Verizon at Home

There's a lot going on at Verizon. In this short video, we share examples of just a handful of cool projects we've been working on and demonstrating around the country and the world. 

It always begins with one simple question: "What if?"

Now, young, tech-saavy consumers inWashington,D.C., are telling us 2015 may be closer than we thought.

In random on-camera interviews – admittedly not a scientific polling process – some of those young tech-hungry denizens of D.C. say they already have as many as seven web-connected devices in their homes.  These devices include desktops, laptops, tablets, game consoles and, as one interviewee put it, “of course, a smartphone.”

Enter to win a ticket for you and a guest to the upcoming World Championship Boxing: Sergio Martinez vs. Matthew Macklin middleweight boxing match on March 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Additional prizes, awarded by a random drawing, include a boxing glove signed by Martinez and HBO Latino hooded sweatshirts. All prizes are provided by HBO Latino.

The Verizon FiOS Boxing Sweepstakes is being hosted on Verizon’s bilingual, bicultural Facebook page, Somos Verizon FiOS.

The grand prize for the sweepstakes consists of two VIP tickets to the fight, airfare and a two-night stay in New York City.  Verizon FiOS customers unable to attend the event can watch it from the comfort of their homes on HBO Latino, HBO Latino HD and HBO’s main channel at 10 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT. 

You can register for the sweepstakes once a day, for a total of 19 times, through March 4 at 8:59 a.m.  The winner will be chosen at random on March 5. For sweepstakes registration and complete rules and regulations, visit http://www.facebook.com/SomosVerizonFiOS.

By now you’ve probably heard about Linsanity. I’m certainly not a basketball expert, but even I know about the new New York Knicks sensation, Jeremy Lin. His meteoric rise from benchwarmer to star has taken the basketball world – and every other world -- by storm. In fact, Linsanity might even become 2012’s Word of the Year.

Want to see what all the commotion is about? If you have FiOS and you’re in the New York area, you can.

Just last month I told you about the newest addition to our FiOS TV Online lineup – Showtime Anytime. At the time I also told you that there was more good news to come about expanding the borderless lifestyle, and I have some today. We have added three new channels to FiOS TV Online: FOX, VH1 and BTN2Go, the online version of Big Ten Network.

Before I married, I lived in an apartment.  Nestled by tall trees, and surrounded by people chiefly in their 20s and 30s, I liked my bachelor pad.  Due to the lack of gadgets and Internet-connected devices in the early ‘90s, however, my free time was spent at the local golf course, hanging out at the pool or relaxing on the patio.  But the thing I most remember from my apartment days was watching the infamous police chase with O.J. Simpson.  As a newshound, I was riveted.

Rewind 20 years and the contrast looms large.  As a 20-something, I had no high def TV.  In fact, I watched the O.J. drama unfold on my modest 19-inch TV and prayed my spotty cable TV service wouldn’t croak.  My remote control was dumb.  I had no high speed Internet connection to stream video content or zip emails to friends.  I didn’t own a cell phone; I couldn’t post comments about the slow white Bronco to Facebook; and the only things that tweeted back then were the birds in nearby oaks.

Fortunately, today’s apartment and condo dwellers have a lot more going for them when it comes to enjoying technologies’ riches.  Too often, however, people think you have to live in a single family home to get the best in broadband and entertainment services -- not so.

It’s that time again!  Time for more free stuff from FiOS.  And we have a lot in store.

To start, we’re featuring the Brazilian channel TV Globo through this Thursday, Feb. 16.  Found on channel 1768, TV Globo features novelas, mini-series, music festivals, comedy, documentaries, news, live soccer and other sports programming for Brazilian and other Portuguese-speaking people.  FiOS TV customers who want to subscribe to the channel can do so for $19.99 per month.

The rest of the month features free previews that will please a wide variety of sports fans. 

There’s little doubt that using the Internet to gift shop (chocolate is ALWAYS welcome!), make dinner reservations or arrange flower and chocolate delivery has made looking for love a little easier leading up to Valentine’s Day.  Online dating services may even make it easier to find someone to shower with these gifts.

But, if you’re looking to sway your sweetheart via the world-wide web, you should also be aware that online scammers are looking to romance your bank account and personal information at your expense.

Verizon’s security software partner McAfee is predicting that the lovers’ holiday themed email spam will quadruple worldwide as we get closer to Feb. 14^th. 

With over 35,000 monthly titles available with FiOS TV Video on Demand, you may not be aware of all that we have to offer. In just the past few months, we’ve added hundreds more exciting titles. To help you out, here are some highlights.

Just this past weekend, we added The Weather Channel to the on demand lineup. With both HD and SD titles, you can watch programs like “Storm Stories” and “Forecast Earth” as well as educational features and other specials. You can find The Weather Channel on demand in the “Free,” “TV Shows” and “High Definition” folders.

We are at it again, announcing a new joint venture with Redbox, the leader in DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals in the US.  Together, we’ll be introducing a new choice for a disc-to-digital video entertainment. This nationwide subscription video service will combine the convenience of Redbox’s physical media rental with high-quality, streaming video-on-demand content from Verizon.

The service will be easy-to-use, flexible, affordable and will enable all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer.

Some subscription TV service providers view these trends as disruptive challenges.  We view them as opportunities for leadership and a wider array of convenient entertainment choices for consumers.  It is our first national video offering and reflects our ongoing commitment to empower people to enjoy entertainment on their terms. 

E-Waste is a dirty word!

Consumers and businesses discarded some 2.25 million tons of e-waste in 2007, according to EPA, with the majority of it disposed of primarily in landfills where the precious metals cannot be recovered and hazardous substances can leach into the ground and contaminate soil and water.

To help make it a little easier for employees and people who live in many of the communities we serve, Verizon kicked-off a series of 13 recycling rallies in Temple Terrace, FL, last week. "We collected 19 pallets of e-waste," reported John Dorn, a project manager who cris-crossed the country to organize recycling rallies for Verizon.

Verizon's Chief Sustainability Officer James Gowen blogged about it here. Visit http://bit.ly/xgwfLV to read his full post.