Verizon FIOS?

[panteramatt 27]

Anyone have it or had it? Im seriously over comcast and their terrible service and want some opinions.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Anyone have it or had it? Im seriously over comcast and their terrible service and want some opinions.

 

Do you have it?  That is, is it available in your neighborhood?  Usually, Verizon won't implement FiOS where it has competition with other providers like Comcast.  They like to cherry pick. And, from what I've read, they're not doing any more new installs. They're refocusing on 4G LTE WiFi, where they can make more $$$. 

 

That said, if you do have it available, I'd get it but only for the Internet... not for TV or Phone. You can use VoIP for phone (and cheaper), and streaming services for TV (as well as OTA Broadcasts).  Unless it's something you really want to watch that they offer. 

 

I'll *FINALLY* be able to have it where I expect to be building my house in FL. I'll get two WANs to separate ONTs for a Dual WAN router.  I feel your pain about COMCRAP. I got rid of them the first chance I got. And to avoid their "retention dept."  I went straight to their customer service center and turned in all the equipment, and told them to terminate the account. THey did it... no hassle. Just don't try to call their national call center. 

[panteramatt 27]

Yes FIos is available. I could get rid of my house line but we wwatch a LOT of shows. How does streaming tv work? Do I get most channels? 

[checko 180]

I love the Internet, tv was eh. I've had direct TV for about 10 years

 

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[HBecwithFn7 296]

Yes FIos is available. I could get rid of my house line but we wwatch a LOT of shows. How does streaming tv work? Do I get most channels? 

 

Streaming TV works very differently from OTA Broadcast or Cable. Basically, you pick shows from available libraries and watch them "on demand," similar to putting an optical disc in and playing it when you feel like it. But the content has to be available in the library. It's not like it's broadcast like cable TV or OTA broadcasts. There are some things that can be streamed live like broadcast TV, but very few in comparison.  As someone said, DirectTV might be an option. That's "satelite" delivery of broadcast TV. But make sure you need it (i.e. that you want to watch all the available channels), or it will end up costing you similar money. And, it fails in bad weather (rain, thunderstorms, etc.).

 

If you watch a lot of shows, you might want to consider the FiOS TV package that comes with it.  I wouldn't get it.  I can live on Streaming TV and OTA broadcasts.

[svt3183 14]

Switched from Comcast to fios and will never go back. $117 a month for triple play including hd box, dvr, second digital box, digital adaptor. Comcast can SAD.

[InFamous 311]

FiOS is MUCH faster internet.. They do have great packages to fit most TV programming needs. Also, Verizon Communications is NOT putting money into Verizon Wireless, much the opposite, so what you read was incorrect. Verizon Wireless feeds Verizon communications. They are expanding just at a slow rate due to extreme expense it takes to install lines.

 

Do you have it?  That is, is it available in your neighborhood?  Usually, Verizon won't implement FiOS where it has competition with other providers like Comcast.  They like to cherry pick. And, from what I've read, they're not doing any more new installs. They're refocusing on 4G LTE WiFi, where they can make more $$$. 

 

That said, if you do have it available, I'd get it but only for the Internet... not for TV or Phone. You can use VoIP for phone (and cheaper), and streaming services for TV (as well as OTA Broadcasts).  Unless it's something you really want to watch that they offer. 

 

I'll *FINALLY* be able to have it where I expect to be building my house in FL. I'll get two WANs to separate ONTs for a Dual WAN router.  I feel your pain about COMCRAP. I got rid of them the first chance I got. And to avoid their "retention dept."  I went straight to their customer service center and turned in all the equipment, and told them to terminate the account. THey did it... no hassle. Just don't try to call their national call center. 

[AlDente67 563]

Fios is installed wherever Verizon thinks it will be profitable.  They don't cherry pick areas that have no competition.  They look at the cost to run the fiber (or copper, whatever the case) down the street, more or less.  And then each house needs the fiber run from street to a control panel in the house.  Comcast ran cable all over the place because they locked in exclusivity agreements with each town.  Eventually they'd make back the investment, and then enjoy the revenue.

