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Verizon Has No Plans To Cap, Throttle
Fiber gives them breathing room -- For the moment
When asked to comment on other ISP cap plans, Verizon has noted that the higher bandwidth provided by running fiber to the home doesn't make that a worry for them at the moment. I've asked Verizon in the past if the telco plans to implement caps or metered billing, and they've chosen their words carefully, making sure they don't rule out the possibility. Verizon this week was a little more specific when speaking to NewTeeVee's Chris Albrecht, saying there's at least no immediate capping plans on the horizon:
quote:
Doug Pasko, Verizon senior technologist broke the news to a crowd during a panel I moderated at Streaming Media West. I talked with Pasko afterwords to get more. “Right now there is no choking, no throttling and we have no plans to do so,” said Pasko. The company isn’t capping heavy users or singling out any technology like P2P.
Of course that could very well change once FiOS becomes an established technology, the network gets a little more crowded, and Verizon has established itself on the TV front and grabbing new customers becomes less of an issue. Unlike AT&T, Verizon has also consistently come out against implementing piracy filters, sticking to the position that the ISP does not want to be an Internet content babysitter.
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cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru

MVM

Thanks Verizon

With all the other boneheaded moves that Verizon has done in the past, I applaud Verizon's decision to remain cap and filter free.

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron

Premium Member

Re: Thanks Verizon

"...and they've chosen their words carefully, making sure they don't rule out the possibility."

Once they are more established in their planed build out, Caps n-stuff will surely come. Their not going to spoil the Fiber hoopla party while their still becoming a player.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Thanks Verizon

said by Mactron:

"...and they've chosen their words carefully, making sure they don't rule out the possibility."

Once they are more established in their planed build out, Caps n-stuff will surely come. Their not going to spoil the Fiber hoopla party while their still becoming a player.
More established? Yeah we're talking 10 years minimum. By then I certianly hope capacity issues won't be a problem for any ISP.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

1 recommendation

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Thanks Verizon

Unfortunately, I believe capacity issues will always be a problem for ISPs. Not because infrastructure investments aren't being made, but because demanding applications are so much easier and cheaper to produce and deploy than the infrastructure necessary to support them.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

1 recommendation

tschmidt

MVM

Re: Thanks Verizon

All networks have choke points. What differs is where they occur and how much it costs to increase capability. Raw bandwidth is cheap it is the cable that is expensive. The most expensive "cable" is customer first-mile access network.

Choke point for FTTP and DSL is at CO or DSLAM. It is relatively cheap to increase transmission performance.

Choke point for Cable DOCSIS is at the node, making it relatively expensive to increase capability.

That is why you see Cablecos going after "bandwidth hogs" and not Telcos. Verizon is using that as a marketing tool, they would be stupid not to. Verizon also wants to use FIOS to roll out IPTV. Cable will be hard pressed to compete due to limited network capacity.

/tom
UncleDirtNap
join:2006-08-26
Pittsburgh, PA

UncleDirtNap to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
Capacity issues will always be a problem for Internet over cable. So long as multiple people are sharing the same bandwidth there's always going to be a person or two who takes more than the amount theoretically allotted to them.
nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

1 recommendation

nasadude to Mactron

Member

to Mactron
said by Mactron:

Once they are more established in their planed build out, Caps n-stuff will surely come. Their not going to spoil the Fiber hoopla party while their still becoming a player.
translation: when they stop getting their broadband and voice lunch eaten by cable and when they have video up on all their fiber systems, they will be just like the other guys, caps and all.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH to cdru

Premium Member

to cdru
For now......

JasonOD
@comcast.net

JasonOD

Anon

I expect......

both VZ & ATT to give Comcast a few PR bodyblows in the coming months over this. And then slip in some caps of their own.
EPS4
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

EPS4

Member

Re: I expect......

