Verizon FiOS is a method to distribute telecommunication services on a fiber optic network. It's a fiber optic strand from the central office to your residence or business. By itself it really doesn't do anything. You can think of it as empty pipe between the Verizon Central Office and your house, but since it's a fiber optic pipe it's a very, very large pipe! At the Verizon building there is a PON (passive optical network) card and it's connected to an ONT (optical network terminal) at your house. At the Verizon office services are connected to the PON card; TV, Internet and phone signals are mixed together. Then at your house the ONT separates out those services to the different wires. Coax for your television, Ethernet cable for your internet and basic telephone wire for your phone service. Actually your TV channels aren't really input into the PON card, they mixed onto the fiber by using a different wavelength (color) of light - think of the Pink Floyd album cover showing the prism separating different colors of lights. The ONT still separates the different services at your house. The power of fiber optics is really amazing as you consider the super variety of HDTV Channels and amazing fast internet service available with Verizon FiOS.