When those agreements expired, Verizon began to move in.  Comcast sat on their butt because nobody had any other choice except Sat dishes.  Now they have horribly aged infrastructure and terrible service.  When Fios came to town in my area, the Comcast techs would cut the fiber to try to slow down the process, believe it or not.

But it doesn't matter because most houses beat feet to switch.

 

Unfortunately for those off the beaten path, Verizon will never come to town.  It isn't worth their investment, and as was said, they are moving focus to other business.

 

In the meantime, I get 75mb up and down internet access for $45 a month, and cable TV that never goes down, never pixilates, and if I have any issue, they actually respond.

 

The landline is easily replaced by VoIP, or just use your cellphone.  The TV can be cheap or expensive depending on how many premium channels you like to watch.  I can live without HBO and the like, but lately they've been throwing that in.

[Polak 3]

I liked FioS while on contract. After the contract expired, they wanted too much and would go down no matter how much I tried.

 

Went to cable and now looking to get a contract with FioS again.

 

Pros: fast internet, clear TV, dVR is much better than cablevision.

[InFamous 311]

I liked FioS while on contract. After the contract expired, they wanted too much and would go down no matter how much I tried.

 

Went to cable and now looking to get a contract with FioS again.

 

Pros: fast internet, clear TV, dVR is much better than cablevision.

 

If you had FiOS before you'll get it about $40/mo cheaper then someone who didn't. Just cause the equipment is installed...

[AlDente67 563]

Also, Fios has a battery backup.  I found out during Sandy that it is designed to cut off TV first, then internet, then lastly the landline phone service.  Total backup time was around 3-4 hours of use.  Enough to keep your phone going in case of emergency.  They used to toss that in for free with the rest of the install.  Not sure if that is still the case.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

FiOS is MUCH faster internet.. They do have great packages to fit most TV programming needs. Also, Verizon Communications is NOT putting money into Verizon Wireless, much the opposite, so what you read was incorrect. Verizon Wireless feeds Verizon communications. They are expanding just at a slow rate due to extreme expense it takes to install lines.

 

By that logic, they should have been in my former town ions ago. They installed all around it, but not here, where I know they could make tons of money. Comcast beat them to the install of Fiber, albeit not FTTP. I guess that's what it means by not being "profitable." However 4G LTE got put into that neighborhood in a heartbeat. I think the push is less on FiOS and more on rolling out 4G LTE. 

[M1152 713]

We have it for about 8 years and the service itself and uptime is great. The only problem is sometimes the billing department could get things pretty messed up so you just have to watch your bill whenever you make changes in services. We have all three services and occasionally the email will go down for a few hours every 2 - 3 months for maybe a few hours but comes right back. the internet, voice and TV service uptime has been rock solid. 

 

We have the 50/50 tier and very happy with it. You could get the 75/75 (which is more like 82 down and 86 up) for about $10 more a month but I’m fine with the 50/50. We could stream NetFlix and Amazon Prime to Two Roku boxes simultaneously with no issues whatsoever. On a down note for new customers I believe they started charging a router rental fee and I don't think there is anyway around that, good luck.

 

 

 

 

[HBecwithFn7 296]

We have it for about 8 years and the service itself and uptime is great. ... On a down note for new customers I believe they started charging a router rental fee and I don't think there is anyway around that, good luck.

 

Can you not supply your own router?  If, say, you don't want the TV service (for which you'd have to use their router) and you get the ONT's configured for "Ethernet Only," could you not use your own router?

[bignic83 0]

We have it for about 8 years and the service itself and uptime is great. The only problem is sometimes the billing department could get things pretty messed up so you just have to watch your bill whenever you make changes in services. We have all three services and occasionally the email will go down for a few hours every 2 - 3 months for maybe a few hours but comes right back. the internet, voice and TV service uptime has been rock solid. 

 

We have the 50/50 tier and very happy with it. You could get the 75/75 (which is more like 82 down and 86 up) for about $10 more a month but I’m fine with the 50/50. We could stream NetFlix and Amazon Prime to Two Roku boxes simultaneously with no issues whatsoever. On a down note for new customers I believe they started charging a router rental fee and I don't think there is anyway around that, good luck.