Our caps are 500 GB, unlike Comcast's measly 250 GB cap! (But weren't you uncapped yesterday?)
ShadezeRO
join:2006-04-24
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ShadezeRO

Member

Re: I expect......

Ehh....

That seems about right, maybe a little higher if anything.

Within 10 years, I'm pretty sure the new base package will be 20mb/5 at least.

v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium Member
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY

v35_pilot

Premium Member

Just a matter of time

In my opinion metered billing is something that Verizon management is salivating over in the back rooms of their office buildings and it will be here eventually.

For now we all had better enjoy the party, for these will soon become the "good ole days."
jammmin
join:2000-12-14
Upper Marlboro, MD

1 recommendation

jammmin

Member

Great marketing opportunity for FIOS

Great marketing opportunity for Verizon here.

They need to go on a marketing blitz right now comparing Verizon to Comcast.

Comcast
1. Throttling
2. Monthly Caps
3. Slower speed
4. Congestion on nodes at night because of its shared network

Verizon
1.No throttling
2. No monthly caps
3. Fastest internet
4. Same speed 24/7

FIOS could possibly win over millions of new customers this way. BTW, all my internet problems from the past few years where recently solved when I switched from Comcast to Verizon and I have never been happier.

QuakeFrag
Premium Member
join:2003-06-13
NH

QuakeFrag

Premium Member

Re: Great marketing opportunity for FIOS

Only thing is that fios is nowhere near the coverage that Comcast has. So if you do advertise, it would only be in select markets.
EPS4
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

EPS4

Member

Re: Great marketing opportunity for FIOS

No different than their current advertising- I noticed that they've started adding a large "FiOS AVAILABLE IN SELECT AREAS ONLY" to the bottom of their ads, rather than the much smaller print that was there before.

telcolackey5
The Truth? You can't handle the truth
join:2007-04-06
Death Valley, CA

telcolackey5 to jammmin

Member

to jammmin
said by jammmin:

FIOS could possibly win over millions of new customers this way. BTW, all my internet problems from the past few years where recently solved when I switched from Comcast to Verizon and I have never been happier.
Doubtful. The amount of people that are actually impacted/care and overlay that with actual FiOS coverage and you have less than actual number that have switched today.
EPS4
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

EPS4

Member

Re: Great marketing opportunity for FIOS

That would be the point of advertising- convince people who aren't even using 5GB/month that Comcast's caps are going to hurt their internet usage. It doesn't need to be absolutely 100% factual.

But Verizon won't take advantage of this for their advertising, because as the article says they seem to like to leave every option open.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to jammmin

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to jammmin
none of the items you talk about are important to those "millions" of customers. High performance techno geeks care about things like throttling, monthly caps, speeds, etc. The ONE exception are the slowdowns.

This is a topic that more people around here, with blinders on, need to get over. The average consumer, right now, could care less about what most people here pop blood vessels over daily on this site.
Raven313
join:2001-12-17
Washington, DC

Raven313

Member

Anyone Reject FIOS?

Does anyone here have FIOS available but opt to go with another ISP? If so, why?

v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium Member
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY

v35_pilot

Premium Member

Re: Anyone Reject FIOS?

said by Raven313:

Does anyone here have FIOS available but opt to go with another ISP? If so, why?
There are neighbors in my small development that choose to remain with Time Warner cable rather than go with FiOS Internet simply for the "triple play convenient billing" service.

Really bizarre to me why someone would choose "convenient billing" over best-of-breed but differences are what make the world so interest.
majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Medford, NY

majortom1029 to Raven313

Member

to Raven313
I have fios available but choose to stay with cablevision. Long island area wide wifi is a huge advantage for me and worth it over a 5mbps iincrease in speed.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207 to Raven313

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to Raven313
I had problems with Verizon and their customer support and refuse to deal with them as much as possible. I still need a no frills POTS line, but I never use it for anything and I don't even use that phone number. It's necessary for my security system and to call for help if an emergency arises.

