Verizon today announced that next month it will double the speeds for its FiOS broadband service. The company will be introducing a 300 Mbps connection as its highest-tier option. As Ars Technica points out, this is faster than most single-band routers. A tier with 75 Mbps access will also be introduced.
Verizon said the new speed tiers, which will be offered in both stand-alone and bundled plans, were designed to address the growing prominence of bandwidth-intensive applications. The company states the new speeds will be able to support customers who watch more streaming video on multiple devices throughout their households.
“The ways we used the Internet and watched TV over the past 10 to 15 years have dramatically shifted,” said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon’s consumer and mass market business. “With the emergence of smartphones, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, tablets and gaming consoles that also serve as over-the-top devices, consumers need more bandwidth to receive the highest-quality experience.”
Verizon claims their lower-tier plans are fine for households of one or two people who use the internet for basic services such as email and web browsing. The highest-tier plans are for households of five or more internet users who stream HD movies, download or upload videos, and play multiplayer video games. The company claims FiOS, which is an all-fiber optic network, offers better reliability than cable-company provided broadband.
“Our top FiOS speed will be twice as fast as anything America has ever seen,” said Mike Ritter, chief marketing officer for Verizon’s consumer and mass market business unit. “High-speed Internet no longer is just for techies, as more than half of our residential consumers already use at least a 20 Mbps Internet connection. Streaming online video on an all-fiber-optic connection providing faster speeds is better and more reliable during peak Internet usage hours.”
These amazingly high speeds might seem too good to be true, and for most Americans they are. Verizon FiOS service is available in only a handful of larger cities across the U.S. For customers lucky enough to have access to FiOS, though, their broadband options just got a whole lot faster.
