Verizon, 7mbps DSL…. If You Are a New Customer

Verizon is now offering a 7.1mbps down, 768kbps up. Fully double its last DSL offering. But you have have to ask, why not me, if you are an existing customer?

With that in mind, we’ve confirmed with Verizon technicians that the company has been taking orders since December for 7.1Mbps downstream, 768kbps upstream DSL. The biggest caveat? This is only being offered to new customers — at least for the time being.

According to insiders, the loop length for the new tier should be around 8,000 feet, and does require a technician visit. The price for the new tier should be somewhere around $47.99 a month. Officially this tier doesn’t exist yet; the only statement we could get from Verizon PR was that they’ll be “making an announcement about this at some point.” Internally, “early 2008″ is as close as it gets for a date when existing customers will be able to upgrade.

I suspect that V is being frugal. They are doing minimal investment in the POTS side of the house, especially in network assets. Most of their cash going to FIOS deploys.

DSL Reports