Verizon at Home

We've talked about providing the best customer experience here before. Today's customers expect an around-the-clock commitment. Just as important, customers want a variety of tools to get the help and information they need. Verizon and many other companies have jumped on social media as more and more customers are turning to Twitter and other services when they want help. But as USA Today pointed out this week, Twitter can be part of a company's customer service program, but it's not a be-all and end-all solution. Read more...

Every day we get compliments from customers who love their FiOS and HSI. "Can't believe the picture." "The Interactive Media Guide takes me right to the programs I'm looking for in an instant." "I didn't know there were so many HD channels." "Blazing fast Internet." We love it when happy customers spread the word, so now Verizon wants to reward you. Simply refer a friend or family member to Verizon. If the new customer signs up for FiOS TV, FiOS Internet, High Speed Internet or phone service, both of you will be rewarded - up to $600 a year for you. Read more...

One of the strengths of Verizon's network is its 99.9% reliability. In an age where the buzz is all about TV and Internet, phone service sometimes gets lost, but for many small businesses, it's the nervous system that connects them with customers, and they're counting on reliable never-drop-a-call service. Take Stuart's Seafood Market in East Hampton on Long Island, New York. This family-owned business runs a bustling wholesale and retail operation. In fact, they have a refrigerator that can hold 10,000 pounds of lobster when the catch comes in. According to owner Charlotte Sasso, "Our business is completely dependent on phones. Not only do we have a walk-up counter and market here for locals..." Read more...

USA Today asks the question on its front page: Could this finally be the season for Web TV? The story not long ago focused on manufacturers who are working to bring Internet capabilities to television sets. One manufacturer offered the opinion that TV will become "a completely new ballgame," and Web TV will be "the next area of innovation" following computers and cell phones. Hold on a minute. Buy a new flat screen TV to get interactive, multimedia Web info? When there's already a computer hooked to your TV - the set-top box? Read more...

It's always interesting to get direct feedback from consumers as they experience FiOS for the first time. We recently hosted a FiOS TV demo for a group of Seattle-area consumers in the home of Gear Live blogger, Andru Edwards. While everyone loved the casual atmosphere and the great food, the star of the evening was FiOS. Read more...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we're thinking about the food, family and - of course - football. What would the holiday be without zoning out in front of a bunch of games as you digest a great meal? At our house, six guys and three girls, trust me, we'll be in front of the FiOS TV checking out the great football picture and all the stuff FiOS does that cable can't. Like the NFL RedZone channel and RedZone Widget. Watching the RedZone keeps you posted in real time by switching from game to game as teams enter their opponent's 20-yard line. With seven weeks to go in the season, Verizon is cutting the price of the NFL RedZone channel to $29.99 for the remaining games. So, if you haven't seen the channel yet, this is too good to pass up. Read more...

Next time you're strolling around midtown Manhattan, make a stop at Bryant Park on 42nd and 6th and experience the power of Verizon FiOS Internet service. Verizon FiOS Internet 50 megabit service is now powering the free Wi-Fi that the Bryant Park Corporation provides to all its park-goers. If you know Bryant Park, you know that on a bright sunny day, the park is jam-packed with people using their laptops and mobile devices on their lunch breaks, attending concerts or movies, or just taking a shortcut to their next destination. Per square foot, it may be the busiest park in the world for Internet traffic. Read more...

Each year about this time, consumers get primed for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Well, just in time, Verizon has some value-packed FiOS and High Speed Internet deals to make your holiday season merrier. Anyone signing up for a triple-play bundle gets a $150 Visa prepaid card and $10 off every month for a year on a two-year plan. Plus, we're also offering anyone signing up for FiOS TV our Home Media DVR at no charge for three months. Live in one of our Northeast or Mid-Atlantic states? If you add Verizon Wireless to your FiOS bundle, you'll get $15 a month off for the first year. Read more...

I've mentioned the Verizon In-Home Agent, an online tool that provides fast easy solutions for common FiOS questions, a couple of times. If you haven't tried it, you should now because we're running a sweepstakes to promote it. Until the end of the year, everyone who downloads and launches the In-Home Agent tool, or opens it if it's already on your computer desktop, can easily enter a sweepstakes to win one of four Flip Ultra cameras being given away each week. Read more...

