Verizon Increases Default Speed Of Its FiOS Internet Service To 50 Mbps

Verizon Wireless has officially phased out its 25 mbps default speed for its FiOS Internet service. The Big Red has now instead upgraded it to 50 mbps at the minimum. 

The biggest wireless carrier in the United States actually still offers speeds as low as 512 kbps for downloads and 384 kbps for uploads but only in specific locations where the company has not yet upgraded its copper DSL lines into fiber. Verizon’s DSL service can increase up to 15 mbps/1  mbps if the user is close enough to the wireless carrier’s web facilities. New York City and other cities in the East Coast have lambasted the Big Red for failing to upgrade to fiber in certain areas in the region. However, in locations where its FiOS fiber network has been rolled out, Verizon can proudly say it can offer upload and download speeds of 50 mbps to 500 mbps.

In a recent earnings call conducted a week ago, Fran Shammo, the chief financial officer of Verizon Wireless, had revealed that over 70 percent of the wireless carrier’s consumer subscribers of its FiOS Internet service have signed up to data speeds of at least 50 mbps, and now the Big Red is upgrading its default speed to 50 mbps due to the increasing trend of subscribers electing to go for higher speeds.

What about those who have already subscribed to the 25 mbps tier? Well, they can get to keep their package, and those with higher tiers can even choose to downgrade to 25 mbps in order to save on expenses. But Verizon Wireless has officially eliminated the 25 mbps option, as well as the 75 mbps option, for new subscribers. The available options now include 100 mbps, 150 mbps, 300 mbps, and 500 mbps. The Big Red has appeared to keep the prices of the 50, 100, and 150 mbps tiers the same as that of the old 25, 50, and 75 mbps tiers. 

Even though Verizon Wireless has added 99,000 new subscribers to its FiOS Internet service during the final quarter of 2015, it is not actually an improvement over the previous year’s numbers, which had the Big Red gain 145,000 new FiOS Internet customers. Still, the wireless carrier finished 2015 with a total of 7 million subscribers for its FiOS Internet service, as well as 5.8 million subscribers for its FiOS TV service.

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