Verizon improves existing FiOS service and expands its broadband service

First off, for those who don’t have access to Verizon’s high-speed FiOS internet, there is great news! Gizmodo reports that Verizon plans to expand their internet service to more rural areas across the US by 2010, reaching more than 18 million homes. However, this fiber optic internet service isn’t quite cheap as Verizon wires each individual house instead of splitting the bandwidth across neighbors through a box.

Right now, Verizon’s FiOS network is built fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), which means it’s fiber all the way to your door, a fact it mercilessly (and rightly) lords over cable and AT&T’s U-Verse. U-Verse is built as fiber to the node, where it’s fiber to a box you share with your neighbors and connect to via copper or coax. It’s slower than FiOS. But, FTTP buildout is really, really expensive—Verizon’s spent $20 billion already, way more than AT&T.

Verizon is currently seeking cheaper means of spreading the ultra high-speed internet love to millions. And by ultra high-speed, this brings us to the next piece of great news. Verizon decided to increase the speeds of current users and offers even faster speeds, at an increased cost of course. Hurray for free faster speed upgrades! Thanks to Gizmodo again.