADSL has gone from 8megs to 40 megs and 1Gig over fibre is happening right now.

      --
      **** lying is wrong even for sleeping dogs
    10. Re:America's too big! by kermit6306 · · Score: 1

      9/11 doesn't have much to do with it.
      Factors:
      NYC's infrastructure is older.
      It's very expensive to do stuff like this in NYC.
      Demand is less.
      Older cities have trouble adding/changing/etc. technology. LA got their subway system up in 15 years. Adding one new like to the east side of Manhattan is like a 30-40 year plan.)

  39. Random errors, assume slashdotting. by John+Courtland · · Score: 1

    Maybe they should hook themselves up first?

    --
    Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
  40. That's a widely disparate range of speeds... or by karmaflux · · Score: 2, Funny

    14,679 kbps download and 1,794 kbps download speeds.

    Since the editors don't edit, I hereby declare 1,794kbps download speed and 14,679 upstream!

    --

    REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.

    1. Re:That's a widely disparate range of speeds... or by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 1

      Yup, those are the speeds measured on Verizon's side.

  41. You know it's from the phone company... by FuzzyDaddy · · Score: 1
    An additional Verizon Online monthly Supplier FUSF recovery fee applies and will be added to your monthly bill. Applicable taxes apply.

    Translation: we'll actually charge you more, but we're not going to tell you how much.

    --
    It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
  42. Two things by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No word yet on whether Verizon will block ports (25, 80, etc) for incoming or outgoing traffic; with 2MB upload, I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement.

    First of all you can use any service you want listening on any port you want. Data in your /etc/services file are only default ports, not mandatory ones. For example, you might run smtp server on port 80 and http on port 25 and they would complete the tcp three-way handshake just fine. If you have ever seen a web url in the form of proto://host:port then you know what am I talking about.

    Second of all, there are other important factors of Internet connection than only throughput. For certain tasks other factors may be in fact much more important, from which responsiveness, min/avg/max icmp round-trip, full duplex support, underlying protocol, mean time between failures, uptime and responsiveness are only a few.

    Generally, when you want a good data center you have to learn to look at other factors than raw throughput when choosing an Internet connection, just like you have to learn to look at other factors than clock speed when buying a server for said data center.

    Besides, what does the "2MB upload" mean? Two megabytes per second? Including or excluding data parity bits? Synch bits? Tcp headers? Data integrity checksum overhead? Networking is a difficult craft. There is a long way before you will "run a small data center in my basement" just as easily as you imagine, if it is ever possible at all.

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
    1. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two things. 1) Using non-standard ports will break lots of things. People won't deliver mail to you because they cannot figure out which port to use, and a number of people behind firewalls will be unable to see your non-80 port webservers. 2) It's 2mbps with a small b, as in bits.

      Michael

    2. Re:Two things by elwing · · Score: 1
      First of all you can use any service you want listening on any port you want. Data in your /etc/services file are only default ports, not mandatory ones. For example, you might run smtp server on port 80 and http on port 25 and they would complete the tcp three-way handshake just fine. If you have ever seen a web url in the form of proto://host:port then you know what am I talking about.

      Except the fact that every *other* mail server in the world that might want to talk to me is looking for me on port 25.

    3. Re:Two things by lidocaineus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For example, you might run smtp server on port 80 and http on port 25 and they would complete the tcp three-way handshake just fine.

      That would work if you ran a server destined to never offer serivces to even a small group of people, but for normal, practical usage, it's... well, useless. Sure, you can append port numbers to your protocol directives, but it'll never be an ubiquitous internet side in the least. You can't accept SMTP traffic unless it's been directly MX'd from a "normal" server, you can't even bounce port 80 requests to the proper port since presumbly, you moved it OFF port 80 to prevent random connections or avoid upstream blocks. Port shuffling is usually considered poor design and the worst example (if used in this fashion) of security/obscurity

    4. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dudes talking about running some servers in his basement and you spout off with some recent cert class homework you've had about exactly what is bandwidth and a recite a page out of an industy rag about how to choose a datacenter for an enterprise. You are an idiot and no one is impressed. All that was missing from your post was a Mensa reference.

    5. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i don't like you're handle. it smells like anus poop. and i think your a troll. anus. i like to scratch my anus. gently. anus. anus.

    6. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how do these things get modded informative? every time /. has an article related to networking there are a fair number of posts by people with very little understanding modded up by those with even less

    7. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not true. See this post.

    8. Re:Two things by homerskid · · Score: 1

      Uhh, wrong jackass...
      And what kind of a name is Panty Hose anyways?
      If you really had a PHD, I doubt you'd be dumb enough to believe that.

      "Shirley you can't be serious"

    9. Re:Two things by raju1kabir · · Score: 1
      No word yet on whether Verizon will block ports (25, 80, etc) for incoming or outgoing traffic; with 2MB upload, I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement.
      First of all you can use any service you want listening on any port you want. Data in your /etc/services file are only default ports, not mandatory ones. For example, you might run smtp server on port 80 and http on port 25 and they would complete the tcp three-way handshake just fine. If you have ever seen a web url in the form of proto://host:port then you know what am I talking about.

      Yeah, that's going to be one awesome data center. "Uh, yeah, we do web hosting. Only thing is that every URL will have an extra port number in it. But that's really high-tech; your visitors will think you're super-cool. And the mail service, um, well, people can't actually send mail to us directly because it's on a nonstandard port, but if you pay extra to another data center they can forward it to this one."

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    10. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Besides, what does the "2MB upload" mean? Two megabytes per second?

      Well, I imagine it means 2 Megabytes per second, including any and all bits that are indeed sent upstream. Unless you know of a provider that can magically send the headers, synch bits, etc upstream without using any bandwidth at all.

    11. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I imagine it means 2 Megabytes per second, including any and all bits that are indeed sent upstream. Unless you know of a provider that can magically send the headers, synch bits, etc upstream without using any bandwidth at all.

      I don't think that was the point. When you have a connection it can use for example EoPPP with it's own headers and overhead. It has to have it's own layer of data correction below IP, or otherwise there would be a lot of redundant TCP traffic to correct the errors costing the ISP more backbone bandwidth. Do you understand how the OSI layer work? Right now when you read this page you use HTTP over TCP over IP over [...] over photons or electrons transport medium. There is a lot going on in "[...]" and on each level there is some considerable overhead. You seem to naively think that there is nothing below IP. Nothing more wrong. This is kind of like a Compact Disc where there are well over a gigabyte in bits pressed/burned but the actual data on CD-ROM is 650MB. But in fact much more on an audio CD. Just multiply 44100 samples per second * 2 stereo channels * 2 bytes of every channel 16-bit sample * 60 seconds per minute * 74 minutes per CD and you'll get almost 800 instead of 650 megabytes of data, out of which 150MB is used for redundant error detection and correction for data CD-ROM, but there are another two levels of such redundancy (e.g. CIDR) below that which is also present in audio CD. Some manufacturers deliberately confuse those two modes and sell 800MB CD-R which can store not much more than 74 minutes and 650MB of data, and even that not including the filesystem overhead. Also what is a megabyte? 1000 kilobytes or 1024 kilobytes? What is kilobyte? 1000 bytes or 1024 bytes? You know how hard disk manufacturers abuse that. So is a megabyte per second 1000 * 1000 bytes or 1024 * 1024 bytes? Or maybe a mix of 1000 and 1024 like in the case of floppies where we have 1.44MB floppies having 1.44 * 1024 * 1000 bytes? This is not so clear as you might think.

    12. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had FIOS for about a month now. To fill in the blanks...

      Port 80 inbound, and port 25 outbound is blocked. I use Dyndns port redirector to get around the port 80 block (server runs on 8080) and use postfix SASL to authenticate to verizon's email server to do outgoing mail.

      Incoming mail is not a problem since port 25 inbound is not blocked.

      It is 2Mbit/sec. Works out to roughly 218K/sec in my tests.

    13. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Port 80 inbound, and port 25 outbound is blocked.

      How can you send any mail with outbound port 25 blocked, even if you don't want to have a server? Does your ISP allow only web-mail?

    14. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      > > For example, you might run smtp server on port 80 and http on port 25 and they would complete the tcp three-way handshake just fine.

      > That would work if you ran a server destined to never offer serivces to even a small group of people, but for normal, practical usage, it's... well, useless.

      Do you experience any problems when clicking for example this link? Google shows this exact link when you search for Unlambda, or even hit I Feel Lucky and get automatically redirected. Is that URL really "useless" for you?

      > You can't accept SMTP traffic unless it's been directly MX'd from a "normal" server, you can't even bounce port 80 requests to the proper port since presumbly, you moved it OFF port 80 to prevent random connections or avoid upstream blocks.

      I read grandparent as an example of switching www/mail ports but the original poster was trying to build a data center, not a mail server which is about the easiest thing to have off-site, even using the exact same domain as your on-site webserver, because in DNS system, MX can be different than A record.

    15. Re:Two things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You miss the point. If you add port numbers to urls, you are at best lowering your exposure to the internet community, and at worst, making you difficult to find. You are also moving beyond standards for no good reason, which is a huge problem in and of itself. If you do not wish to be a part of the community, fine, but don't try and confuse people with erroneous and non-standard procedures... and yes, a few numbers after a url is VERY CONFUSING to most people out there.

      So yes, that link is useless.

      As to your last paragraph, well, it doesn't make much sense. Of course MX records can be different from A records. And the grandparent was talking about building a data center off the BLOCKED PORT ISP (hypothetical), and the mail server was another HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE. Please read carefully.

  43. Fuck it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am SO moving to Japan after I get out of school.

    You are really cool.

    1. Re:Fuck it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please don't. Japan is full of idiot foreigners. Unlike the hard-drinking idiot foreigners of yesterday, the new idiot foreigners have a bizarre fascination with children's cartoons, for some reason. Fortunately, Japan's strict visa policy ensures a rapid turnover.

  44. faster spam by zenst · · Score: 1

    Cool, I'll get all my spam quicker now.

  45. New? by iyliki · · Score: 1

    Oh well. 10mbit both ways fiber has been not so unusual in sweden for the last years. With 100mbit comming, or already there. And without restriction that is to. For about $30 a month. The drawback is it's only available for the ones living in the lucky buildings, but it's quite widespread.

    1. Re:New? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Well, that's why they invented wireless mesh networking, I guess.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  46. Mb, not MB by kagelump · · Score: 1

    i think you're off by quite a bit
    according to the site, its 15Mbs for $50, not 15MB
    thats the difference of 120Mbs to 15Mbs (quite a bit...)
    but then... who knows how to abbriviate things nowadays..

  47. Yawn by chrome · · Score: 1

    Japan has had FTTH (Fiber To The Home) for years. and they don't limit the speed. Its 100Mbit all the way baby.

    Why is it that when the rest of the world catches up, its always limited?

    1. Re:Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cause Japan is 25+ million people living within a much more limited set of square kilometers, meaning that selling density is orders of magnatude higher than in the US, meaning that capital investment in switching equipment and line upgrades is more cost effective?

      Or maybe you're just personally cursed to live in such an ungodly unfair world that you can't get your internet porn at LAN speed rates since leaving college?

    2. Re:Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The rest of the world has employers that make 10,000x what their employees do?

    3. Re:Yawn by chrome · · Score: 1

      Not really, I live in Japan ;)

      But yeah, density has something to do with it ...

  48. Verizon Video Services by ffejie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just submitted this story to /., I'm assuming it doesn't get listed.

    Verizon and Motorola announce deal

    Basically, they are using Motorola set top boxes to deliver video feeds off of their Fiber. I would expect it soon.

    --
    Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
    1. Re:Verizon Video Services by ispland · · Score: 1

      Recent stories in the local newspaper here in Tampa quote Verizon officials as saying that Cable TV services will be offered as soon as a satisfactory cable franchise agreement can be completed with the city.

      Based on comments from industry insiders, I expect a halfway decent basic offerering to compete with the local incumbent (Bright House Networks, nee Time Warner Cable), with a heavy emphasis on premium services, pay per view and view on demand.

      --
      What would Groucho do?
    2. Re:Verizon Video Services by bofkentucky · · Score: 1

      We have been doing video over ADSL for over 3 years now, it rocks. Basically you do OC-x connection every 20000' to a remote and feed the home phone, dsl, and 2 (or more) streams of video from it. All from a podunk rural co-op phone company.

      --
      09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
  49. Already got 10Mbps down/up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I have a Surewest fiber connection, rated at 10Mbps down *and* up, for $50/month. It's not usually that fast, though I do get 6Mbps down and 8Mbps up pretty regularly, and have gotten 14Mbps up before. I use it for work (at home), so I wouldn't know how well it supports servers and such. Check it out!

    Mod yourself +1 envious!

  50. To quote Hellboy ... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

    "It's gonna take some heavy fiber to move that out."

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    1. Re:To quote Hellboy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that fiber is lighter then the copper equivelent.

  51. Toll-free Slashdotting by linuxwrangler · · Score: 1

    I called the toll-free number and the guy was stumped. He said that it is currently available in a couple areas to Verizon employees only.

    He said they weren't selling it yet and he didn't even have pricing info so I helped him out and quoted the web page pricing to him.

    He seemed confused by the fact that he had just gotten several calls about this new service. Apparently I'm not the only one who called after their web site repeatedly crashed. :)

    --

    ~~~~~~~
    "You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
    1. Re:Toll-free Slashdotting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just tried calling, and the woman answering sounded quite tired, probably from taking the same question over and over again. I was forwarded to another person, and found out that it isn't available in my area. I live in the Seattle, WA area, and the guy on the phone said that the service isn't even covered in Washington State. :(

  52. Ordering page overloaded but... by nolife · · Score: 1

    Ordering page is overloaded but I can assume what the reposnse for my phone number will be:

    "Sorry, it is not currently in your area but we will be servicing your neighborhood very soon."

    Funny thing is exactly what I've been hearing monthly from Verizon since 1998 when I first started trying to get DSL service from them. Even phone calls are greeted with the same response. I'm sure they have more updated area deployment estimates that are more accurate then 6 years.

    --
    Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
  53. FIOS loop qual for South Texas by TheHawke · · Score: 1

    Their website was slashdotted, so i gave them a call to see. Took 5 mins to find out that the qualification was inconclusive. That would mean one of two things: Their testing gear was broke, their software was on the blink from the beating it was taking, or the CO's equipment is still red-tagged World War II stuff!

    Down here, most likely it would be the third selection..

    --
    First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
    1. Re:FIOS loop qual for South Texas by ispland · · Score: 2, Informative

      Verizon is building an all new fiber optic cable plant for FIOS. Even the connection from the street to the premise will require installation of a new fiber optic drop cable and a new premise equipment box.

      If you are located in one of the three ex-GTE areas TX, CA or FL currently under build-out and Verizon has been installing new cable ducts using underground rodding equipment, you are likely in the service area. In my area, near Tampa, they installed the ducts down the street in early July. I have not been able to get a map of the service areas from Verizon, but I was able to get verbal confirmation that service will be installed in most of the county over a period of two years.

      I intentionally purchased a home in the FIOS service area this year. I've been following the progress of the project closely. I called and ordered FIOS about two weeks ago. A Verizon contractor installed a new fiber optic drop cable to my house last week. I'm slated for installaion of 5mb FIOS service tommorrow. Then all I have to do is get an ethernet cable out to the equipment box and I'll be in business.

      (Sidebar: Verizon sales told me that the installation tech is supposed to configure my router and PC, but there's no chance he'll get any chance to touch my systems.)

      --
      What would Groucho do?
    2. Re:FIOS loop qual for South Texas by TheHawke · · Score: 1

      No ductwork or tunneling was observed near or around the CO or anywhere around the area.

      Let's face it, they don't ever want to spend a penny on a small coastal bend community.

      --
      First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
  54. Anything similiar in Canada? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anyone know of something similiar in Canada? (I'm in Winnipeg specifically)

    My current cable internet connection is 1500/300, which is okay, but I need speed.

  55. Re:Coral Cache (karma whore free link) by lightdarkness · · Score: 1

    Well, that was pleasent.

  56. No SLA!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FAQ, question #3

    "... Up to 15 Mbps/2 Mbps* ...Speed and uninterrupted use of the service are not guaranteed."

    No SLA means the numbers are meaningless. They may as well put "Up to(!) 15,000 Gazilionbps/2,000 Gazilionbps*" and it's still be true even if your new fiber line performs worse than 56K modem.

    Our experience with Verizon, our local telco in NY, has always been bad (DSL, phone lines, business T1s, everything). Verizon and incompetence go together, regretfully.

  57. Pedantry by SendBot · · Score: 1

    MB means MegaByte. Mb is megaBit. Quite a difference, but you can generally count on connection speed being measured in the latter.

    I'd seriously consider buying a /. subscription if the stories could be edited for technical and grammatical correctness. That would really be nice.

    1. Re:Pedantry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is anal retentive hyphenated?

      ( although grammatically challenged, I actually agree )

      A sort of a recursive question, isn't it?

  58. it sucks by halfelven · · Score: 1
    You will need to use the Verizon provided routers with the Fios Internet service.

