Verizon rolling out G-PON technology to boost FiOS speeds

In Verizon's never-ending quest to continue bumping the bandwidth to the four or five lucky customers that actually have access to its FTTH network, the firm is planning to implement a new technology which will hopefully increase the speed of FiOS fiber-to-the-premises links "by four to eight times." Of course we jest about the amount of you oh-so-fortunate ones that can actually get ahold of such speedy luxuries, but Verizon is looking to Alcatel-Lucent to help with the forthcoming gigabit passive optical network (G-PON), which is slated to "increase the aggregate broadband speeds on Verizon's FTTP systems by four times downstream to the customer, and by eight times upstream back to the Internet." The outfit also stated that it would "continue deploying the broadband passive optical network (B-PON)" that it has been using since 2004, and took a moment to boast about "how simple" upgrading FiOS actually was. Still, the vast majority of you won't even be in the general vicinity necessary to acquire the newfangled G-PON niceties, but the soon-to-be-celebrating town of Lewisville, Texas can keep an eye on Q2 of this year, while folks in Kirklyn, Pennsylvania should have it sometime "over the summer."

[Thanks, Jim V.]

[greg @ Apr 4th 2007 11:52PM]

how about hey focus on getting people off of dial up on in to cable then fios.

i think they should be spreading their coverage instead of upgrading fios.

[Jessica @ Apr 5th 2007 12:12AM]

Also, to state, the small down I live in, didn't have "high speed" (wired) access until Verizon installed FiOS, I live in a semi boonie area, which only had wDSL for about two years before Verizon came in. Before that, it was only dialup for us (or satellite.. uck!).

[Jessica @ Apr 4th 2007 11:58PM]

I am sooo thankful I live in that lucky down of Lewisville, Texas. ;] Well, actually a small town outside of Lewisville, but we have FiOS.

[vertigo phreeze @ Apr 5th 2007 2:49AM]

i am in Carrollton, TX. which is right next to Lewisville...please let this come to us too.

[Calibur @ Apr 5th 2007 12:01AM]

Why not do both? I am in NYC and they are constantly spreading. I get news updates everyday where they get new counties. They have to go county by county due to the politics and other cable companies fighting against them. I believe they just got access to spread to all of NYC though. I have the 20mb/s download and 5mb/s upload with local and long distance for 65$. I am waiting on FiosTV in June it says. Finally get to say goodbye to time warner! Take care

[Ian @ Apr 5th 2007 12:11AM]

FiOS rules. Except for blocking port 80. That does NOT rule.

"how about hey focus on getting people off of dial up on in to cable then fios."

WTF does that mean? Seriously. That makes no sense. Why would Verizon, a telco operator work to get people off dial-up and onto their competitors cable network? Think people should not have to get dial upo and should have cable? Tell them to call the cable guys.

[Logboy @ Apr 5th 2007 4:00AM]

"how about hey focus on getting people off of dial up on in to cable then fios."


Huh? 80 inbound?

[Will @ Apr 5th 2007 12:29AM]

I live in NJ and have had FIOS internet now for 4 or 5 months. So much better than cable. i uploaded nearly 100gb of torrents in one weekend!!! So i don't know what i will do with a speed boost. 8-) But i am sure i will figure out something.

[J @ Apr 5th 2007 12:16AM]

Pretty sweet to see how easy it is to up the speeds. Go FiOS!!

[Smiles @ Apr 5th 2007 12:21AM]

Hey, don't mock us happy FiOS customers. At least for one round of technology upgrades, the suburbs got it first. It wasn't all that long ago I couldn't even get 28.8k from my phone line, and DSL's distance limitations bit a lot of us, too. I wonder how long existing B-PON users will have to wait to get G-PON. A decade?

Also, the rumor is G-PON will be in Hingham, MA a bit later this year.

[Uchendu Nwachukwu @ Apr 5th 2007 12:25AM]

Yay! As a FiOS customer, all I can say is fatter pipes are always a good thing. :)

[kev @ Apr 5th 2007 12:32AM]

Mahjong, anybody? PON!!

[Sylvain @ Apr 5th 2007 12:43AM]

Why is it that living near silicon valley we have the worst options for broadband in the country? Comcast or AT&T. All the other DSL providers still lease copper from AT&T and I've had AT&T cut my wire and take 2 weeks to fix it with no recourse.

[c.Lake @ Apr 5th 2007 4:14AM]

Tell me about it!!!