The global technology research firm, IDC, has announced that Verizon's Internet service for small business is the winner of this year's IDC SMB Excellence Award. We're proud of that, but with download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps, it's pretty clear that FiOS Internet for Business provides fast, consistent connections. Fast, reliable Internet service is critical if you're a small business owner counting on your Internet connection to keep in touch with customers, send out bills, take orders and give you an edge. You can't take a chance with a home computer connection like cable. Read more...

Like getting things for free? Over the past few months, we've told you about a variety of free previews for FiOS TV customers, including EPIX, Disney Family Movies, CBS College Sports Network and NHL Center Ice. Well, we have more free stuff coming your way. From today through Sunday, Nov. 15, at 11:59 p.m., FiOS TV customers will be able to watch Starz and Encore for free. So check out all of the movies and original series that both channels have to offer. Starz can be found on channels 340-347 in SD and 840, 842, 845 and 847 in HD. Encore is on channels 350-362 (SD) and 850 in HD. Read more...

Like many people, I'm a creature of habit when it comes to watching TV. Even with 500 all-digital FiOS TV channels at my fingertips, I'm pretty loyal to a handful of favorite shows. But when I get the urge to try something new on TV, it can be hard to land on something. As fun as it is to surf the FiOS TV channel guide, I usually want to find something new in a hurry. Well, there's a Widget for that! One of the first Widgets we launched on FiOS, "What's Hot on FiOS," is just the ticket for those times when you want to find a new show to try out. Read more...

With less than three weeks until Thanksgiving, there isn't much time left to prepare - especially if you're hosting the big meal. But, FiOS TV customers are in luck. With high-def how-to videos from Howcast on FiOS TV VOD, you can find tips on everything from cooking the perfect turkey to snagging the best bargains at the Black Friday sales. Thanksgiving-related videos from Howcast, which are also available online, include "How to Solve the Most Common Thanksgiving Dinner Disasters" and "How to Cook a Quick and Easy Perfect Turkey." There are plenty of other videos on cooking a turkey, making good stuffing, and tricks for a speedy post-dinner clean-up. Read more...

Yeah, yeah. We've heard it all before - men are less apt to ask for directions than women, at least according to women. Well now, a recent study conducted by Gadget Helpline, may show the same trend applies to getting directions from tech manuals. According to Ars Technica, the Gadget Helpline study analyzed 75,000 calls received between September and October 2009. The results made clear that we guys actually believe quite firmly that we know what we're doing without reading manuals ...and happy to let you know it! Sixty-four percent of the men who called the helpline had not checked out the booklet that came with their computer or gadgets before making the call, compared to a significantly lower 24 percent of female callers. Read more...

PCMag.com readers have again given high praise to Verizon's broadband services. For the third year in a row, Verizon FiOS Internet was ranked first on the Web site's annual Internet Service Provider (ISP) Service and Reliability Survey. FiOS Internet blew the competition away, scoring 8.7 out of 10 in its overall rating -- well ahead of the closest cable rival. Verizon's fiber-optic service led all competitors in scores for initial setup, speed, reliability, e-mail, technical support, repairs and likelihood to recommend to others. Read more...

Ok, so the Yankees beat the Phillies in the World Series. I'm Phillies fan, so last night's loss was tough, but I love the Yankees too, and if they had been playing anybody else... But even if you are a Mets fan, you have to admit that this was one of the most entertaining World Series in years - if there had been a Game 7, I would have been there! But as it was, I saw every game in HD on FiOS TV, and what a way to watch the series! Read more...

Chances are, when you hear the word "gamer" you may think of a late-teens or twenty-something guy immersed in a hard-hitting, multi-player game on $300 game console. But there's another universe of "casual gamers" - men, women and young people of all ages who spend a part of every day playing cards, doing puzzles and playing other simple games online, on their phones or on console systems like Xbox or Wii. Read more...

Noted computer science professor Dr. David Farber recently discussed networks and net neutrality with Verizon's Link Hoewing and John Czwartacki. He was clear in calling for "principles" and monitoring, rather than net neutrality regulations, because of the complexity of the global network. Read more...

Watching more HD? You're not alone. A recent study from Knowledge Networks called "How People Use HDTV 2009" found that high-def viewing has drastically increased in just the last two years. What a shocker, huh? But, in fact, the report shows that daily HD viewing has grown by 65 percent since 2007. In addition, approximately two-thirds of those surveyed said they "always make the effort" to watch a show in HD. Read more...