    So, if i only get one IP address, that means i cannot run my own H.323 or SIP server or anything like that.

    It sucks. No thanks.
  59. The fine print by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the terms:

    Bandwidth speeds are between your home or office and the Verizon central office serving your location.

    What they do not tell you is your CO has a single T1 for data use...

  60. PLEASE MOD ME UP! PLEASE! I BEG YOU! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    My life revolves around my ability to get modded up! I'm a good little Slashbot, I promise! I NEED VALIDATION!!!

    - garcia

  61. How are they doing this? by thogard · · Score: 1

    Is this PON or something else? Does anyone know of the details of the gear that makes this work?

    The PON stuff is getting cheaper, for example a small headend unit is now about $4500 and the stuff at each house is less than $750 and with fiber running a dime a meter, the major costs is the trenching and fusion splicer.

    1. Re:How are they doing this? by homerskid · · Score: 1

      My guess is that they are willing to eat a very large cost for the eventual large ROI (imagine the profit potential of being to only carrier to have fiber to each door in america)

    2. Re:How are they doing this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its APON

      kind of like this:

      http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/bu/communic at ion/apon/apon_b.html

      but a different manufacture

  62. Not so fast about the phone line! by jaymzter · · Score: 1

    Just a word of caution after having been through several hurricanes this year:

    What happens when the power goes out, the fiber goes dark, and now you have no telephone? During the hurricanes many people running phone service through broadband were SOL, and cell phone reliability also went into the toilet. Keep in mind some areas were without power for _weeks_. As much as I want to ditch mine, sometimes a land line is still the best way to go.

    --
    If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
    1. Re:Not so fast about the phone line! by ffejie · · Score: 1

      Based on the stuff I'm seeing on DSL Reports (linked off of the main story), it appears the casing they install on the side of the house has a battery. Assuming this battery would last for at least a few hours, it is possible that your phone would continue to work, even if the power it out (like you do currently).

      --
      Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
    2. Re:Not so fast about the phone line! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ONT (optical network terminal) is suplied with a UPS

      (about a 4 hour run time, depending on use

    3. Re:Not so fast about the phone line! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the cell sites were useless after the hurricanes because the T1s serving them were out. If those were out, it's a very good bet that your old copper pair serving you p.o.t.s. was out as well.

      In other words, you would have no phone service anyway, whether it be VoIP, cell, or p.o.t.s. This would force you to talk to your wife/girlfriend in person, get drunk, have sex, or all the above while you await the restoration of your lifeline, at which time you abandon her and resume your data infusion.

      Under normal (non-disaster) circumstances, the fiber would seem to be a win-win situation, barring the notion that you want to set up a data center or i.s.p. in your house.

    4. Re:Not so fast about the phone line! by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      Which is one of the many reasons I keep my ham radio license active and a 2M transciever. If I need help and everything is out, I can get it. Well, ask for it anyway. ;)

      I don't keep a POTS line, I never used it. Cell phone, satelite TV, wireless internet.

  63. video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's not a rumor, it's going to happen. they are likely going to just start in a few areas, likely tampa bay fl is going to be one of them. they are going to try to compete head to head with companies such as brighthouse and time warner cable...

  64. 750k/128k and I pay $50 per month! by AngryScot · · Score: 1

    Thats the sad state of the Uk's telephone system :(

    --

    All spelling mistakes are due to solar flares...honest

    1. Re:750k/128k and I pay $50 per month! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (Voice of Nelson) Ha-ha !
      Seriously though, the problem is not limited to the UK, pretty much any country in Europe has crappy offerings, and the US or Canada isn't any better either. Now if you want to cry, have a look at what they have in Japan or Korea...

  65. and I can't get better than 1.5m/96k DSL here by SuperBanana · · Score: 1

    FTTP (Fiber To the Premises)! $39.95 for 5MB/2MB, $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB

    ...and I live less than 20 minutes out from Boston and I still can't get DSL service other than 1.5mbit/96kbit (yes, you read that right. 96kbit upload, WORSE THAN ISDN!)

    If I lived one town over, I could have my choice of DSL providers and about 10 different combos of up/down rates. It's quite sad; Verizon won't allow any of the DSL companies to sell service in our town, and they won't offer anything except their stupid 1.5mbit/96kbit service...probably because they have a gentleman's agreement with AT&T Broadband...which just so happens to be the only choice in cable/cablemodem service. They offer 3mbit/384kbit , but I have never seen better than 200kbit upload over the last 2 years or so; I'm pretty sure they've throttled it way, way back...and despite trying all sorts of traffic shaping, download speeds drop quite a bit when upload speeds go up.

    I'm sorry, what's that you were saying about deregulation, Mr. Powell?

  66. One question.. by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 1

    Not sure how American ISPs work, but do you have bandwidth caps on these things?

    Like they sell you a connection with say, 10GB downloads a month for $39.95.

    1. Re:One question.. by sndtech · · Score: 1

      thats is the bandwidth, usually unlimited transfer, unless you have comcast cable as your isp then they bitch about more than 1 terabyte a month

    2. Re:One question.. by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Generally speaking, no. Some ISP's will complain and threaten to cut you off if you use too much of your bandwidth, but some don't. For example, this month I've probably downloaded 100 gigs of data over my DSL line, plus uploads, and I haven't heard anything out of my ISP except them asking me to pay this months usual bill.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    3. Re:One question.. by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 1

      "Generally speaking, no. Some ISP's will complain and threaten to cut you off if you use too much of your bandwidth, but some don't. For example, this month I've probably downloaded 100 gigs of data over my DSL line, plus uploads, and I haven't heard anything out of my ISP except them asking me to pay this months usual bill."

      Man... now I know what they meant by the American Dream thingy...

    4. Re:One question.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Helps to have the business level service (which you pay more for)... I've probably pulled 100GB/mo for the last 2 years with nary a peep.

  67. My answer from Verizon: Server Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.
    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

  68. Can you run a server from your VTTP line? by marktaw.com · · Score: 1
    Maybe, but if you get slashdotted you'll still crash and burn:
    Online ordering is currently unavailable.

    Our system is unable to determine if Verizon Online DSL is available on (718) xxx-xxxx.

    Please try again at a later time or call (888) 662-8275 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. -9 p.m. EST or Saturday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. EST to speak with a Verizon Online representative.
  69. Verizon is full of it.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People really need to be careful when cheerleading this stuff. The Verizon Fios trial in Keller was launched primarily as a carrot on a stick for the FCC:

    "Here's what we could be offering America if you remove all pesky regulation" (put in place because the bells have a horrid history of ripping people off).

    Now that the FCC last week removed all regulation, this whole system will sit like a lump on a log.

    It costs Verizon around $1,200 per home to install this service, there's not a huge ROI right now since many people are happy with DSL (which is still profitable) and it will be half a decade before Verizon fiber is available to most of you. And most people in rural areas will never see it.

    It's primarily a song and dance routine to remove regulation. Fiber will come, but it will be a slow march up a very tall hill. SBC is busy doing the same thing.

    http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/55799

  70. From the terms of service by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nope - no servers allowed... so basically Verizon is continuing to be a WSP, not an ISP. I really wish more providers would just let me do what the heck I wanted to do with my connection - why should they care - just throw a QoS penalty on any traffic over xbits/sec that they don't want me to really use

    --
    I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
    1. Re:From the terms of service by samantha · · Score: 1

      Where did you get the information justifying this assertion ("no servers")? It is not evident in your post.

    2. Re:From the terms of service by b00m3rang · · Score: 1

      It does say, "From the terms of service" in the subject.

    3. Re:From the terms of service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...

      3. AUTHORIZED USER, USE, AND RESPONSIBILITIES. ...

      3.6 If you subscribe to Broadband Service: ...

      5. You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server personal or commercial in nature.

    4. Re:From the terms of service by gcaseye6677 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've always wondered why the hell they would care about servers as long as you're not serving several gigs of data each day. If you have a personal FTP server to connect to from work or school, how does that harm their network? Between this policy and the PPPoE, that almost negates the benefit of a fiber connection. I think I'd just stick with cable modem, which is fast enough for what I need. Why bother have a blazing fast web browsing connection, which sounds like all that Verizon will be letting people do with it.

    5. Re:From the terms of service by Striver · · Score: 1

      I've always wondered why the hell they would care about servers

      Bottom line...money. In order to run a server on your Verizon Broadband connection you must first get a "business" line. At that point you can kiss the cheap broadband goodbye. I don't have exact current prices and it likely varies depending on how much monopoly power they have in a specific area, but I was paying $120/mo for business DSL with a single static IP...no name servers allowed. The same service just south of me in Seattle (different phone company) was about $39.00 with 5 static IPs included.

      They care because they can make more money off that option.

      --
      this is loaner...my sig is in the shop
    6. Re:From the terms of service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the average dolt was smart enough to keep their Windows PC secure so it didn't start streaming spam, then maybe it wouldn't be necessary to block port 25. Enough of Verizon's IP space has been blocked by small ISPs that perhaps they've started to get the idea that they need to do something to keep their ignorant customers from turning into unwitting spam relays, or risk fewer and fewer people being willing to receive their packets.

    7. Re:From the terms of service by ddent · · Score: 1

      Name servers??? Why would they care?

      Of all things... name servers... were they trying to find the least bandwidth intensive (usually) type of server?

    8. Re:From the terms of service by Striver · · Score: 1

      Name servers??? Why would they care?

      Again you are thinking in the wrong direction. They don't care what you do. All they care about is money. You can get a group of five static IP numbers for another $40 per month. Want a name server...that will be extra too.

      --
      this is loaner...my sig is in the shop
    9. Re:From the terms of service by DonGar · · Score: 1

      The terms of service for your cable modem (well most of them, and I presume you as well) also state that you will run "no servers". In fact, they normally go on at length about what qualifies as a server.

      And the answer was that EVERYTHING qualifies as a server. You're not allowed to run X Windows even if outside connections are not allowed, according to the written agreement.

      On the other hand, I've been through a lot of ISPs (moves, etc) and never had any real trouble with personal stuff like SSH connections, even if I pipe Gigs a day through it (which I normally do).

      --
      plus-good, double-plus-good
    10. Re:From the terms of service by EvilNTUser · · Score: 1

      "I don't have exact current prices and it likely varies depending on how much monopoly power they have in a specific area"

      Why is it that any communications method I can think of in the US from cell phones to internet access is so bastardized by vendor lock in? I thought you guys were supposed to have a competitive market...

      When I was faced with the same problem, all I had to do was switch ISP's, and now I get 2M/512k for 60 euros a month with a static IP as part of the basic service. Not to mention that their website practically encourages users to run their own servers.

      --
      My Sig: SEGV
    11. Re:From the terms of service by calethix · · Score: 1

      I have business class DSL with Verizon and I'm paying about $80/month for 768/128.

      I think the last time I checked, they had bumped up the speeds (and price) a bit on their cheapest package but they haven't raised my bill yet.

      I've checked with Time Warner a couple of times and they told me it would be around $120/month. Granted, it would be faster but I can hardly justify even $80/month for my crappy web site that doesn't get a whole lot of traffic.

    12. Re:From the terms of service by renderhead · · Score: 1

      I would guess there are liability issues involved for content as well. When the MPAA or RIAA come a-knockin', they send their letters to the ISP who owns an offending IP address, not the end user (at least that's how it happened when I finally got caught with Firefly on BitTorrent).

      If they offer you web space and a limited amount of web hosting features, it's a simple matter for them to shut down your site if you are distributing the latest Hollywood bootlegs, and you can only fit one of them on your site anyway. They can even deny access to a particular file or directory without shutting down the whole site. If each user gets 100MB of web storage, that's (No. of users) x 100MB worth of data that they need to monitor to keep themselves legally safe. Their liablility is the same as any web host's (or it would be if it weren't for P2P).

      On the other hand, if they let you run your own web server, you can host or run any malicious or illegal software, movies, games, etc. you want and they have to police it all to cover their butts. That's (No. of users) x ???GB that they have to keep track of, which is impossible. If they DO catch you, they can't remove the offending content or deny access to particular files or directories, they have to block the user's access completely. Messy business.

      If the ISP were not held responsible for the actions of their users, this wouldn't be a problem. However, legally defensible or not, the ISPs are the ones who get intimidated by the big boys, and they usually cave to avoid legal expenses.

      --
      I wish that my inferiority complex were as good as yours.

      -RenderHead

    13. Re:From the terms of service by NardofDoom · · Score: 1

      Comcast says no servers, too. However, I can access into my home computer through ssh, ftp, and http from the Internet. I emailed and asked them if it was okay before I set this up, and they said as long as I'm hosting a personal site that only the people living there will be accessing, they don't mind.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    14. Re:From the terms of service by FKnight · · Score: 0, Troll

      Verizon has been offering high speed Internet access for quite a while now to both businesses and residential accounts and with Verizon's high speed services that I've used, I have never had any restrictions on which ports I could use both inbound and outbound with our business connections.

      For a residential internet service account, there is no legitimate reason for inbound SMTP (and one could argue other services). I will take it a step further and state that there is also no legitimate reason whatsoever for outbound SMTP access, for residential accounts, to any mail server other than the ISP's mail server. It has been well documented that most spam and viruses come from infected home computers and home networks which are being used as spam and virus launching points. "What if I'm a system administrator running my own mail server?" Well, you can pay business rates for open ports like the rest of us have had to do with Internet service for the past 10 years, and what we've had to do with phone service in God knows how long. If you're a computer hobbyist who needs these ports open, well, hobbies are expensive. Deal.

      It is unreasonable to expect that the business communitee spent excessive amounts of time and money defending against spam and virus propagation, when most of it is coming from infected home computers that have no business at all connecting to any mail server other than their ISPs, just because a bunch of computer geeks want to play "hobby web hosting provider" at home yet still pay the same rates as casual users.

      If these are /residential/ accounts, they can send and receive email through their ISP's mail server (which should also restrict what you can use for the From: line).

      I have a job to do running an enterprise wide area network. I shouldn't have to incur the extra cost of time and money stopping email-bourne viruses and junk mail from infected home computers that shouldn't be bypassing their ISP's mail server in the first place. If you want full access to all ports, you should pay up just like the rest of us responsible IT administrators have to. We're the ones actually smart enough to keep viruses and spam from getting onto the Internet from our networks.

    15. Re:From the terms of service by MattyIce · · Score: 1

      99% of the time, ISP's don't care at all what you are hosting as long as you are not sucking up tons of bandwidth. I have run FTP/HTTP servers on "residential" connections before and never received a complaint. If you want to run a server, be responsible enough to setup some traffic shaping so you don't abuse your terms of service and screw everyone else.

    16. Re:From the terms of service by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1

      First of all, the Troll mod you received is way wrong, and if I see it in M2 I will click 'Unfair' just as hard as my little mouse will allow.

      Secondly, you're wrong. Would you care to list all the ports that are to be accessed only by properly accredited business users?

      For a simple example, I have RoadRunner cable at home, and a site hosted with GoDaddy. For me to send an email from my .com address using my mail client at home, I need to do exactly what you're saying I shouldn't be allowed to do. And the reasoning you give is that the Windows lusers down the block are infected. That would be tantamount to my phone company decreeing that I can't send a fax or participate in a conference call from home, since I only pay residential prices. I believe some phone carriers have tried that in the past, but were smacked down pretty resoundingly.

      I'm sure you're an otherwise intelligent and reasonable person, but it seems to me that you're letting workplace frustrations cloud your judgement on this matter.

      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    17. Re:From the terms of service by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 1
      For a residential internet service account, there is no legitimate reason for inbound SMTP

      I'll give you several reasons for running my own SMTP server (and hence needing inbound SMTP)

      Download mail in the background - then pop/imap it off at my 100Mbit LAN connection speed

      Run my own spam filtering - enough said

      Using my own e-mail address that can follow me

      No mailbox size limits (ok - I might have to buy a new Raid 5 system to host the terrabyte of mail)

      Why the heck should a transit service for IP packets care what the traffic in those packets are. They shouldn't even be looking at them

      --
      I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
    18. Re:From the terms of service by FKnight · · Score: 0

      Secondly, you're wrong. Would you care to list all the ports that are to be accessed only by properly accredited business users?

      By business accounts, what I was referring to were accounts which cost extra for additional services; not that I mean necessarily entities which are functioning as businesses. Unfortunately, the distinction between what could be considered technically "basic accounts" (such as web browsing, basic email access, downloading from FTP sites, running P2P software), and "enhanced accounts" (such as having inbound ports open, unblocked access to external SMTP servers) can only be referred to as "residential" and "business" accounts since this is where the ISPs make the distinction between features. It would be more accurate for ISPs to use "basic" and "enhanced" much like cable TV does. So no, I don't generally mean that these features should be limited to "accredited businesses" but to "enhanced need end-users" such as businesses, power users, hobbyists, etc. As far as basic use, I consider this, and we can disagree, to essentially consist of web browsing, sending and retrieving of email through the ISP's established mail system, access to FTP sites, and accessing game servers. I don't consider someone running their own game server, their own mail server, or their own web server to qualify as basic use. Further, I don't consider access to port 25 of outside mail servers to be basic necessary access either. I elaborate more on this point below.

