Verizon tests super-fast DSL as it also rolls out fiber optics

By Keith Reed, Globe Staff

Verizon Communications Inc. is going back to the future in the race to
be the cutting-edge provider of broadband.

The telecommunications giant, currently trying to bring high-speed
fiber-optic lines into customers' homes, is also testing a super-fast
version of its digital subscriber line technology, which delivers
Internet services over old-fashioned twisted copper telephone lines.

Verizon is testing DSL with download speeds double their current
limits in some of its employees' homes in Texas. If the service proves
popular among its workers, Verizon could crank up its high-speed
residential connections from their current download speed limit of 3
megabits per second to as much as 7.1 megabits per second.

The DSL upgrade, reported by Cnet last week, comes as Verizon is also
rolling out FiOS, its fiber-optic offering that is the backbone for
the company's new venture to provide video service, in competition
with cable companies.

FiOS offers download speeds 10 times faster than DSL's current
quickest speed. It can also deliver cable television and even home
phone service over the same line at the same time. The fiber service
would eliminate the need for the copper wires that currently carry
Verizon's phone and Internet service.

Verizon spokeswoman Sharon Beadle acknowledged that FiOS is a more
powerful service, but said a DSL upgrade would give many of its
customers the option of quicker connections now, while the company
undergoes the laborious process of stringing thousands of miles of
fiber-optic lines.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/11/28/verizon_tests_super_fast_dsl_as_it_also_rolls_out_fiber_optics/

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