As I told you a couple of weeks ago, we've rolled out a Mac-compatible version of the My Music and My Photos features of our FiOS TV Media Manager service. Mac users can now use Media Manager to stream their personal photos and music from their Macs to their TVs. We're working on a My Videos feature for Macs too. Read more...

There's a new blog on the block -- Verizon in Your Community. There's a lot happening in the communities Verizon services and the idea of this blog is to keep you updated with a focus on philanthropy and green initiatives. The bloggers are Patrick Gaston, president of the Verizon Foundation, and James Gowen, Verizon's chief sustainability officer. Verizon in Your Community has been up for about a week, so this welcome is overdue. Read more...

As you might have noticed, we’re a little baseball obsessed around here, but none more so that Media Relations staffer, ah, Cliff Lee. Poor guy is a Yankees fan, and, yep, he has the same name as the Phillies’ #1 pitching ace. As the NY Daily News noted, being a Yankees fan can be a problem for a guy named Cliff Lee. Read more...

For the last three months, we've been running a sweepstakes around here to encourage customers to help the environment and save on household clutter by choosing electronic bills rather than paper bills sent in the mail. For those that take the time to go to www.verizon.com/gogreen or log into their Verizon account at www.myverizon.com, there is the chance to enter and maybe win a 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid and other prizes. So far, nearly 150,000 customers have made the switch to the Verizon paperless bill. Read more...

Tonight, game two. I know that I've blogged on the Yankees before, and when it's the regular season, and we're watching the American league, I'm all for the Yanks. But I won't deny that I'm from the City of Brotherly Love, and so when it's the Phils and the Yanks in the World Series, I have to be a die-hard Phillies fan. This is in the interest of full disclosure. Which brings me to last night and the great pitching by both teams, but also a solid 6-1 win for the guys the New York Post was mocking just the other day. It was crystal clear, ahem, FiOS clear on my television screen.... Read more...

It's Widget Wednesday and we've got a great new enhancement for Twitter, which is proving to be among the most popular FiOS TV Widgets. With our Twitter Widget, we heard from many of you who wanted an easier way to switch back and forth from Tweeting to full screen TV viewing mode. You got it. Read more...

FiOS TV subscribers will be the first in line when the new blockbuster EPIX channel debuts this weekend. As I've said here, we're excited to be the only provider to offer EPIX. Well, the time has come, and the new EPIX channel goes live on FiOS TV Friday. From Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 1 at 11:59 p.m., FiOS TV customers can check out the premium channel free of charge. Read more...

Earlier this month, we mentioned that our TV service, FiOS TV, was rated No. 1 in customer satisfaction in the East in J.D. Power and Associates' annual TV service survey. Now, results from the J.D. Power Internet satisfaction survey are in, and, the envelope please.... Read more...

I trust I don't have to explain what "The Colbert Report" is. (OK, the satirical news show with host Stephen Colbert is one of the highest rated on Comedy Central, thanks to Colbert's portrayal of a self-important political commentator.) Anyway, now, the "mayor of truthiness" is posting the "The Colbert Report in :60," a one-minute online video that you can grab and put on your Web page, blog or social profile. Sponsored by Verizon, the video recaps the previous night's episode of "The Colbert Report." It's an easy way to catch up on the show and share the latest with friends. Read more...

Lately, Shadman Zafar has been thinking a lot about how TV and the Web are coming together. Shadman leads our Rapid Product Development effort, pulling together great ideas for FiOS and FiOS TV. He was recently interviewed by the technology Web site ZDNet, and as usual Shadman had a lot to say about interactive TV and the creative process here at Verizon. You can watch the entire interview here. If you like the latest FiOS TV Widgets, you can thank Shadman's team. Read more...

Halloween is just around the corner, so how about a scary movie? There's a good collection on Verizon's FiOS TV Video on Demand (VOD) - "Scare Fest." Through the end of the month, you can find more than 100 of your favorite scary movies all together in the "Scare Fest" VOD folder. Don't want to be that scared? Nearly two dozen G-rated and PG-rated movies featuring your kids' favorite ghosts, ghouls and goblins are in the "Trick or Treat Kids" VOD folder. Read more...