Nov 13 2009
Company Launches New Era of Television Entertainment With More Channels, More HD, More Video on Demand and Faster Internet Speeds Than Old-Fashioned Cable TV
The future of television has arrived for more than 2,100 homes and businesses in Gaithersburg as Verizon introduces FiOS TV via the company's revolutionary all-fiber-optic network.
FiOS TV and Internet services are available this week in parts of the following communities: Brighton Highlands, Candlewood Park, Deer Park, Derwood Station, Medland Station, Needwood Estates, Oakmont Manor, Parkside Estates, Walnut Grove, Walnut Hill and West Deer Park.
"Consumers in these communities at long last have a better alternative for TV," said Mary Ellen Payne, Verizon's senior vice president of marketing for the Potomac region. "The response to our FiOS TV and Internet services has been great in Montgomery County and other parts of Maryland. FiOS TV will bring consumers here a choice that is truly different from their old cable TV company."
Verizon delivers FiOS TV over the nation's largest digital, all-fiber network, with more than 500 total channels available in Maryland - including 132 high-definition (HD) channels - more HD channels than the region's current traditional cable provider, Comcast, offers.
Fiber delivers amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen. This network also offers FiOS Internet Service, which delivers downstream speeds of up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) and upstream speeds of up to 20 Mbps, as well as high-quality voice services.
"Our advanced 100 percent fiber-optic network was built for HD, and right out of the box we're making more HD channels available than Comcast has provided after decades in the business," Payne added. "With all-fiber connections running straight to their homes, viewers get both HD and standard-definition TV that is eye-popping."
FiOS TV has earned certification from the independent Fiber to the Home Council for providing fiber all the way to customers' homes and businesses. For the second year in a row, FiOS TV scored highest in customer satisfaction among residential television providers in the J.D. Power and Associates' "2009 U.S. Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study" for the East region.
New Bundles Provide Flexibility, Savings
Verizon customers in Gaithersburg can save with new versatile quad-play service packages that combine wireless, FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and home phone services, creating the company's first fully integrated communications and entertainment bundles carried over - the most reliable wireless network and the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.
New customers who sign up by Jan. 16, 2010, for FiOS quad-play or triple-play bundles will receive $150 back via a Visa prepaid card if service is continued for 60 days with no past-due balance. Qualifying Verizon FiOS bundle customers have free access to some 14,000 free Wi-Fi hot spots located in airports, cafes, retail stores and other public places across the country. For a list of hot-spot locations and other details, visit http://www.verizon.net/hotspots.
Current Verizon Wireless customers can choose to add Verizon FiOS Internet or FiOS TV services, or both, to complete a bundle. Current Verizon FiOS Internet or FiOS TV customers can add Verizon Wireless voice service to their bundles.
The basic Verizon quad-play FiOS bundle consists of the national Verizon Wireless calling plan of 450 minutes, Freedom Essentials voice service, FiOS Internet service with downstream/upstream connection speeds of up to 15/5 Mbps and FiOS TV Essentials service for $134.99 per month with a one-year agreement.
Additional quad- and triple-play bundles featuring different FiOS Internet speeds, FiOS TV plans and Verizon Wireless calling plans are also available.