San Francisco is a very popular "Tier 2" City. Why the hell does Texas, New Jersey, and "no-where", Pennsylvania get FIOS first?? No offense, but WTF!!

I can totally see being blown-off for New York and Chicago (LA is just to damn big), or even Philadelphia. A real city! BUT TEXAS? Come on.

[Jessica @ Apr 5th 2007 10:27AM]

Alright first off, it's pretty hard to lay fiber optics, in the ground, in a city like that of San Fran, New York, etc.

Lewisville and it's surroundings actually have you know, grass, in their front yards. We have houses with probably more yard area than San Fran does (and I don't mean this offensively, because I love San Fran) so just imagine how hard it would be for them to destroy some concrete to put the conduit in the ground.

Not to mention, a LOT of the Verizon headhonchos live in Denton County/Lewisville. Both my parents are former employees, and even a crap load of our neighbors work for them. So yeah, Lewisville/etc is a star market for them. Based on that reason.

Some of the uppers at verizon have stated to me they want to provide Fiber Optics to their current customers first. So likeliness of you getting Verizon FiOS before other DSL/phone users is slim to nil.

PS: Dallas Ft Worth metro area IS a huge city. Why not try coming here? Rather than insult it :P

[Conodo12 @ Apr 5th 2007 12:48AM]

Actually, "fatter pipes" is not the answer. Managing the bandwidth so everyone has a better experience is the way to go. Check out Procera's PacketLogic if you want to see how ISP's are offering faster speeds, up and down, without having to increase the size of the "pipe".

[Gnaget @ Apr 5th 2007 1:27AM]

I'm sure my real estate agent thought I was crazy, but when I bought my house, I told him I would only buy one that was in the service area for Fios. I love my 15/2 - I guess hopefully soon to be 60/15....

[Josh McGrath @ Apr 5th 2007 1:41AM]

i hate it, verizon is advertising the crap outta fios in my area, but it's not available, it is so frustrating.

[Josh McGrath @ Apr 5th 2007 1:43AM]

also, after 5 seconds of research, apparently kirklyn is also upper darby, which borders my town, so i now have my fingers crossed.

[akijikan @ Apr 5th 2007 2:51AM]

I swear when I graduate and look for jobs I am going to apply mostly to places with fios service.

[Wes @ Apr 5th 2007 3:09AM]

I lived in Japan last year and they've had 100 mbps up and down for quite a while, and it's fairly widespread. It cost less than $30 a month! All it took was the government stepping in to give things a push. I don't like the government to get too involved in our lives but we're slipping compared to a lot of other countries. We were number 1 for so long... :/ That's too bad.

[Timothy Lyon @ Apr 5th 2007 3:10AM]

I live in the exact place of Lewisville, TX so this will be so freaking awesome. Everyone on the internet envys my connection. This will just make it so much better.

[Logboy @ Apr 5th 2007 3:57AM]

Hey I live in Oregon and I have FIOS, 15/2Mb down/up. Its cheaper and twice as fast as my cable was and no jackass Comcast support!~!.

I hate to burst your bubbles, but for browsing you won't notice a difference and you need a downloader (getright)of some kind to really see the difference.

We won't have TV until the end of the year, and I can't wait :)

So how do you know if you're on G-PON or B-PON and will they be offering and upgrade?

[Logboy @ Apr 5th 2007 4:04AM]

Sorry bout last post...meant to quote

"FiOS rules. Except for blocking port 80. That does NOT rule."

Huh, port 80?

i need to go to bed.

[Stephen @ Apr 5th 2007 12:34PM]

If Kirklyn PA, is the same as Upper Darby, PA than it's certainly not "no-where" PA. It's directly outside of Philadelphia and a very heavily populated area. I grew up there.

[Richard @ Apr 5th 2007 8:26AM]

Yup, and Lewisville is a suburb of Dallas - and unlike the article's implication, its certainly not the only suburb of Dallas where FIOS is available. Still, I feel your pain SF - I'm in Austin, thinking the same thoughts.

[iRobot @ Apr 5th 2007 6:22PM]

@Stephen

I grew up in Philadelphia (and New Jersey -- Somerdale), I know where Upper Darby is -- believe me it's "no-where". Which is why I left.

(I didn't say Lancaster County, PA. So get a grip.)

