Verizon Wireless to expand data service
BroadbandAccess plan not expected in Hub till winter
Verizon Wireless will expand its fastest wireless data service to New York City and 13 other markets Monday, but Boston will probably have to wait until winter.
Verizon's BroadbandAccess service, which it markets only to businesses, not individuals, offers Internet downloads at average speeds of 300 to 500 kilobits per second, and occasional peak speeds over 1 megabit, for $80 a month. The average download rates are about 10 times as fast as a dial-up modem.
Subscribers whose employer has signed up for the service use an antenna card inserted in their laptop computer for access, which includes secured access to workplace e-mail and stored documents. When the faster service is unavailable, subscribers automatically revert to coverage from Verizon's NationalAccess service, which operates at 60 to 80 kilobits per second nationwide.
So far, Verizon has launched the faster broadband version in Washington, D.C., San Diego, and Las Vegas. Starting Monday, it will add Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Kansas City; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; Philadelphia; and Tampa and West Palm Beach, Fla. The New York service zone extends from Central Park to Wall Street and several communities around Newark, including the Newark airport.
Besides those 14 metropolitan areas, service is also being activated at airports in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, and Phoenix.
In a conference call, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive Dennis F. Strigl said BroadbandAccess will be further expanded to cover one-third of Verizon's network -- covering areas home to 75 million Americans -- by the end of December.
"You will undoubtedly hear some more from us before year's end," Strigl said, but would not comment specifically on a date for a Boston service launch or how much of New England would immediately be covered.
Martin A. Nee, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., noted that despite Verizon's expansion, AT&T can still claim to have the fastest nationwide data service, called EDGE, which reaches 7,500 cities and towns, 30,000 miles of highway, and overall areas home to 220 million Americans. "For many business customers, the issue is not as much speed as it is coverage area," Nee said. "EDGE meets the needs of our business customers due to the combination of good speed and ubiquitous coverage."
Verizon chief technology officer Richard J. Lynch said Verizon's $1 billion expansion plan for BroadbandAccess will bring it to areas home to two-thirds of all Americans by the end of next year.
Verizon executives noted their service can compete in some situations with both landline broadband and WiFi, or wireless fidelity, the high-speed, short-range wireless service offered in many coffee and copy shops and airports, including Boston's Logan Airport. Some early users in San Diego were so satisfied with download speeds that they disconnected their home cable modems and digital subscriber line Net connections, Lynch said.
But Lynch called Wifi only "minimally competitive" with BroadbandAccess. "We're not going after the cable or DSL market. What we offer is a product that is mobile across a wide footprint."
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. 