January 28, 2005 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Verizon is adding six communities in the Albany and Syracuse regions to its fiber optic network.
The areas serviced will include residences and business customers in the Albany County town of Bethlehem, as well as Fayetteville, Cicero and portions of the city of Syracuse and the towns of DeWitt and Manlius in Onondaga County. Bethlehem Town Supervisor Theresa Egan welcomed Verizon's FTTP efforts.
"We're excited that Verizon has selected portions of Bethlehem for early implementation of its all-fiber network," she said. "This investment will improve existing services and offer additional services to businesses and residents in our town.
"In the current climate of fast-paced changes, it is important that this community have the latest available technology infrastructure so that we stay competitively strong. We look forward to working with Verizon to expand the uses of this technology to benefit the entire community."
Paul A. Crotty, Verizon president for New York and Connecticut, said, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime transformation of the communications network in these communities."
Known as fiber-to-the-premises, or FTTP, the fiber-optic network uses hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon's network. The new network replaces the traditional copper-wire connections and will unleash a range of advanced communication services.
"We are building the communications network of the future to provide customers unmatched network reliability, incredible speed and exciting new options for voice, data and video connections," said Crotty. "Our FTTP project will help stimulate economic development and enhance our region as a great place to live and do business."
Verizon began building its FTTP network last year in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The company last week announced plans to construct its FTTP network in parts of Nassau, Westchester and Rockland counties in Downstate New York. To help build the network across the country, Verizon will hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new employees by the end of this year, including hundreds in New York.
Fiber offers tremendous advantages to network operators, in addition to new and superior services for customers. For example, fiber offers reliable service in stretches of wet weather that can affect copper-based networks, said Joseph DeMauro, Verizon market area president for Upstate New York. "In addition, the quality of service, while already the best in the industry, will be consistently superior -- something very hard to achieve with a copper network," he said.
There are three tiers of Verizon FiOS Internet Service for consumers; 5, 15, and 30 Mbps downstream with 2, 2, and 5 Mbps upstream.
The FTTP initiative represents a natural extension of the more than 10 million miles of fiber-optic cable Verizon already has in place and extends the high capacity, speed and quality of fiber directly to the customer's doorstep. When customers want more capacity, higher speeds or future video services, Verizon will be able to provide them instantly through the use of FTTP technology.
Verizon's digital subscriber line (DSL) service will remain the company's most widely available form of high-speed Internet access for the foreseeable future while the company ramps up FTTP deployment. The company offers DSL on a widespread basis in Upstate New York.
