The United States' largest fiber-to-the-home deployment, Verizon's FiOS Network will be receiving a speed boost and a bump up in price.
The entry-level FiOS tier formerly offered 10 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream for $34.95 with a one-year contract, and $39.95 for month-to-month. Now it has been bumped up to 15/5 Mbps down/up for $44.99 with the annual contract and $54.99 monthly.
For former subscribers of Verizon's mid-tier, this may look like quite a raw deal. For the last two years, these subscribers have paid $44.95 per month for 20 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. Now, entry-level subscribers will be paying 5¢ more for 5 Mbps less downstream bandwidth.
Furthermore, mid-tier subscribers will pay $20 more per month for a 5 Mbps downstream speed boost. Their tier will provide 25 Mbps downstream and 15 Mbps upstream for $64.99 with an annual contract, or $72.99 monthly.
In New York City and its outlying suburbs, this speed is offered as an "entry level" triple-play package for $109 monthly which includes FiOS TV essentials with Showtime, and Freedom Essentials digital telephony.
Verizon is offering an interesting incentive to attract customers to these triple-play packages. New customers who subscribe to the aforementioned package or higher can receive either a free Flip Ultra camcorder, or a Compaq Mini 700 Notebook, which is nearly identical to the HP Mini Note 1000, but was previously only available in Europe.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009