The Internet has been a tremendous boost for students researching school projects and classroom compositions.  As the kids return to school, it’s a good time to remember that the Internet also holds pitfalls and malicious programs designed to hijack your children’s computers and threaten their online security. 

 

Verizon offers two tools that can help your kids online: our award-winning Internet security suite (VISS) and online backup and sharing service (VOBS). 

 

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We spend a lot of time talking about FiOS here at the Verizon at Home blog, but today we have some great news for millions of Verizon High Speed Internet (HSI) customers served by our reliable copper network.

 

We’ve more than doubled our existing maximum HSI download speeds to 10 to 15 Mbps/1 Mbps  for communities that run the gamut from Barstow in California’s Mojave Desert to Lynchburg, Virginia.  We know that speed matters wherever you are, and the fact is that our copper network has proven itself highly reliable and valuable over the years in providing a great Internet connection and service for customers with a thirst for bandwidth.

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With hundreds of channels and thousands of video-on-demand titles to choose from, FiOS TV can keep you busy.  During the next month, we’re giving you a chance to add some new programming to that list with four free previews.

 

Starting Monday, just in time for the start of the U.S. Open, the Tennis Channel will be free for all FiOS TV customers until September 12.  See what happens to the women, with Serena Williams out of the competition, and follow top-seeded men’s player Rafael Nadal.  The Tennis Channel, found on FiOS TV channels 303 in SD and 592 in HD, is available year-round to FiOS customers who subscribe to the Ultimate HD package.

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The combination of the Internet with the power and capacity of broadband connections has changed the nature of service delivery at Verizon. Where you once had only the option of a phone call, today you have a variety of choices at online service sites.

In January of this year, Verizon began upgrading and adding service tools customers can use in the comfort of their homes or, really, anywhere there is a broadband connection, in addition to the traditional phone call or a visit to our retail stores. We’ve posted them in an Online Interactive Brochure – a directory of service features available to you with some instructions showing how easy it is to use them. Read more...

Our guest blogger today is Verizon’s Chief Sustainability Officer James Gowen, who blogs at our Responsibility Blog, where you can also read this post.

In our latest paperless billing campaign, The Great Paper Escape, you can make life easier for yourself and earn a chance to win prizes including a $10,000 grand prize.

Those who make the switch to receive their bills online by Dec. 31 will be automatically entered to win. If you sign-up for an auto pay plan you earn a second entry in the grand prize drawing. Don’t worry, if you’re already receiving and paying your Verizon bill online (automatic payment or not), you also qualify for the sweepstakes simply by logging onto your My Verizon account. Read more...

We’ve told you about all the interactive football content on FiOS, made possible by our all-fiber network. So it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that we’re using some of the same technology to expand the game-day experience for fans actually at the stadium.

The New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., is a good case in point. Home of the Jets and Giants, the New Meadowlands is one of the most technologically advanced in the country. Screens and other devices in the stadium are connected by Verizon’s fiber and wireless networks and by Cisco technology, which means that fans will enjoy the added benefit of video, player statistics and other information as they watch the game. Read more...

Our guest blogger today is Joe Ambeault, who is responsible for Verizon’s entertainment products. Joe discusses the most recent release of Interactive Media Guide software, IMG 1.8. Follow Joe on Twitter @FiOSTV.

In keeping with our commitment to provide FiOS TV viewers with information about modifications and enhancements to their service, we are providing release notes for version 1.8 of the Interactive Media Guide software for your FiOS TV DVR and set-top boxes. We’ve begun deploying IMG 1.8, and it will be delivered into subscribers’ homes nationwide in the coming weeks. Read more...

As we told you in another blog post, we’re launching a new service called Flex View on FiOS TV this fall. Flex View will give our customers the ability to rent, purchase and watch programming on FiOS TV, the PC and select mobile devices – any time, anywhere, and on any device.

But we’ll have plenty of other news to share with you leading up to the launch.

Today, for example, we’re letting you know about some new online video content available to FiOS customers. Time Warner’s Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and truTV are joining our growing FiOS TV Online service. Read more...

You may have already read some of the stories out in the last 24 hours about all the cool new stuff coming to FiOS. As always, we wanted to provide you with the details here.

Verizon CIO Shaygan Kheradpir hosted an event yesterday in New York City for a small group of reporters and offered a sneak peek of new features coming soon for FiOS customers as well as some of our longer-term plans for FiOS TV.

The biggest news is that we’re taking the TV experience beyond the living room with the introduction of Flex View, a new feature coming this year that gives customers the ability to rent, purchase and watch programming on FiOS TV, the PC and select mobile devices – any time, anywhere, and on any device. Read more...

