Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal reviewed Verizon's new fiber optic Internet access service called Fios today. He liked it. He happens to live in a town in suburban Maryland where Verizon has already rolled out Fios, so he compared it to Comcast's basic cable-modem service that's also available there. According to the article:

I ran a rigorous series of tests comparing Fios with the Comcast basic cable-modem service, using an Internet speed test site accessed from a hard-wired Windows PC. My Fios service repeatedly was measured at just over 15 mbps downstream and around 1.8 mbps upstream. The Comcast service clocked in at a mere 2.3 mbps downstream and around 360 kbps upstream....

I consider Fios a good service and a good bargain. If you are a heavy Internet user, and you can get it, I recommend you do so. That is especially true if you use the Internet over a wireless network, and stream a lot of videos, or download and upload lots of files.

I'm a bit surprised that Mossberg gave such a favorable review to Fios. A lot of people who talked about Fios at the very outset of deployment a couple of months ago said that the service didn't really make sense until Verizon begins offering television services in competition with the local cable provider in each place where Fios will be offered. Mossberg's approach was to evaluate the fat pipe on purely on its economic and utilitarian merits.

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