More than 1 million households and businesses across the country now enjoy the benefits of Verizon's FiOS service, delivered straight to their doors on the nation's most advanced, all-digital, all-fiber network.

The Rich and Marjorie Bayer family of Massapequa, N.Y., are the one millionth customer to receive a FiOS Internet installation since the service was launched in August 2004. The family of five also enjoys voice service and FiOS TV over Verizon's groundbreaking network.

Nearly half a million customers now have Verizon's state-of-the-art FiOS TV service in their homes. FiOS TV was introduced in September 2005, just 20 months ago.

Both the FiOS Internet and FiOS TV milestones were passed during the second quarter of this year.

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, in a speech today at the NXTcomm Conference in Chicago, introduced the Bayers as the one millionth FiOS Internet customer.

Virginia Ruesterholz, president of Verizon Telecom, visited with the Bayers today to help celebrate this major milestone.

"Superior networks translate into great experiences for customers," said Ruesterholz. "We're delighted to celebrate this day with the Bayers, who truly make the most out of every FiOS service. We appreciate that they, along with more than a million others, are leading the digital lifestyle revolution, and we're thrilled to be building a network that supports all of their needs."

The Bayers cite reliability and service quality as the key reasons they came back to Verizon from another provider.

"Before, our Internet connection would suddenly go out when we needed it most," said Rich Bayer. "Our phone sounded like it was under water, and calls would drop unexpectedly. We now have faster, more reliable Internet service and higher-quality, more dependable phone service with Verizon FiOS."

Marjorie Bayer added that FiOS TV service was an unexpected delight. "You can really see the difference in picture quality from what we had before, on regular channels and especially on high-def," she said. "What we really like is the multi-room DVR, because the kids like to watch shows in their rooms that we've recorded downstairs. Overall, when we came back to Verizon we lost nothing and gained a lot."

The Bayers use Verizon's network to help organize their busy lives, get the information they need, and experience superior entertainment. With three home-computers constantly in use, along with a high-definition family-room TV and additional sets throughout the home, the Bayers say they "live on the Internet" and describe themselves as a "huge TV family."

Rich Bayer, a certified public accountant, uses broadband to do work at home, while Marjorie Bayer goes online to shop, plan family trips, and manage her children's extensive sports activities. Their two teenage children frequently go online to complete schoolwork and use instant messaging to communicate with friends, while a younger daughter joins friends online to play with Webkinz virtual pets in a virtual world.

"The Bayers are great examples of the difference Verizon's all-fiber network makes in people's lives," said Marilyn O'Connell, chief marketing officer for Verizon Telecom. "Our all-digital, all-fiber network is delivering the bandwidth customers need today for things like multiple home-computers, high-definition television sets, digital video recorders, video on demand, online gaming, telecommuting and more. Beyond that, because our network carries fiber all the way into the home, it is uniquely designed to seamlessly grow along with our customers' growing needs, as they connect a wide array of devices to their home networks in the future."

Find out if you can get FiOS TV?