      For a simple example, I have RoadRunner cable at home, and a site hosted with GoDaddy. For me to send an email from my .com address using my mail client at home, I need to do exactly what you're saying I shouldn't be allowed to do. And the reasoning you give is that the Windows lusers down the block are infected. That would be tantamount to my phone company decreeing that I can't send a fax or participate in a conference call from home, since I only pay residential prices. I believe some phone carriers have tried that in the past, but were smacked down pretty resoundingly.

      First the reasoning behind blocking outbound 25, then the solution. Right now 85% of the email entering my company is unsolicited junk mail. It has been well established that most of the spam is from zombie machines infected at people's homes who don't even know they're running a spam launcher in the background with the rest of their viruses. I won't go into technical details, as they're already well understood. This directly affects my mail server performance due to Bayesian filtering, attachment filtering, antivirus scanning. I can run all of the filtering I want, but the issue still remains that time is money, and in the real time world we live in now, CPU time costs money. Productivity costs money when things get passed the spam filter. Company's lose money when things get filtered that shouldn't be, and end-users at home, such as my grandmother, accountant sister, and and business person brother get told it's their own fault for falling for Phishing scams because for some reason they're expected to understand the intricacies of SMTP headers -- all of this because millions of machines on Earth are sending data through a vector that the end-user typically doesn't understand, care for, or even need. If, however, someone requires the "enhanced" features because they are running a mail server -- since there is no way we can really test their ability to properly secure their systems, the only fair thing to do is to charge extra to offset the overall cost an ISP can run into by bandwidth being utilized for spam and virus propagation. Blocking outbound SMTP beyond the ISP mail server and restricting the "From:" field on residential accounts will also force legitimate spammers to pay their fair share for enhanced services and would also force accountability through auditing, essentially making unsolicited and spoofed spam a problem that can be dealt with while legitimate spam

    19. Re:From the terms of service by FKnight · · Score: 0
      I'll give you several reasons for running my own SMTP server (and hence needing inbound SMTP) # Download mail in the background - then pop/imap it off at my 100Mbit LAN connection speed
      Downloading email in the background is unrelated to SMTP mail transfer. If you meant that you run a mail server which receives email directly from sending mail servers or smtp clients, then you are running a mail server and I feel you should pay extra for that ability.
      Run my own spam filtering - enough said
      This is a valid point. It is however, implementable without requiring inbound port 25. Additionally, wouldn't your spam filter have to work a little less if millions of zombie computers owned by people with spam launching viruses weren't able to release their junk onto the Internet?
      Using my own e-mail address that can follow me. No mailbox size limits.
      Again, implementable with any mail hosting provider which takes their service seriously. As fair as mailbox size limits, that is a valid point as well. Honestly though, you require more than a basic user requires. Which is fine. But: It seems to me that the casual user, which will be the largest percentage of people paying for residential $30/month Internet accounts aren't going to be configuring their own mail servers and these are the same users who have a high probability of being sources of junk mail bounced off of or forced to come from their machines without their knowledge. Perhaps, to be fair to those of us who need these features, the open ports should be the standard, and "residential" or "basic" accounts can be marketed at a discount where most of the "casual" users will prefer to be. Just a thought. The reason Internet providers should look at IP packets is because businesses and end-users hold them responsible for the reliability and security of their network. The consumer also demands that the ISPs keep viruses and spam from their computer. I agree that Internet Providers should not be accessing personal information inside IP packets, but is it really beyond reason for them to at least scan for viruses and validate the return address of email passing through servers that they own? At any rate, I was only saying that outbound mail from residential accounts should be forced through a controllable vector through the ISP to mitigate the spread of viruses by filtering and for validating the return address. Nothing more as far as packet inspection, although, other reasons for packet inspection may exist, I'm not aware of them at the moment. Be Safe.
    20. Re:From the terms of service by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1

      ...the distinction between what could be considered...

      As soon as I started reading your reply I realized I didn't phrase mine so well in that regard.

      But I think we disagree on the fundamental nature of an ISP's role: I want an Internet Service Provider, not a Web Service Provider. Should I have to pay extra or get approval to open up a given port so that I can access my home computer from my office, or any other boneheaded thing that I think might be cool to play with?

      I totally understand where you're coming from in wanting to see the packet spewing zombies brought under control, but I think your approach to the matter is very shortsighted. Although I'm no n00b, I'm certainly no 1337 H@x0R, either (see?). But as time goes by, I'm learning how to do lots of cool things with my consumer friendly Unix-based OS.

      Under your plan, I might as well trade my computer in on a WebTV. I just don't see the justification for me to lose the right to play with any port or protocol that piques my interest simply because your employer gets too much spam (yes, I realize I'm oversimplifying things). Especially when the ISPs aren't doing their part (I can't even properly spell in leetspeek, yet I can give you a list of rr.com users that are infected with Nimda, Code Red, etc., and it's even hairier when I use tcpdump as a Matrix screensaver), it's far from clear why I should have arbitrary restrictions placed on *my* use of teh intarweb. I play by the rules. I don't port-scan people, my computer's not a spam relay, etc., etc., etc. If any of that should change, they've already got papers with my signature on them saying they can cut my line. And they certainly know where I live.

      So to sum up, I'd go back to dialup (*gulp!*) before I'd pay for a service with even one port that I'd never have used anyway blocked.

      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    21. Re:From the terms of service by FKnight · · Score: 0
      Fair enough: your point of view being that you are paying for Internet Access, which is marketed to you as "unlimited" along with all of the commercials that tell you about all the neat things you'll be able to do .. which you then can't do when they block ports, cut people off, etc. As a paying customer for Internet access, you should have the full run of the TCP/IP suite.

      Essentially, my "plan" becomes a "punish everyone for the problems caused by a few."

      Ok, so then the problem then becomes how to deal with the situation of spam and virus propagation when the majority is coming from these unprotected machines. Should we expect casual users to be able to know the functioning of their computers to a level where they can adequately protect it from becoming a spam launch pad or a source of virus attacks? I would agree that the answer would have to be yes; however, there are three obstacles to this:

      • Even when ISPs basically include a firewall for free, they typically aren't set up to limit outbound traffic. Meaning when the end-user gets the spam producing virus on their machine, it has free reign to go out.
      • Computers, while being marketed to non-techies, are horribly difficult to use and secure for those same people. It's very simple for us, as this is what we do.
      • Maybe not really separate from the previous item, but non-techie end-users flat out refuse to learn even the basics of computer operation. On a regular basis, I see otherwise intelligent people suddenly lose their ability to read when the text they're trying to read is located inside of an error box.
      The compelling factor for me is that the open ports, especially outbound port 25, is the chief vector for all of these attacks. Perhaps SPF, SenderID, or whatever they come up with as far as that goes will solve the problem of sender authentication, negating the need to block outbound port 25.

      Maybe to be really fair, we don't charge extra for opening ports, but ISPs, as a best practice, should just leave them off by default and give end-users the option of unblocking them without charge. This would replace my original idea of charging for open ports with more of an intellectual barrier to open ports ... if you're smart enough to know you need to explicitly have a port opened by your ISP, you're probably smart enough to make sure you're not spewing spam and viruses.

      You've helped me refine my position, then. I still think the ports should be blocked, but only by default, and they should be openable at the request of the customer without charge (either by calling or via the web or whatever). Grandma who just wants to use email, browse the web, and download mp3s and access her bank account can do everything she needs to do, and she'll be safe by default. The techies can do whatever they want too, they would just need to login to the site and turn on their "enhanced security configuration" and open the ports themselves. ISP level firewall for both in and out, secure by default, and configurable by the high-tech end users.

    22. Re:From the terms of service by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1

      You've helped me refine my position, then.

      Ahh, every slashdotter's wet dream. Thank you.

      I still think the ports should be blocked, but only by default, and they should be openable at the request of the customer...

      I see that as treating symptoms rather than the cause, and working against old school market forces. We're just now getting to a point where more than 5% of computer users are aware of these issues and how widespread they've become. If Grandma had her internet access cut off until she paid a neighborhood geek $50 to come over and delouse her computer, only to find herself in the same situation a few weeks later, she'd realize that she either needs to stop using the 'net (not desirable in my opinion), learn more about security and computers in general (obviously desirable), or choose something other than Windows the next time she upgrades (also very desirable).

      Under a ports-are-blocked-till-you-request-otherwise scheme, she'd simply not know that she's got a problem, and continue buying the same flakey OS over and over and over and over again. In essence, the ISPs would be helping to conceal the true cost of Windows, whereas keeping things open but penalizing transgressions would cause people to evaluate things from a more informed point of view.

      But frankly, I see your plan as being much more likely to happen than mine. That's life in the big city.

      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    23. Re:From the terms of service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The printed terms of service that was included in the FIOS package (at least when mine was installed) had a nifty little loophole.

      They break out DSL and Modem in separate categories. Under both, servers are not allowed. They neglected to include a FIOS category, and, by it's omission it is allowed.

      I know that won't stand up, but I'm keeping my printed TOS anyway!

  71. No connection in Seattle or Bellevue WA. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I actually got responces to several numbers in Seattle and Bellevue WA. NO CONNECTION FOR ME...bastards.

  72. Move along, Nnthing to host on here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    From their polic, section 3.6 - E.
    You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server personal or commercial in nature.

  73. Power by Glendale2x · · Score: 1

    The interesting thing is the APC powershield (basically a 12v battery and charger) in the pictures. So it looks like responsibility for powering the demarc end of the fiber is shifted to the customer.

    --
    this is my sig
    1. Re:Power by willpall · · Score: 1

      Now when they get that POF* thing going, then we'll be in business!!

      *POF Power Over Fiber. Shield your eyes!

      --
      Libertarian: label used by embarrassed Republicans, longing to be open about their greed, drug use and porn collections.
  74. On a related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Verizon reports its FTTP page has came under massive DDoS attack...

  75. Wow, what a load of bull by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just called Verizon to find out whether my location can get this service, only to be told that:

    1, To get it, you must be a Verizon phone service customer, and
    2, They can't check availability until I switch over to their phone service.

    Guess I'll be sticking with my 3/384 cable for $42 a month, as Verizon's phone service package is at least $20 higher for the same features that I get with another local provider.

  76. I'll Never See It... by aroobie · · Score: 1

    System requirements only list Windows and I don't own a Windows computer...so I'll never see it! Too bad they could not support other OS's...oh well it is Verizon and MSN.

    --


    My other car is a motorcycle!
    1. Re:I'll Never See It... by nns6561 · · Score: 1

      The system requirements should be system recommendations. I've been using Verizon for 3 months now, and I haven't used any supported OS on it. They really don't care, but tech support is slightly more peeved when you call.

    2. Re:I'll Never See It... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uhm, how could VZ ever tell, or care what operating systme you are using.

      Thats only what the bundled software supports. Linux
      Unix
      OSX
      CPM

      knock youself out.

  77. Keller, Texas??? by fallenangel99 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of all the places in the US (NYC, Boston, major cities, or even major suburbs) they choose KELLER, TEXAS??!?!?! Cows don't use Fiber!

    1. Re:Keller, Texas??? by MatthewB79 · · Score: 1

      That's because they test this stuff out in smaller areas first. Collateral damage is not that bad if they decide to scrap the program because it's not working out. Manhattan, or Keller TX; who's going to complain more when they pull out?

    2. Re:Keller, Texas??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keller smells better.
      Easy choice

    3. Re:Keller, Texas??? by Lord_Breetai · · Score: 1

      Cows don't use Fiber!

      I know!! They eat grass day in and day out! They get all the fiber they need!!!

      --
      "You are only young once, but you can be immature forever." -www.animemusicvideos.org
    4. Re:Keller, Texas??? by The_Xnuiem · · Score: 1

      Simple. Texas have very favorable laws for this type of expansion, Keller has a high median income level and extremely high percentage of homes using the internet. Most homes in Keller are already CAT5 wired, and Verizon has several major field offices in the D/FW area.

  78. Rats... by CMiYC · · Score: 1

    Now if I only had a telephone land line to check and see if I qualify... Oh well.

    1. Re:Rats... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No POTS required.

      G'luck w/ the tumors.

  79. Re:Host a Webpage - no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    verizon policy from their site, section 3.6-E

    You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server personal or commercial in nature.

  80. In Japan by achurch · · Score: 4, Informative
    you can get 100Mb/100Mb for around $60/month . . .

    Okay, I'll stop bragging now (:

    1. Re:In Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no, don't worry about it.
      No offense taken.
      Simply supply us with the login credentials for your FTP server and we'll call it even.

    2. Re:In Japan by fliplap · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yeah, you'd need that to make up for the fact that you're living in the sardine can on a shelf full of other sardine cans.

    3. Re:In Japan by RabidMoose · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia, fibre downloads YOU!

  81. Oh great! by anon*127.0.0.1 · · Score: 1

    Now I'm thoroughly dissatisfied with my cable modem.

    Thanks.

    --
    I am NOT a man!
    I am a free number!
  82. System requirements by choprboy · · Score: 1

    I would pose a serious question to their support department first and require them to explain why other operating systems don't qualify for certain service ranges... If you look at their system requirements page they say Win98/ME doesn't support 15/2Mbs and 30/5Mbs connection speeds...

    What does the OS have to do with the external speed??? What does that mean for Linux/*BSD/DOS/Mac9.x? According to the pages, a 100BaseT network port is required for connection, so why a speed limit? I would look very carefully at what they really want that 100MB of drive space for....

    1. Re:System requirements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think they really care what your OS is. Its only what the canned software they supply supports.

  83. No Servers Allowed by MattW · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the terms and conditions:
    You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server personal or commercial in nature.

    I wonder how the TOS nazis plan to handle P2P apps like BT?
    1. Re:No Servers Allowed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Verizon basically doesn't enforce it unless you're creating a problem.

    2. Re:No Servers Allowed by Guitarzan · · Score: 1

      Of course they don't enforce this. If they did, no one could host a multiplayer video game, and that would seriously upset their customers.

    3. Re:No Servers Allowed by wildchild07770 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The same stipulation exists in my cable contract but the guy installing (who pointed it out) made it quite clear that so long as i'm not running at peak capacity 24/7 or trying to host a high traffic web server they'll never bring it up. It's more of a "we reserve the right" clause than anything.

    4. Re:No Servers Allowed by Flame0001 · · Score: 1
      I wonder how the TOS nazis plan to handle P2P apps like BT?

      The same way the **AA handle everything... ineffective and inefficient. It's nearly impossible to monitor and enforce something like that, especially if this service spreads like wildfire. Too many people to track.

      --
      Slashdot, the only place where intellectuals can act like idiots... and still sound intellectual.
    5. Re:No Servers Allowed by Geoff-with-a-G · · Score: 1

      I wonder how the TOS nazis plan to handle P2P apps like BT?

      It will be prohibited by broad language, then not enforced.

      The best way to gain control over your subjects, whether you're a school, an ISP, or a government, is to establish lots of ridiculously restrictive laws, then rarely enforce them. Since you aren't busting many people, they won't oppose you, but when you want to get your way, you have a mechanism already in place.

      Example: one of the senior directors at the college I went to stated, when pressed at an open meeting, that double-clicking "Network Neighborhood" in Windows was a violation of the AUP, since it constituted examining and accessing the computers of other people without their express consent. Obviously, they didn't bust everyone who did this, but when they found someone they didn't like, this was a useful tool.

    6. Re:No Servers Allowed by GR1NCH · · Score: 1

      If they ever busted me for going to the "Network Neighborhood" I'd fight that to the death. Its not like windows automatically shares all your files, in fact in more recent versions it even warns you about sharing files. I would think that would qualify as consent. Either that or everytime you access a webpage on the internet you are violating the AUP too.

      *Sigh*

    7. Re:No Servers Allowed by NardofDoom · · Score: 1
      If they ever busted me for going to the "Network Neighborhood" I'd fight that to the death.

      Blocking network browsing in college will simply lead to more p2p use. With everyone not sharing their files, where would you get porn and illegal music???

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    8. Re:No Servers Allowed by Geoff-with-a-G · · Score: 1

      No, you misunderstand me.
      They're not actually blocking it, they're just saying it's against the rules, then letting everyone do it. Then when they want to bust you for any reason at all, they can say you were already breaking the rules.

  84. The phone number qualiifcation... by antdude · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It is /.'ed I think. :(

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.

    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off". ...

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  85. Interesting error from the verizon page. by bulldog2260 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.

    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>

  86. verizon.com go BOOM! by nsanders · · Score: 0, Redundant


    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.
    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

  87. MSN Premium? by antdude · · Score: 1

    Does this service require MSN Premium to be installed?

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:MSN Premium? by bruns · · Score: 1

      No, MSN Premium is optional. I may not have their fiber service, but I have DSL through Verizon. MSN Premium is only required if you plan to take advantage of some of their extra features.

