Broadband / Phone Survey

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 7:08 am

I live in NY and have Optimum online for my broadband. It sometimes goes out but is pretty stable. I was wondering if anyone had FIOS Internet and what they thought of it? WOuld I gain anything by switching. Also, is it worth getting a Verizon landline-they are phasing out there VOIP. I currently have VOIP with Phonepower which is very inexpensive but is not that stable. It will go months without a problem and then I'll have to reset their modem to get the phone to work. It may be my cable too. RIght now Verizon offers boradband and phone for about 68.00 with taxes. There is about 15.00 a month on landline taxes so they almost give u the phone for little each month.

DOUG · Post by **DOUG** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 7:29 am

I installed Verizon FIOS back in July 2008. I have what they call 15/2 service. From what I understand, it's their terms of how fast you can download / upload. From my experience with it so far, it's the best thing going. In my area, the other services don't even compare. I had to wait for a good while for Verizon to put their lines up at first, but it definitely was worth the wait for the switch. I'm amazed how fast it is and it never says out of service, trying to connect. I'd go for it. I'm happy and have no reason to shop around for any other provider. I've been burn by them already, why would I go back, even if it was cheaper? The hassle and down time wasn't worth it for a couple of bucks. Verizon Fios has always turned on when I wanted. No problems yet.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 7:34 am

We have Time Warner (Formerly Adelphia) for the Internet, Cable and Digital Phone. It runs about $100+/month and it's been pretty stable. I have the internet for 3-4 years with maybe a couple down times. We just got the digital phone about 4 months ago and everything works good.

Only problem, if the power goes out, you loose your phone. I did find a battery backup for the modem (Arris TM502G) and it supposedly lasts 8-10 hours.

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 11:03 am

If FIOS were available here I would have it in a heartbeat. It's in some Marland counties now and friends that have it love it. Blazing fast internet connections. Far better than what any cable system can offer. The direct fiber to your home is what makes it possible. There's a interface box, with a small battery for backup power. I would suggest having it installed inside your home rather than outside. Check with Verizon for the space and location requirements.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 11:28 am

FIOS is/was not available where we live at the time. They have big online advertising wars with TimeWarner around here about service and support. heard FIOS charges for everything if you have a problem. ?? Could be wrong.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 11:34 am

I had dial up until about 6 months I finally talked Adelphia Cable to come the last four phone poles. Nothing else high speed was (is) available here. I have Dish TV, Adelphia won't compete. Land line phone. The internet has not gone down at all since I've had it.

RAYJAY · Post by **RAYJAY** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 2:39 pm

Hi we have Adams cable co. had there internet service for about 8 years and only outage is when the power is down )here just got there Voip phone installed the test drive is awesome, we had northeast telephone land line before the Voip and the long distance was $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Jeff

Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 2:48 pm

DOUG wrote:I have what they call 15/2 service. From what I understand, it's their terms of how fast you can download / upload. From my experience with it so far, it's the best thing going. In my area, the other services don't even compare.

That's the speed in Megabits/second or in kilobits 15000kbps/2000kbps. Remember a bit is not a Byte. Bytes are what is typically given for file sizes. Note that when giving speeds a small b is used for bits and a capital B for Bytes. There's 8 or 10 bits in a Byte depending who you arguing with.

With a 15000kbps connection you should be able to download about 1.5 megabytes in one second.

Here's some examples to put that speed in perspective.

56kbps : Dial Up modem
128kbps : Typical encoding rate for decent quality MP3
320kbps : Typical encoding rate for high quality MP3
250kbps to 500kbps : typical encoding rate for most web video like Youtube. This video here was encoded at 500kbps.
2000kbps to 6000kbps - Typical encoding rate for "HD" content delivered over the web.
6000kbps - typical encoding rate for a Hollywood DVD.
24000kbps+ - Typical encoding rate Blu Ray

FYI Comcast offers speeds mentioned for the FIOS service with their cable service, at least in our area and have for many years going back to when it was Adelphia

billlindley · Post by **billlindley** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 2:56 pm

I have Comcast cable with the Cable internet. I never have a problem watching live video thru my XBOX 360 (Netflix) or surfing/downloading on the internet. Most people wouldn't notice much of a difference for internet purposes between Comcast, Fios, or TW.

