I give Verizon a ton of flak, and sometimes it’s deserved (read: Verizon Calls (read: Whines) for Broadband Incentives (read: Public Handouts)) but sometimes they do something that proves they actually are pretty vested in broadband expansion and investment in telecommunications infrastructure.

For example, today Verizon sent out a press release announcing they had conducted a “world’s first” 10 gigabit-per-second down to the home connection using their fiber network. Now this doesn’t mean that FIOS customers should expect the tested 10 gigabit download/2.4 gigabit upload speeds in their houses anytime soon; the connector technology used in the test isn’t exactly widespread, but it’s proof that the limiting factor on fiber is really the connector types on either end of the fiber connection – something that companies who have invested in 10 Gig connectivity in their datacenters can tell you straightaway.

Even so, this is a pretty groundbreaking test, and it may be a harbinger that we may see an uptick in telecommunications investment in the coming years – if Verizon does something like this, their competition from other telecommunications companies, namely Comcast, will also have to pick up the slack and roll out newer high-speed technologies to more areas of the country. That kind of competition – and its investment – can only be good for everyone.

[ Verizon Conducts World’s First 10 Gigabit-per-Second Fiber-to-the-Premises Field Test ]