 

[bhunted 887]

I have Fios and never heard of them not having it in competitive areas. That is counter intuitive beings the companies are always willing to out do each other. I had Cablevision and dumped their arse for Fios after they refused to put a generator at one of their power boxes on the street during Irene. Fios never lost service then. IMHO, Fios Tv has a much more beautiful picture than CV. The internet works flawlessly. Phones too. I also had Direct TV which was expensive at the time. Then Dish. Got rid of Sat all together because of trees and storms producing outages. Now that cable companies have gone mostly fiber optic, it's been much better.

 

 

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[bhunted 887]

Can you not supply your own router? If, say, you don't want the TV service (for which you'd have to use their router) and you get the ONT's configured for "Ethernet Only," could you not use your own router?

I don't think they charge as a new customer, but they will sell you and upgraded latest model for $100 which is fairly cheap considering other brands. I have their router as one unit and tied my other wifi Asus router to it as an extender in another room. Work fine together.

 

 

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[HBecwithFn7 296]

I don't think they charge as a new customer, but they will sell you and upgraded latest model for $100 which is fairly cheap considering other brands. I have their router as one unit and tied my other wifi Asus router to it as an extender in another room. Work fine together.

 

 

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I'd rather use my own router (a "dual WAN" Netgear model), and control it myself.  And, I'd rather not pay for theirs, either.  I don't need a WiFi extender, as I don't use Wifi in my house. Every room is wired.

[bhunted 887]

I'd rather use my own router (a "dual WAN" Netgear model), and control it myself. And, I'd rather not pay for theirs, either.

I'm not sure they force you or even charge you. But if you have tv package, you need an ont. they actually sell ont on Amazon.

 

 

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[HBecwithFn7 296]

I'm not sure they force you or even charge you. But if you have tv package, you need an ont. they actually sell ont on Amazon.

 

 

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I'll need an ONT for any FiOS service... Internet, TV or Phone. It's the terminal box that converts the optical signal to digital and the demarc point from FiOS to the house.  If all I want is Internet, I can get away with an ONT configured with "Ethernet" only connectors. If I want TV, I also need a COAX configured ONT and have to use their router. I just want Internet Only, so I'll ask for an "Ethernet only" configured ONT.  I see the routers on Amazon, but I don't see ONT's on sale there (and I wouldn't expect them to be)... I do see batteries on sale though.

[bhunted 887]

I was referring to their routers. My bad.....

 

 

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[bhunted 887]

There is a Fios ont on ebay right now cheap. I couldn't cut and paste from app. Just do a search for fios ont....

 

 

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[M1152 713]

I must be in the upper 8% LOL

 

 

with all due respect that's a great d/l speed but a little lacking in the u/l speed department.  If I needed something faster (which we don't) I'd still take a 75/75 (or 150/150) over that 300/20 but that's just me. VZ's 75/75 tier clocks in about 84/88

[M1152 713]

Can you not supply your own router?  If, say, you don't want the TV service (for which you'd have to use their router) and you get the ONT's configured for "Ethernet Only," could you not use your own router?

Honestly for data only I don't know but I would ask.  I have my own but I’m grandfathered in. The old AcionTec routers were OK for wired connections but the wireless sucked. Now they have a new Quantum router that the VZ fan boys are drool over. From what I heard the wireless is now much better than on the older VZ routers.

 

In a nutshell if you have Fios TV service and are provisioned on coax you need the VZ router but if your ONT is provisioned on Ethernet (which I am) you need a Moco adapter (or VZ router) to get the TV guide and onscreen caller ID to your STB’s.  If you go over to dslreports.com they have a huge FAQ for custom configurations. I don’t care about the onscreen CID but I have the moca adapter to get the TV guide. Also VZ Tech support will not help you tech support unless you have their router, or they will only provide limited support at best. Now in my case if I have an issues with the internet I plug a laptop directly into the ONT to trouble-shoot it and if it works as it should then the issue is on my end, if it don’t work it’s on their end and they must address it.