I would never go with Fios for the sheer principle of their harassing mailings and constant door to door sales. In the past 6 months I have literally recieve4d at least 3 mailings a week for FIOS and 2 personal visits at the door per month. The thing with FIOS is that it costs so much to install in a neighborhood they need to get a certain % of homes to sign up. The % is said to be about 50-60%. I know people in my area that signed up for FIOS in June and July. They are still waiting on getting it installed since the ROI is not yet good enough for Verizon.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 4:18 pm

i am at the mercy of two small companies for internet......wire tele view for a cable modem or frontier telephone for dsl.......the cable modem was out at least 2x a day and slow as death, so we switched to dsl.....not much faster but it doesent go out near as often

jpete · Post by **jpete** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 6:52 pm

billlindley wrote:I have Comcast cable with the Cable internet. I never have a problem watching live video thru my XBOX 360 (Netflix) or surfing/downloading on the internet. Most people wouldn't notice much of a difference for internet purposes between Comcast, Fios, or TW.

I would never go with Fios for the sheer principle of their harassing mailings and constant door to door sales. In the past 6 months I have literally recieve4d at least 3 mailings a week for FIOS and 2 personal visits at the door per month. The thing with FIOS is that it costs so much to install in a neighborhood they need to get a certain % of homes to sign up. The % is said to be about 50-60%. I know people in my area that signed up for FIOS in June and July. They are still waiting on getting it installed since the ROI is not yet good enough for Verizon.

Where do people come up with this stuff? I heard all kinds of horror stories when Verizon moved in. I'm sure half of it were rumors started by existing companies.

Look into the hoops a company has to jump through to get a permit to offer service in your state. In RI, there are 3 steps each for TV, internet, and phone. And that is for each region you want to offer service in. Just in RI, there are 9 service areas. Want to take a guess how much and how long the permit process takes? So yes, based on that, Verizon does need to go into the areas it thinks will provide a quick ROI so they can move to other areas.

And on top of that, they are required by the state to offer free service to schools and libraries and to maintain a studio for public access programming.

I got FiOS as soon as it was available and never regretted it. Well, unless you need service of any kind, then it's tough to get some one on the phone. Once you do, the problem is resolved. I never got a call center in Indonesia and generally found the people knew how to fix things over the phone.

Just a tip, if you ever need Verizon service. When the computer starts talking to you, say "Agent". Not "operator" or "help" or anything else. And then, the computer will try to redirect you by offering different options. I have found saying "Agent" 3 or 4 times gets me to a human fairly quickly.

tvb · Post by **tvb** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 7:03 pm

Directv
Vonage
Embarq DSL service at 3mb

No on-going problems with any of the services.

The two times I needed to call Embarq, I got people in the US and was off the phone in less than 15 minutes with the problem solved.

I called Directv once when I needed to reset the box and was having a particularly blonde moment/

I've never needed to call Vonage.

AdkCoal · Post by **AdkCoal** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2009 10:49 pm

I have Road Runner High Speed with Time Warner cable. I also have the Time Warner VOIP service as well.

FIOS may be a faster technology but the customer service with Time Warner is so much better.

I had phone serivce with Verizon and the customer service was so lousy that I would talk with two cans on a string before I purchased any service from Verizon again. I dumped the Verizon Land Lines when I had the VOIP installed.

billlindley · Post by **billlindley** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2009 8:39 am

[/quote]
Where do people come up with this stuff? I heard all kinds of horror stories when Verizon moved in. I'm sure half of it were rumors started by existing companies. [/quote]

I come up with this stuff from what I have seen. The 50-60% is not based on fact I admit that is from heresay. The fact is that I have several neighbors who signed up for FIOS, cancelled Comcast, then had to call Comcast again and get new service since Fios was/is "experiencing delays with their sub contractor network."

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2009 10:28 am

In Maryland Verizon FIOS installs are done by Verizon employees. The only contractors used are those that install the conduits or trench the cables. Restricting contractors is in the Verizon union contract.

When switching providers one should never cancel your old service before your new service is up and working to your satisfaction. While customer service is an important part of any contract, technically the FIOS Internet is far superior to anything cable can deliver. It's been engineered by technical experts that brought you the nationwide reliable telephone system. Not so for the cable companies. Things like long term reliability, lighting strike survivability, operating in a power failure are standard requirements for a telephone design engineer. For cable systems they are still learning. My point is suffer through the customer service problems if possible, FIOS has so much going for it, your long term satisfaction will likely be a good one.