Verizon FIOS!

[curtis]

Verizon FIOS has recently become available in my area, and in an effort to lower my internet access costs and increase speeds, I decided to give it a try.

FIOS is Verizon's new optical network. In the recent months, crews have been working to install the fiber optic cabling all over my area.

I had been watching the progress, and then one of my friends got it installed...so I called to setup an installation.

Currently, I am paying $45/mo for internet service through Adelphia(now Time/Warner). The speeds were pretty good, around 6mb/s download, and 128k/ps upload.

Verizon FIOS was offering 5mbps upload/2mbps upload for $35/mo....looked to me, so I went for it. Then they ran a special for 15mb/s down and 2mb/s for $40. Guess which one I went for.

The technician came out yesterday to install...it took 5 hours for all the work to be done. New optical line to the house, which is run into a new phonebox, as well as battery backup for the stuff.

Happy to report.....it is FAST!! Webpages just "pop" up.

dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-08-27 20:23:30 EST:
14992 / 1803
Your download speed : 14992 kbps or 1874 KB/sec.
That is 288.6% better than an average user on verizon.net

Your upload speed : 1803 kbps or 225.3 KB/sec.
That is 113.8% better than an average user on verizon.net

One small glitch. The router that Verizon provides(Actiontec) currently has an incompatibility issue with my AT&T CallVantage VoIP telephone adapter. Apparently, it is a known issue, so I am using my own router.

So I save $5/mo, and get blazing speeds.

Verizon FIOS also offers television service. The pricing looks competitive. The technician told me it looks really good, but in the past weeks they had some problems, so he advised that I wait.

[Quinn]

Nice. From what I've read on TV over Verizons fiber is there will be much more true HD content as they won't have the capacity issues that cable and satellite have.

[curtis]

Nice. From what I've read on TV over Verizons fiber is there will be much more true HD content as they won't have the capacity issues that cable and satellite have.

Yup...just got to get over their teething problems.

My contract time commitment is over with Dish, so I can make the move without penalty. I will give Verizon another month or so to work out the bugs and then have another look.

Interestingly, the technician told me that in the last 12 months, Verizon has lost 5% of their landline phone service to VoIP and cell. They want to push out FIOS to recapture phone customers through their VoIP offerings, as well as new data and TV customers.

[bikeman]

Verizon fiber optic is within a mile of my house. As soon as it's available, I'm switching from Time Warner cable.
Verizon has decided there's more money to be made doing the burbs before the city.

David

[curtis]

Verizon fiber optic is within a mile of my house. As soon as it's available, I'm switching from Time Warner cable.
Verizon has decided there's more money to be made doing the burbs before the city.

David

Check the availability often. After they laid the cable, they began offering service in less than a month.

I am going to let the setup run a few more days before cancelling the Adelphia/TW service.

[shane55]

Well... since words can't adequately describe my negative feelings for Comcrap and their miserable excuse for a DVR, I'm looking to FIOS as a viable alternative for my HD-TV pleasure.

It'll be interesting to see how their DVR's pan out as well as their service in general, and image quality in specific.

shane

[curtis]

Well... since words can't adequately describe my negative feelings for Comcrap and their miserable excuse for a DVR, I'm looking to FIOS as a viable alternative for my HD-TV pleasure.

It'll be interesting to see how their DVR's pan out as well as their service in general, and image quality in specific.

shane

To be honest, I have been very happy with DISH, their DVR, and HD content. The issue for me is environmental, I have a HUGE tree partially blocking signals from one of their satellites to my dish, and it just so happens that satellite carries a lot of HD content.

Cutting down the tree isn't really an option, but may be able to trim it a bit.

[shane55]

To be honest, I have been very happy with DISH, their DVR, and HD content. The issue for me is environmental, I have a HUGE tree partially blocking signals from one of their satellites to my dish, and it just so happens that satellite carries a lot of HD content.

Cutting down the tree isn't really an option, but may be able to trim it a bit.

Well... sorry to hear that you have to change service from a well-liked provider. There'll be no love loss between me and Comcrap.

I had DirecTivo. I loved it, but when I went to HD, I wanted a less-compressed signal and no 'start-up' costs.

Thanks for being an early-adopter!!

shane

[curtis]

OK....I have had FIOS internet service for a little over a week with no problems. (knock wood)

After reading about the quality of the FIOS TV picture over cable and satellite, I think I am going to give it a shot.

[bikeman]

After reading about the quality of the FIOS TV picture over cable and satellite, I think I am going to give it a shot.

Let us know when it's up and running. We won't require a detailed report for at least a week.

David