Verizon has long told us they'll eventually migrate their FiOS network from BPON to GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) fiber technology. Their current BPON technology splits 622Mbps downstream and 155Mbps upstream among 32 users. GPON technology will allow them to offer 2.4Gbps downstream and 1.2Gbps upstream among 32-64 users (eliminating ATM, making it also more efficient).

The company has been testing the technology in a number of communities, with some employees having 100Mbps access. According to Verizon, they've initially focused on California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas. They're now saying GPON deployment will ramp up substantially in 2008, and all new installs in those States will be GPON.

You likely won't see any new speeds at first, as the upgrades are a way to "future proof" the network. 100Mbps connectivity may emerge eventually, but even Verizon admits that such a speed is more a marketing weapon than anything else at this point. When it is deployed, Verizon says limited demand will have them employing the over-subscription model.

"Both B-PON and now G-PON give us all the headroom we need to continue evolving our products to meet growing customer demand for more bandwidth, both downstream and upstream," says Verizon Mark Wegleitner, Verizon Telecom's senior vice president-technology. "However, moving to technologies like G-PON helps ensure that we stay ahead of the competition."

The folks over at the Verizon Policy Blog continue to shrug off Comcast's promise of 160Mbps connectivity, given GPON upgrades theoretically allow them to offer speeds up to 400Mbps. As we mentioned yesterday, Verizon also has the initial advantage that pre-certification DOCSIS 3.0 gear can't yet offer faster upstream tiers, which means that symmetrical FiOS is a real competitive boon for the folks at Verizon for the next few years.