I Dumped T-Mobile for Verizon

After nearly two years on T-Mobile, I’ve returned to Verizon. T-Mobile offers the best rates (of the major carriers), the most progressive policies, and stellar customer support. Yet, despite network improvements, their coverage continues to lag the competition (in the places I find myself) and we’ve concluded reliability must be our priority. Even in my high density, supposedly well-served … Read more

FCC Docs Detail New Verizon Home Automation Platform

Verizon GreenWave FCC documentation

Verizon hasn’t been out of the home automation business for long, but it looks like the telco giant is already preparing to jump back in. According to FCC documents uncovered by Steve Donahue of FierceCable, Verizon appears to be preparing to launch a new FiOS gateway with an associated Zigbee home automation module. The FiOS Quantum Gateway goes by model number FiOS-G1100 and supports the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard along with the Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols. The module, meanwhile, is produced by GreenWave Reality, a California-based company that most recently made noise back at CES. GreenWave’s platform includes applications for energy management, connected lighting, and home monitoring, but CMO Nate Williams told me in January that it can support far more.

Williams has a history with Verizon, as he was previously CMO and head of business development for 4Home, the company that was acquired by Motorola, and that provided the technology basis for Verizon’s now-defunct Verizon Home Monitoring and Control service. Despite 4Home’s successful exit, the company’s platform did not survive the move first to Motorola, then Google, then Arris. GreenWave’s Home2Cloud platform appears to be doing better so far. The company is already profitable from an operational standpoint and has a major public customer in E.ON, one of Europe’s largest utility companies. Williams told me that GreenWave also has two US service provider customers, at least one of which is a cable, telco, or satellite operator. Verizon certainly fits that description.

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Why is Verizon Looking to Push LTE Multicast in TVs?

Verizon LTE TV

Verizon has remained steadfast in its claim that it will not use the acquisition of Intel’s OnCue assets to launch a nationwide over-the-top video service. However, the fact that Verizon is now apparently talking to CE manufacturers about embedding LTE multicast technology in TV sets does have me wondering how long the company will stick to that plan.

As quick background, Verizon spent time demoing LTE multicast at an event in NYC this week. Unlike how most video is delivered in individual streams to consumer devices, multicast technology allows multiple devices to access the same stream of video at the same time. This is useful for live events, when theoretically many people want to watch the exact same content.

Verizon has been futzing with LTE multicast for some time, but the fact that the company is now talking to manufacturers about adding it to TVs is what interests me.

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The Verizon FiOS TV 1.6 Update

FiOS TV customers will begin receiving the 1.6 set-top box software update in a staggered rollout beginning later this summer. Since I’ve already covered streaming Internet video features slated for deployment towards the end of this year or early next, this post focuses on more immediate functionality. However, we’ve seen much of this previewed before… The major upgrade had been pushed back to squeeze in a maintenance release (1.5) – inclusive of improved video quality, higher VOD reliability, and support for new Morotola (MPEG-4 capable) CableCARD set-top boxes to meet the FCC’s July 1 separable security extension deadline.

In addition to over 200 bug fixes and enhancements, here’s a run-down of some of the more visible and significant features of 1.6:

Widgets – More informational widgets with 1.6 at launch and going forward. Internet-based data is pulled via RSS/XML. Pictures of news, local weather, and horoscopes below. Though I still prefer Moxi’s ticker style presentation of this info (think ESPN or CNN).

Games – A variety of games will be offered. Some of the casual gaming will be free and/or sponsored (notice the ad in the Sudoku pic below), while other games will incur a fee. Of course the real power and promise comes via Internet-connectivity… and the ESPN Fantasy Football integration looks hot.

HD Streaming – Multi-room viewing will be available in HD. Stream recorded HD content from a DVR to other HD Verizon set-top boxes (DVR or not) around the house, up to two simultaneous streams. Somewhat related, the new Motorola boxes have slightly larger hard drive capacities though an external storage option will not be available until 2009.

Content Discovery – What’s Hot displays what other folks in your region are watching (anonymously). Content discovery functionality will ultimately be expanded to include affinity (friends) and computed show recommendations.

Web Scheduling – Real-time DVR web access will be made available including scheduling, management of currently recorded programing, and a free space indicator. Initially customers in the top tier DVR package will receive access, though it’ll ultimately be made available to all. Related, DVR phone scheduling will also be made available later this year.

PC-based Video Streaming – Verizon Media Manager software will be updated to allow the transcoding and streaming of a variety of PC-based video (including high definition), in addition to the existing photo and music support.

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Web Video Coming to FiOS TV

TiVo’s not the only primary television add-on with web video intentions. Verizon is currently beta testing web video on their set-top boxes and their initial marketing partners include Veoh, Blip.tv, Break.com, and YouTube. Unlike TiVo which taps directly into YouTube’s H.264 content, Verizon utilizes their Media Manager PC software as an intermediary. Sites are indexed … Read more

A Verizon FiOS TV Update

Just a quick FYI… I’ve heard from my contact at the Verizon Policy Blog that as of today, all FiOS TV customers should be running the latest Interactive Media Guide (IMG) software. In the next month or so, I’ll journey back up to Verizon’s HQ and get the dirt on their next revision. If you … Read more