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Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

Summary: Competition can be a good thing. No better case in point is Verizon's aggressive strategy with its FiOS fiber-optic network and pay TV service, which have given cable companies something to worry about besides satellite TV rivals.

Sean Portnoy

By for Home Theater |

Competition can be a good thing. No better case in point is Verizon's aggressive strategy with its FiOS fiber-optic network and pay TV service, which have given cable companies something to worry about besides satellite TV rivals. This week has seen a few intriguing developments that should hasten similar upgrades on its competitors' part.

Gaining the most headlines is the company's official word that it will deliver live TV to the iPads of its subscribers, along with providing on-demand content via other mobile devices. According to Bloomberg, the technical part of the live streaming is ready, but Verizon has to wrangle with networks about what content can be shown and whether you'll only be able to watch it in your home and not on the go (as Cablevision has already announced). While in-home streaming may not cost extra, there may be an additional fee to watch live TV on the iPad outside of your dwelling. The mobile on-demand experience for subscribers will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010.

That isn't the only news Verizon has been making. In order to help stream TV around the house, the FiOS network is undergoing testing that will provide a 1Gbps connection -- equivalent to the bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet. It successfully demonstrated that speed on an existing network in Massachusetts in June. Its network can theoretically handle up to 2.4Gbps downstream, though Verizon hasn't yet even offered 100Mbps speeds to its FiOS customers.

More practical upgrades are coming to the FiOS set-top boxes, according to Engadget. A new and improved interface will debut in the fourth quarter, along with some notable upgrades to its multi-room DVR service. These include the ability to attach up to 1TB of external storage to each unit and to restore a deleted recording with a single button push, as well as having all of your recordings on various DVRs compiled into a single list for your choosing pleasure.

What will you pay for some of these goodies? That's apparently the one thing Verizon hasn't talked about this week when it comes to FiOS.

[Image: Engadget]

Topics: Verizon, Hardware, iPad, Mobility, Networking, Telcos

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11 comments
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  • How about this?

    How about Verizon finds a way to string their FiOS fibre 20 yards up the road from the Verizon data center on my street. You know, so I can actually order FiOS?
    putty.master
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

      @putty.master
      Agree! I live in a tiny Verzon pocket surounded by ATT land. Can't get UVerse because I'm not ATT, can't get FiOS because Verizon doesn't actually value such a tiny, captive, minority subset of customers.
      stefanis
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

    I have the same issue. Apparently my neighborhood isn't suitable for FiOS for some technical reason, but surrounding ones are.
    seanportnoy
    Reply Vote

  • Aren't we paying already via "commercials"?

    I think everyone is missing a big point here regarding the "paying extra" for content. When we all had antennas on our roofs the TV networks said that they needed to show us commercials so that they could pay for the broadcast. Now we are paying thru the nose for the same content, sometimes two or three times as noted above, and they still feed us the same commercials.
    People!!! We should do something. This is wrong.
    Should you pay $100 a month for cable, then another sum for streaming, all the while being force fed commercials from every direction?
    h8w8ing
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

      @h8w8ing
      cable is the delivery mechanism, not the content.
      For example if a pipe bursts in your home, the water company does not fix it for free because you pay for water.
      stefanis
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

        @stefanis - If contaminants (dirt, chemicals, etc.) come from the water company into my pipes, the water company will fix it.

        How do you think the cable companies get content? They pay the content producers. If you want the BlahBlah channel, call your cable operator and have additional cost added to your monthly bill.
        pwatson
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

      @h8w8ing I agree that before cable we were forced into commercials to pay for the content but you have over simplified it in my opinion. I hate my cable bill as much as the next guy but you can get (at least here) basic cable service for something like $25/mo. While you don't get that much for your money at that level you still get more content that you would over the air and at a fairly low rate. Of course with digital there is even more content available OTA and at better quality but the true cost of cable comes into play when you add all the additional features such as DVRs and premium channels which do not have commercials.
      non-biased
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

    [b]...along with some notable upgrades to its multi-room DVR service. These include the ability to attach up to 1TB of external storage to each unit[/b]

    THAT is what I'm waiting on... with three of us in the house recording different things the enclosed hard drive fills up rather quickly.
    athynz
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

      @athynz If you were to get one of the new units made by Tivo, it would do what you are looking for.
      lymsmith@...
      Reply Vote

  • Verizon

    Of course, you could live in a state where Verizon has dumped their landlines to a no-name telecom so FiOS is not even a possibility now or in the future. Since I do, I don't see Verizon ever having the opportunity to sell me anything in the future.
    entropy_z
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Verizon FiOS news: live TV streaming to iPads, 1Gbps network speed demo, updated set-top boxes

    To read a complete Verizon FIOS Review, you may visit the site http://cheapcouponcodes.com/
    cheapcoupon
    Reply Vote
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