I live on the south side of a valley that slopes up and completely blocks any possible chance for me to receive satellite TV service without using a very tall tower. I have Comcast cable and I like their OnDemand service as I basically watch sports and time-shifted programs. Because I get TV service, I only pay $53 for 16/2 Blast! HSI service with effective 24/3 speeds with the boost. This has proven to be more than adequate for me.

The cost of switching to a Verizon FiOS package at a comparable speed was not significantly cheaper at all, and it would come with the hassle of dealing with Verizon once again, which I loathe to do. Besides, many of my neighbors have made the switch, which has only helped to relieve any congestion that we might have experienced before.

It's nice to have a choice, but unless something changes, I don't see myself making the switch.

elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray to Raven313

Member

to Raven313
said by Raven313:

Does anyone here have FIOS available but opt to go with another ISP? If so, why?
At least in my neck of the woods, FIOS is available from an ISP other than Verizon Online. Care to rephrase?

So far, I'm not inclined to subscribe FIOS. The minimum price is more than triple that of DSL. I don't need 10/2. I'd like the alleged reliability, but I'm not gonna spend that kind of money on a single service until it is proven, and hopefully, they offer up a more affordable tier.

POB
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium Member
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA

POB

Premium Member

Common Sense 101

Unless and until VZ makes FIOS available in large metropolitan markets on the west coast, they are very far from becoming a significant "player" in the BB market. Right now they're nothing but an east coast one trick pony, so of course mgt is going to pretend the company would not embrace caps.

v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium Member
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY

v35_pilot

Premium Member

Re: Common Sense 101

said by POB:

Right now they're nothing but an east coast one trick pony, so of course mgt is going to pretend the company would not embrace caps.
Actually a two trick pony (TV and Internet), and two pretty good tricks at that.

POB
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium Member
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA

POB

Premium Member

Re: Common Sense 101

said by v35_pilot:

Actually a two trick pony (TV and Internet), and two pretty good tricks at that.
Eh, fair enough. I stand corrected.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt to v35_pilot

MVM

to v35_pilot
said by v35_pilot:

Actually a two trick pony (TV and Internet),
Do I hear three-tricks? They do telephony after all, both wired and wireless.

Here in NH with the sale to Fairpoint they are back to one trick - Wireless only.

/tom

v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium Member
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY

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v35_pilot

Premium Member

Re: Common Sense 101

said by tschmidt:

Do I hear three-tricks? They do telephony after all, both wired and wireless.
Personally I didn't think their telephony was worthy as it has been around forever and is about as exciting as watching the pony go poop.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Common Sense 101

True, but they can do quadruple play (wireline, wireless. internet, TV) with the phone line going over fiber (not even really VoIP) whereasMSOs can't do that. As an added bonus, you can put VoIP on FiOS and they won't complain..and the service will work great!

LeftOfSanity
People Suck.
join:2005-11-06
Dover, DE

LeftOfSanity

Member

Re: Common Sense 101

How is it not really VoIP?

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt

MVM

Re: Common Sense 101

said by LeftOfSanity:

How is it not really VoIP?
For phone service FIOS reserves bandwidth using ATM for up to four voice channels, the ONT is not using IP for voice. In effect it is as if Verizon installed a Remote Terminal on the side of your home.

FIOS uses a third "color" for Video emulating traditional Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) technology used to Cable industry.

Over time Verizon may transition to a more IP centric network but focus on early roll out was emulation of conventional technology.
/tom
mach
join:2001-11-24
Flushing, NY

mach to POB

Member

to POB
Verizon is not going to cap cause verizon doesn't pay for bandwidth. They are a tier-1 backbone provider which means they connects to the entire Internet solely via Settlement Free Interconnection, also known as settlement free peering. While Cable companies have to pay for the bandwidth they offer to its customers from companies like Level3, Cogent, ATT, etc.