 

What I failed to mention in the first post is you could either buy their router outright or do the rental so your choice. If it were me I’d asked if I could buy my own off ebay but I don’t have any idea what they would say.In your case data only I don't see why not...

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Honestly for data only I don't know but I would ask.  I have my own but I’m grandfathered in. The old AcionTec routers were OK for wired connections but the wireless sucked. Now they have a new Quantum router that the VZ fan boys are drool over. From what I heard the wireless is now much better than on the older VZ routers.

 

Wifi doesn't concern me at all. I prefer to be "wired" in my house at all points. Moreover, I don't want their Wifi Router so that my "available bandwidth" isn't "shared" with others, as is the plan of some ISPs (like Comcast). If I'm paying for my bandwidth I want it all to myself, and I don't want to be responsible for what anyone else does with it.

 

 

In a nutshell if you have Fios TV service and are provisioned on coax you need the VZ router but if your ONT is provisioned on Ethernet (which I am) you need a Moco adapter (or VZ router) to get the TV guide and onscreen caller ID to your STB’s.  If you go over to dslreports.com they have a huge FAQ for custom configurations. I don’t care about the onscreen CID but I have the moca adapter to get the TV guide.

Don't need or want either. So no issue for me. I can get the TV Guide on the Internet. TV Guide Listings. And my VoIP service feeds my own caller ID devices.

 

Also VZ Tech support will not help you tech support unless you have their router, or they will only provide limited support at best. Now in my case if I have an issues with the internet I plug a laptop directly into the ONT to trouble-shoot it and if it works as it should then the issue is on my end, if it don’t work it’s on their end and they must address it.

Precisely. I don't need their tech support, either.  When I had DSL (and Comcast cable) I did exactly that (hook up my laptop directly to the demarc). 

 

What I failed to mention in the first post is you could either buy their router outright or do the rental so your choice. If it were me I’d asked if I could buy my own off ebay but I don’t have any idea what they would say.In your case data only I don't see why not...

I guess it depends on how much money they want to make... If they want to be greedy buggers, they won't let me do any of this. If they're content to have some of my business, they'll offer what I seek. I'll actually help them. I'll get two separate WANs (two separate ONTs) installed, so I can test the "failover and load balancing" capabilities of my router.  I'd get 25/25 to start, so hopefully, it will equate to one 50/50 connection.

 

When I had Comcast Cable, I purchased my own Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem. That part of it ran great, although I'd have to do the "power off/on" cycle occasionally when the signal got F****d Up.  Comcast let me do that. I'm not sure they'd let me do it now, as they'd want the revenue from either the purchase or rental, and they'd want their equipment so they can "share the Wifi bandwidth" with others...

 

Not on my watch...

[M1152 713]

Wifi doesn't concern me at all. I prefer to be "wired" in my house at all points. Moreover, I don't want their Wifi Router so that my "available bandwidth" isn't "shared" with others, as is the plan of some ISPs (like Comcast). If I'm paying for my bandwidth I want it all to myself, and I don't want to be responsible for what anyone else does with it.

 

I guess it depends on how much money they want to make... If they want to be greedy buggers, they won't let me do any of this. If they're content to have some of my business, they'll offer what I seek. I'll actually help them. I'll get two separate WANs (two separate ONTs) installed, so I can test the "failover and load balancing" capabilities of my router.  I'd get 25/25 to start, so hopefully, it will equate to one 50/50 connection.

