October 10, 2002

Verizon announces WiFi-friendly DSL packages

Verizon marks a change of policy with its announcement today that it would provide an optional Linksys DSL+WiFi router as part of a special package designed especially for sharing a DSL connection wirelessly.  Andrea Custis, group president -- sales and marketing for Verizon Advanced Services said in a statement, "Verizon doesn't charge extra for every computer you connect to a router, or any additional monthly router maintenance fees, the way many cable TV companies and other DSL providers do."

Verizon seems to skirt the line around public use of their home DSL products, by consistently stating that the wireless access is for use within a single subscriber's home.  In addition, Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing points out that Verizon's Terms of Service specifically disallow resale or activities (commercial or noncommercial) that constitute resale of service, at Verizon's discretion.  Ben Charney at News.com also wrote an article describing the new service.

Great to see a big carrier bundling WiFi into its DSL offerings, and explicitly stating that it can be used for home use.  Too bad they still leave things unclear when it comes to community wireless purposes. Posted by dsifry at October 10, 2002 10:15 AM | TrackBack | View blog reactions
Comments

Actually, I thought they announced this several days ago, and I was surprised it didn't get more play then for the reasons you cite here.

It also means that Verizon is on the hook for troubleshooting home user's wireless networks!

Posted by: Glenn Fleishman at October 10, 2002 1:21 PM

The Verizon item is interesting since it's one of the first times that a carrier is promoting routers with DSL. It's about time the telecom/ISP industry wakes up to the concept of bundling high speed Internet access with residential and business WiFi.

But perhaps a more interesting item (disclosure: which I posted and which I'm involved in as a consultant) is a small phone company that provides DSL service to Celebration, Fla., a city planned by Walt Disney is installing WiFi hotspots around town. If you subscribe to the phone company's (Smart City Telecom) business or home DSL service (and you get a 2Wire router/gateway), you get free access to the Celebration WiFi network. And interesting way to help sell DSL. Sharing within a home is encouraged. Sharing DSL/WiFi access with neighbors isn't officially promoted, but....

Posted by: Alan A. Reiter at October 21, 2002 2:04 PM

Do you think Smart City and Verizon will ever emerge?

Posted by: Mollye at November 14, 2002 7:48 PM