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Verizon FiOS Rate Increases Announced; Tempered By Faster Service for Some

Phillip Dampier June 4, 2012 Broadband Speed, Competition, Consumer News, Verizon 3 Comments

Verizon FiOS standalone broadband customers choosing the company’s standard service will see rate increases of $10 a month starting June 17, but those upgraded to the company’s premium speed tiers, which are getting much faster, may not see any rate hike at all.

The Verge received word from an anonymous Verizon employee who passed along the rate hike information that will apply to broadband-only customers:

  • Standard 15/5Mbps service: (Was $54.99/mo) now up $10 to $64.99
  • 50/25Mbps service: (Was $74.99/mo for 25/25Mbps) remains $74.99
  • 75/35Mbps service: (New offer) $84.99
  • 150/65Mbps service: (Was $94.99/mo for 50/20Mbps) remains $94.99
  • 300/65Mbps service: (Was $199.99/mo for 150/35Mbps) now $204.99

All new pricing requires a two-year contract (month-to-month service costs $5/mo more) and home phone service with Verizon (or pay a $5/mo surcharge). Speeds of 150 or 300Mbps require a 2-4 hour service call and upgrade fee of $100 for new equipment unless you are on a two-year contract, are a new customer, or already have Verizon’s 150Mbps service. Customers living in multi-dwelling units served by VDSL and not fiber-to-the-apartment will pay the new higher price for standard service, but cannot receive the new enhanced speed tiers.

With the majority of Verizon customers paying only for standard speed service, Verizon will pocket significantly higher revenue for broadband. But customers need not pay for more expensive a-la-carte broadband. Verizon offers significant discounts for customers who sign up for triple play packages on phone, Internet, and television service. Bundled customers continue to get the most bang for the buck, but not if you don’t use the services Verizon wants to sell.

Jonathan Takiff, a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News says he isn’t buying at the prices Verizon is charging.

I also was disappointed with the announcement that Verizon will continue to offer entry level FiOS Internet running at  15/5 Mbps. If the operation has such superior technology and capacity, why not flaunt it and give us casual users more headroom?  Even with its old school coaxial cable network, Xfinity service starts at 20 Mbps down.

Clearly, Verizon hopes  to up-sell customers to a higher, more profitable tier. And they’re using that grandiose 300 Mbps offering as an attention getter, to get folks thinking more aspirationally. Kinda like the way a car company throws a high powered, ridiculously priced, super flashy sports car into the showroom mix. Makes you go for the bigger engine in the econobox.

[…] What’s a good deal for Internet service on a global basis? In front-running Japan, the  average service runs at 61 Mbps and costs 27 cents per megabit, per month. While not quite as dramatic,  Internet services in South Korea, Finland and France also make U.S. providers look like stingy bastards.

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Ian L
11 years ago

To be fair though, you could call the 150/65 tier an enormous rate *drop*, since it’s faster on the upload side (advertised anyway; 150M users have been getting 65 up for awhile) than the old tier and costs about half what the old tier did. Dimilarly, 50M service, which now includes 25 Mbps upload speeds, is now $75 instead of $95. Verizon is compressing tier pricing to gain revenue, sure (for what it’s worth, Comcast 15/2 or thereabouts is now in the $65 range if you rent a modem). However the only real rate hike is on the low end…300M… Read more »

Ian L
11 years ago
Reply to  Ian L

Also, Comcast doesn’t “start” at 20M down. That’s PowerBoost up from 15 Mbps (yes, VZ does need to push basic-tier speeds up slightly, say to 20 Mbps). Also, that tier is just as expensive as the 15M FiOS unless you bundle (discussed earlier), and is by no means the lowest-end tier Comcast offers. What is, you might ask? 1.5M down, 384K up, for $45 or so per month. Pitiful. Or you can get 6/1, what Comcast used to sell as their “standard grade” service, at the price that used to be charged for “standard grade”, if not a bit more:… Read more »

Greg Gasiorowski
Greg Gasiorowski
11 years ago

Is Verizon FiOS still uncapped, I’m paying $99+ $13.75 base phone service (required for the $10 Internet discount) for 60mbs (in reality 50-55mbs) 3mbs up capped at 500GB traffic a month through Buckeye Cable in Toledo so this sounds heavenly. I REALLY wish Verizon FiOS would become available here.

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