There followed some several items on these pages about another concern I had with FiOS TV, the fact that video-on-demand movies and shows use the same bandwidth pool in the FiOS architecture as the Internet access. I became concerned that concurrent video-on-demand programming and heavy Internet usage might result in slower performance. Verizon has been peeling back the onion and explaining this to me. There’s a little additional detail later on in this post.

But first let me deliver some good news. The account problems I’ve had with FiOS — which have amounted to Verizon’s records showing me as having standard DSL instead of FiOS — have been fully rectified. Frank Boersma, director, set-top box and in-home network engineering at Verizon, whom I quoted in this recent post, was able to set in motion a resolution process. The problem dates back to my original FiOS Internet installation date, early in January of 2006.

There’s an upside and a downside about the account fix: My bill will likely go up because the FiOS service costs more now than it did when I first installed the fiber-optic service. But Verizon has already upgraded my service from 15Mbps down/2Mbps up connection rates to 20Mbps/5Mbps. The increased upstream throughput is, in particular, very welcome. The faster 20/5 rate was a free FiOS upgrade rolled out in some areas last year. It didn’t reach me because, to Verizon, I didn’t have FiOS.

Boersma recently added to his description of how video-on-demand (VOD) co-exists with Internet data transmission:

The 50Mbps service available to many FiOS customers is provisioned at 59Mbps. The data service is throttled at 50Mbps — leaving 9Mbps for VOD traffic. Therefore a FiOS data and TV customer with 50Mbps data service would not see an impact to their data service until they started three or more concurrent video-on-demand sessions (each VOD session uses approximately 4Mbps of bandwidth). Even then the impact would be a small percentage of the overall bandwidth available for data as video traffic has priority. For a customer with 20/5 service, there would be a 39Mbps for video on demand before there would be any effect on data traffic.

Verizon is also moving to address the video and data bandwidth for FiOS service areas capped at 30Mbps. Boersma said: “In markets where 30Mbps is our maximum speed, the service will be provisioned at 54Mbps. We are in the process of rolling out these new standards, so not all markets have the 54Mbps or 59Mbps settings yet.”

Apparently, my town is configured to support 50Mbps service (but at $180 a month, I think I’ll pass). Bottom line, though, while some 30Mbps-provisioned customers could experience a video-on-demand squeeze when running multiple, concurrent on-demand sessions while performing heavy Internet downloads, Verizon is moving to address that possible issue. The concerns I expressed in earlier missives about this potential problem have evaporated.

Let’s get down to business: How fast is it? On the Verizon Wireless website, the company claims an average of 400-700kpbs. But it really depends on where you are and how many others are using it in the same area. I’ve seen everything from less than 200kbps to more than 1,200kbps, and Verizon’s average seems reasonable to me. At all rates of connection, I’ve found Web surfing and email checking to be just fine. I’ve also yet to experience annoying interruptions or any hiccups whatsoever. Once you’re connected, you’re connected.

Verizon Wireless also offers a less expensive $60-a-month version of the service whose average speed is supposed to be 60-80kbps. In for a penny, in for a pound, I figured. I wanted to be wowed, and I have been.

To support the faster service, I opted for the top-of-the-line Novatel V740 ExpressCard/34 adapter. It sells for $180 with a two-year contract, but I opted for a one-year contract, which means I wound up paying $229. The Novatel card’s Rev. A support delivers the fastest performance available from Verizon, as much as 600-1400kbps downstream and 500-800kbps upstream.

The ExpressCard/34 form factor is very nice. On my MacBook Pro, it pops out when you press it in. My Dell Inspiron E1505 notebook has an ExpressCard/34 slot too. (Verizon also sells a $40 adapter that lets the V740 work in a standard PC Card slot.)

I was able to configure the service from both computers without too much difficulty, although I inserted the card too early in the process under Windows XP (Verizon’s onscreen wizard was a little vague on when to insert the card), which kept Verizon’s software from detecting the card. On both the Mac and Windows, Verizon’s VZAccess software has to be run before you insert the card — every time you use the service. A bit of an annoyance.

Verizon’s network consists of 242 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The coverage map that Verizon Wireless offers is next to useless, but the company does have a search-based tool that it is quite good. Visit this Coverage Locator page. Type the name of the town, select the state, and click the radio button beside “BroadbandAccess & the V CAST” to see a detailed map of coverage levels.

One of the upsides to Verizon’s BroadbandAccess service is purchase and installation. Verizon’s website is pretty bad. It’s easier just to use its local search than to try to actually make sense of it. But once you get past that, my total investment was about two hours, including my visit to the Verizon Wireless store (lots of waiting around) and the time it took to install and begin using the service (15 minutes or so). Installation on the Mac was incredibly fast and easy.

The biggest negative of this service is the price. Frankly, it would have made sense for me to take the Verizon’s WWAN service on a two-year contract. Verizon runs occasional specials that may reduce your monthly rate, even for the faster service, to $60. Plus, I would have gotten a $50 discount on the V740 card. From my perspective, though, I’m not sure I can justify the ongoing cost. Verizon charges $175 to break your contract. There’s also a 30-day trial period. I will probably wind up either paying for one year or breaking my contract — the point being to do this review and to play around with something cool.

Besides the steep price, the only other shortcoming is the fact that BroadbandAccess is incompatible with Cisco’s VPN client. I saw nothing in the contract information that prevents VPN access. Probably because the EV-DO card is more akin to a modem than a network adapter, Cisco’s VPN doesn’t seem to recognize it.

If 24/7 access to the Internet is your top priority, you’ve got to get this thing. (I imagine that similar WWAN services from AT&T/Cingular and Sprint are equally intriguing.) But at $80 a month, this is tough to justify. It’s ideal for businesspeople who travel frequently (Verizon promises significant airport coverage, for example). But if that describes you, maybe you can get your company to pay for it.

Hey, I’m just glad I could come up with a reasonable excuse to try it.