[Update: July 14/12:27am — Our sharp eyed readers contested the accuracy of the speed chart shown below almost immediately after publication.  Eric, who pens for Photography Bay we linked to below, replied to my inquiry about the data.  His reply:  “The speed estimates come from Verizon. I was more concerned with the upload figures; however, now that you mention it, it looks like Verizon may have the 80% calculation on the wrong side of their equation for the download portion of the chart. The upload chart looks right with FiOS at 10x faster than cable; however, the download chart shows a 20% speed increase when it should show a 5x speed increase. Nice catch.” I suppose we should let Verizon know. Thanks to our readers who caught the math error.  Hopefully their billing is more accurate.]

With the announcement by Rogers that their particular implementation of DOCSIS 3 would bring speeds of 25-50Mbps for downloads, it was curious that the company elected to only make incremental increases in upload speed.  Maxing out at just 2Mbps for uploading, Rogers continues the mindset that broadband subscribers don’t care about upload speed — just download speed.

That may have been true in the past, but today’s broadband consumer is woefully underserved with slow upload speeds, which hamper uploading pictures, home movies, and other content to share with friends, family members, or like we do here, the rest of the connected world as a whole.

In Rochester and many other Time Warner Cable cities, upload speed has remain unchanged for standard service customers for more than a decade — just 384kbps.  Paying $10 more for Turbo service, if only to get 1Mbps (which isn’t exactly “blazing fast” these days either), is the only alternative.

Fiber to the home services like Verizon FiOS and some municipally run fiber systems are changing the paradigm for upload speeds, providing customers with substantially faster service — typically far more than telephone company DSL or broadband service from the local cable operator.  A “speed test” from New York from a FiOS customer illustrates the capability:

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For photographers, among many other net users, upload speed is critically important in managing their photograph collections.

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The Photography Bay blog compiled a chart illustrating the dramatic differences upload speeds can have on your time and patience:

Verizon has announced a deal with the city of Pittsburgh to begin rolling out FiOS services to city residents by the end of this summer.

This gives the city its first wired competitor to incumbent cable provider Comcast, whose franchise renewal is due at the end of this year.

Verizon FiOS will charge residents $47 per month for 250 standard definition channels plus local high definition channels, and $11 more for several dozen HD channels and more than a dozen sports networks.

Some suburban Pittsburgh customers can already access FiOS broadband products, as the company has wired parts of Banksville, Beechview, Bloomfield, Brookline, Carrick, East Hills, East Liberty, Friendship, Garfield, Highland Park, Homewood, Larimer, Lincoln-Lemington, Morningside, Overbrook, Point Breeze, Regent Square, Stanton Heights and Swisshelm Park.  Completing agreements to send video down the network to add a “cable TV” type service is expected to be a relatively simple process, according to Verizon officials.

[flv width=”428″ height=”240″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTAE Pittsburgh FIOS Arrives in Pittsburgh 7-6-09.flv[/flv]

WTAE Pittsburgh Reports on Verizon Agreement with the City of Pittsburgh

City residents can expect to see service available within the next six years, or the company will be subjected to fines by city officials.  But Verizon should have service available far earlier, starting with most of the North Side, some South Hills neighborhoods near suburbs, the business district downtown, and parts of Lawrenceville.

In return for a franchise agreement, Verizon will mimic Comcast’s agreement with the city, handing over 5% of gross revenue.  Verizon has also agreed to install dedicated fiber optic service between some city public safety buildings, $700,000 to upgrade the city’s video equipment, in part for local government proceedings, and 52 cents from each customer will be designated towards providing the viewer with public, educational, and local government channels.  A total of five channels will be reserved: two for government, one for public access, one for educational use, and a fifth reserved for the future.

More video on this story below.

… Continue Reading

Sources say an elderly Vienna man is dead after falling down in a confrontation outside his home with a Verizon FiOS technician.

Police say 79-year-old Bill Cornelious was unhappy with the installation of a new service.

The Verizon employee left the home at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and the elderly man followed him out and tried to block the technician’s van from leaving the driveway.

