After six years of waiting, Verizon is finally building out FiOS connections in my neighborhood. Hey - shouldn't I be more excited?
[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns/2010/07/hdtv-expert-fios-is-coming-yawn.php]Read Column[/url]
HDTV Expert - FiOS is coming! (Yawn…)
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720pete
- Major Contributor
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:19 am
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skytvlr
- New Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 7:18 am
FiOS is coming...yawn
We signed up for Verizon FiOS over a year ago for Internet and telephone only. The service has been reliable and the installation handled very well. However, first, the speed of the connection varies considerably sometimes in the KB range (actually far too often) but a close reading of the contract says "...speeds up to..." so we have really no wiggle room there and term are not negotiable. Second, the Actiontec modem/router that is cable connected, has very poor signal strength on the wireless side and connect speeds up or down are usually in the low MB range or high KB range. Thirdly, there's really no one you can contact to resolve these issues only the general Verizon number that may be in Ohio, India, Bangladesh or heaven's knows where. The communities and state public utility commissions really need to address some of these issues.
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latedave
- New Member
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- Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:27 am
FiOS
I have Broadstripe basic, but my kids have FiOS and Comcast, respectively.
My Broadstripe cable TV is solid, but the Broadstripe Internet service is quite shaky--which may well be my cheap equipment. Speed is good, but lots of down time and resets. My telephone service is both Verizon copper and Verizon cellular.
The kid with FiOS is flaming mad. The FiOS service is adequate/impressive, but the billing is insane--double billing, inability to correct a misspelled name after multiple months of assurances, etc. Phone is VoIP on the FiOS, of course.
The kid with Comcast is happy. Good price, good service, real people to talk to, who say one thing and do the same thing. Internet also Comcast, seems to be okay. No landline phone at all.
A legend says copper phone lines are common carrier and Verizon or whoever has to provide dialtone for a competitor on their wires. The legend further says fiber is *not* common carrier, and no such service sharing is required. The legend still further says Verizon pulls out the copper when they install the fiber, and you as a customer have no basis for no-charge restoration of copper telephone service if you later cancel the fiber. I have seen a written statement from Verizon that they will on demand leave the copper behind, and will restore it at no charge for a new resident moving into an old house. Why they would say this, and how honestly they would do it, I don't know--but it suggests that the legend had some truth in it.
IMHO, the whole TV/Internet/telephone system we have worked up for ourselves is a massive hash. The near-monopoly in every local area gives a handful of providers a license to print money, and we are submitting. In times of widespread financial stress, people are paying their cable bills before their rent! (Okay, I made that up. Is it true or not?)
My Broadstripe cable TV is solid, but the Broadstripe Internet service is quite shaky--which may well be my cheap equipment. Speed is good, but lots of down time and resets. My telephone service is both Verizon copper and Verizon cellular.
The kid with FiOS is flaming mad. The FiOS service is adequate/impressive, but the billing is insane--double billing, inability to correct a misspelled name after multiple months of assurances, etc. Phone is VoIP on the FiOS, of course.
The kid with Comcast is happy. Good price, good service, real people to talk to, who say one thing and do the same thing. Internet also Comcast, seems to be okay. No landline phone at all.
A legend says copper phone lines are common carrier and Verizon or whoever has to provide dialtone for a competitor on their wires. The legend further says fiber is *not* common carrier, and no such service sharing is required. The legend still further says Verizon pulls out the copper when they install the fiber, and you as a customer have no basis for no-charge restoration of copper telephone service if you later cancel the fiber. I have seen a written statement from Verizon that they will on demand leave the copper behind, and will restore it at no charge for a new resident moving into an old house. Why they would say this, and how honestly they would do it, I don't know--but it suggests that the legend had some truth in it.
IMHO, the whole TV/Internet/telephone system we have worked up for ourselves is a massive hash. The near-monopoly in every local area gives a handful of providers a license to print money, and we are submitting. In times of widespread financial stress, people are paying their cable bills before their rent! (Okay, I made that up. Is it true or not?)
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stevekaden
- Major Contributor
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:20 pm
First - to answer the question of Verizon pulling out the copper - I have not heard of that, and it would quite absurd. Why spend the money to digout a local drop if in the ground, or do anymore than pull out the last drop if from a pole. Certainly they are not going to strip out a single line out of a big bundle - mostly still in use. So to reverse that, is to simply pull out the Fiber adaptor and reconnect.
