Verizon Communications Inc. is bridging the gap between virtual and real shopping experiences by letting store shoppers play online games and download movies and music on computers served by the same high-speed fiber-optic Internet access that it’s beginning to offer to homes.
Verizon has set up “Demo Zones” in two “Verizon Experience Stores” to both expand the number of products and services it offers through its wireless services and cell phone stores as well as to introduce the fiber-optic Internet access that it’s rolling out across the U.S.
The fiber-optic home service offers Internet access speeds from 5 to 50 megabytes per second, depending on a home’s location. By comparison, the maximum speed offered by broadband cable Internet access ranges from 1.5 to 5 megabytes per second, according to the Federal Communications Commission and the information service High-Speed-Internet-Access-Guide.com.
“Many consumers can’t fathom what it’s like to use fiber-optic Internet access, so our store customers can sit down at a Demo Zone and play an online game or download a movie,” says Joseph Purdy, Verizon’s manager of store design and visual merchandising.
Verizon’s digital products services include online games through its Gaming On Demand service, and music and video downloads through its FiOS TV service. FiOS TV offers hundreds of digital TV and music channels, high-definition TV programs and video-on-demand. As of the end of last year, Verizon had made FiOS TV available to 1.8 million households and had signed about 175,000 subscribers, Verizon says.
Verizon is currently rolling out fiber-optic Internet access to homes in 16 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington. It expects to reach 9 million customers with fiber optics this year and 18 million, or half of its entire customer base, by the end of 2010, Verizon says.
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