Verizon FiOS- Opinions

[LetsgoDisney!]

Hi Everyone Again-
In my quest for cheaper cable/internet etc I heard about FiOS- I know nothing about it but was wondering if you had it and had any opinions?

Thanks again-
Donna

 

[Hedy]

In theory it's great (the least compresed TV picture) BUT one of DMom friends has it and hates it-it took 11.5 hours to install, and the TV's now turn on at all hours of the night.

 

[samanthacatangel]

I have Fios internet and phone and I LOVE it! It actually saved us $10 a month by switching from antiquated dial-up and bundling it with a phone package. And, it is lightening fast!

Samantha

 

[AnnaS]

I have it. I have it.

Service is great and have no complaints right now. WARNING - THE REP DID NOT TELL US ALL THAT WAS INVOLVED. I HOPE IT WAS EXPLAINED TO YOU. READ ON IF YOU WISH/HAVE TIME.

A rep came knocking on our door - we were seriously thinking of getting high speed anyway - we tried earthlinK before, another long story and brought the box back after a month. Anyway - we had dial up. We were told about the free installation, 6 months of service at a lower price. Connecting of dektops/laptops, etc. We were told it would take a few hours and someone 18 yrs. and older had to be home. We set up the appt. and all good to go.

My son called me at work and also called my dh when the day finally came. Apparetntly verizon wanted to know where to install this box inside the house that needed to be plugged in an outlet 24/7 plus a battery pack that would be next to it. ???? If we were told this ahead of time, we would have picked a spot. How can my 19 yr. old decide and you needed an outlet wherever the spot was.

I get home around 12:30 and there is this huge box now attached to my brand new siding. It looked like it belonged in an apartment building. I did not like it. I went inside not happy and told the rep. I did not think it would fly with my dh. By now another tech came to join the first one and they were trying to figure out how to run the wire to my desktop inside. More drilling outside towards the back of my house on the side. After they figure all this out (at least an hour or so), my desktop is not compatible for the wire and they had to put a wireless card (my desktop was then only a few years old). They were telling me how people make appts. and they either have no computer or not compatible. It is now close to 3:30 (definitely more than a few hours) and they had just finished configuring my two son's laptops. My dh comes home and has a fit when he sees that box outside - on the side, but almost to the front. He told the tech to immediately take it down and this is not an apartment building. Why did they not put the box toward the back/side of the house? How can they expect a 19 yr. old to make these decisions. Calls were made and a few supervisors came to check it out. We had to reschedule - another whole day - they took it down and we had a ton of holes on our brand new siding (they had to take down old telephone box too, of course). We had to get two estimates from two contractors and they reimbursed us for the siding. Also, check your bill. Ours came all wrong. Regular price for the monthly service and I was charged for connecting the two laptops. They did remove the charges.

That outside box - my dh was discussing with all the supervisors where it should be put, the back, the side, etc. My dh told them he would have a piece of plywood (?) drilled to the concrete wall (inside our main where the other box and battery pack were put) and they could then drill that box on that.

This was all fairly new when we had this done beginning of summer. They had a lot of things to work out and hopefully all is good now. I complained and told them the reason they do not advise the customers is because they might not go ahead with this. It's not as simple as hooking up a cable box next to your tv or computer. Good luck. Just be aware of what is involved - be home, pick out spots beforehand and let them check your comptuer first.

Keep us updated.

 

[Cindy B]

Have it--love it! We had one of the first installs in our neighborhood and it did take a long time (but not 11 hours). My DH works from home so it didn't take that long.

I love that we can use the DVR in two TV's now instead of just one.

 

[tedhowe]

I have Fios Internet and Fios TV.

I've had the internet service (15/2 package) since April of '05 and have never had an outage (much better that I can say for Comcast HSI before that).

I've had the TV service for about 6 weeks now. Here the install went well, and I have had no problems, but if you are considering TV, you have to realize that Verizon is new at the TV game and is being very aggressive right now, starting to install TV in literally HUNDREDs of towns within a couple of month timespan... a lot of their installers are learning on the job, and the ordering/customer service computer systems work reasonably well, but if there is a problem with an order or provisioning of TV service becuse someone miskeyed something somewhere, it can take a LONG time for someone who knows how to fix it to get involved with your problem.

If you want to know about Fios, look at the forums at the following links:

For internet service:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber

For Fios TV Service:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiostv

Overall, I like Fios internet better than any internet service I've had before... this is what broadband is supposed to be.

I like Fios TV a lot better than DirecTV (which I had before). Picture quality is very good and, though there are bumps, Verizon provides a lot of services for the dollar.

Ted

 

[LetsgoDisney!]

Thanks- and another question- We have 3 TVs- If I understand correctly, to get all channels you need a box. One of our TVs is in the kitchen and I mostly listen to the news when making dinner so don't need all the channels- Does anyone use a TV without a box and what's the reception like?

 

[dcfromva]

That outside box - my dh was discussing with all the supervisors where it should be put, the back, the side, etc. My dh told them he would have a piece of plywood (?) drilled to the concrete wall (inside our main where the other box and battery pack were put) and they could then drill that box on that.

AnnaS,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I was also thinking about getting FIOS. In fact, I had signed up for it and then chickened out. One reason was because no one could adequately explain what was involved. I currently have a network (which was a bear to get all the computers connected) and it seemed like they were going to replace my router with just a setup to one computer.

I did not know about the outside box thing. There is a huge box on the utility pole right in front of our home (what an eyesore). With the piece of plywood you installed, was that on the inside or the outside of your house? How big was that box?

