Verizon FiOS is a bundled communications (Internet, telephone, and TV) service, operating over a fiber-optic communications network, that is presently offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon. Verizon has attracted consumer and media attention in the area of broadband Internet access as the first major U.S. carrier to offer fiber to the home/premises. Other service providers currently only use fiber optics deployment to the network backbone and use existing copper or coax infrastructure for the end user. The coverage area is still expanding; however, some areas do not have service or cannot receive TV and phone service because of franchise agreements. As of 2009[update] the number of homes with FiOS availability was 12.7 million, of which 3.1 million subscribe to the Internet service[1], and 2.04 million to FiOS TV.[2][3]
FiOS is an acronym of the phrase "Fiber Optic Service". As noted in Verizon's trademark, fios is a Gaelic word, translated into English as "knowledge."[4]
Internet access
Internet throughput speeds are highly variable depending upon service territory and are affected by such factors as customer location, cost, and the offerings of the competing broadband providers. Offered speeds in various areas have been changed with little notice, generally to raise throughput (but also prices in some cases). End customers usually have three or more choices for Internet bandwidth.
- The lowest bandwidth tier was originally 5 Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit/s up and is now 10 Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit/s up in most territories.
- A second tier is avaialable offering 20 Mbit/s down load speed and 5 Mbit/s upload speed.
- A third (or higher) service tier, when available for residential service, tends to provide very considerable bandwidth, including substantial upload speed, in some territories reaching 30/15 or 50/20 Mbit/s download and upload.
Television
FiOS TV service tiers include:[5]
- Local — provides local channels
- Essentials
- Extreme HD
- La Conexión; Spanish language-oriented plan
Additional subscription packages include:[6]
- Sports package
- Premium Movie
- International
- Spanish Language package.
- Video On Demand library
As of June 2008, Verizon ceased carrying analog television signals in parallel with digital channels. However, since the inception of its television service, FiOS has carried analog conversion as standard definition digital (2.0 Mbit/s) on the 451 MHz frequency of QAM.[7]
Telephone
Verizon offers analog service, or POTS, over FiOS. The common model optical network terminals have 2 or 4 analog phone jacks. Verizon claims not to affect or disable the pre-existing copper lines that carried phone service or DSL, though the official company policy is that customers cannot retreat back to copper service without higher level management approval[citation needed]. However, there have in fact been reports in various markets that Verizon has physically disconnected the copper lines (or the Network interface device, necessary for copper-line phone service) at the time that FiOS was installed, effectively removing any downgrade path to copper-based services.[8]
Power outages may affect service availability. Since fiber-optic service does not carry power from the exchange as copper service does; the customer's power is used instead. This means that if there is no electricity at the premises, telephone service will be interrupted. This may be an issue for sites that experience extended power outages that depend on analog phone lines for remote monitoring, alarm systems, and/or emergency calls. Verizon provides a rechargeable battery backup unit free with installation of the service. Older units store about 4 hours worth of power to the optical network terminal during a power outage, while newer units installed since 2008 allow for 8 hours.
FiOS Digital Voice
FiOS Digital Voice service is currently available only in the states of Maryland and Virginia.[9] It currently offers the choice of either an unlimited calling or a per-minute plan.[10]
Availability
While Verizon claims it is expanding its FiOS coverage to all Verizon territories across the United States, there was speculation that they would abandon some markets rather than install FiOS, according to a 2006 article by the Wall Street Journal:[11]
| “ |
Verizon Communications Inc. is fielding offers for [sale of]...of traditional telephone lines...part of the New York-based phone giant's strategy to delve deeper into the wireless and broadband arenas, while getting out of the traditional phone business in U.S. areas that aren't slated for fiber upgrades...Verizon also has been shopping a package dubbed "GTE North" that comprises about 3.4 million access lines in former GTE Corp. territories in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. |
” |
Verizon has followed through with some of this speculation, selling landline operations in the markets of Northern New England to FairPoint Communications in 2007. It has been reported that fiber to the premises projects in those markets will be renamed as "FAST", (short for Fiber Access Speed Technology.)[12] In 2009, Verizon announced an agreement to sell landline operations scattered throughout 14 states in former GTE territories to Frontier Communications.[13] Some of these areas already had FiOS service availability, which Frontier will then be responsible for.
