Faster Forward: Verizon ups DSL speeds to 10 to 15 Mbps

Broadband users in a hurry now have a faster option from Verizon -- an upgraded version of its digital-subscriber-line service that comes a lot closer to the speed of its Fios access. The company announced this morning that it is selling a faster DSL tier, with download speeds of 10 to 15 million bits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 1 Mbps.

Verizon's older DSL plans topped out at 4 to 7 Mbps downloads, with uploads limited to 768 thousand bits per second (Kbps); Fios access starts with 15 Mbps downloads and 5 Mbps uploads.

(Please note the asterisked disclaimer at the bottom of today's news release: "Actual download and upload speeds will vary.")

Pricing for the new service is fairly competitive: $49.99 a month, the same as the entry-level Fios plan, for residential customers who already get voice phone service from Verizon. Standalone DSL at those speeds costs $59.99, or you can buy DSL as part of Verizon's "Freedom Essentials" bundle -- which duplicates features that come free on wireless calling plans -- for $69.99 a month, taxes included.

The chance to order DSL with near-Fios download speeds must come as a relief to customers shut out by Verizon's decision to stop expanding Fios to jurisdictions that haven't already negotiated TV-franchise agreements -- a decision that shut out Alexandria -- and those waiting on Fios buildouts in cities such as the District.

But not all Verizon DSL customers can get this new service. The New York telecommunications conglomerate's news release says that "more than 4 million households and small businesses" can subscribe to it, while spokesman Kevin Laherty wrote in an e-mail that 120,000 households and small-business locations in the District are eligible for the service. In a follow-up e-mail, Laherty explained that for the new service, you can't have more than 7,000 feet of copper cable between your home and the nearest Verizon "central office," while Verizon can provide slower DSL over as much as 18,000 feet of copper.

That limit may be more stringent than you'd think. I tested the addresses of 13 friends and co-workers across the District and Alexandria at Verizon's site, and none came up as eligible for its fastest DSL.

Six -- in Woodley Park and Logan Circle in Northwest D.C., in Lamond Riggs in upper Northeast, near Arena Stage in Southwest, in Benning Ridge in Southeast, and in the north end of Old Town Alexandria -- could get only the second-slowest tier of DSL, with downloads of 1.5 to 3 Mbps. Another six -- in Georgetown, in Michigan Park and Kingman Park in Northeast, near the Marine Barracks in Capitol Hill, at the southern end of Old Town and in Del Ray -- qualified for Verizon's 4- to 7-Mbps DSL.

Only one address could get anything faster: a home in Anacostia eligible for Fios, courtesy of Verizon beginning its District-wide Fios deployment there last year. (It will take a few years for the company to wire up most of the rest of the city.)