New Verizon FiOS service to offer 200Mbps

Verizon's FiOS services are starting to look pretty interesting. Currently they offer 30Mbps peak download speeds but Verizon is testing a new GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) fiber standard which offers sustained download speeds of 200Mbps (25MB/s)!

Peak download speeds are even more impressive, 50MB/s. That comes quite close to the maximum average write speeds of some hard drives.

Gizmodo reports that Verizon is testing a new fiber standard known as GPON—Gigabit Passive Optical Network—in Pennsylvania. Whereas Verizon's current network can split up 622Mbps of downstream bandwidth and 155Mbps of upstream bandwidth to 32 households, GPON can supply those same households with 2.4Gbps down and 1.2Gbps up. With GPON, Gizmodo says Verizon is currently seeing peak download rates of 400Mbps and sustained download rates of 200Mbps. That's an impressive 25-50MB/s, or enough to make some hard drives choke—provided users can actually find a server fast enough to max out their bandwidth.

Even juicier is Verision's assertion that "'virtually' every network hub built after January will be GPON-based." The company can update its existing network to GPON fairly effortlessly, too—"technicians just have to swap out the boxes on each end of the fiber cable they've already laid," Gizmodo explains. However, Verizon will reportedly only do so if it sees a demand for the service.

Looks pretty impressive but it's going to be quite expensive considering that the current 30Mbps subscription costs $179.95 a month.

Source: The Tech Report