Verizon raises the broadband bar with 300Mbps fibre

Verizon, the US broadband service provider, has launched a new Fibre-to-the Premises package called FiOS Quantum that delivers download speeds of up to 300MBps and 65Mbps for uploads. The company said that the service is the fastest internet service currently available to residential customers in the US. By contrast, speeds from cable providers such as Comcast currently top out at 105Mbps.

As well as the top-tier 300MBps it is also offering tiered speed grades of 150/65, 75/35, 50/25. The standard 15/5 FiOS service will also continue to be available.

The 300Mbps service will cost US$209.99 per month or US$204.99 for those that sign up to a two-year contract. It’s 150/65 service, which was previously is fastest speed offering, will see a price drop from US$209.99 to US$99.99.

“We’re bringing 150 mbps more to the mainstream,” Arturo Picicci, Verizon’s director of product management told the Reuters news serivce. “Cable cannot touch us here.”

The new speeds will only be available in selected areas Verizon said, and some customers may also be charged a one-off network upgrade fee to move to the 150 and 300Mbps speed grades.

Verizon said the new 300MBps speed would enable customers to download a two hour HD movie with a 5GB file size in 2.2 minutes and that you could have, a rather arbitrary , 14 devices running  at the same time, while still delivering consistent speeds.

Verizon is the third largest fixed line broadband provider in the US according to Informa’s WCIS stats with just under 13.5 million customers.

Jason Henderson , product manager for Verizon FiOS will be speaking at the Broadband World Forum 2012, taking place on the 16 – 18 October 2012 at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Click here now to register your interest.