Verizon Boosts FiOS Speeds

The majority of existing Verizon FiOS customers will pay $10 to $15 more per month to double or triple their Internet speed, under new service plans Verizon has announced.

The new speeds, available in a range of double- and triple-play bundles, plus stand-alone service, feature tiers with download/upload speeds of 50/25, 75/35, 150/65 and 300/65 megabits per second, Verizon says.  

Three of those speeds  75/35, 150/65 and 300/65 -- are twice as fast as those previously offered, Verizon notes. In addition, Verizon will continue to offer its entry-level speed of 15/5 Mbps.

The two highest downstream speed offers, of 150 Mbps and 300 Mbps, as well as the new 65 Mbps upstream speed, are said by Verizon to be the fastest, mass scale U.S. residential Internet speeds available in the market.

Existing FiOS customers can upgrade to the new bundles and enjoy the faster speeds anytime, with no upgrade fee.


The latest upgrades are simply more evidence that, despite criticism, Internet service providers continue to upgrade speeds for U.S. consumers.

For LTE, Spectrum Matters

Sprint's LTE network is faster than its old WiMAX network. 


It's a bit faster than T-Mobile's HSPA 21, and it's about 25 times as fast as Sprint's 3G network. 


But it doesn't quite match AT&T's and Verizon's LTE speeds in cities where they have more spectrum, PCMag.com says. 

No Surprise: Mobile Voice Volume Growth Has Gone Negative

People have been talking less, texting more, for some time. 

No Surprise: Tablet Users Prefer Ad-Supported Free Apps

Nobody who is familiar with consumer media behavior will be at all surprised by a new study commissioned by the Online Publishers Association that  has found 54 percent of tablet users prefer free, ad-supported apps over paid ones, up from 40 percent a year ago.


Consumers often say they "hate" or "dislike" ads. But given a choice between ad-supported, no incremental cost content, supported by ads, or paying for that same content, people will tend to prefer the ad-supported versions. 


The study also found 19 percent of users prefer to pay more for apps with no ads, down from 30 percent in the 2011 survey. You might say that as use of apps has grown, people are exhibiting the same sentiments they typically do, when confronted with ad supported or "for fee" content. 

Who Dies First, Nokia or RIM?

Both Research in Motion and Nokia now are mobile device suppliers in trouble. But some would argue Nokia is more likely to survive than RIM. 


One of the most important things playing into Nokia’s favor is its partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft has been trying, largely without success, to make a big market share move in the mobile device market, and is betting heavily on Nokia to help it.


For that reason, some think Nokia is more likely to survive than Research in Motion.

Can Microsoft "Freeze" the Tablet Market?

Back in the "old days," suppliers often would try to "freeze" markets by announcing upcoming new products, in the hope that buyers then would hold off purchasing a rival's product, until the supplier "pre-announcing" had time to get its own model to market. 


It used to work. So some now speculate on whether Microsoft is trying to freeze buyers by announcing its own branded tablet. Some of us doubt that old tactic will work. There simply are too many tablets available, and too little distinctiveness, for many to wait.


Unless, of course, the wait is a couple of months for a brand-new version of the Apple iPad. Both installed base and "plan to purchase" forecasts suggest Apple has a commanding lead in the tablet space, and that any Microsoft move in unlikely to shift much demand away from Apple, no matter what Microsoft does.


There could be some benefit with respect to other tablets running Android, though. 
 

23% of U.S. Internet Users Already Own a Tablet

Today’s tablet users represent  31 percent of Internet users, up from 12 percent in 2011. Moreover, tablet ownership is expected to reach 47 percent of Internet users by 2013, according to a study conducted by Frank Magid Associates and sponsored by the Online Publishers Association. 


Accessing content and information was found to be the dominant activity on the device (94 percent), followed by accessing the internet (67 percent) and checking email (66 percent). 


The study also revealed that tablet users’ primary content-related activities include: watching video (54 percent), getting weather information (49 percent), and accessing national news (37 percent) and entertainment content (36 percent).


An earlier study had found 12 percent of the U.S. Internet population using tablets, the Online Publishers Association earlier found. 


As other studies have suggested, tablets are primarily content consumption devices. Some 87 percent of tablet users use their tablets to get access to content and information, the study found.


The earlier 2011 study suggested users now are broadly familiar with app downloads. Some 93 percent of tablet users have downloaded apps and the average tablet user has downloaded 20 apps.


Some 79 percent of app downloaders have paid for apps in the last 12 months, and 26 percent of all apps downloaded are paid apps. 


On average, those who have downloaded apps on tablets have spent $53 on apps in the past 12 months.