Anyone here have Fios internet and/or TV?

[MrAl]

Hello,

Anyone here have Fios, either TV or Internet, or even phone?
If so, how do you like it?

Thanks.

[b1miller]

We have had the Verizon Fios internet & phone service for about 2 years.
Fios tv is available and I will be switching to that soon.

Customer service is much beter than our cable supplier and the 3 in one package Fios price will be much cheaper.

Local cable supplier is sweating a little

[Chupa]

Had internet and phone installed on dec 24th. 20/5 internet with phone for $80 a month. I couldn't be happier. the only reason I dident bundle TV was because DTV has the NFL contract still (which im sure they will hold on too forever). Otherwise i would have done the TV too. That muliti room DVR looks so neat.

In Clearwater, FL where I am Bright House Networks was the main cable/internet supplier until Verizon showed up layin all this fiber. Ever scene Verizon showed up they have upped the bandwidth in their packages to match Verizon. I think their coax network is about taped for bandwidth.

I think its so neat how the FiOS works because it seems like its exactly how a cable modem works, except you have an entire node at your house instead of shearing it with the neighborhood. The fiber goes into a box on the side of your house where the signal and data is processed and has outputs to tap into the house phone line. It also has a coax out which is for TV and Internet. They run coax to the room you want the internet where you plug it into a cable modem and are off to the races. The mulit room DVR must be sending digital data across your in house coax network to the other receivers when you use the remote record/play features.

[MrAl]

Hi again,

Thanks very much for your detailed replies. Im getting a little idea how this is going to work now.
Im really looking forward to the faster speed internet and the 'different' TV service which im not
sure how that works totally yet. I hope everything goes ok.

BTW, there is the Fios phone issues as follows:

With 'standard' copper lines for the phone the power gets to the phone via the line itself, and if
the utility company power goes out (a different company runs that) the phone still works because
the phone company provides that power. With Fios, there has to be a battery backup because
there are no longer going to be any copper lines going to the phone, but the box that runs the
phone plugs into the wall and has to have battery backup. I wonder how well that works in
a power outage?

Thanks again to both of you for the information.

[Chupa]

Its true, there is a battery backup. Where the fiber meets the box on the side of your house they drill a hole straight though you wall to run cables to the battery backup which is hung on the other side of the wall (inside the house or garage). The battery backup plugs into a normal outlet. When power goes out it beeps like a normal UPS. People have claimed they 4 hours of talk time while on the backup.

Also I didn't mention before... The cable modem they give you is nice. Its Verizon brand with switch/router/access point built in. I still use my WRT54G but its nice to see it as compared to hardware BHN gives you (which is just the 1 port cable modem). Theres a web login page to it just like a linksys.

I think the cable companies are scared of this because their loosing all their customers. When I called up BHN to cancel my service they offered me the same speeds and phone package for $4 less. They never had 20/5 before ever until Verizon showed up. I asked around and $4 is BHNs standard reply to people switching FiOS, no matter what package you want, it will always be $4 less. The good thing about that is BHN never had a contract and Verizon does. What shows me that BHN is really desperate is they offered to pay the $175 or whatever it was early termination fee to get me off of Verizon and back to them. The funny part is they still wouldn't even lock me in with a contract, so technically i could have them pay my termination fee, go back to BHN for a month, then go back to Verizon. But im not a dick, and im also very happy with Verizon. I feel like my house is future proof as far as phone internet and TV goes.

Another fact i learned yesterday; if you have verizon wireless cell phones under the same name/address as your FiOS you can get free calling from your cellphone to your home. Not a big deal but its nice to know.

[MrAl]

Hi Chupa,

Thanks very much for the detailed information...this helps me get an idea how this works before i dig in. Once in, i am in for a whole year so i really
want to understand the pro's and con's first if possible.

Let me get one thing straight...
You say the cable co offered you four (4) dollars (4.00) to switch back? That doesnt seem like much at all. Even 4 dollars a month isnt
much at all. So that is all they offer to switch back (besides to pay the early termination fee to Verizon) ?
They would have to offer me a lot more than that

[SETEC_Astronomy]

For a 20/5 connection I'd have Verizon's baby. They even offer 20/20 with a promise to up the speeds at some point in the future, makes me wish I lived in an area they offer FiOS to.

[Chupa]

Hi Chupa,

Thanks very much for the detailed information...this helps me get an idea how this works before i dig in. Once in, i am in for a whole year so i really
want to understand the pro's and con's first if possible.

Let me get one thing straight...
You say the cable co offered you four (4) dollars (4.00) to switch back? That doesnt seem like much at all. Even 4 dollars a month isnt
much at all. So that is all they offer to switch back (besides to pay the early termination fee to Verizon) ?
They would have to offer me a lot more than that

Yep, $4 less than what Verizon charges for the same package. And those are my exact thoughts, it would take a bit more for me to switch back to a dieing technology.

As I said before, I would really like to get the TV package to play with the multi room DVR, that thing seems neat and the cable company has nothing like it as far as i know.

[Chupa]

For a 20/5 connection I'd have Verizon's baby. They even offer 20/20 with a promise to up the speeds at some point in the future, makes me wish I lived in an area they offer FiOS to.

you can even get a 50/20 if you want!
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Fi ... /Plans.htm

[SETEC_Astronomy]

you can even get a 50/20 if you want!
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Fi ... /Plans.htm

Can I come stay with you? I'll pay the difference to upgrade. All I require is direct access to the network and an outlet.

50Mbps would allow you to download full DVD content (4.7GB) in 12 minutes! I could have the latest full version of OpenBSD AND OpenSUSE in the time it takes to watch a sitcom, drives me crazy I don't have it!

[Chupa]

you can even get a 50/20 if you want!
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Fi ... /Plans.htm

Can I come stay with you? I'll pay the difference to upgrade. All I require is direct access to the network and an outlet.

50Mbps would allow you to download full DVD content (4.7GB) in 12 minutes! I could have the latest full version of OpenBSD AND OpenSUSE in the time it takes to watch a sitcom, drives me crazy I don't have it!

IF the server supports it. not sure how many servers out there would allow 6.25mB/sec.

I would be more interested in the upload. 20mb/sec is 2.5mB/sec. That pretty much give you the ability to run a decent server, gaming, web, ftp or otherwise.

[SETEC_Astronomy]

IF the server supports it. not sure how many servers out there would allow 6.25mB/sec.

Most Linux distros are available over p2p torrent networks, I've downloaded Linux torrents at multi MBps speeds over a commercial LAN before.

I would be more interested in the upload. 20mb/sec is 2.5mB/sec. That pretty much give you the ability to run a decent server, gaming, web, ftp or otherwise.

Yes the possibilities are endless as long as their ToS allows for it. I live for this stuff.

[MrAl]

Hi again,


I see you guys started talking about the next question:
What if the site you are visiting doesnt allow speeds of 20Mb/s ?

What if they only give you 5Mb/s for example?
I guess this means we would be paying for more than needed.
I wonder how many sites actually deliver 20Mb/s anyway?

Things are still evolving i guess anyway, so maybe soon more sites will be faster anyway.

[SETEC_Astronomy]

The speed might not afford you blazingly fast downloads from a single site but it does allow you to run VoIP, Youtube, IM and a download simultaneously. The speed comes in handy if you've got someone on the phone while you're trying to watch an "HD" video on hulu.com. If you're not a heavy user of the net the speed might not mean much to you. When I check my logs I routinely transfer over 10GB of data a day from the use of Youtube, Hulu, Podcasts, OS updates, IMs and web browsing.

[MrAl]

Hi,

Wow, that's a lot of data. I bet i dont use more than 500MB on any given day.