According to Vincent O’Byrne, Verizon’s technology director, Verizon is planning to roll out 100Mbps FIOS in 2009. This move will expand the ultra high speed network beyond its limited test market which has been enjoying 100Mbps for at least a year now. With Comcast deploying DOCSIS 3.0 and upping the speeds it offers to 50Mbps in many markets, the pressure is on Verizon to maintain its competitive speed advantage, from a marketing standpoint at least. In the past, Verizon has made it clear that it views the 100Mbps speed threshold as a “sexy” marketing strategy, not a real necessity for most customers and that the driving force behind these speed increases is not customer demand but competitive marketing tactics. As long as it continues to up the ante and provide quality service, we don’t care whether it is the marketing team or consumers who are in driver’s seat. All we want is ample bandwidth to be able to stream Netflix HD, backup to Jungle Disk, video chat on skype, download the latest game demos and play COD4 on Xbox 360 all at the same time.
[Via DSl Reports]
