New Verizon FiOS service to operate at 10Gbps, 10 times faster than Google Fiber

Recently, Verizon completed testing of its “next-generation passive optical network,” (NG-PON2), a new fiber optic broadband service that will provide download and upload speeds of up to10Gbps. The rate is ten times the top speed offered by Google Fiber and 20 times the current fastest option from FiOS, and could allow FiOS fiber-to-the-premises to reach to 80Gbps after eventual future upgrades.

Presently, it takes about 17 minutes to download a 2-hour movie at the current 75Mbps FiOS speed; at 10Gbps, it would take about eight seconds. Under such capacity, doctors would be able to download CT cardiac exams in as little as 30 seconds.

Verizon tested out this new 10Gbps with a residential customer in Framingham, Massachusetts. The company found that with NG-PON2, providers can boost capacity “by simply adding new colors of light onto the existing fiber, each augmenting the capacity by up to 10Gbps.” Verizon also released this announcement:

The trial, according to Vincent O’Byrne, Ph.D., director of access technology for Verizon, consisted of a new optical line terminal (OLT) installed in the Verizon central office, generating four wavelengths, or colors of light, each capable of operating at 10G/2.5G. Later versions are envisioned to support the same download and upload speeds of 10G/10G per color. One test transmitted the NG-PON2 signals over a fiber serving live GPON customers proving that the network can simultaneously deliver GPON and NG-PON2 on the same fiber.

The field trial also validated an important service reliability feature of NG-PON2. In this test, a fault in the central office equipment was simulated and the customer’s ONT autonomously tuned to another wavelength, restoring its own 10G service in seconds.

NG-PON2 offers a way to increase speeds and serve customers who have a number of Internet-powered devices in their homes or offices, without forcing them to entirely replace the existing network.

At the moment, there is no confirmation on when this faster Internet will be available to customers, but Verizon is working on requesting proposals later this year to buy NG-PON2 hardware and software. A faster Internet future is upon us.

Source: Ars Technica