Verizon finished testing out its new 10Gbps broadband service that has the potential of growing to 40-80Gbps in the future. The test was performed in Framingham, Massachusetts. Currently, the top speeds that Fios subscribers currently have the option of up to 500Mbps speeds, making this quite the enhancement.
Their networks will undergo a major upgrade with NG-PON2 (next-generation passive optical network) equipment, that gains its advantage by adding new colors of light through the existing fiber.
Verizon quoted:
“The trial, according to Vincent O’Byrne, Ph.D., director of access technology for Verizon, consisted of a new optical line terminal (OLT) installed in the Verizon central office, generating four wavelengths, or colors of light, each capable of operating at 10G/2.5G [10Gbps download and 2.5Gbps upload]. Later versions are envisioned to support the same download and upload speeds of 10G/10G per color. One test transmitted the NG-PON2 signals over a fiber serving live GPON customers proving that the network can simultaneously deliver GPON and NG-PON2 on the same fiber.The field trial also validated an important service reliability feature of NG-PON2. In this test, a fault in the central office equipment was simulated and the customer’s ONT autonomously tuned to another wavelength, restoring its own 10G service in seconds. This new feature of NG-PON2 has critical implications for improved customer reliability and performance.”
Verizon has yet to announce when they expect the upgrades to be completed, nor the price point subscribers have to look forward to when that window comes. Hopefully, the price point will stay around the same as old plans are consumed by the new speeds. This way there will be a wider adaptation to the new experience, and a faster push towards a 4K-rich world.
Verizon also provided the following video, diving into the technology that makes it possible as well as some insight into their test.
Hopefully, Cox is right on their tracks (or closer), as we are forced to wait for their local monopoly to slowly catch up with the market before we could take advantage of such speeds. It makes you wish that locations like ours had a little more competition to choose from.
