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Considering switching to Verizon FiOS

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by mhwwdman, Jul 24, 2011.

  1. mhwwdman

    mhwwdman New Member

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    I'm planning on disconnecting from Comcast and subscribing to the Verizon FiOS TV and internet service, but before I do so, I was wondering if all of you are happy with FiOS (pricing, reliability, etc.)

    Installation and customer support experiences are appreciated too.
     
  2. Pluto

    Pluto New Member

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    It depends on what deal you get from Verizon. There are plenty of deals.

    Our Installation was really good. No issues. But their customer serivice over the phone is one of the worst you can see.

    I never had issue with TV/phone/internet with FIOS. Although I had slow internet speed, mainly due to the way/place my router is setup.

    One tip: if you work for Federal or some big company, try if you can get employer's discount. you can usuall save over $10 per month, some times in addition to Free DVR for 12/24 months.
     
  3. terelli

    terelli New Member

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    At least you have a choice.
     
  4. theborleys

    theborleys New Member

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    I just moved into the neighborhood last week and had FIOS installed yesterday. Super fast, reliable so far. My research concludes its the best service on the market. Only downer is that the installation guy gives you the typical 4 hour window to come to the house. Good part is that they come on Saturdays!
     
  5. mhwwdman

    mhwwdman New Member

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    Fair enough. Just placed my order. Thanks!

    Guessing you live in Southern Walk?
     
  6. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    My experience with their TV/Internet/modem service (aka Triple Play) has been good.
     
  7. cobymom

    cobymom Sheila Ryan

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    We just switched to Fios from Comcast, and the three gamers in the house say it's made a huge difference :) We just get internet and phone with them.
     
  8. levinator

    levinator New Member

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    We've been on a FiOS bundle for the past 2 years and just renewed. Very reliable, good services. Never had an outage related to Verizon --- only power related unavailability of Internet. Great stuff.
     
  9. JLC

    JLC Member

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    We're planning on switching as well. (even though I swore I never would since they ruined my driveway)

    Two salesmen came by a couple of weeks ago on a Friday afternoon. They wanted us to sign up for a Triple Play deal but we told them we already had a VoIP service. He tried to convince us to use theirs because in his words, "if the internet went down, you wouldn't have phone service". My husband replied, "wait - are you saying your internet service goes down often enough for that to be a concern?" The guy back peddled and was embarrassed. (but I don't get it - if the FiOS was down, wouldn't their phone system be down as well?)

    Then his computer system went down and he couldn't get us signed up. We asked him to come back on Monday to finish it up but he never did. I guess we'll sign up online.
     
  10. Pluto

    Pluto New Member

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    I think he meant to say that power went down... not internet.

    FIOS phone will still work for a few hours if power goes down since it has a backup battery installed in the basement.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_FiOS

    Telephone

    Verizon offers regular telephone service as well as VoIP over FiOS. The common model optical network terminals have two or four phone jacks.

    There have been reports in various markets that Verizon physically disconnected the copper lines (or the network interface device, necessary for copper-line phone service) at the time that FiOS was installed.[7]

    Power outages may affect service availability. Since fiber-optic service does not carry power from the exchange as copper service does, the customer's power is used instead. This means that if there is no electricity at the premises, telephone service will be interrupted. This may be an issue for sites that experience extended power outages that depend on analog phone lines for remote monitoring, alarm systems, and/or emergency calls. Verizon provides a rechargeable battery backup unit free with installation of the service, which powers the ONT for up to eight hours to provide telephone service in the event of a power outage.
     
  11. JLC

    JLC Member

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    That makes more sense! As I'm sure it's obvious from my post, I was not impressed with these salesmen.
     
  12. Chsalas

    Chsalas Active Member

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    Choice is aswesome, wish I had one
     
  13. fidothedog

    fidothedog Member

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    I was considering switching to Comcast from FIOS due to the current price different until I saw this comment.

    I have four gamers in my household and I am now worried that Comcast cannot handle the data needs of online simultaneous gamers.

    I also saw some report that FIOS is better for gamers.

    Anyone know why?
     
  14. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Are the new FIOS DVRs any better compared to the DirecTV DVRs? The only reason keeping me from signing up is price of DVRs and the features. My DirecTV DVRs are $6/month each, then $7 DVR service $10 HD service for the account as a whole. These DirecTV DVRs share a playlist and can record 4 things at once. Does anyone have 2 FIOS whole house DVRs which would allow you to record 4 things at once?

    Another thing I'm hesitant is w/ my router --- I have FIOS internet already, wired with ethernet. I think if you want FIOS TV you HAVE to use their Actiontec router via coax, preventing you from using your own router.
     
  15. mhwwdman

    mhwwdman New Member

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    Probably lower ping and more consistent speeds.

    Don't really know too much about the DVRs (ordered the standard HD set-top boxes). I just know that HD is standard for the TV packages.

    For the router issue, I heard that you can have your personal router connected by ethernet directly to the ONT for internet, have the Actiontec connected to the personal, and use the coax from the Actiontec to supply the set-top box data. More info here: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/15993

    Also, no, I haven't gotten the service installed yet (have it scheduled for September 2nd). Verizon's contractors did bury the fiber-optic line from the underground box to the side of my home though.
     
  16. lilpea

    lilpea Member

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    This was sent to me earlier in the week from our Verizon contact (send me a PM and I can forward you the "whitepaper", it's pretty impressive):


    This independent study by the FCC speaks volumes!

    “NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federal Communications Commission's just-released report on residential wireline broadband service, "Measuring Broadband America," confirms that Verizon FiOS Internet customers receive blazing-fast and sustained upstream and downstream speeds even during peak usage periods.

    The test results also show that Verizon FiOS Internet customers are receiving speeds that meet or exceed those advertised by the company.
    Verizon's FiOS service delivered 114 percent of its advertised download and upload speeds when measured during peak periods. This was the highest percentage of any ISP participating in the test. The report also concludes that "fiber-to-the home has the best performance for latency" and demonstrates that Verizon's FiOS service loaded Web pages faster than any other tested ISP.”

     
  17. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    I can confirm that I get about 10% higher speeds than I pay for pretty regularly on my FiOS connection.
     
  18. Mom8386

    Mom8386 Member

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    We started with cable in Ashburn Farm 16 years ago. We then moved to Direct TV and their internet also. We moved to a new house almost 8 years ago off Ryan Rd. We moved our Direct TV dish with us. As soon as DSL became available we switched to that for internet and kept Direct TV. Once FIOS was installed we switched everything to that a few years ago. FIOS is by far the best tv/internet we have ever had. Our dish used to lose the signal when it would ice up or rain hard and sometimes a plane would interfere with the signal as it went into Dulles. With FIOS we have only lost service once and that was because someone cut a line. It was out for hours, not days. Other than that, we've had to reset the system once or twice which means we unplug the box in the basement and plug it back it. We've been very happy with the service.
     

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