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FIOS first impressions

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by hornerjo, Nov 20, 2008.

  1. Pluto

    Pluto New Member

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    I couldn't see the fees for Verizon fios cable card from their site....
     
  2. harrisek

    harrisek A work in progress

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    It's $3.99 per month per card.
     
  3. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    I just found out that the equipment that Verizon supplies replaces my modem and my router so I won't be using them. I just bought my wireless router a couple of months ago so that's disappointing. Does the FiOS one seem to work pretty well and offer good wireless security? Any tips on that front? Thanks.
     
  4. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    You can still use your old router as an access point, or bridge the actiontec router to your old router. I totally got rid of Verizon's router, but I don't have TV through them, and it's required if you have TV. It's still faster and cheaper than comcast
     
  5. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Boomer is totally correct. You need their router for the TV services, but other than that, you can turn off the wireless on it and just use your current router for wireless access. I use the Verizon router and two additional wireless routers in my home (don't ask) and everything works perfectly. I consider myself pretty security conscious and from the testing I did on against the router, it's not a bad unit. Their default setup is to enable wireless using WEP encryption, which is useless for security. Either switch the wireless encryption to WPA2 or turn off the wireless all together.

    Their router is necessary because all your TV boxes will be connected to the 'network' via coax and will use the router to get 'out', as well as to get information in from the Internet. It's not an extra charge; it's part of the Fios rollout. Don't let the need to use their router deter you from considering Fios. I switched from Comcast/Dish Network about 1 month ago and I won't be going back for a long, long time. Consistent 20/5 speeds, great TV picture quality, etc.
     
  6. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    Thanks, Linux and Boomer! I'm actually using the FiOS internet now while the rest is being set up. After the setup is complete I'll go into the Verizon router and change the security. If it seems to work fine and the hubby can use it to log in to the office server we should be fine. Well, fine except for the router I bought a couple of months ago and now may not need. I'll keep it for a while in case I'm not happy with the wireless access and need to use it for that.

    So far the installation is going smoothly!
     
  7. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    My first impression is a good one and I especially like the Video on Demand feature. We'll consider canceling our Netflix since there is so much to get on demand: Network TV shows, cable network shows, movies, kids programming, and more.

    So far no issues with internet but we haven't tried anything wireless yet.
     
  8. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    Me again. I just learned that you cannot pause, rewind, of fast forward during regular TV on the TVs not using the DVR box. You can do it for things that are recorded, but not for live TV. You can only do that on the main DVR box. So if you have the regular receivers in your other rooms you cannot use those features during live television because the receiver on that TV does not have a hard drive.

    I guess that isn't too bad but if you miss something and want to back up you can't. Like if the guy on the news said that people were "teabagging" the White House and you thought "what????" you can't rewind to check if you heard him right.
     
  9. razng2grtboys

    razng2grtboys New Member

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    Hate to break it to you, but you just described the difference between a 'DVR' and a 'Set Top Box' - this is not exclusive to Verizon FiOS. DVR is always recording what you watch which in turn gives you the ability to "pause, rewind, and fast forward (if you've gotten behind)".

    I love having the Multi-Room DVR. With four TV's in the house, it's so nice to be able to watch recordings from anywhere, even stop and resume play on another TV if you want. One thing to keep in mind though if you record an "HD" channel you can only play back on an "HD" TV. One thing I like to do is record Fox 5 News at 10 (on 5 and 505)...and keep it for just one day...that way I can watch the news anytime I want and on any one of the TV's in the house.

    With Comcast I had to rent 2 DVR's...granted I could pause & rewind on both of those TV's I didn't mind losing that ability on one of them in exchange for the "Multi-Room Playback"

    Also check out how easy it is to manage your DVR from your computer or Verizon Wireless mobile phone...I love being away from home and hearing about a show coming on or something that I can't miss so I just open my phone and set the DVR to record no matter where I am....pretty cool.

    ....NO I don't work for Verizon, just a satisfied customer that had enough of Comcast customer service (or lack there of)
     
  10. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    I didn't know I wasn't getting a "multi-room DVR" - I thought since you could watch from the main one in any room that you got all the features. I'll have to look into this... Is there a different box I can get that will do it?
     
  11. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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  12. razng2grtboys

    razng2grtboys New Member

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    No, just playback from the Home Media DVR to any other box in the house. You would need separate DVR's for any TV you want "DVR Features". I know what you're saying though and that would be very cool if there were something like that out there.
     
  13. razng2grtboys

    razng2grtboys New Member

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    I think so, but not sure. I do know that you can only have one Home Media DVR per network so if you had another DVR you wouldn't be able to watch programs recorded on that one in any other room, just from your Home Media DVR.
     
  14. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    Once I thought about it it made sense. How can I expect it to have DVR features if it isn't a DVR? It can't rewind if it doesn't have a way to record. It's just that both of our boxes before from DirecTV were DVRs and I think I just got used to having it that way. Heaven forbid I should have to watch TV without pausing it for potty breaks! :p

    When I was a kid we had to - get this! - turn a knob on the TV to change channels! I mean, what's up with THAT??!! That's why we kids sat right in front of the screen instead of across the room.

    I love technology that enables my natural laziness!
     
  15. sri_n

    sri_n Member

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    I switched from DishNetwork(TV)+ComcastCable(Internet)+Verizon (Phone) to FiOS. Currently have 1 HD Home Media DVR + 1 standard STB + Verizon's ActionTec Router. Had it for 2-3 weeks now.

    Found a few annoyances - the Router isnt as "stable" as my trusted Dlink - drops internet connection on me more often than I'd like. I think this is echoed in this thread often.

    Phone - no complaints so far.

    TV - while I am pleased with programming that is being offered + the VOD, I do miss the two line DVR that I used to have from Dishnetwork. I find that accessing the FiOS DVR recordings via the STB is slow. Skip forward / Replay takes an annoying fraction of a second longer to respond, and I am an impatient person :). Since the two line DVR from dishnetwork directly connected to each of my two TVs the response used to be much better. And I did not have the problem stated earler in this thread about not being able to rewind a live program while watching through the STB. With the two line DVR from Dish Network, I didnt have to worry about that.

    I have not gotten the MEdia DVR to work where they claim it can access media on my Computer (Still images, and audio files) which I can replay on my TV. Yet to call VZ support on this issue - but havent pressed for it as this feature isnt high on my wish list.
     
  16. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    If you haven't done so already, to set up the Media thing to work you have to visit the FiOS TV Central website and log in to download the media software to your computer. When the media software is running on your computer you can then choose what pictures and music files you want it to play on the TV.
     
  17. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    For what it's worth, it's not bad as a novelty item. They're currently beta-testing the next version which will enable you to play videos located on your computer. To me, THAT'S when the Media Manager will have value....
     
  18. sri_n

    sri_n Member

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    I've done that. I just cant get the DVR to recognize my computer on the network. Their troubleshooting advice is pathetic.
     
  19. sri_n

    sri_n Member

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    Yep, that would be really cool.
     
  20. razng2grtboys

    razng2grtboys New Member

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    You have to be sure your software is running and it has already cataloged your media files. It worked for me on the first try...even on my 9 year old computer.
     

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