TIA,
DC

 

[GJM]

My father has the internet and cable TV - yes they have a box for the TV in the kitchen, you need one for each TV.

It isn't offered yet in my town - but the minute it is I am going to get it. I hate our cable company.

They have no complaints. They were the 3rd house the tech installed it in, but he did OK. When they came to do the wiring for internet, which was a couple of months ago, they were there all day -

 

[wdwfan1]

Is their internet as fast as cable? I have heard varying reports. Thanks.

 

[tedhowe]

Thanks- and another question- We have 3 TVs- If I understand correctly, to get all channels you need a box. One of our TVs is in the kitchen and I mostly listen to the news when making dinner so don't need all the channels- Does anyone use a TV without a box and what's the reception like?

Without a box, Fios TV only gives you the local over the air channels... if, by "the news" you mean a local channel broadcasting the news, then no, you don't need a box.

If you mean CNN, Fox News, etc., then, yes, you will need a box.

Everything that you would think of as "cable" (meaning you can't receive it with an antenna) is encrypted on Fios, and you need one of their boxes to receive it.

Ted

 

[tedhowe]

Is their internet as fast as cable? I have heard varying reports. Thanks.

The exact answer to this depends on how fast your cable company is.

The short answer to this is that Yes, Fios internet is faster (often SIGNIFICANTLY faster) than what is available from Cable companies.

And Verizon is planning to use the speed to their advantage. Comcast hasn't really responded to Verizon's increased speed yet, so our area is still limited to the 15/2 plan (for a reasonable monthly fee - Verizon offers a rediculously priced 30/5 plan, but it's not at all affordable).

In the North Jersey/Long Island area Cablevision has responded to increase their cable modem speeds to be close to that 15/2 plan, and Verizon came back by increasing the middle tier to 20/5 for the same price.

 

[AnnaS]

I can't open the sort of folding door that my dh put up (you can, but he did not install it so well). For now, I will try to explain (til he gets home) - it looks like our gas main box. This is the box that is supposed to be and should be outside. If I remember - about 10 inches deep and 12 inches wide and about 24 inches in height. I could be wrong - so don't quote me. We a main/sewer drainage down the basement. It;s enclosed with this folding door so it looks like it's a closet. We had them put this big box and the other box and battery pack in here so you cannot see it. Obviously if there is a problem, they would have to come in. Also, regardless if we have a landline phone, if the power goes out, no phone. The battery pack is a backup for 24 hours (if power goes out). They had replaced all the wires coming to the house when they did this also (from poles).

I only have the internet, no tv or cable (direct tv). We have time Warner for that. I don't like getting everything with one company. The speed is great. Also the closer you are to these boxes, the faster/ultimate speed you will reach.

 

[tedhowe]

I only have the internet, no tv or cable (direct tv). We have time Warner for that. I don't like getting everything with one company. The speed is great. Also the closer you are to these boxes, the faster/ultimate speed you will reach.

Anna,

Just a minor technical point... it does not matter how far you are from the boxes for Fios. The older DSL technology that runs over the copper phone lines was very sensitive to distance, and you could only get the top speeds up to about 5000-6000 feet from the central office.

With Fios internet, you will get the whole rated speed out to even 70,000 feet (about 13 miles) from the Central Office. With fiber, the signal doesn't degrade very quickly at all, and if you get enough signal to get any connection at all, it will support the full speed.

Ted

 

[LetsgoDisney!]

Thank you so much Ted and AnnaS for explaining everything to us- I am ready to get a new company so I think I'll be ordering it today or tomorrow!
Thanks again-
Donna

 

[AnnaS]

Hi Ted -

When the verizon rep first installed the wireless card with our previous desktop - he told us it might not reach it's maximum speed vs. having the wire connected to it. Also, when we bought a new desktop, we had the wire across the floor (too short to hide it around the house) and boy the speed/loading up was amazing. We then bought another wire and connected it, tt definitely slowed it down - I think it was the connecting part . Verizon came again for something else and he gave us a 50 ft. wire and we reconnected everything. Much faster. (connection from desktop to the "big box" (that was supposed to be outside and is inside

I really don't know too much about all the techonology with this so forgive me if I am not explaining myself right or if I misunderstood. I really consider myself and not afraid to admit that I am computer illiterate.


Good luck with the installation.

 

[tedhowe]

Hi Ted -

When the verizon rep first installed the wireless card with our previous desktop - he told us it might not reach it's maximum speed vs. having the wire connected to it. Also, when we bought a new desktop, we had the wire across the floor (too short to hide it around the house) and boy the speed/loading up was amazing. We then bought another wire and connected it, tt definitely slowed it down - I think it was the connecting part . Verizon came again for something else and he gave us a 50 ft. wire and we reconnected everything. Much faster. (connection from desktop to the "big box" (that was supposed to be outside and is inside

I really don't know too much about all the techonology with this so forgive me if I am not explaining myself right or if I misunderstood. I really consider myself and not afraid to admit that I am computer illiterate.


Good luck with the installation.

Okay, I see the issue. The Fios internet service speed itself is not dependent on how far you are from the telephone central office.

What you are referring to is wireless networking's effect on the speed once the Fios had gotten to your house.

This is entirely true... wireless networking has traditionally been fast enough, because it has been faster than DSL or cable modem, but Fios is fast enough that many wireless hookups in the house are the bottleneck.

The best way to get the full speed of the fios internet service is definitely to use wired networking in the home, if at all possible.

Ted