Verizon's aggressive and allegedly deceptive marketing in New Jersey has caused the state's attorney general to file suit in March, 2009. [14]
Verizon recently expanded FiOS into areas of North Texas such as Frisco and the parts of northern Plano and Allen that were served primarily by AT&T. The first subscribers in these overbuild areas received service in April 2009. But Verizon has since greatly scaled back FiOS construction, especially in Frisco where no new construction permit applications have been filed since October 2008, disappointing residents who long for the service. With subscriber growth slowing, there is now a hold on FiOS construction throughout North Texas.
Technical details
Verizon FiOS products are delivered over a Fiber to the premises network using passive optical network technology. Voice, video, and data travel over three wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. To serve a home, a single-mode optical fiber extends from an optical line terminal at a FiOS central office or head end out to the neighborhoods where an optical splitter fans out the same signal on up to 32 fibers, thus serving up to 32 subscribers. At the subscriber's home, an optical network terminal transfers data onto the corresponding copper wiring for phone, video and Internet access.[15]
One of the three wavelength bands is devoted to carrying television channels that are compatible with cable television products. The other two wavelengths are devoted to all other data, one for outbound and the other for inbound data. This includes IPTV, telephone and Internet data.
This allocation of wavelengths adheres to the ITU-T G.983 standard, also known as an ATM Passive optical network (APON). Verizon initially installed slower broadband PONs (BPON) but now only installs gigabit PONs (GPON) specified in the ITU-T G.984 standard. These bands and speeds are:
- 1310 nm for upstream data at 155 Mbit/s (1.2 Gbit/s with GPON)
- 1490 nm for downstream data at 622 Mbit/s (2.4 Gbit/s with GPON)
- 1550 nm for RF video with 870 MHz of bandwidth
Unlike AT&T's U-verse product, Verizon's video service is not IPTV. Video on demand content and interactive features, such as Widgets and programing guide data, are delivered over IP. However, the vast majority of content, including pay-per-view, is provided over a standard broadcast video signal which carries both analog and digital content up to 870 MHz. This broadcast content originates from a traditional cable head end that combines analog channels with digital QAM channels, travels over various SONET networks and eventually arrives at a local service office. The RF signal occupies 870 MHz and is modulated onto the 1550 nm wavelength. The optical video signal at 1550 nm is then coupled with the IP data signal at 1490 nm through the use of a wavelength-division multiplexer (WDM) and is sent out to the PON. The WDM also directs the incoming 1310 nm return from the ONT back to the OLT.
At the ONT located at the subscriber's home, the RF video is sent over a coaxial connection, typically to a FiOS set-top box that handles both RF and IPTV video. The ONT provides Internet connectivity via an RJ45 connector, but also transfers IPTV video and Internet IP packets onto coax using a 1.1 GHz channel to provide 100 Mbit/s of bandwidth as specified by the MoCA standard. Alternately, analog video may be played by any cable ready device, and traditional digital video may be accessed by any CableCARD certified television or digital video recorder such as a Tivo Series 3. However, interactive services such as VOD and Widgets are delivered by IP and are only accessible through use of one of FiOS's hybrid set top boxes manufactured by Motorola to support RF as well as the IPTV video. Verizon utilizes an IP return path from the set-top box so that subscribers can order pay-per-view events. The FiOS set-top boxes play IPTV only through FiOS delivered via MoCA and not from video sources on the Internet. FiOS's IPTV implementation does not follow cable television formats and conventions for two way television and instead follows the DVB standard.[16]
MoCA is also used by FiOS for streaming video from the FiOS media hub for the home, a role currently filled by Motorola's hybrid QAM/IPTV DVR. There are several limitations to video connectivity in the home via FiOS. Standard definition video may be viewed on any television with a Digital television adapter or clear QAM tuner (limited channels), but High definition content requires HD equipment like a FiOS HD STB (or DVR), or a CableCARD host device like a TiVo HD.
See also
Notes
- Marsan, C. D. (2008). Verizon FiOS tech heading to enterprises; Claims new high-speed optical networks slash floor space, electricity needs. Network World, (1). Retrieved on March 8, 2009.
- Searcey, D. (2006). Telecommunications; Beyond Cable; Beyond DSL: Fiber-optic lines offer connection speeds up to 50 times faster than traditional services; Here's what early users have to say. Wall Street Journal, (R9). Retrieved on March 7, 2009.
External links
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