Verizon Turns On ADSL2+ To 1/3

Verizon has been installing ADSL2+ in most new equipment for years but not offering speeds above 6 megabits because only a small fraction of their 30M lines were covered. They now are offering 10-15 megabit down to about 4M customers for about $55 to about $70/month. Given that the majority of customers are beyond the 7,000 foot cutoffs for the 10-15 meg service, that means they have ADSL2+ to about a third of the network. Most of the rest are behind remote terminals or connected to DSLAMS 5-12 years old, neither of which are scheduled for volume upgrades.
Experience from Britain, France and the UK has been that almost no one gets the 20 & 24 megabits possible with ADSL2+ and only a minority can even get 10 megabits down. DSM has improved things some, especially for the lines that were marginal for any given speed, and minor improvements in the chips keep improving performance. Current state of the art is that 15-25 megabits down is typical about half a mile from the DSLAM, less than 10 megabits from around a mile and a half. These are realistic averages, but there's an enormous difference from home to home and office to office. Your speed may well be different than the suggested averages. For example, I heard today of a customer at 5400 feet getting 21 megabits.
Rob Pegoraro at the Washington Post tested the addresses of 13 friends and co-workers across the District and Alexandria at Verizon's site, and none came up as eligible for its fastest DSL. Six could get only the second-slowest tier of DSL, with downloads of 1.5 to 3 Mbps. Another six qualified for Verizon's 4- to 7-Mbps DSL. One could get FiOS, but none could get the new 10-15 megabit tiers. That may be a glitch, but overall fewer than 1 in 6 lines can get the higher speeds.
I guess every little bit helps as cable is pulling far ahead, with speeds that start at 10 meg for less than Verizon's new offering and usually go to (overpriced) 50 meg. Tony Werner of Comcast tells me to watch for a rapid rollout of 20 meg upstream cable, which DSL can't come close to except from the basement.
John Schommer tells me Verizon has been careful about oversubscription so there should very rarely be congestion-related speed drops. Schomer came to Verizon with the GTE purchase and now has moved up to Dir - Broadband Product Development. GTE was ahead of Verizon at the time of the takeover and Ivan's team was smart enough to take advantage. Bobbi Henson also goes back to GTE and many of the early Verizon FiOS trials were in Texas GTE territory.
Here's the press release:
Verizon High Speed Internet Now Available at 10 to 15 Megabits per Second
New Copper-Based Broadband Tier More Than Doubles Existing Maximum Download Speeds for Consumers and Small Businesses
News Release ShareThis
NEW YORK – August 30, 2010 –
Verizon's High Speed Internet entered a new realm on Monday (Aug. 30) with the introduction of a 10 to 15 megabits-per-second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream* service initially available to more than 4 million households and small businesses.
"Consumers and small businesses everywhere have a need for speed," said Shawn Strickland, Verizon's vice president of consumer strategy. "With our new 10 to 15 Mbps speed tier, downloading files, photos and other content will be faster, plus our High Speed Internet customers will have peace of mind because our service is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee policy."
The new 10 to 15 Mbps speed tier is the latest addition to Verizon's existing suite of High Speed Internet speeds - 4 to 7 Mbps, 1.5 to 3 Mbps' and 768 kilobits per second to 1 Mbps downstream for consumers, as well as similar business packages. All HSI services include a dedicated connection to the home or business over the company's copper network, so service won't slow down when neighbors are online at the same time.
"This new, faster Verizon High Speed Internet service has the potential to attract business and residential customers who value the affordability, reliability, and everyday performance of their broadband connection," said Amy Lind, consumer broadband research manager for the global technology market intelligence firm IDC.
"One of the issues with cable Internet is that its bandwidth capacity is shared by multiple users at a node, so the speed a customer actually receives can vary considerably depending on how many cable customers are online simultaneously," said Lind. "DSL-based High Speed Internet, on the other hand, offers each end user a dedicated connection, so its performance is more consistent all the time."
Pricing for the 10 to 15Mbps/1 Mbps service is $49.99 per month for residential customers with voice service from Verizon, and $59.99 per month for those without voice service. Small-business pricing for the new, higher speed tier begins at $89.99 per month as a stand alone service with a two-year agreement, and $99.99 per month with no term contract. Equipment fees and other charges apply.
For new residential customers, consumer bundles of Verizon Freedom Essentials that include unlimited nationwide calling, voice mail, popular calling features and 10 to 15 Mbps/1 Mbps HSI service begin at $69.99 monthly.** Comparable packages are available to small and medium-sized businesses, beginning at $84.99 monthly** for 10 to 15 Mbps/1Mbps HSI service and unlimited nationwide calling.Written by Dave Burstein


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