 

I hear you but VZ doesn’t turn your router into “all customer” Access point like Optimum Online.  I’m a wired guy myself. I had been running our Roku boxes on the 5 GHz band and the handhelds on the 2.4 GHz band. Some may not agree with this but we don’t need to be bombarded with the wireless 24/7/365 in our own home.   I was watching a Health Care professional on one of the news shows and she said “at least” turn off the wireless at night when you are sleeping. That’s right up my SO’s (Significant Other) ally since she is more health-conscious than I am and I don’t have a problem with it. I picked up a 16 port gigabyte Ethernet switch last year because I needed the extra ports anyway so I figured I’d put the Roku on the switch as well.  I ran CAT5E to each TV location and installed nice wall mounted data ports. I shut down the 5 GHz band all together and have the 2.4 GHz band on a schedule so it’s off at night. I’m running dd-wrt which you probably know but for those that don’t  know its an open source firmware  which allows for wireless scheduling and a few other features not available in a retail router, I don’t know what VZ has on theirs…

 

As far as bonding two ONT together not sure why you would need to do that on a residential connection,  plus I would not want two ONT's hanging off my house. A  50/50 or 75/75 will take anything you throw at it.  I read somewhere a guy in CA bonded two ONT’s provisioned @ the 150mb tier for a 300mb connection. I believe this happened before the 300 tier was available, anyway the problem was he was on a residential connection and got cited for a TOS (terms of services) violation which was excessive bandwidth usage. He was pulling something ridiculous like 20TB a month and couldn’t understand why he got a letter, LOL. if you want to go big get the 150/150 or 300/300 and you get the GPON ONT then downgrade to the 75/75 or 50/50 and you have still have GPON ont, I believe If you order the 75/75 or lower you get the BPON ONT. Good luck!

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I hear you but VZ doesn’t turn your router into “all customer” Access point like Optimum Online.

 

 

Let's just say, I don't ever want to be in the position where they could do it. I want ultimate control over my own router.

 

 

I’m a wired guy myself. I had been running our Roku boxes on the 5 GHz band and the handhelds on the 2.4 GHz band.

I ran my Roku3 on CAT6 when I had Comcast. I'm building a house in FL, and all rooms will be wired with CAT6 as well as some with COAX (for the OTA Digital antenna). I'll also have a Telecom closet where I'll host a 24 port GiGE switch, the router and the cables to/from the ONT, among other things (a NAS bank, etc.). 

 

 

As far as bonding two ONT together not sure why you would need to do that on a residential connection,  plus I would not want two ONT's hanging off my house. A  50/50 or 75/75 will take anything you throw at it.

It's more for "hobby/laboratory" purposes, actually. I want to set up and run "failover" and "load balancing" scenarios with the Dual WAN Router, so that in my business, I can implement similar solutions for my clients. And, also have it for myself.

 

 

I read somewhere a guy in CA bonded two ONT’s provisioned @ the 150mb tier for a 300mb connection. I believe this happened before the 300 tier was available, anyway the problem was he was on a residential connection and got cited for a TOS (terms of services) violation which was excessive bandwidth usage. He was pulling something ridiculous like 20TB a month and couldn’t understand why he got a letter, LOL.

 

I don't think I'll ever use anything near 20TB of bandwidth, unless I was operating a private web hosting platform (which I won't be doing). Heck, I didn't even get near the Comcast data cap of 250GB.  But I think that would increase more, once I start streaming mostly and not watching Cable TV.  I'll have to negotiate with them, but we'll see what they say. I get what you're saying... they'd want me to have a "business" account and pay business prices for that kind of service, but I hope I can convince them otherwise. We'll see.

[M1152 713]

 

Let's just say, I don't ever want to be in the position where they could do it. I want ultimate control over my own router.

 

Then the VZ router is not for you, VZ leaves a a port open so it could be managed remotely but no big deal according too them...

 

I see you joined the above mentioned forum yesterday and asked about the GPON, you don’t get to choose your ONT. What I mentioned above was an end-around to obtain the GPON Ont since you first stated you were going to above & beyond the normal install and bond of two ONTs. I only mentioned it because some over on DSLreports some folks think the 75/75 is pushing the limits for BPon and it should be on the GPon.  I took the 75/75 tier for a test ride on my BPon ONT and it worked perfectly.  I rolled back to the 50/50 because I couldn’t justify the extra $10 and taxes a month.  The 75/75 was clocking in at 84/86 for me, pings at 10 so I’ll  take that all day long on BPon with a CAT5 (not CAT5E) on my Home network. Trust me, if I didn’t mention Gpon vs BPon and you got whatever VZ issued you wouldn’t even know the difference, it’s all about where you speeds are provisioned.