I have FiOS, and in my mother's area, we have Time Warner. Dealing with TW borders on the completely insane. Even the "special" contact the assisted living home gave me, says to never bother talking to TW direct unless you have lots of time to burn. They would show up at the assisted living location, and essentially not be able to make it from the front desk to the room to set up. Repeatedly.
The FiOS work I had done was definitely professional by a person who not only knew what he was doing - but figured out some unique situations to their best advantage (mostly the placement of the battery box.
The FiOS internet speed as bests I can tell is ALWAYS 20m down 5m up. BUT - not all web sites are performing at that rate - so measured results may vary, but it is not a FiOS issue. Using the URL to the speedtest site, my speed is always good. And when I download 4GB DVD's in an hour+, I am impressed.
The FiOS phone service is fine - ordinary one might say. The FiOS TV is consistently excellent - if the source is good, the image is good - with occasional drop outs. Their box is somewhat a joke. the DVR has lots of dropouts, the system cannot deal with shows or games that go over the Guide's statement of schedule. Small hard drive.
So overall I am extremely impressed across the board. Just need to get a Top of the Line Tivo HD XL (??) and get the cable cards to get perfection (or so I hear). My full EVERYTHING included package is about $260 a month. A lot of money, but a lot of service.
I was a long term and happy DISH person before.
I have FiOS, and in my mother's area, we have Time Warner. Dealing with TW borders on the completely insane. Even the "special" contact the assisted living home gave me, says to never bother talking to TW direct unless you have lots of time to burn. They would show up at the assisted living location, and essentially not be able to make it from the front desk to the room to set up. Repeatedly.
The FiOS work I had done was definitely professional by a person who not only knew what he was doing - but figured out some unique situations to their best advantage (mostly the placement of the battery box.
The FiOS internet speed as bests I can tell is ALWAYS 20m down 5m up. BUT - not all web sites are performing at that rate - so measured results may vary, but it is not a FiOS issue. Using the URL to the speedtest site, my speed is always good. And when I download 4GB DVD's in an hour+, I am impressed.
The FiOS phone service is fine - ordinary one might say. The FiOS TV is consistently excellent - if the source is good, the image is good - with occasional drop outs. Their box is somewhat a joke. the DVR has lots of dropouts, the system cannot deal with shows or games that go over the Guide's statement of schedule. Small hard drive.
So overall I am extremely impressed across the board. Just need to get a Top of the Line Tivo HD XL (??) and get the cable cards to get perfection (or so I hear). My full EVERYTHING included package is about $260 a month. A lot of money, but a lot of service.
I was a long term and happy DISH person before.
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720pete
- Major Contributor
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:19 am
Comcast vs. FiOS
The problem with FiOS is more with the way Verizon has changed its way of doing business. They've been sub-contracting installation work since the late 1990s and I have yet to see an 'official' Verizon tech do any installs, whether twisted pair or fiber. Some subcontractors are great, others are like the Three Stooges. In one nearby installation, they punctured a gas main while laying the fiber. In another, they set part of a house on fire drilling through the siding to run the house connection - they drilled right through electrical wiring.
The other consideration is that the speed advantage Verizon touted over Comcast back in 2004 has largely evaporated. And of course both systems use 256-level QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) for their digital TV channels. FiOS has not moved to a pure IPTV model yet, like AT&T's U-Verse has (and that's limited to 786 kb/s over DSL).
As one commenter wrote, dealing with Comcast is pretty easy these days. You actually get people who know what the heck they're talking about, and in English. That may not last, but it's good for now. So I'd need a really compelling value proposition to switch everything back to Verizon, and not just a $10 to $20-per-month savings.
Besides, I do like my TiVo HD (dual Cable Cards) and it can pull stuff through my Ethernet and broadband connections pretty quickly.
The other consideration is that the speed advantage Verizon touted over Comcast back in 2004 has largely evaporated. And of course both systems use 256-level QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) for their digital TV channels. FiOS has not moved to a pure IPTV model yet, like AT&T's U-Verse has (and that's limited to 786 kb/s over DSL).
As one commenter wrote, dealing with Comcast is pretty easy these days. You actually get people who know what the heck they're talking about, and in English. That may not last, but it's good for now. So I'd need a really compelling value proposition to switch everything back to Verizon, and not just a $10 to $20-per-month savings.
Besides, I do like my TiVo HD (dual Cable Cards) and it can pull stuff through my Ethernet and broadband connections pretty quickly.