Articles – Fiber for All

Verizon Fios Consumer Reports, Reviews, and Deals

DSL Reports Rate’s Fios

When Verizon Fios first appeared on the scene in 2005, their service was one of the very few true fiber-to-the-home providers. Today there is over 740 different companies offering a fiber connection. ¹ while many business only, there is no doubt that consumers want fiber connections.

Though Fios’s reception was mixed at rollout when it launched, even the New York Times asking whether it was worth the investment, ² over the years it has gone on to become the best rated internet service by many consumer organizations including Consumer Reports, ³ The ACSI (which rates consumer’s opinions), ⁴ and even the FCC. ⁵

While Fios isn’t available in all areas, (here is a map of where it is), consumers that live in areas served by Fios still have a though choice: “Is having a fiber-optic internet connection worth while?”

To help answer this question, along with the question of “Is Fios worth the money?” we’ve compiled a quick list of third party resources that have reviewed Verizon Fios. Continue Reading

Notes:

Finally a Verizon Fios Availability Map

Update: This map is out of date due to the recent the sale of parts of Verizon’s network to Frontier. For the most up-to-date coverage map, check out BroadbandNow’s Verizon Fios availability map.

Despite being the largest fiber-to-the-home provider in the North America, Verizon doesn’t provide a map that shows where Fios is available. As demand for faster broadband grows, many of us want to know if were even close to a Fios area. That’s why we created this map with a little data help from broadbandnow.com.

Turns out, Verizon Fios is available to about 39 million people in the U.S. based on coverage estimates. This makes it the largest residential fiber provider by far, but it also means that most of us can’t get it. Who can get it? Well, for the most part, Verizon has concentrated it’s Fios deployment to larger metro areas like New York City, Washington D.C. and Tampa, Florida. It makes economic sense to deploy new infrastructure to population-dense areas, but it doesn’t make a very impressive map like the wireless coverage maps we’re used to seeing.

It doesn’t look like much, but the coverage equates to about 12% of the U.S. population. It is broken down by county for a complete visual representation. If you don’t live near a Fios area, it’s not likely you’ll see it anytime soon.

Just because Fios is available in a county, doesn’t mean it’s available everywhere in that county. You’ll still have to use Verizon’s address check to know availability at a specific address.

How America’s Broadband Ranks and Why Adopting Fiber is Essential

A publication by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in February 2013 paints a concerning picture for the state of America’s broadband infrastructure in comparison to other countries.

How the United States Trails other Countries

While the United States is an international leader in entry-level pricing of broadband, ranking first in 2008 and second in 2010 among OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) member countries, the United States trails other developed countries in many other metrics.

For example, the Net Index by Ookla ranks the United States at 34th place in average download speed behind countries such as Japan, Korea, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. There is a graphical representation of this data below with the y-axis being the number of megabits per second ¹.

Notes:

http://www2.itif.org/2013-whole-picture-america-broadband-networks.pdf ↩

Google and Verizon Pry Open Big Metal’s Grasp

It is no mystery that Big Metal has had its way in the market for far too long. The combination of money that can be used to lobby politicians and distort the perception of the public with disingenuous advertisements has been a strong deterrent to smaller and medium sized businesses that want to deploy FTTH (Fiber To The Home) solutions. After all, the economic and political might wielded by Big Metal (telecoms and cable companies) is considerable, and easily capable of crushing smaller interests.

What happens when they face someone their own size? This is a question that has only recently been answered, and only then by a few extremely large corporations such as Verizon and now Google. With major companies capable of defending themselves legally and in the public eye, there are lots of questions for Big Metal and even for smaller companies.

Brigham.Net Served Brigham, UT With Fiber

The lucky residents of Brigham have access to one of the nation’s fastest fiber optic broadband services. Better yet, the same provider offers digital video and digital telephone services. Not bad for a town of under 20,000 that got its first ISP in the mid-1990s. There are a few downsides to this provider, and the big one might just be the unimaginative name: Brigham.net. The next biggest downside is that this particular writer (And probably most readers) probably do not live in Brigham.net’s relatively modest service range.

150 Mbps Fiber Optic Service Available in Unexpected Place

With news that Google’s fiber optic broadband service will offer a stunning 1 Gbps of performance, the entire nation has been in an uproar about fiber optics. The FCC has even stepped in and established a program to reward broadband providers that can serve up 100 Mbps connections by the close of the decade, which is not that much faster than some of the fastest connections available today. In fact, one utility company/city-owned ISP is about to offer residents and businesses alike a 150 Mbps connection. Take 10 seconds and try to guess just where this service will be released…we can wait.

Did You Say…?

Did you say Chattanooga and Hamilton County, Tennessee? If so, you seem to have a special gift, and so we will let you have a cookie if you e-mail us next week’s winning lottery numbers ahead of time. For those of you who are not clairvoyant, the situation is worth looking at a bit closer. It all starts with EPB Fiber Optics.

Big Metal is Scared of Fiber, Here’s Why

Fiber optics are easily the next big thing, but there is a problem: Big Metal does not want fiber to be available to the general public. Why? The answer is simple: Big Metal has had it far too easy for far too long. This is the story of Big Metal, and it explains why so many consumers simply cannot get fiber optic connections despite their interest.

Investment Means Everything

Businesses are designed to make money, and that is their key purpose; they make money and employ people. Big Metal is no exception to this rule. Big Metal has invested countless billions of dollars in deploying networks based on metal wires. This money is accounted for in salaries, advertising budgets, leases, lobbying firms, lawyers, and so on, but all for one purpose: making money by selling data services. Continue Reading

Galaxy Fiber Optic Provider is a Superstar

While many companies deploying fiber optic solutions are doing so with a value added approach that includes digital cable and digital telephone services, some providers are sticking with what they do best: being an ISP. While the value added approach is probably a long term goal of companies in this group, they may also hope to one day be acquired by firms with greater reach and scope. One such firm that offers fiber optic broadband services to select parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts is Galaxy Internet Services.

Big Metal vs. The Little Guys

With the broadband doors flung open, the question is whether there is truly open competition between fiber optics and Big Metal. There is certainly no doubt that fiber optics are faster and more future-proof than metal wiring, which is currently on its last leg, but this question has less to do with physics than it does with business and legal matters. Simply put, will Big Metal being jumping ship to join the fiber optic future, or will they continue to impede progress as much as they are able?

Big Metal is Ruining Broadband

For the longest time broadband has been more hype than fact. Why? The answer has a lot to do with business realities and physics. While it is possible to tackle these subjects independently, it is easier to look at them collectively. After all, these two realities collide rather frequently, and the reason for this will become clear after looking at the physics behind why fiber optics are so vastly superior to copper wiring.

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Category: Articles

How the United States Trails other Countries

Did You Say…?

Investment Means Everything