      --
      Brielle
    2. Re:MSN Premium? by antdude · · Score: 1

      Thanks Bruns!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  88. I once had problems with Verizon also by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They couldn't explain why I could hear fax machine tones on one line when the faxes were coming in on another line. And they couldn't explain why I couldn't hang up, had to wait for the other party to hang up before I could get a dial tone. And a few other problems. The real problem at the end was when the dsl connection kept being interrupted at what seemed like random periods. That was PPPoE with Cloud 9 as the reseller.

    After arguing with Cloud 9 about it and their refusal to waive charges when the connection went down for major periods weeks at a time (connection not working for days but you emailed us, so your connection was working nonsense), I finally switched providers (Pilosoft, no more PPPoE, RFC 1492 or something like that, it is like being on their lan), the Verizon tech came out about the complaint about the line.

    Suffice it to say that he looked at the wiring at the demarc line, and stated that the 40-50 year old wiring was good (the one that crumbled in his hands as he touched it), and it must have been a problem on my end. After he left, a truck happened to knock out the line from the pole to the house. No phone service. New line installed, new tech agreed to run the new line all the way to the demarc line, instead of just to the outside of house (demarc is inside basement) after he heard what I was going through. Refused to take a nice tip.

    Now the only problem is the economics of my isp. He's selling me service for $50, costs him $40 plus equipment, backend at Verizon racks, dns, email, and tech support. Verizon selling same service for $35 bundled, retail. Verizon also selling much faster service 7mbps/768 (?) for about $10 more than I'm paying for slower service, and if my isp wants to buy that service to sell to me, it costs him more than it costs the retail customers outright.

    If I decide to buy from Verizon, and everyone else does also for lower price, my isp and other resellers go out of business, and then what? Either Verizon, or cable. No servers on either one, blocked ports, etc.

    That's the entire strategy behind the fiber. They held out/are holding out to make sure the FCC/FTC doesn't force them to share the lines. Once that's done, they go all out. They sell fiber at cut rate prices for a few years. They increase speeds. Do nothing to improve copper. Neglect maintenance. Problems with copper rise. Once they don't have to share fiber, why would they pull or maintain any more copper anyway?

    They have effectively eliminated the competition, and resurrected their monopoly. Their only competition is going to be cable, and monopolies are very effective in sharing the revenue and beating their customers over the head equally, just look at the riaa/mpaa cartel as a model.

    Once the resellers are gone, the prices go up. The service doesn't matter, that will take care of itself. It boils down to how much money can they extract from each house/apartment per month. That's it. It's that simple. Whether it is phone, video, audio, internet, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that they deliver something that you pay for, and they minimize cost and maximize the extraction amount. That's it. They can afford to wait years if necessary for getting their way on line sharing, because the prize at the end is so big. $0.05 per minute phone service, and a industry analyst bragged that he could still squeeze $0.02 to $0.025 out of that in profit, when someone commented on how could they make money on $0.05 per minute service some years ago. Bundle in video, internet, and other services, and they are talking about real profits, something they haven't really seen in more than a decade.

  89. In Soviet Russia by ebh · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, never mind.

  90. SE south dakota by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we are darn lucky to have local pots based dsl at 128k or 256 wireless for $50/m :( sigh i will probly never qualify since my town is only 1300 popultaion :(

  91. The poor server.... by dj245 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...isn't accepting inquieries. Perhaps it lacks a little Fiber to the Premises?

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  92. verizon slashdotted by wahsapa · · Score: 0

    congradulations guys you just slashdotted verizon. enter your number and it will time out.

  93. Deregulation is to thank for this by __aaijsn7246 · · Score: 1

    Twilight for Traditional Telecom Regulation?

    Cato TechKnowledge Issue #91
    October 25, 2004

    by Adam Thierer

    Slowly but surely, change is coming to the world of telecommunications regulation. While it's easy to get pessimistic about the sluggish pace of reform in the eight years since the not-so-revolutionary Telecommunications Act of 1996 passed, recent developments prove that central planning is finally starting to give way to a future of free markets and consumer choice.

    Consider that, on October 14, the Federal Communications Commission quietly promulgated a new rule allowing incumbent telephone companies to run "fiber-to-the-curb" (FTTC) lines within 500 feet of a customer's home or office without fear of infrastructure-sharing mandates. (A previous FCC decision had already liberated "fiber-to-the-home" (FTTH), making it clear that telcos would not be forced to share lines that ran all the way to the customer's premises.) On the same day, the FCC announced new rules allowing energy and electricity carriers to offer Broadband over Power Line (BPL) service to their customers.

    Those unfamiliar with the mysteries of modern communications regulation might reasonably ask: Why does the government have any say over these decisions to begin with? Shouldn't these companies be free to offer consumers these innovative new services without asking "Mother, May I"? Of course they should, but that's not the way telecom regulation has long worked. In the eyes of many regulators, you are guilty of being a monopolist until proven innocent.

    Yet, many regulators are finally coming to see that there is no denying the realities of our competitive communications marketplace. Shackling one set of players with unique rules no longer makes any sense in a world where every home or office has two or three wires to choose from, and wireless options too. As these two recent FCC decisions illustrate, the war over telecom is drawing to a close. But let's step back for a moment and consider just how costly and unproductive this war has been.

    Leave No Telecom Consultant Behind. A few years ago, a rather remarkable advertising/public relations battle took place over a piece of telecom reform legislation sponsored by Representatives Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.). Ads both praising and blasting the "Tauzin-Dingell" bill littered the papers, television and radio, and even Internet websites. The industry combatants who waged this battle spent countless millions. A lot of lawyers, consultants and PR companies got very rich by coming up with crafty bumper-sticker slogans and slick-looking ads. The funny (or perhaps sad) thing is, despite all the time, energy, and money devoted it, few even knew what this fight was really all about.

    Nonetheless, the fight was important. At stake was the question of how future communications and broadband markets, networks, and technologies would be regulated. Simply put, the Tauzin-Dingell bill stood for the proposition that it didn't make sense to regulate the new stuff the same way we regulated the old stuff. More specifically, the bill proposed a regulatory quarantine of sorts between the rules governing old telecom networks and those for next generation high-speed broadband services. The Tauzin-Dingell bill exempted new investments and networks from the infrastructure sharing rules that governed old copper telecom systems.

    The legislative war over Tauzin-Dingell was epic, but ultimately little came of it. After years of shelling from both sides, the guns fell silent on Capitol Hill as the battle shifted to other fronts, namely the FCC and the courts. Things weren't much better at the FCC. Agency officials engaged in protracted debates over the regulations spawned by the Telecom Act. Among many other things, the question of the old rules--new networks problem was raised again. And, again, policymakers delayed giving the industry specific answers about what to expect.

    Uncertainty ruled. Markets tanked. Carriers scratched thei

    1. Re:Deregulation is to thank for this by man_ls · · Score: 1

      The interesting thing about this is that while it eliminates third-party carriers over the ILEC's laid lines, it actually will increase competition:

      Now people can chose from the phone company (DSL, FTTP), the cable company (Docsis), the power company (BPL) or various assorted satellite providers (DirecPC, Starband) plus any community wireless solutions that may be there.

      It keeps the companies happy...the ILEC doesn't have to sell its lines at a loss to CLEC, but there are still lots of choices.

  94. One word by ICECommander · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    pr0n

    --
    All your Sybase are belong to us.
  95. damn. just when I'm leaving DC by Gyorg_Lavode · · Score: 1

    I'm moving from DC to Huntsville, AL tomarrow. Damn. Though I have never had a land line here so I can't check anyway. But I would LOVE to get this since I usually run servers at home for various things and the 14kBps up sucks.

    --
    I do security
  96. Fios customer service phone number by willith · · Score: 2, Informative

    Since the site appears to have been utterly destroyed and the locator is timing out, the customer service number for Verizon Fiber Solutions. is 888-553-1555. These guys can check your availability for you.

    I'm in Houston, TX, and they say no Fios for the forseeable future here.

  97. Re:Coral Cache (karma whore free link) by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

    I saw "GNAA Last Measure" and IMMEDIATELY slammed the back button - before Opera's JavaScript, or hell, rendering, engines kicked in.

  98. watch out for NATting restrictions!!! by SilveRo_kun · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In Italy we have FASTWEB, that gives us a 10mbit connection, half duplex, for 85 euros a month (unlimited national phone calls included). The problem, though, is that they NATTED our asses!!! We don't have public IPs, only private IPs (many users connect with one IP).
    This way, our connection is great for surfing/downloading, but we are in deep s#!t when it comes to setting up a web server, an ftp server, connecting to game servers.... this is because we cannot accept inbound connections.
    The only ways out:

    1) pay 50 euros extra a month for a public ip
    2) use ipv6 tunnel brokers
    3) create VPNs with boxes that have public IPs

  99. Called the 888 Number by da_Den_man · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is only a test project in Keller TX. They expect a rollout to other areas after the completion of the test. Until then...it is still a BIG-PIPE dream. They did say they will be sending out a notification and advertising campaign when it becomes available in other areas.

    --
    You keep going until you die..."Me".
    1. Re:Called the 888 Number by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Big pipe dream? They have already dug up my neighborhood and installed the fiber. Should be available soon here. /in Dallas,TX

    2. Re:Called the 888 Number by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even better in my _very_ small city near Allen,TX they're already installing the fibre. I'm paying 130/month for IDSL (144K) service. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa Claus..

    3. Re:Called the 888 Number by bitflip · · Score: 1

      A buddy of mine who lives in Keller has it. Port 80 is blocked, but it is as fast as advertised. If that is maintained as more people sign up is yet to be determined (he was one of the first to sign up).

    4. Re:Called the 888 Number by platos_beard · · Score: 1

      A Press Release spells out their roll out plans. It's not available yet, but it is more than a pipe dream in a number of areas. (and from what I've noticed, Verizon has actually been keeping with programs announced in PRs lately.)

      --
      What's a sig?
    5. Re:Called the 888 Number by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      VZ is installing fiber in a number of municipalities across the country; 1 million homes passed by the end of this year, several more million next year.

      All will have voice, data, and video service shortly after being lit.

    6. Re:Called the 888 Number by Capt.+Zapp · · Score: 1

      No longer just in Keller. They are currently laying fiber behind my house in Rowlett, outside Dallas. Pulled up on the crew blocking my driveway just the other day. Though they are expanding, it seems that they are staying in Texas for now.

  100. Hey, it hold 8 full minutes by SysKoll · · Score: 1
    The news item was posted on /. page at 7:18 PM. Ten minutes later, you post that it's broken.

    You shouldn't complain. Given that it took you prolly 2 mins to post your message, the .asp server lasted 8 full minutes.

    From Netcraft:
    http://www22.verizon.com was running Microsoft-IIS on Linux when last queried at 27-Oct-2004 00:22:46 GMT

    I didn't even know you could run IIS on Linux. See? It's the fault of Linux! This thing is not robust, I tell ya! [Asbestos Suit = On]

    --

    --
    Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

  101. Stop searching, boonie-dwellers! by supabeast! · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Will all of you losers who live too far out in the middle of nowhere to have DSL or cable PLEASE stop trying to see if you qualify? Because I'll guarantee that you don't, and you're killing the server so that those of us who live in civilized places can't check!

  102. I already have that in the States by DurendalMac · · Score: 1

    I live in Grant County, Washington, where the local PUD made a metric asston of cash selling power to California. Now we have 100Mbps residential fiber optics for about $30 a month. I'm hosting a webserver out of my basement with pretty good speeds. I love it. 3Mbps cable seems like shit in comparison.

  103. NYNEX'ed by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 0, Redundant

    They're offering FTTP, and they can't even run a simple query Webpage? I don't want ASP with my fiber!

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.
    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  104. Video *will* be happening... by willpall · · Score: 1

    and there is an unofficial rumor of video services as well by the end of this year.

    I have been working on the backhaul connections in my area for this for a while now. Each CO is starting with a pair of OC3s to link back the the data center. Video is most definitely going to be piped to the prems on these same fibers at a different wavelength (I think 1490 nm). Wether this happens by the end of the year remains to be seen, but it will happen.

    --
    Libertarian: label used by embarrassed Republicans, longing to be open about their greed, drug use and porn collections.
    1. Re:Video *will* be happening... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try 1550 (its in the ISO spec).

    2. Re:Video *will* be happening... by willpall · · Score: 1

      Nope, it's going to be 1490 at the local loop side. That's what all the splitters are labeled as.

      --
      Libertarian: label used by embarrassed Republicans, longing to be open about their greed, drug use and porn collections.
  105. /. the call center by beanluc · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Verizon: We were wondering. I've been getting calls all day.

    Has a call center ever been slashdotted before?

    --
    Say it right: "Nuc-le-ah Powah".
    1. Re:/. the call center by pinkocommie · · Score: 1

      I'm on hold as well so we know it did succeed this time, the sites down too :D

    2. Re:/. the call center by Bimikrash · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Has a call center ever been slashdotted before?

      Actually, yes. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/14/123125 4&tid=133

    3. Re:/. the call center by teslatug · · Score: 1

      Do you remember the SCO debacle and their conference calls?

    4. Re:/. the call center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe not *slashdotted* per se, but radio DJ's Mark and Brian played the DTMF tones for toll-free directory assistance over the radio as listeners held their phones to their speakers. They apparently crashed the entire toll-free directory assistance system as when they finally got through there was a lot of background chatter and the person on the phone explained that their systems all just went down. They picked toll-free because "411" goes to different places across the country,toll-free would be more or less centralized.

    5. Re:/. the call center by takeya · · Score: 1

      more reason things like bittorrent are great. if you can download 12x faster than you can upload, whats the use unless you're downloading from 50 or so people? then the true speed shows itself.

    6. Re:/. the call center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember when someone posted Darl McBride's home address and phone number to slashdot?

  106. Found out where exactly it's available by armyturtle · · Score: 1

    Just got off the phone with a Verizon Fios customer service representative. According to him Verizon Fios (pronounced "F-I-OH's") is only currently available in "PARTS" of San Diego. Not sure if he really knows what he's talking about when it comes to their build out plan but apparently Verizon Fios is supposed to be available EVERYWHERE by October of 2005. (Don't hold your breath.) In case you'd like to verify whether or not it's availble to you - you can call: 1-888-662-8275 and press 3, & then 3 again to go directly to the Verizon Fios department (ordering).

    --
    Wherever you go, there you are. :D
    1. Re:Found out where exactly it's available by samantha · · Score: 1

      Odd. I just called the number you gave. The person I got said it is only available in some wierd place in Texas. Why it isn't rolled out to Silicon Valley with some of the widest bandwidth in the country I dunno.

      Never mind. This is not the internet connectivity you were looking for. Move along.

    2. Re:Found out where exactly it's available by armyturtle · · Score: 1

      Yeah - like I said - not sure the guy knew exactly what he was talking about - but at least I got the number & sequence down so we can have direct access to checking via phone.

      --
      Wherever you go, there you are. :D
    3. Re:Found out where exactly it's available by peterskm · · Score: 1

      DOesn't seem it is available in PA at all. The guy I called didn't even need my telephone number. He just said "not yet"

  107. speed by DarkSarin · · Score: 1

    It's pretty simple--if I can get this, I will. I doubt it, since I live in a Bellsouth calling area, but if they'll give it to me, I'd do it in a heartbeat. And I would keep my vonage service.

    This is awesome news!

    Go evil monopoly corporation #43234az39!!

    --
    "We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
  108. slashdotted? by samantha · · Score: 2, Funny

    The app for checking landline number to determine eligibility is crashing. Very inspiring.

  109. Run your own servers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you kidding? They're using it to hook you up to MSN.

  110. More Info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since the site is down I called them up at their Fios number (1-888-553-1555) and they told me that Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and "other east coast states." If you call between 8am and 4pm central time you can talk to an informed person who can tell you the timeline for bringing it to your state.

    flex

    1. Re:More Info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great info, thanks

  111. Meh. by otis+wildflower · · Score: 1

    Without static IPs and with draconian TOS, I'd only be interested if they could offer a good competitive 'cable' service to Time Warner. That is to say, assloads of channels + broadband for $80/mo instead of $100/mo.

    Then again, it'd probably take another 10 years to fibre up NYC, so I don't care.

    NEXT!

  112. Service with a Catch! by Merlinium · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You can get this "Fiber to the premises" only if you have Verizon phone line. (BTW it is only available in about 4 areas right now).
    So it would be $39.95, $49.95, Etc + $20-50 for the phone service whatever the cost may be.

    For those of us who no longer have a land line to the house because of either piss poor service, or just no need for a home land line (Cell phone cheaper and always with you) this is a really poor deal, the sales rep told me that you need a phone line, but could not explain sufficiently the reason why you would need a phone if you are having fiber run to your house for broadband service, other then "you must have a Verizon phone service specifically to get the Fiber Optics" so over all, the advertised price is not the true price.

    p.s. the reason I got rid of my qwest DSL/phone service, was because of extremely poor service, extremely rude customer reps, low bandwidth 640kbps/256kbps/cost $99.99(w/phone service required) vs. cable in my area 3Mbps/256kbps(min)/cost $49.99 (no other service required). Granted, Cable in some areas is extremely unreliable due to high user count on the node, my area though I am the only user on my node (lots of elderly who do not use broadband).

