<P> Verizon was one of the first major U.S. carriers to offer fiber to the home, and received positive ratings from Consumer Reports among cable television and Internet service providers . Other service providers use fiber optics in the network backbone and existing copper or coax infrastructure for residential users . </P> <P> Where available, select Verizon Wireless stores also sell Fios services, similar to AT&T offering DirecTV and U-verse services in its wireless stores . </P> <P> The early stages of Fios began when Bell Atlantic was testing its video service "Stargazer" in 1995 . This was the world's first commercial VOD (Video on Demand) service, which was tested to 1,000 homes in northern Virginia . During this time there were talks of developing a fiber optic based service . This service was developed at a headquarters located in Reston, Virginia . </P> <P> "This will be folded into our deployment of fiber to the curb," Mr. Townsend said, referring to Bell Atlantic's plans to deploy a high - tech fiber - optic system . </P>

What is fios and how does it work