A growing number of Verizon customers in the Portland metro area and beyond soon will experience super-fast broadband Internet access as the company expands availability of its Verizon FiOS Internet Service to homes surrounding Portland.

By the end of this year, FiOS (FYE’-ose) will expand to parts of Gresham and Troutdale, east of Portland, while the company continues building its new fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in Beaverton, Tigard and Hillsboro, and expands it farther to Tualatin, Durham, King City and unincorporated Washington County. The expansion also includes Dundee and Newberg in Yamhill County.

In addition, the company is negotiating to deploy FTTP in Cornelius and Sherwood in Washington County; Fairview and Wood Village in Multnomah County; and Wilsonville in Clackamas County.

Verizon is delivering FiOS over the company’s FTTP network, which it is constructing in Oregon and 15 other states – more than half of the states where the company offers landline phone service. By the end of 2005, the company passed 3 million homes nationwide with its FTTP network, and it expects to add a similar number this year. The company passed more than 59,000 homes in Washington County during 2005.

To date, Verizon has deployed 2.34 million feet, or 443 miles, of fiber-optic cable in Washington County as part of the FTTP project. The company will deploy an additional 2.99 million feet of fiber, or 565 miles, in 2006. Verizon has approximately 278,000 customer lines in the Portland metro area.

To help build its ultra-fast network in Oregon, Verizon has approximately 203 full-time positions to handle fiber splicing, installation, repair and engineering. The company also estimates it will retain more than 825 contractors in the metro area to work on various aspects of the local FTTP project such as underground boring, trenching and fiber splicing.

FTTP technology utilizes hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics -- instead of copper wire -- to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon’s network, enabling a broad array of voice, data and video applications.

Customers Respond Favorably to New Fiber-Based Broadband Service
Verizon launched Oregon’s premier consumer broadband service in Washington County last summer, sparking very favorable responses from customers.

"We’re focused on providing the best overall value in broadband," said David S. Valdez, the company’s Northwest vice president for public affairs and policy. "FiOS has quickly grown in popularity for people who want to boost productivity and gain a competitive edge with even faster Internet connections.

"Eventually, we plan to bring our FiOS TV service to the network and offer our customers a competitive alternative to cable and satellite TV," he added.

Currently, Verizon is offering three tiers of fiber-based broadband service with download speeds of up to 5, 15 and 30 Mbps (megabits per second).*

Customers who want to determine whether they can order FiOS Internet Service visit Verizon’s FiOS Web site at www.verizon.com/fios or call 1-888-GET FIOS (1-888-438-3467).

Three Tiers of FiOS Service Offer Customers Value and Choice
Each FiOS service is available either as part of a bundle of local and long-distance calling services from Verizon or as a stand-alone Internet access service. There are three tiers of Verizon FiOS Internet Service for consumers:

5 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream. Suited for Internet surfing and basic computer functions. $34.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $39.95 a month stand-alone for a one-year contract.

15 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream. Appealing to families that have multiple computers and various needs such as media downloads and the ability to access or share large files. $39.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $44.95 a month stand-alone.

30 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. Designed for communications-intensive power users with significant bandwidth needs, such as telecommuters or work-at-home households and avid online gamers. $179.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $199.95 a month stand-alone.

Each consumer data offer includes the suite of services currently available to Verizon Online DSL customers at no additional charge, including: MSN Premium content; Verizon’s new Broadband Beat entertainment portal optimized for high-speed access featuring news, games, streaming video and more; up to nine e-mail accounts with 30 megabytes (MB) of storage for the primary account and an additional 10 MB for each sub-account; address book and calendar; 10 MB personal Web space and a Web site building tool; and access to newsgroups.