    --
    If firefighters fight fire and crime fighters fight crime, what do Freedom fighters fight?
  113. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  114. Re:That is weird BUT TRUE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    believe it or not, certain large phone network controllers *cough*verizon*cough* actually research their market and shit before these decisions (i.e. the costs have next to nothing to do with the actual costs but more on how it affects the rest of their profits and what the market can sustain).

    Unfortunately, the economics of actually laying new infrastructure (fiber!) almost never worked out in their favor (according to the old models about ~1 year ago). i.e. if they layed new high speed (whatever) they would end up not making as much money no matter what they charged for it.

    I wonder what changed to get them to install the new stuff (something to do with the FCC ``ruling'' that they don't have to share anymore) or economically, but hey, fiber, higher speeds, yay!

  115. Another qualification link... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since the /. of the first one, I've found a second one. GO YE and /. this link.

  116. KELLER?! by Chris+Daniel · · Score: 1

    I was just in Denton (30 minutes north of Keller) for a concert this weekend! Dang it, I should have STAYED! >_

    --
    Don't blame me -- I voted for Roslin.
  117. dyndns.org does this by dougnaka · · Score: 1
    http://www.dyndns.org/services/mywebhop/ redirect your www.whatever.com to a dyndns address on a different port They have solutions for inbound/outbound smtp as well.

    Or just be super tech and include the full path including ports on all your URLS!!!

    --
    My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
    1. Re:dyndns.org does this by Ifni · · Score: 1

      You miss the point - dyndns only redirects them, so they start by looking for www.mysite.com on port 80, which points them to dyndns, that then directs them to your home computer at whatever port you've chosen. Their company's firewall will STILL block access to your web page since it isn't being served on port 80.

      And this doesn't help with SMTP. For a fee, there are services that will act as a relay and then send the mail to your computer on whatever port you want, but that sort of eliminates the possibilty of doing things like greylisting as your home server will only ever recieve email from the relay server. And if your asshat ISP (like Cox) blocks outbound 25, you have to use their server as a relay, which is a GIANT PitA since they aggressively check for forged headers, so anything from root@localhost will get rejected, forcing a considerable amount of configuration. Not being a Sendmail master, I'm still struggling with this one. And yes, I realize I should be using Qmail.

      --

      Oh, was that my outside voice?

  118. This is all cool, but... by notthe9 · · Score: 1

    Why would ports 25 and 80 incoming be blocked? Why would anyone pay for internet service without port 80 incoming?

    1. Re:This is all cool, but... by Ultrajew+20x6 · · Score: 1

      To keep people from running web servers. Blocking incoming port 80 only keeps people from running web servers. Now, blocking port 80 outgoing, that would be bad.

  119. Ermm, Australia????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about Australia? It's the internet backwater.

    I am paying $60AUD/month for 512/128k ADSL with 16Gb/month transfers before I'm throttled to 56k.

    And some people are whinging about only having 3Mb for FAR less money?!?!?

    Oh if *only* I could get 3Mb for a decent price with a decent ISP (i.e. not bigpond or optus, yuck).

    100Mbps up/down for $25USD ?!??! That's sci fi fantasy here.

  120. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  121. Free heating by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement

    Someone's getting free heating for his bedroom!

  122. Shouldn't it be GB? by Nermal6693 · · Score: 1

    5 MB down and 2 MB up isn't very much - I get 10 GB (both ways) with my DSL connection. I hope that this was a typo!

    1. Re:Shouldn't it be GB? by Nermal6693 · · Score: 1

      After clicking the link (yeah I should've done that first), I realised that it's actually supposed to be Mb/s - a measure of bandwidth, not traffic.

    2. Re:Shouldn't it be GB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God, you're an idiot.

    3. Re:Shouldn't it be GB? by irongrip · · Score: 1

      Hold on a second... the blurb is wrong, and that makes Nermal the idiot? He admitted he'd made a mistake, but his original post still wasn't idiotic. Here in New Zealand it's common for broadband plans to be measured in GB, presumably it works the same way in whatever country he's from. Just because you interpreted the article differently doesn't make everyone else an idiot.

  123. We already hv FTTP in WA state by bajjeen · · Score: 1

    In our community we hv our own Data center and we hv fiber optic cable terminated to each and every home and appartment. Our community controls the speed and package. Check it out http://www.issaquahhighlands.com/highSpeed.html -B

  124. OK, swell... by zogger · · Score: 1

    ...let me know when you are offering it in north_cow_flop georgia where I live. I do know that hecksouth has fiber to the nearest box, which is 2.75 miles from my abode....and they have NO plans evah to bring it any place else down these parts, from what I was told when I asked them. 40$/month you would have my business, cash in advance. Let me see, that should only take you around two decades for a ROI probably..... /me admits to capitalist reality..

    GO WIMAX!!111!!1

  125. yawn.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am not very impressed... I am a Swede living in Korea and have been seeing this kind of connection speeds for years...

  126. But do they actually let you USE 2mbps up? by Gldm · · Score: 1

    Or do they do what Optimum Online does? Anytime you're using more than a trickle of upstream for more than a few hours, they permanently lock your upstream down to 15% of what you're supposed to get. It's like whee yay fast upload! Oh sorry you can't do anything with it or we take it away.

    --

    Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!

    1. Re:But do they actually let you USE 2mbps up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bittorrent maintained 218KByte/sec up all weekend on my FIOS connect.

  127. Northern Virginia by pinkocommie · · Score: 1

    Hi I just called up Verizon and I live like 2 miles from where you are (Tysons Corner) and was told they have no offerings in Northern VA yet and it'll take 6-8 more months???. Could I get some sorta confirmation from you, like something I could state back to them, order number perhaps? Thanks

    1. Re:Northern Virginia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've been running fiber around huge parts of Arlington and Falls Church.

    2. Re:Northern Virginia by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1

      I just got off the phone with them -- I'm in Montgomery County and had the same question.

      They "beta tested" in the area recently, but have no plans to expand this anymore. They are in roll out in California and Texas (I think Florida also) with plans to run up the east coast "sometime next year" (the person thought end of next year would be reasonable).

      While the bandwidth is impressive, this is bundled with something called "MSN Premium" which sounded like a somewhat metered version of the Internet. You have to have a Microsoft Windows machine, and you must have your computer next to the router for a Cat5 cable. If the computer is not next to it, you must have Cat5 cable run "by a qualified Verizon engineer". You also need 100M of disk space on your computer for the software (sounded mostly like IE bundled stuff to control the "experience").

      There are 9 Email accounts, there is 10 M web space available if you need to host HTML. Current Verizon DSL customers can "upgrade" with no penalty to their contracts and keeping the same Email accounts. I discussed the merits of Verizon DSL/Fios vs. my current DSL solution (Covad), and he ended his sales pitch as soon as I said I needed fixed IP for a server. The conversation was "why would you use a reseller instead of Verizon directly" and I said "I don't know -- is it the same fixed IP setup for my servers" and he said "Oh, OK".

      I was hoping that I could migrate to this, but I'm concerned that they really don't want customers with a server in their home. Any thoughts on this?

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
    3. Re:Northern Virginia by Isaac-Lew · · Score: 1

      Why would you need Windows when the connection is: fiber line -> router -> your computer? It can't be for authentication, since the router would have to do that. From previous experience with cable, I'm guessing that their tech support will only help you if you have Windows (which sucks, and I hope companies change that in the near future - I got a Samsung printer that has Linux drivers *and* a setup utility for cups, so there *is* hope).

    4. Re:Northern Virginia by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1

      No argument from me. The conversation left me with the impression that they only wanted residential customers (and, non-IT professional probably) for the service. I'm guessing that there is a Windows program that is the official "MSN Premium" activation function, and maybe the router management tools, but there's probably ways around all this.

      If you want tech support that does not assume Windows, my experience has been to use more of a business class service than a residential class service. My SDSL service has 4 hour turnaround on problem resolution, they often take care of router setup for me, I have one fixed IP and can get more, and their staff is UNIX and Mac aware. But, this is a small business setup and I'm paying $100 a month for it.

      I know that packets are packets, and I want access to that bandwidth at a cheaper rate than SDSL. But, the original post is to a service that seems to be a residential only service, and probably more about video over IP.

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
  128. Fios Availability. by Deathlizard · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just got off the phone from Verizon. and the nice lady gave me some details of availibility.

    1) First off, the Number that the script tells you to call (the (888) 662-8275 one) is wrong according to the person that I got on that line. She directed me to (888) 991-4999. Whether or not that's the right number for overall rollout I dont know, but it had all the answers I got. Not that you'll need to call after reading this.

    2) From what she was seeing, it's still only available in the Texas area where it was deployed for it's Pilot Program. She wouldn't confirm where they were expanding the service, but she did confirm that it is going to expand in the coming months because it was very successful in the pilot program apparently.

    3) She said that availability will be announced in your Verizon bill (If you get one) as soon as it's available in your area (probably to cover the costs of the equipment). the web site also will tell you about availibility whenever it's updated, but for right now it's Texas only.

    1. Re:Fios Availability. by nofx_3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hmm, I think your sig is a little confused. You see, Mayor McCheese IS the mayor of McDonald land. This has nothing to do with "having it your way" which is the Burger King slogan. Unfotunately the whole idea is ass backwards, you can "have it your way" at Burger King becuase its a Monarchy run by guess who? Yep, the Burger King, and you can't vote him out even if you want. I for one, cast my vote for Grimace, and I would make the Hamburgler cheif of police, seeing as he has so much experiance in the crime field.

      -kaplanfx

      --
      Visualize Whirled Peas
    2. Re:Fios Availability. by nofx_3 · · Score: 1

      you can should = you can't, should have used the friggin preview button.

      --
      Visualize Whirled Peas
    3. Re:Fios Availability. by the+darn · · Score: 1

      Watch out! If the Grimace should sieze power, we are all seriously F*CKED! After all, nothing can kill the Grimace!

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un post.
    4. Re:Fios Availability. by THESuperShawn · · Score: 1

      It's obviously not "Texas Only" as the person who submitted the article has an install date in Falls Church, VA.

      --
      Repant. Thy end is sheer.
    5. Re:Fios Availability. by LinuxHam · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the interesting details. My town was specifically listed as one of three in Bucks County, PA slated to receive the service shortly. They say next year, we'll also be able to order TV services from them. Finally, a real competitor to Comcast. Its too bad that when the Flyers come back in '06, they probably STILL won't be carried on competing tv distribution systems.

      Comcast is based in Philly and refuses to let anyone else carry the vast majority of the Flyers and Phillies games to us local folk. Part of the "benefit" of living in Comcast Country. Til then, its 3000/256, no (real) Usenet, and waiting everyday to get that threatening letter.

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
    6. Re:Fios Availability. by TheHonestTruth · · Score: 1
      Then they'll run out of money and have to turn it over to Korean animators.

      Who drive car?! Bear drive car! How can this be?

      -truth

      --

      I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...

    7. Re:Fios Availability. by MADCOWbeserk · · Score: 1

      If the Grimace should sieze power, we are all seriously F*CKED!

      Wait a sec, didn't that already happen?

    8. Re:Fios Availability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd vote for Grimace? Even given his sordid past, formerly known as The EVIL Grimace, back in th 1970's when he had FOUR arms and stole milkshakes?

      You really ought to do some research on your chosen candidate before voting. I thought folks on Slashdot were smarter than that...

    9. Re:Fios Availability. by SCOX_Free · · Score: 0

      Am I the only one that can't see the sig in the grandparent's post? I feel like I am only seeing half the joke...

    10. Re:Fios Availability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard they found the nude, lifeless body of Mayor McCheese in a sleazy motel room.

    11. Re:Fios Availability. by cansecofan22 · · Score: 1

      I just called and thought peo[ple might like to know that the Tampa Florida area is also currently being brought online. There are 3 large areas of the city currently live with the eastern suburbs (Brandon, Seffner, Riverview) being brought online in the coming months. I was told the delay was not technical but the fact that they need to train new techs to install and maintain the service. The eastern suburbs should have access starting in December.

      --
      "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?"
  129. Verizon needs to run some of these to their server by Rysc · · Score: 1

    Slashdotted! Oooh, that's gotta hurt.

    --
    I want my Cowboyneal
  130. Want my phone number....why? by BillX · · Score: 1

    I found it odd that Verizon's pre-qualify check requires a phone number, even though the FAQ states no less than six times that availability "is based on your service address not on your telephone number." There doesn't seem to be a pre-qualify where you can type in a street address.

    Burns me a little, because I don't have a land-line (that's half the point of your own fiber link...who needs copper when you've got VoIP and 2MBit upstream?)

    --
    Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
    1. Re:Want my phone number....why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Phone number implies position. They can (usually) tell about where your house is located, or at least what CO is feeding your number and then they can crossreference that with where their fiber service is currently available. Since their a phone company that has been doing DSL up to now, its not all that suprising that the form on their page is only setup to ask for phone number first.

      Once its available in your area, you'll be able to call 'em up on your non-land-line and just give them your address. Which is also how they sell DSL to people who don't have an existing land-line.

  131. Yipee by sque · · Score: 1

    My brother lives in Keller, TX. Cant wait for him to get the 15/5 package so i can setup a nice server on his pipe. Only wish they had 10mb up so i could distro =)

    1. Re:Yipee by sque · · Score: 1

      err. i mean 15/2. Doh!

  132. Have you seen TPG's new plans? by Goonie · · Score: 1

    Not to sound like a shill, but TPG internet has just cut done some really cheap new plans - 20 gigs per months at 1.5/256, $49.95. I just switched, and the pings to gaming servers are slow during the evenings but for P2P it's surely faster than your 256/64 at all times, and pretty much full speed outside the 6-11 PM period...

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
    1. Re:Have you seen TPG's new plans? by chewy_2000 · · Score: 1
      That's pretty decent, I might look into that. On the other hand, my ISP (iiNet) are rolling out their own DSLAMS, which means they won't be restricted by Telstra regarding what they can roll out (gotta love monopolies..).

      I also average 25-30gig on my plan, so I'd easily use 20 gig a month on 1.5. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

    2. Re:Have you seen TPG's new plans? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude! If your doing 20 gigs a month you should quit your day job! And the bar where you perform your gigs best be paying you a ton of moulah if you play that good!

  133. Monopolist-built systems by PizzaFace · · Score: 1
    The prequalification test is at:
    http://www22.verizon.com/fiosforhome/Channels/fi os/olo_loopqualframe.aspx
    Hmm, an aspx page. Looks like a Windows system. Seems kind of slow. But Verizon is very tech savvy; if they're using IIS, it must be able to weather a slashdotting. I should be getting a response soon. Oh, good, looks like my results are finally coming up:
    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application.
    Runtime Error
    Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

    Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>

    Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

    <configuration>
    <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
    </configuration>
    Maybe I'll just wait for the ad in my phone bill.
  134. Dynamic IP never a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    www.dyndns.org
    I dunno about portblocking, as I'm an SBC subscriber... but there's always SSH+portfw for vpn.

  135. Good luck getting Verizon to make it work by khrtt · · Score: 1

    A friend of mine moved on September 1st. Verizon took almost 2 months to fuck around with his move order, finally getting his DSL up on October 24th. There were no technical problems. The customer service people at Verizon were corteous, smart and full of energy, and desire to help. They apologized every time she called. They has an explanation ready (the best of which was "your order seems to have fallen through the cracks"). They promised to fix everything by the end of the next week. At which point she got another e-mail from Verizon saying "Your service ready date has been moved. Your new service ready date is...". This happened 4 times, until finally they hooked her up, almost 2 month after her move. Now, from what I understand, hooking up a DSL service involves swapping a line card at the central office (unless your line has a DSL line card already), and pressing a few keys on a computer. So, WTF?

    Now, lets get back on topic. I don't quite believe that you will actually see your fiber working for a year or two. Verizon is bound to fuck up your order. You will be using dial-up the whole time. In other words, you will be better off staying on your DSL until some other provider than Verizon offers fiber, and save yourself the trouble. In any case, best of luck to you:-).

    1. Re:Good luck getting Verizon to make it work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My (VZ) DSL service works great.

      Service startup was flawless.

      Much better than can be said about the Comcast cable modem I replaced with it.

      I'd heard so much about the cable modems superiority. It took 4 trips back to the office to get a modem that didn't blow up. After that it crashed twice a week.

      I get dial tone every time I pick up the phone. I'll stick with a company that's serious about providing services.

    2. Re:Good luck getting Verizon to make it work by khrtt · · Score: 1

      Ohh, yeah. Once they get it working it works fine, while cable tends to break every time your neighbors hook up another TV. At least in my own experience. Dealing with VZ DSL is also trivial and easy, as long as what you want to do is trivial. I figure, if my friend:

      1. disconnected his account;
      2. waited for the above transaction to clear;
      3. signed up for another account at his new place.

      everything would be just hunky-dory. But she did something non-trivial - placed a move order. That's what broke Verizon's ability to cope:-)

  136. I'm getting this next Wed - fired up! by phildog · · Score: 1

    Hey - got the Verizon FiOS mailer on Friday and caught my wife at the trash can in a supremely geeky moment "don't throw that away!". They are coming to do an install next Wed. I live in Arlington, VA close to the East Falls Church metro stop.