And actually the more bandwidth verizon fios customers use, the more money Verizon is going to make by charging providers (like web hosting companies, cable companies, other small ISPs, etc,) that purchase bandwidth from Verizon.

So you will most likely never see caps/throttling on Verizon FIOS.

••••
MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ

MrSpock29 to POB

Member

to POB
said by POB:

Unless and until VZ makes FIOS available in large metropolitan markets on the west coast, they are very far from becoming a significant "player" in the BB market. Right now they're nothing but an east coast one trick pony, so of course mgt is going to pretend the company would not embrace caps.
The population of the Megalopolis where they have a presence is the most densely populated area of the country.
They are not "pretending" to not embrace caps, since they don't have them, that's all that matters.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207

Premium Member

Tough Stance?

And I will not use my car's air conditioner to save fuel. Although I reserve the right to change my mind when the temperatures go up again next summer.
ja2007123
join:2007-10-06

ja2007123

Member

For the moment

in the next years, Verizon will be the big dog and stuff, their networks will be saturated by bootlegged Blu Ray movies and the next thing you know, CAPs and Throttling.
Back in 2000 AD a cap on Cable was unimaginable but look it now. Hopefully something else will pop out. *hint* *1gb connection*

ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16

ITALIAN926

Member

Re: For the moment

Verizon will always be capable of faster and better speeds. If the current ONT's cant handle lets say... Gigabits a second... guess what, a simple dispatch to slap on a new ONT with matching CO equipment.. and viola ! Zoom Zoom Zoom.

This is what so many people cant understand. For the first time in history, a phone company has done something right and has future-proofed itself. All these companies milking copper will be kicking themselves one day.
Codacious
join:2001-12-07
Dade City, FL

Codacious

Member

Re: For the moment

said by ITALIAN926:

For the first time in history, a phone company has done something right and has future-proofed itself. All these companies milking copper will be kicking themselves one day.
I have to (mostly) disagree with your last sentence. Cable still has some kick left with a few tricks up it's sleeve that will allow it to hold off on a fiber rebuild for many more years. Of course Vz still will not have made it's money back on the fiber rollout by the time the bean counters at the cable companies decide the time is right for them. The reason I say "mostly" is that they could get the timing wrong and wait a little to late before their rollout and not be able to keep enough existing customers happy and go belly-up.

It's kind of odd to watch the tables turn. Vz got fat off the millions it made off the old copper infrastructure until voip made such a big dent in its wallet that Vz was forced to make a change. Of course the fiber rollout would have never of happened if they hadn't been banking the money all them years.
Now the Cable companies are trying to bank some money for the big rollout they will be doing in the many years to come. Of course the fiber equipment will be much cheaper and better by that time.
Vz was hoping with the better service it could kill the competition and then make their own price structure, but the fight is greater then they thought. Kind of like Blu-Ray is the better product, but only a small percentage of us actually have it. More then likely, that small percentage are the people on this forum

yolarry
join:2007-12-29
Creston, WV

yolarry

Member

Hopefully Stay that way

So I can get dsl

This is why I love verizon services
Vesentac
join:2002-05-10
Chantilly, VA

Vesentac

Member

Verizon probably already caps

I have three other power users living with me.

By the end of the third week of last month, we saw capped download speeds at 30KB. At midnight of September 1st, speeds were restored back to the norm of ~500KB. Monthly reset? Possibly.

We had called in when we saw the "cap" and the techs said they saw no problem. They even opted to dispatch a tech out to the premises to take a look. They found no problem and hooked up a Verizon router which we quickly replaced with our old router.

Since my roommates do so much with the internet from streaming, downloading porn, one guys does anime, and etc. I can only think wonder how much bandwidth we had eaten that month to enable that cap.
njchoochoo
Premium Member
join:2007-06-21
Hammonton, NJ

1 edit

njchoochoo

Premium Member

Re: Verizon probably already caps

Deleted...sorry