It happens: Your computer or your smartphone just stops working exactly as you expect. Often, the solution is simply to shut it down and start it back up again. When that works, great! However, what do you do when simply powering down doesn’t fix your problem?

If we’re talking about a FiOS TV set-top box, there’s an answer: Give it a “jump start” from the In Home Agent. Problems with FiOS TV set-top boxes are infrequent. However, like computers and smartphones, they may occasionally have an unusual symptom. That’s where In-Home agent comes in. Read more...

We’ve all heard of the Emmys. Airing later this month, the Emmys will give us a chance to see our favorite TV stars celebrate and accept awards for shows like “Lost,” “Mad Men” and “Glee.” But have you ever heard of the Emmy Engineering Awards? No? We’re excited about them because Showtime Sports Interactive, a feature only available to FiOS TV customers, is one of the winners.

The Emmy Engineering Awards honor companies for advancements in television technology and engineering. Showtime Sports Interactive is one of only four companies that will receive an Engineering Plaque, which is presented for achievements that exhibit a high level of engineering and are important to the progress of the industry. Read more...

We like to remind people that FiOS is a fiber to the home service. Not fiber to the neighborhood or to some other place in the feeder network. But fiber all the way to the home.

The distinction is important because FTTH offers advantages over other forms of consumer broadband. That’s why some recent survey results really got our attention.

According to a survey (pdf) commissioned by the Fiber to the Home Council, subscribers to fiber-to-the-home services like FiOS report higher satisfaction rates than consumers of other broadband access technologies. Read more...

That’s right. Verizon FiOS will help kick off football season by producing and broadcasting the first NFL game in 3D on television, featuring the Sept. 2 preseason match-up between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

Produced by FiOS1, Verizon’s hyper-local news channel, the 3D game will air on channel 834 in the New York City area, including Long Island and Westchester and Rockland counties; Mercer County, N.J and the northern part of the state; Massachusetts; and Rhode Island. Read more...

Today's guest blogger is Cammie Moise, founder MomsMaterial.com and CyberSafeFamily.com. Cammie, a mother of two tweens, is an Internet safety advocate and speaks locally in her hometown of Houston to educate families on staying safe online and managing your online reputation. She believes your online reputation can create great opportunities or negative consequences. Her post offers some tips on how parents can help their kids become “cyber safe.”

Parents have a new responsibility for keeping our families safe online. Many parents are still embracing technology, while it is a part of our child’s everyday life. One of my goals as an Internet safety advocate is to educate families on both the good and bad of the Internet. Read more...

August. The big summer theatrical releases are out, you’ve grown tired of your summer reading list, vacations have come and gone, and the heat is even more unbearable.

Fortunately, you live in the 21st century and have access to some of the greatest inventions of all time, such as air conditioning, HDTVs, laptops and, of course, Verizon FiOS -- all of which set the stage for your escape from the dog days of summer. In fact, if you consider everything included with your FiOS package, there’s enough to keep you entertained for quite some time: Read more...

If you’ve ever volunteered to coach youth sports, you know that it takes more than teaching kids to hold a bat or shoot a free throw. You’ll also be called on to demonstrate sportsmanship and motivate players to do their best – and not every aspiring Joe Torre or Phil Jackson knows how to do that.

Wish you had an instruction manual for these skills? Try FiOS TV video on demand. Verizon FiOS is joining forces with Sportskool, a free on-demand network dedicated to expert sports instruction and entertainment, on a campaign to help parents and coaches deal with the challenges of today’s youth athletics. Read more...

I can tell when football season is just a few weeks away when I hear my husband and his friends start draft talking. Fantasy Football fans, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Verizon customers love our football offering because we have features and apps for everyone. Whether you’re a broadband customer, FiOS TV or Verizon Wireless subscriber, there is something for you.

Last season, we were one of the first TV providers to offer the NFL RedZone channel, a game changer for our customers. This year, customers who subscribe to the FiOS TV Ultimate package will receive the NFL RedZone channel at no additional cost. Read more...

Most parents of teens or tweens will tell you it’s no secret their children spend a lot – A LOT – of time online, and many may be spending too much time online. It’s a generation that’s growing up online. It has become an important social networking tool for young people, as well as an educational resource.

But, as is also the case with adults, there are pitfalls for all this time spent on the Internet. To help parents understand their teens’ relationship with the Web, Verizon’s online security software partner McAfee commissioned and posted a study based on the Internet activity of youths in the U.S. Some of the findings may surprise you, while others may reinforce many of the things you already suspected. Read more...