Vienna police say the man tried to reach inside the van and grab the steering wheel. It was then that he fell and suffered the injuries that caused his death. WJLA-TV reports on this tragedy which occurred in late June and was brought to our attention today:

[flv width=”320″ height=”240″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WJLA Washington – Elderly Man Dies After Encounter With FiOS Technician 06-18-09.flv[/flv]

It’s unfortunate that disputes over cable/television service can lead to these kinds of confrontations and tragic results.

The quest for fiber-based broadband service from consumers has reached the point where many have decided to accept or decline offers to purchase property in new housing developments based on whether they’ll have access to fiber or not.  Those were the findings in a study from the Fiber to the Home Council, which surveyed more than 600 existing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) customers and 600 other broadband customers nationwide.

The results clearly show consumers love fiber optic broadband, far more than cable modems or DSL service from the phone company.

For example, 67% of FTTH users were very satisfied with their broadband speed compared to 58% of cable modem users and 46% of DSL users. A total of 70% of FTTH users were very satisfied with their Internet service up time compared to 64% of cable modem users and 55% of DSL users.

Consumers also reported that FTTH service was faster… much faster than competing technologies.  The median tested download speed from FTTH users was 10.4Mbps. FTTH tested download speed was 51% higher than cable modem service and 593% higher than DSL (DSL has abandoned the speed war, having lost that race to competing technologies, and now prevails only on price and where other alternatives are not available).

Upload speeds offered by FTTH users blew away the competition.  The average subscriber had 2.4Mbps of upload speed, which is 380% higher than cable modem users and 500% faster than DSL.

The survey also showed that robust competition, with at least one provider bringing true fiber to the home service to consumers, meant an average of six percent lower broadband bills.

Some cable and telephone industry executives downplay the lust for speed by consumers, claiming that most don’t understand the differences in speed, and don’t utilize services where speed matters most.  But the FTTH survey found entirely different results.  Not only are FTTH customers extremely loyal and happy with their service, they are reluctant to move to places that don’t offer it.

When asked to imagine purchasing a new home and given a list of five real estate development amenities, both current and non FTTH broadband users rated “Very high speed Internet from a direct fiber line” more important than other amenities such as green space/walking trails, 24 hour neighborhood patrol, a community pool, and a fitness center/club house. 69% of non FTTH users and 82% of current FTTH users said “Very high speed Internet” would be an important factor in buying a new home.

Even in this difficult economy, 49% of FTTH users said their broadband service would be the “last thing” they would give up.  Only 11% said it would be among the first things to go.

The demand is there, but the competition is not in many American communities.  Unless consumers reside in an area where an aggressive provider such as Verizon is willing to deploy fiber to the home, the chances of service arriving anytime in the near future is dismally low.  Few telephone companies are interested in deploying widespread fiber networks to consumers, and most cable operators believe their existing hybrid fiber/coaxial cable networks are “good enough” for consumers.  Only when a third player arrives in town, be it a private competitor or a municipally-owned fiber network, do telephone and cable providers get interested in performing their own fiber upgrades.

AT&T believes in its own copper-wire-based U-verse technology.  Smaller independent telephone companies are doing only limited experiments with fiber deployment, primarily to multiple dwelling units like apartment buildings and condos, and other uniform, expansive new housing developments.

Until prevailing attitudes among providers change, consumers hungering for fiber may simply have to pack up and relocate to the lucky communities that already have it, or will soon.

Verizon is concerned about potential risks for data hacking and security breaches associated with mergers and acquisitions in undertakes.  The Verizon Business Risk Team reported that 13% of the breaches studied in 2008 involved companies undergoing transition as part of a merger or acquisition.

Verizon signaled caution to prospective Frontier Communications territories about to be spun away from Verizon:

“Mergers and acquisitions bring together not only the people and products of once separate organizations, but their technology environments as well. Integration rarely happens overnight or without a hitch.”

TheDeal.com writes Verizon has the experience to understand the risks, as both a buyer and seller.

Verizon’s selling of its operations in New England to FairPoint Communications was particularly noted, because of ongoing billing, customer care, and other transition problems, some of which are still unresolved to this day.