    Some notes from my call with the very helpful "Mr. Shell" (he must have made that name up)

    - i'm getting 5 down /2 up for 39.95
    - i'm paying a bit extra for a router with 802.11g - I asked and they said it is a d-link DI624 (does anyone have experience with this one?)
    - he said the point of entry for the fiber box includes about 6 hrs battery backup for voice only service in the case of a power outage, to make up for the fact that power won't come over copper like with POTS
    - the guy I ordered with got some details about the router over IM with his supervisor while talking to me. I love when companies embrace simple obvious tech like this, and was somewhat surprised given Verizon's notorious Luddite ways (resisting bluetooth forever, etc.)
    - I forgot to ask about static IPs. Doh!

    I'm cautiously optimistic for now, but as I have one dedicated server in the US and a co-lo box in Canada you bet your ass I'll be evaluating the service carefully.

    Perhaps I'll find a new home for hosting dodgeit.com. I'll try to post my experience to the blog there after a week or two.

    --
    slashsearch.org - slashdot search. powered by google.
    1. Re:I'm getting this next Wed - fired up! by synthparadox · · Score: 1

      I've been using the DI624 for quite a while now, and I can safely say it is the best wireless router I've used. Its stable, and provides an excellent array of features, all of which I've been using successfully to run a server.

      The only complaints: It doesn't support IPv6 and it doesn't support 256 bit WEP encryption, although it provides support for WPA and WPA-PSK.
      The 624 is the 108 mbps version, so if you use a D-Link or Netgear card to complement it, you can get a speed rivaling 100mbps CAT5.

      Finally, the server I'm running successfully runs a server on a limited connection (blocked server ports, forwarded and changed with router). I run the web server on port 81 outside, but inside the LAN its port 80. Same concept for POP and IMAP. I've seen this thing block a DDoS while still running too. The router is very nice, and I highly recommend it.

  137. Verizon installed the conduit 2 weeks ago!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Been waiting for this!!!!!! They tore up the street 3-5 weeks ago in my neighborhood. Armor conduit is in the street and at the CO. Just waiting for the fiber to be pulled to street box and its mine!!! I'm in a 2.5 year old neighborhood and DSL only recently was installed. Cable was impossible because of Adelphia's backruptcy. So I have a Metropolitan Wireless Connection. Antenna on the roof to a tower on a mountain about 3 miles away. Averages 3-400k a second both ways, but cost $49.00 a month. Gonna Switch as soon as its available!!!!!!

  138. ha! I get 10MB/10MB, don't need no "fiber" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.dls.net

    Wireless internet kicks your fibers ass.

  139. Not quite all it's cracked up to be by digitalgimpus · · Score: 1
    Take a look at this.

    Can I use my DSL Modem, Router, or Cable Modem with my Verizon Fios Internet Service?

    No, at this time you need to use a broadband router specifically provided by Verizon that has been approved to work specifically with Verizon Fios Internet Service. Your router also contains special diagnostic software that can help us troubleshoot and correct problems should you experience trouble with your Internet connection.


    Hmm... so I can't even control what's inside my house? Why? What if I want to ensure my home network (which computers with personal data is on) are secure? Quite a few found the default password for the linksys modem's... etc etc.

    What if I want to setup some port forwarding etc.?

    What if my company issues me a special router for access to within their network?

    The good side of this: will force companies like comcast to offer higher speeds to stay competitive. Wouldn't mind if 3.5 becomes 5Mbps.
    1. Re:Not quite all it's cracked up to be by jonwil · · Score: 1

      If this really IS fibre-to-the-home, I would assume that the special router is one designed to hook up to the fibre link.

    2. Re:Not quite all it's cracked up to be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I discussed this with their tech support before I had mine installed several weeks ago and was told it was so they would be familiar with the hardware. I decided to go with their hardware. I upgraded to their wireless model, a stock D-Link 624. I had several issues with it and replaced it with a Linksys WRT54G from Frye's.

  140. Passive optical networks are asymmetric by jdauerbach · · Score: 3, Informative

    Verizon's FIOS is a passive optical network, which uses shared bandwidth on the downstream side (every home's equipment sees all the traffic) and time-division multiplexing on the upstream side (homes send data one at a time). That approach allows Verizon to have only passive, non-powered optical splitters in the field, sharing one fiber among as many as 32 homes.
    Google passive optical network if you want to know more.

    1. Re:Passive optical networks are asymmetric by Insurgent2 · · Score: 1

      Are they really doing this? (sending all traffic to all locations?)
      My understanding was that the main fiber is split near the subscriber cluster with another short fiber run carrying a single wavelength to the individual subscribers.
      If not, sounds like a nosey hackers dream ;)

      Just curious.

    2. Re:Passive optical networks are asymmetric by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      PONs are encrypted, just like cable.

    3. Re:Passive optical networks are asymmetric by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      Ethernet PONs have symmetric bandwidth -- 1 Gbps down, 1 Gbps up. Only the slower, more expensive BPON/GPON stuff is asymmetric.

  141. error or /. effect by Leadmagnet · · Score: 1

    Server Error in '/FiosForHome' Application. Runtime Error Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine. Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off". Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

    --
    http://www.leadmagnet.50megs.com
  142. But it's still not internet service... by ChaosMt · · Score: 1

    But it STILL not internet service. The internet was meant to be syncronous. Almost all services are tcp based. The internet was meant to be a mechinism to share. The internet IS P2P. I get wildly pissed off at this crap the corporations shove at us and expect us to thank them for their pricing. We shouldn't be looking to south korea and canada for leadership in networking the nation.
    If you don't have a "always on", syncronous connection with static ip where you can do what ever you want on any port, it is NOT an internet service.

    Not that the public utility comissions of the world ever care about actual people.

    1. Re:But it's still not internet service... by SECProto · · Score: 0

      My connection is "always on" with a static ip, but my ISP won't let me ping anyone. It wont let ANYone ping anyone on its service. Other than thatm though, it works great =P

    2. Re:But it's still not internet service... by NerveGas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The internet IS P2P

      Funny, until a few years ago, nearly all Internet-based applications (and hence, traffic) was definitely server-client based. HTTP, SMTP, POP, DNS, all server-client. With the recent advent of P2P apps, that may have changed in terms of raw traffic, but just because one person downloads a single 4 GB ISO hardly out-weighs the fact that another 100,000 have sat down in that time frame and used distinctly client-server applications.

      If you don't have a "always on", syncronous connection with static ip where you can do what ever you want on any port, it is NOT an internet service.

      So, once you put up a firewall, you no longer have an Internet service?

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
  143. Disappointed and a little scared by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an American, I am disappointed and a little scared by the posts in this thread. I see the original poster talking about signing up without even checking what ports they block, some other moron in the comments signed up and "forgot to ask" about static IPs, etc. This is supposed to be a forum for smart people. Are we a nation of chumps ?

    I think my countrymen like to be lied to and ripped off. That's why they would consider buying anything from Verizon. That's why they don't mind the lies of the President, or his predecessor, if they swing that way politically. That's why we drive cars that cost too much and fall apart, and pay $30 for flu shots that don't make you healthier and cost $2.50 in other developed countres.

    I am doing Jury duty in an assault case tomorrow. If the guy was trying to mug him, I'm going to acquit. There is no evidence that Americans don't like to be robbed.

  144. FTTP service Questions by schwit1 · · Score: 1

    Do I need a land line? How do you check for availability if I only have a cell phone? Is the monthly price higher for non-verizon phone users? What about cell phone users(Verizon or not)? What are the minimum system requirements? What brand and model of router? Is the Verizon installation free? How much is the FUSF(Verizon Online monthly Supplier FUSF recovery fee)?

  145. Get your friggin bBbBbBb's right damnit! by captfi · · Score: 1

    15MB/2MB 50USD I think to myself damn!!!!
    I get the frigin vapours and everything.

    ITS A LOWER CASE b ON THE VERIZON SITE DAMN IT!!!!!!

    As in bit NOT Byte. To the root poster get your weights and measures right ya prick tease.

    --
    "Never trust a computer you can't throw." -- The Mac
  146. Time to update your in home wiring... by dennbruce · · Score: 1

    According to the fine print:

    CAT5 or higher grade inside wiring required for FiosSM Internet Service; Verizon installation required.

    Still this sounds promising much faster rates for little more than I currently pay for DSL!

    1. Re:Time to update your in home wiring... by JeffTL · · Score: 1

      The first two versions are slower than 802.11b, and the highest is slower than 802.11g, so it makes more sense just to use AirPort Extreme and/or Express, or another similar WDS-based Wireless-G system, than to string a bunch of Ethernet cable, unless you want very fast connecctions between your computers, because this isn't going to be faster than 802.11g, which is a lot easier to set up, and wireless will be faster by the time this is.

      I wonder how much longer it'll be before Qwest rolls this out in Omaha...though Cox just recently bumped my cable connection by a megabit and just about everything's plenty fast.

  147. Verizon Taking FTTP Installation Orders by mxj · · Score: 1

    Why would anyone pay that much for performance of a connection that is less then ethernet? Just because the medium is fiber? I don't get it. We have more hype sometimes.... LOOK at the speeds verses the charges.

    --
    It's a narrow mind that can only spell a word one way!
  148. So that's why they're digging up our neighborhood! by RebornData · · Score: 1

    Verizon has been digging up yards in our neighborhood (in Northern Virginia suburbs of DC) for the last week, dropping fiber orange conduit in the ground with concrete junction boxes for each house. I guess this explains why... I was getting pretty PO'd because I just spent a bunch of time and effort planting new grass, but if this is the reason, I'll be much happier about it.

    I can't imagine how much this costs to do... they are having to dig a 1' by 3' hole severl feed deep every 30-40 ft, and it's all being done by hand with manual tools (except the tunneling between the holes). How many millions of people is Verizon planning to roll this out to eventually?

    -R

  149. 'Backdoor RE-regulation' is to thank for this by mynameis+(mother+... · · Score: 1
    The interesting thing about this is that while it eliminates third-party carriers over the ILEC's laid lines, it actually will increase competition: Now people can chose from the phone company (DSL, FTTP), the cable company (Docsis), the power company (BPL) or various assorted satellite providers (DirecPC, Starband) plus any community wireless solutions that may be there. It keeps the companies happy...the ILEC doesn't have to sell its lines at a loss to CLEC, but there are still lots of choices.

    Oooh so let me get this right... *caugh*

    You think that basically limiting telecom to the 3 'former' monopoly industries will lead to greater competition?! That they won't be able to (or want to) re-exert [actually protect/increase] their market power? That CLECs *reduce* competition [They WILL be going out of biddiness because of this...]?

    Dude, can I live in your reality? ;)

    The existing infrastructure represents a monumental barrier to entry! Believe it or not- it's only because of the accumulated rents that the ILEC can do this!

    Wanna guess what the weighted mean rate of return for ILECs is? Just under 18%!! That includes the rediculous x-efficiency and stupidity due to R&D-through-government-regulation. [Go take a look at the FCC paper regarding reducing porting time windows if you don't get it ;) Seriously! Ouch!]

    Being an ILEC sure as hell isn't historically that 'risky,' and I don't know if it's possible to be capital-intensive enough to get like that kinda returns.

    *I've got major problems with this 'we need to give them their monopoly back so they can affoard fiber' arguement..., not the least of which is that at 18%, if it's not non-competative, means capital should be rushing into it as is ;) But I've ranted enough I think. *whistles*

    Man I'm so waiting to get the "I'm sorry you need a Verizon telephone line to order FIOS" line when I call to order :/

    BTW I hope you understand that UNE's being 'at a loss' really doesn't mean what you think it means.

  150. What does FTTP need? by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

    Does it connect like regular Cable modem with a nic? This looks very, very cool, however I would need to be able to use it under Linux. My cable modem ISP is Brighthouse and they do not block any ports and it works with any OS that supports a nic. I pay $45 a month now for 2Mbs down and 512Kbs up. I would swith to this service in a heart beat if it interfaces to my coputer with a regualr ole nic.

    --
    If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
    it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
  151. Wow, cool. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In most countries of this world this is an entire month's wage (or even more).

  152. THIS ISN'T FIBER by Postalbunny · · Score: 1

    the article said FTTP, but the FAQ on the website list it as DSL and speeds depend on distance to the central office ( a problem you DON'T have with fiber )... this will have big problems where I live (houston) as ADSL fell through because of old equipment (1.5meg promised and 300kbps delivered)

    1. Re:THIS ISN'T FIBER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it is, the website must be wrong. I had it installed 6 weeks ago.

  153. Thanx a lot for this information. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - 31337 h4x0r
    pr351d4n7 0f t3h w0r1d 5cr1p7 k1dd13 50c3147Y

  154. Verizon wholesale too by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 1

    If they're offering Verizon Online over this new FTTP service, then they're using their existing ATM backbone to distribute the packets, which is how they get DSL out to all the central offices today.

    This means that the new FTTP service will likely be offered via ISP's who buy access to that network wholesale, and then connect their own networks to it. I currently use DSL service from Acecape, which is delivered via Verizon DSL, but it's not Verizon Online's network. It's Acecape's network, and it's VERY geek friendly. Static IP address, no blocked ports, and permission to run servers. I'm looking forward to the day when Acecape tells me that I can upgrade to multi-megabit service over fiber!

    For those of you who are dreaming of running a hosting center in your homes, though, please keep in mind that there's much more involved than simply having a lot of bandwidth. Unless you're running stuff that's really not all that critical, you need multiple sources of good bandwidth, and BGP on your routers to keep that redundancy going over one set of IP addresses. You need very large UPS's, and diesel or gas generators to keep the power on when the utility fails. You need lots of air conditioning and humidity control. And of course you need tech support staff.

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
    1. Re:Verizon wholesale too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. I work for an ISP and we just got our first information on FTTP/FIOS. It is being provisioned by VADI on their existing ATM network as you suspected.

      No hard date yet but I'm hearing February for turn-up here in SE PA. Verizon sure is going nuts running fiber in this area, their trucks are everywhere...

      - Mike

  155. bot networks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now Russians can start charging more for their bot networks.

  156. This is great!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My zombie army will have even more DDOS-ing power!!!!

    Muaahahahhahahhah!!

  157. This could be bad.... by doormat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Image 100s of boxes on this service getting compromised and used in DDoS attacks... you think its bad now with 256-512kbit/s upstream, imagine 2Mbit/s upstream. Verizon needs to be on the lookout, watching for large spikes in upstream bandwidth, actively looking for DDoS activity.

    SECURE YOU BOXES!

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  158. I live in Keller and have FTTP by MikeDataLink · · Score: 1

    I have had the service for about three weeks and it is very very fast. I conistantly get the 15Mbit down when doing speed test and downloading from major sites like Microsoft.

    The bad news is that they do block all inbound ports that matter (21,23,25,80, etc) so hosting a real server is impossible. However, I do run a webserver on port 8080 and that works great... but many people can't get to it because not all firewalls let 8080 outbound work. I called support and complained about it and was pretty much told it was never going to be unblocked. That sucks because they never told me that when I order the service.

    As a consumer class service it rocks... for a server... don't even bother.

    --
    Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
  159. Did anyone notice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That you have to have windows or mac to register for the service. It looks like Linux might be out of the question. Does anyone have information about using a Linux only network with the system?

  160. Not Just In Keller by Bruha · · Score: 1

    hit www.flower-mound.com also a DFW Metor city.. they plan to have FIOS installs finished in 6 months.. not to mention grapevine is in full swing with their installation. So whatever idiot still claims that it's just a pipe dream needs to lay off the pipe.

  161. Mention servers! by Mitchell+Mebane · · Score: 1

    If you call, please make sure to ask if you can host a personal server on it. If they get enough questions, maybe they'll change the TOS.

    --

    The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
    --Aristotle
    1. Re:Mention servers! by boaworm · · Score: 1

      I find this a bit confusing (not your post, but the issue you mention). You have TOS that does NOT allow you to listen to incoming ports? (ie, a server).

      Could anyone please tell me what I'm supposed to do with something like 30Mbps/5Mbps if i'm not allowed to serve some ?

      Is this to prevent stuff like bittorrent/gnutella/napster/direct connect ? (Its a bit strange if those are classified as "personal server" anyway).

      The ISP's i know of (here in Scandinavia) encourage me to set up my own firewall system, use NAT (some even have linux faqs on how to configure iptables), and run servers. I pay for my bandwidth, why should I not be allowed to use it ? A game server, a web server, why not?. Of course, my TOS clearly states that I'm not allowed to do "commerce" on my DSL line, but that's a different thing... or is it ?

      Or am I missing something ?