[Maestro @ Apr 5th 2007 8:31AM]

OK. First, I have had FIOS for almost 2 years (in Tampa). It is great, but it is not a quantum leap over the Roadrunner service I had. Is it faster? Yes. Is it always noticably faster to the average home user? Nope. If someone came in to my house, started using my PC, they would be hard pressed to guess which service I had.

Someone posted they would only get a job in an area that is serviced by FIOS. Uhh...Speechless.

[Dstar @ Apr 5th 2007 8:52AM]

I have had FIOS for nearly 18months. I'm on a 30/5 Mb service and it's been rock solid. I was on cable but it slowed down to snails pace at peak times. I would never go back even though they also now offer 30/5 in my area (NY).

[Paul @ Apr 5th 2007 8:39AM]

Kirkland is a VERY heavily populated area as has been said... now they just need to bring the cutting edge to the northern philly suburbs!

I am getting FIOS installed in 10 days from today! FTW!

[Yoni @ Apr 5th 2007 10:58AM]

It's available in Cherry Hill, South Jersey (right next to Philly) but I haven't gotten it yet....will though soon

[Jon Graft @ Apr 5th 2007 10:55AM]

What is funny is that right now, there are about 15 workers in my front lawn digging a hole to add FiOS to our neighborhood! It should be up and running soon and my family is getting the second it is available! ^_^

[Chris @ Apr 5th 2007 12:04PM]

I hate you. Even though I don't know you.

I'm actually more interested in FiOS TV because it has a much better selection and I hear better quality (less compression) HD. You can also choose from some international channels. I live in North Carolina though with no FiOS to be found.

[Chris @ Apr 5th 2007 12:04PM]

I hate you. Even though I don't know you.

I'm actually more interested in FiOS TV because it has a much better selection and I hear better quality (less compression) HD. You can also choose from some international channels. I live in North Carolina though with no FiOS to be found. I'm ditching the masters of mediocrity (cable company) as soon as FiOS is available.

[CZ @ Apr 5th 2007 11:04AM]

For an interview with the lead VZ FiOS engineer for G-PON, check out our PolicyBlog for more details on the future of fiber-goodness: http://policyblog.verizon.com/policyblog/blogs/policyblog/czblogger1/258/broadband-fios-conversation-with-brian-whitton.aspx

[Laura Unger @ Apr 5th 2007 12:18PM]

I really agree that Fiber to the Home is the way to go. I agree with Wes. Until we have some kind of government support for this build out (like they do in Japan, Denmark, Australia and a lot of other companies) we aren't going to get the kind of we need. Check out some proposals on http://www.speedmatters.org.

[Jim @ Apr 5th 2007 11:50AM]

For those that want to host websites, locate a web site redirector that will forward the port 80 traffic to a port that can get to your system. Here are 2
http://www.dyndns.com/services/webredirect/mywebhop/
http://www.dyndns.com/services/webredirect/webhop/

Jim

[prokanda @ Apr 5th 2007 6:36PM]

You guys want frustrating? I worked in the VZ-fiber optic solutions center and it's not available in my area... it's available in an area a couple miles away, has been for a year. But NOT NEAR ME!

and as for an explanation as to where they'll prolly be installing it, I would bet that it wouldn't just be in one area after it passes the tests... it's really easy to upgrade the network. All they have to do is switch out the PON card at the OLT in their offices and switch out the ONT on the house.. the actual fiber doesn't need anything done to it.. VZ has already tested the fiber used in their system to over 1gigabit (the current for up to 5 video boxes in the house and 100mb internet is 622 I think...) so they know that even with the current hardware they can push it further. I need to look up all of the diagrams I have from the solutions center.. but they made sure when they started in TX that everything would be easier than you would think to upgrade when it calls for it.

[Daniel @ Apr 6th 2007 1:38AM]

Great news, but perhaps I'm just saying that because I'm posting from Lewisville High School and I've got FiOS at my house.

[Blackstar @ Apr 5th 2007 5:40PM]

Read 'um and weep ladies.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/89469283.png

Poor Engadget staff can't get a real ISP. Well, maybe someday. ;)

[Adrian Williams @ Apr 7th 2007 1:05AM]

And Att still sit with its finger up its ass

[Mari @ Apr 8th 2007 2:00PM]

Not just Alcatel-Lucent. Motorola is also one of the GPON tech providers for VZ's rollout. http://www.convergedigest.com/DSL/lastmilearticle.asp?ID=18936