Verizon Communications is cutting the price of its fastest Internet speed in half with a new service that offers double the speed, in a bid to better compete against its cable rivals such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision System Corp. In order to bring the price more in line with its rivals' fastest speeds fees, Verizon has halved the price of its 150 megabits-per-second (mbps) service from $209.99 a month to $99.99, the company announced on Monday, June 18.
"Verizon residential consumers can now order the company's fastest-ever FiOS Internet service, which features heightened flexibility for consumers to order personalized bundles to match their lifestyles," reads the company's press release for FiOS Quantum. "The new speeds, available in a range of double- and triple-play bundles, plus stand-alone service, offer significant choices for consumers to meet their rapidly expanding needs for online entertainment, news, information communications and e-commerce. These needs have generated a rising demand for faster home broadband service."
Starting Monday, June 18, Verizon will charge $209.99 a month for a new 300 mbps service, or $204.99 for users with a two-year contract. This falls in line with Verizon's arch rival Comcast's fastest service, which offers 105 mbps for $200 a month, and Cablevision's fastest service, which offers 101 mbps for $104.95.
"A revolution in speed has arrived," said Bob Mudge, Verizon's president of consumer and mass market business unit. "The new FiOS Internet speed and bundle options provide incredible value, and represent the most significant mass scale, consumer broadband speed enhancement in the nation in the past decade."
According to Arturo Picicci, Verizon's director of Verizon's product management, consumers are demanding increasingly more bandwidth as they connect more devices such as smartphones and tablets in addition to traditional computers. Consequently, through this offering Verizon aims to meet consumer demands while cutting the price for its second-fastest speed so more people can afford it.
The company not only competes with cable operators for television and phone customers, but for Internet users as well, as many have bundled plans offering all those services together. As video streaming and video games services become increasingly more popular, demand will also grow, added Picicci. "We're bringing 150 mbps more to the mainstream," he told Reuters. "Cable cannot touch us here."
According to Verizon, downloading a two-hour long high-definition video file over a 300 mbps connection would take just 2.2 minutes, compared to 44.4 minutes for a 15 mbps service, Verizon's slowest FiOS service speed. Verizon ended the first quarter with 5 million FiOS Internet customers and 4.4 million FiOS TV customers, ranking as the seventh-biggest pay TV service in the United States.
Existing FiOS customers can upgrade to the new bundles without having to pay an upgrade fee. Verizon said, however, that most existing FiOS customers will pay $10 to $15 more per month to double or triple their Internet speed.