      --
      Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
      Aristotele
    2. Re:Mention servers! by raju1kabir · · Score: 1
      Could anyone please tell me what I'm supposed to do with something like 30Mbps/5Mbps if i'm not allowed to serve some?

      I think they want you to watch a lot of teevee over it. They're finally putting enough bandwidth to launch credible competition against the cable companies. They just haven't ironed all the wrinkles out of their video-on-demand setup yet, so this way they can start getting at least a trickle of revenue from a very expensive fiber deployment.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
  162. Are you sure on that install date\? by Mabonus · · Score: 1

    You're telling me you expect fiber to get installed on NOVEMBER 2nd?

    surely you jest.

    I don't imagine that much will get done here on election day.

  163. I've had FIOS for several weeks now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Let me start with the installation. I ordered the 15/2 MB package. The installation went pretty smooth. The techs were knowledgeable and polite. As the pictures show in previous comment they mount a box on the side of the house by the existing phone box. The box is also configured for a COAX connection into the premises. I have heard rumors that they already have a deal worked out with one of the dish companies. The only issue I had with the install was that the installation techs could not go into the attic of my house. (Already had several lawsuits due to techs falling through ceilings.) So they were going to run a CAT5E cable around the side and drill a hole through the side. I ended up running the CAT5 cable myself. They also need to install a UPS within 50' of the box mounted outside that does the fiber to copper conversion. They will also sell you a D-Link 624 Wireless access point/router or furnish another D-Link router for free. I had major trouble with it dropping the PPPoE (hate PPPoE) connection. I messed with it for 2 weeks and bought a Linksys. After I changed the default MTU the Linksys has been flawless. The change over for the phones was done onsite by the installation techs and took all of 10 seconds.
    Service - great so far. Download tests from a Verizon website run around 15 MB down and just under 1.8 MB up. Tests from websites to check the speed of your line report anywhere from 1.5 down to 4.5 down. For most viewing you will not notice any difference, although I have noticed traceroutes seem faster. I have also found that most websites limit download speeds to 500K. I was able to download the Fedora Core 3 Test 3 from a university the other night at just under 7.5 MB second. As for what ports are being blocked, I have my own mailserver setup and it is working. I can ssh back to my servers with no problems. HTTP seems to be blocked though, but I have not been able to confirm this with Verizon. Conclusion - So far I have been very satisfied with the service. It is as fast as they advertised and in 6 weeks has not gone down. The only drawbacks I have so far are the PPPoE connection, D-Link router, and having to run my own CAT5 cable.

  164. Bits vs Bytes by oasisbob · · Score: 1
    Verizon is now qualifying and accepting installations for FTTP (Fiber To the Premises)! $39.95 for 5MB/2MB, $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB.
    Is anyone else surprised that no comment to this story on a "News for Nerds" site that points out the obvious misuse of "MB" for "megabit"?

    That big "B" in "MB" means Bytes. This isn't a base-2 vs base-10 nit-pick -- there is almost an order of magnitude difference between the two, Mb and MB!

  165. Verizon to Expand Figer-Optic Network by Wenalex · · Score: 1

    from http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=96235:

    Verizon to Expand Fiber-Optic Network

    Oct. 22--Verizon Communications Inc. is expanding its fiber-optic network -- capable of delivering telephone and super-fast Internet access and eventually television service -- to parts of six more states, including some communities in Bucks and Chester Counties.

    The expansion is part of Verizon's nationwide plan to overhaul its old copper-wire systems and gain new customers and sources of revenue.

    Verizon will add 3,000 to 5,000 jobs as it brings fiber-optic cable to homes and businesses in parts of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It already has fiber networks in parts of California, Texas and Florida, and is expanding in those states, too.

    "This is just the beginning," Verizon retail markets president Bob Ingalls said in a conference call yesterday. "Next year, we plan to announce video services on this platform."

    Verizon did not say where the jobs would be created. But it said the fiber network was coming to Doylestown, Yardley and Newtown in Bucks County, as well as Chester Springs, Downingtown and Exton in Chester County.

    Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County said Verizon was building a fiber network there as well, although the company would not confirm that.

    Verizon said its fiber expansion would be focused on the suburbs for now.

    Doylestown Township Manager Stephanie Mason said Verizon started installing fiber lines there a few months ago and planned on selling new services to Doylestown residents and businesses early next year.

    "Verizon said we were one of the pilot areas," Mason said. "The end result for residents is going to be exciting -- they'll be offering new services."

    For instance, Verizon said its new fiber system would allow customers to add or drop lines more quickly.

    "If you need to add capacity because your broadband-hungry son or daughter is home from college, we can do that quickly," Verizon network services group president Paul Lacouture said.

    The fiber network will allow for Internet access speeds that are much faster than Verizon's digital subscriber line service, the company says.

    The company expects to complete its "fiber-to-the-premises" network in about five years, which will allow it to phase out its DSL service.

    In areas in which the fiber network has already been built, the monthly charge for five-megabits-per-second Internet service -- faster than the top speeds offered by most cable-modem services -- starts at $34.95.

    Verizon has said it would spend $2.5 billion by the end of next year on the new fiber system.

    Verizon and other local-phone companies are working to revamp their businesses so they can compete more broadly with cable operators such as Comcast Corp., which are expanding into telephone service over their cable lines. Earlier this year, SBC Communications Inc. said it would invest $6 billion on a video-capable system over the next five years.

    The ability of Verizon's fiber system to carry video service has prompted Upper Makefield Township to craft an agreement that would allow it to collect franchise fees from Verizon when the company starts offering television services. The township receives about $90,000 annually in franchise fees from Comcast.

    "We negotiated for two months," said Township Manager Rich Gestrich. "We're very concerned that they weren't back-dooring us on that issue."

    -----

    To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com.

    (c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

  166. But what about UNE access for the real competitors by ispland · · Score: 1

    VZ has gone to a lot of effort lobbying Congress, the FCC and state PUC's to link the deployment of their news fiber networks in such a manner to severely restrict access by their CLEC competitors.

    Some ISP's using VADI controlled acess may have (overpriced) wholesale services offered to them, but the competition is only token. What's really telling is that their will be no true UNE based access allowed for really dangerous competitors: the CLEC's and DLEC's, who VZ really wants to put out of business.

    --
    What would Groucho do?
  167. OH the Humanity!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    You've slashdotted verizon! You bastards!

    lol

  168. Re:That is weird BUT TRUE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > I wonder what changed to get them to install the new stuff... Maybe they intend to make money offering, say, other services over the same fiber? As you pointed out, the fiber can sustain a lot more than 30Mbps.

  169. You lucky bastards... we're screwed here by austad · · Score: 1

    I live in Minnesota, and Qwest is our LEC here. There's no way they'll roll that out, and even if they try, they will probably fail. By far probably the worst phone company I've ever worked with.

    Cable companies here are more likely to run it than Qwest is, because they don't need to go through all of the permits and crap to lay things along side pre-existing cable. They were granted right-of-way back in the early 80's for the push to get cable to everyone's home, and they still have it. Time Warner Telecom uses Time Warner Cable's right-of-way when laying new fiber. The result is fiber a few weeks from when you order it rather than a few months.

    Some communities here are serviced by sprint, and sprint ran fiber to a ton of new homes about 4 years ago in northern Brooklyn Park. As far as I know, they aren't using it yet. If you live in that area, go take the cover off the box at the end of your driveway and see if there's some in there.

    But yeah, Qwest sucks. I hope they go bankrupt. They've screwed me way too many times, both for residential service, and for big fat commercial pipes.

    --
    Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
  170. port 25 by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 1

    If they *DONT* block outbound port 25, then once this catches on it will be yet another shithole of unsecured 0wn3d windows boxes spewing spam. Lets hope that they *DO* block port 25, by default.

    I could support them allowing a selective unblocking, on request with a static IP or IP block, and subject to immediate reblocking without notice if evidence of spew comes to light.

  171. Argh! by sciguy125 · · Score: 1
    Methinks it be time to go on a rage-filled killing spree to avenge the obselesence of my copper line.

    I'm too far from the CO, so my ADSL (384/384...no that's not a typo, SBC is selling me 384/128, but the modem and speed tests say otherwise) is painfully slow (relatively). Actually, for some reason my upload is about 10kbps faster than my download. I don't know why it's that way, but it pisses me off because it doesn't help me very much.

    I wish I had fiber...

    --
    GE/S/P a- e++ y-- r-- s:++ d+ h! X+++ t++ C+ P+ L++ E W++ w M-- V? PS+ P+
  172. Apparently... by talks_to_birds · · Score: 1

    ...it's Window$ only.

    End of story.

    t_t_b

    --
    I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
  173. Wrong answer! by quarkscat · · Score: 1

    America is not too big. America trashed their
    national federally subsidized phone company
    (Ma Bell) in favor of a bunch of regional
    (and mostly crappy) phone companies. If Ma
    Bell were still in existence, the Feds could
    have easily required broadband access to every
    home. We also trashed our airline industry
    all in the name of competition -- too bad that
    those really cheap airline tickets are being
    subsidized by the American taxpayer in the form
    of airline bankruptcy bailouts and fuel subsidies.

    1. Re:Wrong answer! by Rich0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If Ma Bell were still in existence, the Feds could have easily required broadband access to every
      home.


      Uh, you do realize that back in the days of Ma Bell you weren't allowed to even plug a modem into a phone jack? Why do you think that people used acoustic couplers?

      Sure, you'd have high speed internet access. Oh, you would only be able to use it on a genuine Bell computer - buy your 1.2 GHz model for only $1500!

      The problem is that barriers to local phone competition need to be lifted. Sure, you won't see competition in the suburbs - at least not initially, but in major cities it would probably take off quickly since the per-capita cost of additional wiring isn't too bad. It would probably slowly spread out into the suburbs much as phone service did in the first place.

      We also trashed our airline industry
      all in the name of competition -- too bad that
      those really cheap airline tickets are being
      subsidized by the American taxpayer in the form
      of airline bankruptcy bailouts and fuel subsidies.


      Regardless about how you feel about phone service monopolies - airlines clearly are not a "natural monopoly" (perhaps airport management is, but certainly not flying the planes themselves). All the federal government needs to do is let some airlines fold, and let the industry consolidate to a reasonable number of players. Fares would rise, of course, but not to the levels they used to be at. Back before deregulation, airline fares were such that only the "jet set" could afford to fly at all. There were no sales - prices were imposed from on high. Even the food served was regulated, in order to prevent airlines from differentiating themselves. That is just crazy.

      Regardless of what you think about phone service, airlines should be in complete competition. Barriers to entry are fairly low, no real infrastructure is required (besides the planes and a few mechanics) - none of the usual arguments for natural monopolies really apply. If you're going to regulate airlines, we should be regulating the convenience stores down the street...

    2. Re:Wrong answer! by KrizDog · · Score: 1

      For airlines, the major barrier to entry is not equipment or personel. There are a limited number of landing slots per airport which the major carriers monopolize. This is the major barrier to entry in the airline industry.

    3. Re:Wrong answer! by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      That is easily solved. Require that landing fees be fixed for anybody who wants to land at an airport. If you can land 100 planes in a day, then auction off 100 spots - if a carrier is willing to pay more, then they get the spot.

      The best way of dealing with a fixed commodity is usually to auction it.

      If we want to lower prices across the board, then a new airport should be built. Assuming that we can get past the NIMBY issue, that should happen on its own once auction prices rise to a sufficient level.

  174. Pricing makes no sense. by Breakfast+Pants · · Score: 1

    $49.95 for 15MB/2MB, and $199.95 for 30MB/5MB

    Why pay 4x as much for around 2x as much bandwidth? Shouldn't buying in bulk actually give you a lower price?

    --

    --

    WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
    1. Re:Pricing makes no sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The price hike is more than likely because you get a 5MBit upload.

    2. Re:Pricing makes no sense. by cadence007 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In this case, its a premium service, not a "buy in bulk, and get it cheaper"... that would be buying a gbit pipe. Small businesses will lap it up at those prices. T1's are several hundred more in most markets, for 1.55/1.55mbit.

    3. Re:Pricing makes no sense. by raju1kabir · · Score: 3, Funny
      Why pay 4x as much for around 2x as much bandwidth? Shouldn't buying in bulk actually give you a lower price?

      Ever fly business class? You pay 4 times as much for 50% more room.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
  175. I get ripped off by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in williamston, MI, millennium digital charges $30 per month for 128/64. That's kbps.

    http://www.mdm.net/web/michigan/products/cablespee d_packages_res_lite.shtml

  176. yea, umm... by maxdamage · · Score: 1

    Well besides having a number that doesnt qualify... I read the FAQ...

    Can I use my DSL Modem, Router, or Cable Modem with my Verizon Fios Internet Service?
    No, at this time you need to use a broadband router specifically provided by Verizon that has been approved to work specifically with Verizon Fios Internet Service. Your router also contains special diagnostic software that can help us troubleshoot and correct problems should you experience trouble with your Internet connection.


    sooo they do what, Deny you service if they see another router in the house or cut your service if you try to use your own? Sorry, but I want to own my own equiptment, not use theirs!

  177. 1 GIG connections by greggman · · Score: 1

    Here in Japan Yahoo recently announced 1 GIG connections for as little as $40 a month. It's 1 GIG to your building and then your building shares the 1 GIG connection.

    http://bbpromo.yahoo.co.jp/promotion/hikari/orde r/ web_home/08.html

    1. Re:1 GIG connections by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here in NYC, Verizon can't even offer a SDSL line higher than 768Kbit/s. Apparently, it's too challenging for them. When I asked how Covad had been able to do that for so many years, the guy said: "Well, it's a new technology ... we do not offer it in New York".

  178. Info from Verizon web site explains stuff. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    http://newscenter.verizon.com/proactive/newsroom/r elease.vtml?id=87633

    or http://newscenter.verizon.com/kit/fiber/

    from oct

    FALLS CHURCH, Va. - Fast as light, Verizon is moving to roll out advanced fiber-based broadband technology to customers in six more states.

    At a news conference here today, the company announced new fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployment to homes and businesses in Virginia as well as in parts of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania -- bringing to nine the total number of states where work is under way. The company had previously announced FTTP deployment in California, Florida and Texas as part its plan to pass some 1 million homes and businesses with the new technology this year. Verizon plans to pass some 2 million additional homes and businesses with the new technology next year.

    Verizon will hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new employees by the end of 2005 to help build the network.

    "Verizon fiber all the way to the homes and businesses of our customers means they will have the highest-speed computer connections available from anyone," said Paul Lacouture, president of Verizon's Network Services Group. "No other company is offering this cutting-edge data service, and the reliability of fiber also means unprecedented dependability as well."

    Verizon has introduced new data services - offered on the FiOS platform - that already are or soon will be available in parts of the three states where Verizon began installing FTTP earlier this year. Verizon also expects to begin marketing FiOS services in Falls Church and some other communities over the next several months. The company expects to market video services on the new FTTP network next year.

    "FiOS has been an extraordinary hit with our earliest customers in Texas and elsewhere," said Bob Ingalls, Verizon Retail Markets president. "People are literally lining up to get what they know is a fantastic service at an excellent price."

    Verizon's FiOS broadband Internet access services offer download speeds of up to 5 Mbps (megabits per second), 15 Mbps and 30 Mbps, with upstream speeds of up to 2 Mbps for the first two products and 5 Mbps for the third. The 5 Mbps service sells for $34.95 per month, when purchased with a package of Verizon services, and $39.95 when purchased separately. [For more information on the technology and pricing, see the FTTP and FiOS fact sheets in the Verizon press kit at http://newscenter.verizon.com/kit/fiber/.]

    The new FTTP technology is capable of carrying a wide array of existing and new services, including high-speed broadband products that are far superior and more cost-effective than most services offered today, as well as video applications in the future. FTTP technology uses a fiber-optic cable to replace the existing copper-wire link that now connects homes and businesses to Verizon's nationwide network.

    Fiber offers tremendous advantages to network operators, in addition to new and superior services for customers. For example, fiber offers reliable service in periods of wet weather that can affect copper. Less day-to-day maintenance is required, and repairs are quicker when problems do occur. Verizon's fiber engineering eliminates electronics between the customer and the network so that problems of providing repairs and power for equipment in the field are reduced.

    In addition, Verizon has invested in designing some 40 new operations support systems to handle everything from electronic processing of customer FiOS orders to remotely diagnosing and correcting problems - often before a customer experiences a problem.

    "We know small-to-medium-sized businesses and customers at home are ready to move to the next generation of high-speed data communications," said Ingalls. "So our aggressive move to become the first major telecom company to deploy fiber all the way to customers means we'll be able to offer services and applications that aren't yet even on the drawing board."

  179. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  180. No Servers Allowed-Except on Tuesdays. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe all the people replying to the OP should save the angst, and read your post. At it's simplist it's "be a good neighbour". Unfortunately a lot of people don't realize the consequences of their actions, and when it's brought up. They act like some divine right has been violated. "Oh, no! My 24/7 "The unlimited they owe me" p2p connection isn't affecting my neighbours." Or "I'm hosting a rich content site on my connection, and I just got posted to Slashdot. My neighbours will not mind". Take the above two and multiply it across a WAN, and then watch the fun begin. "Those neo-Nazi corporations! How dare they make me follow the rules I agreed to! I'll post an angry reply to Slashdot. That'll show them."

