Verizon customers in Cicero and Fayetteville now can experience breathtaking high-speed Internet access as the company begins to offer its Verizon Fios (FYE'-ose) Internet Service to the first communities in central New York.

Verizon is rolling out the industry's premier consumer broadband services to customers in the Onondaga County community. The company is offering three tiers of service with approximate downstream (download) speeds of up to 5, 15 and 30 Mbps (megabits per second).

Verizon is already delivering Fios services over its new fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks in half the states where it offers landline communications services. In New York, Fios also is available in communities in Albany, Westchester and Rockland counties, as well as several communities on Long Island.

Customers who want to determine whether they can order Fios can call 888-GET FIOS (888-438-3467) or visit Verizon's Fios Web site at www.verizon.net/fios.

FTTP technology utilizes fiber-optic connections - instead of copper wire - directly into homes and businesses to enable a broad array of voice, data and video applications. In addition to its current Fios Internet Service, Verizon plans to launch Fios TV in 2005 to compete directly with cable-TV providers. Fios TV will be available in markets where Verizon has negotiated cable franchise agreements with local authorities.

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.

"In addition to an outstanding array of high-speed access options, we will provide our customers with a first-class installation experience, in which a Verizon technician visits the home, sets up the connection and configures the service," said Ingalls.

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.

For more information about Verizon FiOS, see our Verizon FiOS category or our article, "Have you caught the FiOS fever?"