For the second year in a row, Verizon's FiOS Internet service has been rated the best in PC Magazine's reader survey of "The Best (and Worst)" ISPs in America. Verizon High Speed Internet service also finished third in overall score on the list of the best DSL providers rated by the magazine's readers.

The survey, conducted between April 7 and May 14, 2008, asked PC Magazine readers to rate their Internet service providers, including fiber-based service, DSL, cable and satellite. The readers were asked to evaluate their provider on 11 categories ranging from speed and reliability to initial setup and overall rating.

"Unsurprisingly, the favored method to connect is fiber-to-the-premises, as embodied by the Verizon FiOS service," the magazine said in reporting its survey results. "The fast fiber hookup received an 8.6 for an overall score - the best rating of all the broadband options."

Verizon's FiOS Internet also collected the highest score among all ISPs for speed (9.0), reliability (8.7), initial setup (8.2), ISP-provided e-mail (8.0) and likelihood of choosing ISP (8.7). Verizon FiOS Internet was ranked No. 1 in the 2007 PC Magazine survey of Best and Worst ISPs.

Since the 2007 PC Magazine "The Best (and Worst)" survey, Verizon has introduced its unmatched symmetrical FiOS Internet service with the fastest upload speed (20 Mbps) offered anywhere, coupled with an equally fast 20 Mbps downstream speed. Also, Verizon in June expanded its super-fast 50 Mbps downstream FiOS offering to consumers in 10 more states.

Earlier this year, Verizon FiOS Internet also was named a winner in PC World Magazine's "The 100 Best Products of 2008," the second year in a row the broadband service made that list.

Only Verizon delivers ultra-high-speed broadband straight to customers' homes over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. The network already reaches 10 million homes and business, and it will reach more than 18 million by 2010.

Verizon offers FiOS Internet to markets in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

In July, Verizon reported that more than 2 million consumers and businesses now use FiOS Internet as their connection to the Internet.