    1. Re:No Servers Allowed-Except on Tuesdays. by 6th+time+lucky · · Score: 1

      By my reply would still be, why the hell sell me (or advertise) an unlimited 24/7 connection, when it isnt one and they have no intention of providing it.

      With dialup (yes i live in the dark-ages here in australia WA- also known as 'wait awhile') you get Unlimited connections that have a 4 hour timeout. I guess you dont have to worry much about data limits when you can only move 48kbps for 4 hours.

      With ADSL you get unlimited time (well it is part of the technology after all) but they sting new users with a 200MB *mega-fscking-byte* limit on downloads.

      Ok i never really believed that soapies wonder wash would get my clothes whiter than the rest, but if you say its unlimited then it had better bloody well be.

      I want my internet pipe to have 10% more love in it than the nearest compeditor.

  181. -_- by lav-chan · · Score: 1

    It's pretty ridiculous that people on Slashdot, of all places, don't understand the difference between megabits and megabytes.

  182. Damn! by VGh0st · · Score: 1

    We don't even have adsl in north cyprus.
    I think I gonna take out my work for bandwidth T-shirt.

  183. 15Mb != 15MB by eqkivaro · · Score: 1

    The offer is for 15 megabits down rather than 15 megabytes.

    And what's the point of having all of that download bandwidth? Unless you're downloading shit from Verizon's local servers, you're still going to be limited by the machines between you and that web server. I've never seen download speeds above 600KB/s, and most average less than 100KB/s.

    -chris
  184. Oh great........ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work for a net payment provider. The thought of fiber becoming commonplace in the states as a home connection fills me with dread. Current DDoS attacks are bad enough, but giving more speed to home users is going to make it far, far worse.

    I just hope (although they won't) that providers offering this make customers pass some kind of basic security test, or at least put the requirement for one and some antivirus software (for Windows) in the T&Cs, so infected machines can have the plug pulled.

  185. More information on not quite new news... by jriskin · · Score: 1

    Verizon has had that page up for at least a month or so. People have been discussing it on dslreports.com regularly in several threads and there are even a couple sites that list sightings of installation... like http://fios.3v3bizich.com/

    I've also posted a lot of pictures of the verizon guys installing fiber for FIOS all over Topanga Canyon, CA where I live. Check out my site if anyone is interested...

    http://riskinit.com/

  186. Up to ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "... Up to 15 Mbps/2 Mbps* ...Speed and uninterrupted use of the service are not guaranteed."

    That's why people hate Verizon. Deception and incompetance. How about customers pay Verizon up to $49** every month? Sounds fair to me.

    ** - payment is not guaranteed.

  187. Pennsylvania, too by theBunkinator · · Score: 1

    Verizon has been running their fiber in my neighborhood for the last 2 weeks with service going live Q1 2005. I'm in NW Philadelphia suburbs.
    In this process, they have managed to 1. cut the entire neighborhood's phone lines 2. lose one of their tools under my driveway 3. cut everyone's comcast tv/cable modem lines.

  188. watch them splice it! by mattr · · Score: 1

    I recently got fiber and it was sheer nerd ecstasy to meet the 2 young technician dudes who came to install the fiber. (I recently got it from TEPCO, the Tokyo municipal power company). Wh00t!

    Be sure to get real close and look over the older guy's shoulder when he nonchalantly whips out his *fiber to fiber microtome and splicer* or whatever that little mechanism is called in the hard case he'll be looking a level place for.

    It is amazing how totally thin the fiber itself is (on the order of a hair). It is brittle apparently because you can't bend it more than 90 degrees within like 4 or 5 inches or so. But it apparently will go right into your skin if you don't watch out. Has happened often he says, I look at him in a new light. This is not some shmuck in workpants, he's a hero!

    Look inside the box, you will likely note that the guts only take up like a third of it, the rest of the volume is totally empty, just space for a few coils of fiber to sit safely.

    Anyway I have 100 megabit but have not successfully maxed it yet. They say I ought to be able to get theoretically up to 50 mbps and maybe practically half that again, but it also depends on your client and server. You need cpu and memory to handle enough connections to max it out, or maybe just one mother of a server somewhere. I have never gotten above 5 mbps, but have high hopes for the future. Please mention if you know a site that can do something in that realm.

  189. At Case Western by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... you get 1000Mbps/1000Mbps (full fiber) for $200 a semester.
    Not trying to burst your bubble or anything... Oh wait. Yes I am. :)

  190. Spoke with the linesmen by JoeTech · · Score: 1

    I spoke with a set of Verizon linesmen running the fiber in Mont. Co. MD in the middle of the summer - they said that all of MoCo should be ready by 1Q05.

  191. Website to Monitor Deployment..... by Zoso20 · · Score: 1

    Here everyone.......feel free to stare at your county for the next few years..... http://fios.3v3bizich.com/

  192. Oh the irony is killing me... by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

    Verizon is obviously not running their qualification server on this service... it's thoroughly slashdotted...

  193. Verizon sucks! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes but since this service is offered by Verizon, they will tell you they will set you up in about a month or so. Then after that month has passed you will call them up and ask them why it doesn't work. Then they will tell you they will send a tech out sometime in the next month or so. A year later you will still have a fickle connection but you will get monthly bills from verizon. I've been raped by Verizon before and I refuse to get any service from them. They can take their fiber and shove it!

  194. Re:Pricing looks good^H^H^H^H^ UnFsckingBelievable by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

    I currently have 768/128 (really 620/80) for $45/mo. I'm moving into Verizon/Adelphis Territory, and my options are:

    768/256 for $29.95/mo (Verizon)
    1536/256 for $49.95/mo (Verizon)
    3000/300 for $54.95/mo (Adelphia)

    Now, this is supposedly in a town that was going to have 10bT lines in every home ten years ago, and pipms itself as an "electronic village". Yes, I'm taking Blacksburg, VA, home of the Hokies and a 12.25TF computer.

    I just got the Adelphia hooked up at my house (29.95 for 6 months intro) and it's an awful lot like digital heroine. I'm not really sure I'm going to be able to take a 4:1 throttle back when my 6 month trial is up. I tell you, they're just like drug dealers.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  195. Not available in NJ yet :-( by Ora*DBA · · Score: 0

    But I figure it will goose Cablevision and Comcast into lowering their prices a bit...

  196. MB != Mb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (...) with 2MB upload, I hope to basically run a small data center in my basement.

    I advise to get out of your mom's basement first and then learn about the difference between MB and Mb.
    Hint: It's big.

  197. Phone numbers used for "qualification" by boodaman · · Score: 1

    When will companies learn that phone numbers are no longer sure-fire ways to qualify new customers?

    Many people don't have land lines and use mobile phones instead. Still others use VoIP services like Vonage, where they can have any phone number they like regardless of physical location.

    I'm both of the above...a mobile phone via my employer, and VoIP. Asking me for my "phone number" as a way to pinpoint the location of my residence is meaningless.

    1. Re:Phone numbers used for "qualification" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not meaningless...they're clearly asking for your phone number so they can call you up and sell you stuff.

      It's obvious telemarketing and not unwarrented either...after all...people are willingly typing in their #.

      Why else would they ask? They're FAQ clearly keeps stating your service is based on your ADDRESS...not your phone #.

      Shady business practices.

  198. damn you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's Mb not MB. MB means megabyte, and Mb means megabit. There is a big difference.

    1 byte = 8 bits

    1 Megabit = 106 bits = 1 000 000 bits

    1 Megabyte = 848 bits = 8 000 000 bits

    1. Re:damn you by Rod.Dorman · · Score: 1

      I prefer MiB (mebibyte) to denote 2**20 bytes. Its easier to spot the difference between MiB and MB.

      See http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html for details.

  199. Demand Measurement by Sefi915 · · Score: 1
    Look at it this way...

    With all the geeks calling from a simple post on Slashdot...

    Verizon now knows how many different states will want FTTP :D

  200. RTFA by CMiYC · · Score: 1

    The page linked to asks for your land-line telephone number.

  201. Such BS I just called and its not in DC by biggdoggg · · Score: 1

    I live in DC and the woman I just spoke to told me its not in DC yet. I was like WTF slashdot says it is. Bleh anyone had any luck in DC yet?

  202. Misleading article text by Archon_de_Gaul · · Score: 1

    Notice the article quotes 30MB and 2MB when the Verizon site promises 30Mb and 2Mb. How misleading.

  203. Talked to a rep and confirmed availability by D4rkUnderlord · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I am building a house in a new community in Westfield, IN (Indianapolis basically) and confirmed I could get it installed asap if my house was built. This is probably due to a new community with all teh wiring brand new, including the CO in the back yard.

  204. +5 Informative!!!? by kuwan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What the hell is wrong with the moderators?

    The fiber is there because the public (i.e., the government) enabled it.

    Who the hell cares if the government enabled it, Verizon is spending the millions of dollars and putting in the time to make this possible. They should have monopoly rights on their investment and hard work. The government also "enables" stadiums to be built, large office buildings to be built, etc. The government doesn't then force the owners of Madison Square Garden to rent it out at a government-regulated rate. The government doesn't force the owners of the Empire State Building to lease out office space at a government-regulated rate.

    The owners of these buildings (and other such properties or services) rent them out because it is in their financial interest to do so. The rate at which they are rented out is set by the fair market value. If it is in Verizon's interest to lease out their fiber lines then they will do so and the fair market value will determine the rate. We don't need the government stepping in to tell Verizon that XYZ is the rate that they can lease their fiber at and there's nothing they can do about it.

    What we need is less regulation, not more of it.

    1. Re:+5 Informative!!!? by raju1kabir · · Score: 4, Funny
      What the hell is wrong with the moderators?

      Maybe not all of them are Somali warlord-style libertarians?

      Who the hell cares if the government enabled it, Verizon is spending the millions of dollars and putting in the time to make this possible.

      I the hell care. It's largely public land. That's how it goes. I pay taxes for the maintenance of this land, and I don't want my tax money subsidizing Verizon if the result is not going to be advantageous to the public. If you don't like that, then invent a way for Verizon to roll out this product that doesn't depend on using my resources. I hear quantum computing is all the rage.

      The government doesn't force the owners of the Empire State Building to lease out office space at a government-regulated rate.

      Red herring. The Empire State Building doesn't have a monopoly on commercial real estate in Manhattan.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    2. Re:+5 Informative!!!? by BillyZ · · Score: 1

      There's also a much less subjective reason utilities are requried to share the foundations they lay. There is only so much room ON the pole to begin with. There are strict regulations, both for safety and quality of service, that dictate how close one service line is to another, be it power, cable, copper telephone etc. The poles are only so high, and they can't run wire any lower than X feet (or they'd be clothes-lining pedestrians/semi trucks). If comm companies were given monoply rights to the fiber, telephone, cable etc. There would, literaly, be no room for compitition and they would then have a literal monopoly.

      --
      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
      I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
    3. Re:+5 Informative!!!? by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      What the hell is wrong with the moderators?

      A better question is "what the hell is wrong with you?"

      Who the hell cares if the government enabled it, Verizon is spending the millions of dollars and putting in the time to make this possible. They should have monopoly rights on their investment and hard work.

      Bullshit. They are installing their fiber on publically owned lands. When they dig up public lands -- streets, sidewalks, and parks -- to run their fiber, then everyone should benefit from it, not just them. It's fscking asinine to suggest that my street should be jack-hammered and patched seven times so that Verizon, then Covad, then AOL, then Earthlink, then AT&T, and then Velocity, and then Speakeasy can each run parallel fiber optics that they don't share. It's not in the interest of consumers or businesses.

      We don't need the government stepping in to tell Verizon that XYZ is the rate that they can lease their fiber at and there's nothing they can do about it.

      Spoken like a true Republican: Give public lands to some huge corporation to run fiber and then let them have a monopoly (since no other company could run parallel fiber networking and take away enough customers from Verizon to make a profit).

  205. Do you understand what eminent domain is? by adb · · Score: 3, Informative

    Verizon is laying the fiber along other people's property. It has the right to do this by virtue of government action: easements (rights to use someone else's land in a particular way) granted by way of or under threat of eminent domain (government-imposed surrender of property rights). Verizon (or Bell, long ago) used a special relationship with the government to get what it has, and so does not have the right to use it in an unregulated fashion.

    Removing controls from large companies while letting them keep their special government-granted advantages does not create a free market. Free-market advocates who fail to understand this create broken economic systems when they succeed and give us all a bad name even if they don't. Please don't be one of them.

  206. Fiber line by pnutjam · · Score: 1

    There is a fiber line that runs right across my parent's driveway. It was put in about a year ago but I'm not sure who owns it. SBC is their phone company and they say they can't get DSL because there is a secondary loop over their segment with effectively doubles the distance to the CO. They have never been able to get cable where they are.

    Does anybody know how to determine who owns this fiber?

  207. Get your facts straight before posting by lNxUnDeRdOg · · Score: 1

    I guess you guys don't know how POTS lines work. The CO's (Central Office) has racks and racks of batteries that power the Switches as well as the POTS lines. If you have a non-digital phone and plug it into a phone jack it will work because It gets it's power from the CO. Also a CO should have a diesel generator backup, which usually have something like 3000+ gallon tanks that supply the fuel. So if your phone goes out then your phone service SUX and they aren't doing their job. On the note of T1's. Your T1 will die if your CPE loses power and doesn't have a UPS..duhhh...also T1's traverse more than just the CO premisis'. They go to SLC's, Huts, etc...if the SLC doesn't have power your T1 will die. Before you go saying that your T1 died therefore phone service died, you need to check your facts...

  208. what's with Japan by rpillala · · Score: 1

    I've seen a number of posts about how Japan has much faster connections for much lower rates. Is it just the fact that everything is closer together there than in the US that makes this possible?

    Or are there other technologies in place that allow it?

    --
    When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
  209. This is great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is great. When will I be able to get this in my borough of New York City: Zip Code 10306

    Help! I want 30mbps down. Are you listening Verizon?! Can you hear me now?! Heck my Cable bill is $200. Need this now!

  210. Anne Arundel by Protoclown · · Score: 1

    Are you talking about AA County in Maryland?

    1. Re:Anne Arundel by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      Why yes I am. We're doing 3500 residences to start with & another 13,000 or so by January. Keep in mind we're only engineering / designing it right now, it won't get built until 2005.

      I'm serious.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
  211. Re:Pricing looks good^H^H^H^H^ UnFsckingBelievable by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

    I just got the Adelphia hooked up at my house (29.95 for 6 months intro) and it's an awful lot like digital heroine. I'm not really sure I'm going to be able to take a 4:1 throttle back when my 6 month trial is up. I tell you, they're just like drug dealers.

    Boy, until I read your last sentence, I thought you were talking about fembots.

    Oh, HEROIN!

    --
    Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
  212. "Monopoly Rights to the Fibre" by AllTheGoodNamesWereT · · Score: 1

    My understanding, based solely on reading the forums at dslreports.com is that Verizon wants monopoly rights to the fibre they are laying. As in no second source ISP like Covad or Earthlink would be able to lease bandwidth or connectivity on the fibre lines at (low) state-set rates, like they are able to today on the copper lines.

    Ummm... the rules about whether or not a local exchange carrier has to "unbundle" network elements -- i.e. resell them to competitors -- are set by the Federal Communications Commission, not by state public utility commissions or state legislatures.

    The FCC ruled on Oct. 22 that fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the curb (FTTC) were exempt from the unbundling requirements.

    Verizon had previously announced plans to have FTTH available to 1 million subscribers by 12/31/2004, and to an additional 2 million by 12/31/2005. The day before the FCC's action, they announced availability of FTTH in parts of 6 northeast and mid-Atlantic states -- see the end of the announcement for the list of counties where it will be available.

  213. Not MBps!!! Mbps! by CoAX · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one noticing that the article is not accurate? The Verizon webpage says they're offering mbps transfer rates. Megabits per second. NOT MegaBytes per second.

    So instead of $39.95 for 5MB/2MB what you will really get is 5Mbps/2Mbps which comes down to around 640 Kilobytes per second and an upstream of 256 Kilobytes per second.

    Common mistake. Make sure you do not capitalize the 'b' letter when talking about network bandwidth.

  214. Port 80 is blocked on Verizon FIOS in Keller by stormesj · · Score: 1

    I have been trying to get a web server up on Verizon FIOS in Keller, TX and it looks like port 80 is blocked. That is bad news, if they are playing with the ports what else are they doing?

    It looks like all other ports are open even https, so I guess that only port 80 is viewed as a problem, but who knows how long until VoIP or some other "problem" service is blocked. :(

    I have not called to see if it can be unblocked.

    One Source a local cable company has all ports open. Looks like I may switch back.

    1. Re:Port 80 is blocked on Verizon FIOS in Keller by stormesj · · Score: 1

      Ok My bad. Port 80 is not blocked. Please ignore the previous posting.