 

Now here on NJGF you said “I'd get 25/25 to start, so hopefully, it will equate to one 50/50 connection” and over on dslreports you said ”I don't need a lot of speed (150/150 is probably enough)”, you realize that’s a 125MB swing on both the upload and download directions? You also previously said you will only be averaging <250GB of traffic so the 150 tier is probably overkill but hey, it’s your money.

 

So to review if you order the 150/150 service you automatically get the GPon and get provisioned on Ethernet. If you order the 75/75 (or lower) you will likely get BPon and provisioned on the Coax WAN unless you request to be provisioned on Ethernet. Anyone could have their ONT reprovisioned to Ethernet, that is,  if they know why they are requesting it.  Most people including the OP (here) probably only need the Coax WAN.  Again bonding two ONTs provisioned at 25/25 is a total waste of money when you could just get one ONT provisioned at 50/50. As one of the replies mentioned in your DSLreports post it is pretty obvious if there a problem at the CO you will lose service on both ONTs so you gained nothing. The 75/75 is the sweet spot for most people but since you will NOT be a Verizon customer and will be a Frontier customer their pricing, packages and TOS could all be different. Good luck

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Then the VZ router is not for you, VZ leaves a a port open so it could be managed remotely but no big deal according too them...

No, it is not. But as I mentioned this morning "over there," I might get a cheap one on eBay to have it for install or tech support purposes.

We'll see.

 

I see you joined the above mentioned forum yesterday and asked about the GPON, you don’t get to choose your ONT.

Yes, I did. PM forthcoming in regards to that.

 

 

What I mentioned above was an end-around to obtain the GPON Ont since you first stated you were going to above & beyond the normal install and bond of two ONTs. I only mentioned it because some over on DSLreports some folks think the 75/75 is pushing the limits for BPon and it should be on the GPon.  I took the 75/75 tier for a test ride on my BPon ONT and it worked perfectly.  I rolled back to the 50/50 because I couldn’t justify the extra $10 and taxes a month.  The 75/75 was clocking in at 84/86 for me, pings at 10 so I’ll  take that all day long on BPon with a CAT5 (not CAT5E) on my Home network. Trust me, if I didn’t mention Gpon vs BPon and you got whatever VZ issued you wouldn’t even know the difference, it’s all about where you speeds are provisioned.

 

Now here on NJGF you said “I'd get 25/25 to start, so hopefully, it will equate to one 50/50 connection” and over on dslreports you said ”I don't need a lot of speed (150/150 is probably enough)”, you realize that’s a 125MB swing on both the upload and download directions? You also previously said you will only be averaging <250GB of traffic so the 150 tier is probably overkill but hey, it’s your money.

After saying "25/25 to start" on NJGF, I re-familiarized myself with their pricing. The per month price for 150/150 is just about what I was paying Comcast for Internet and Cable TV. 75/75 is just about what I was paying Comcast for the Internet portion only. So, I might do what was suggested on DSLReports... that is, Install at 150/150 to ensure a GPON ONT install, and then downgrade to 75/75 a bit later.

 

So to review if you order the 150/150 service you automatically get the GPon and get provisioned on Ethernet. If you order the 75/75 (or lower) you will likely get BPon and provisioned on the Coax WAN unless you request to be provisioned on Ethernet. Anyone could have their ONT reprovisioned to Ethernet, that is,  if they know why they are requesting it.  Most people including the OP (here) probably only need the Coax WAN.

 

I'm not "most people." Seriously, I have "professional" interests in setting things up that way... I want a lab environment where I can monitor and study failover, redundancy and load balancing in routers.

 

 

Again bonding two ONTs provisioned at 25/25 is a total waste of money when you could just get one ONT provisioned at 50/50. As one of the replies mentioned in your DSLreports post it is pretty obvious if there a problem at the CO you will lose service on both ONTs so you gained nothing.

Which is why I'm now leaning away from that original plan. I knew that risk was always there, but not having an alternate cable TV company in the area that could deliver similar bandwidth, I was willing to take that risk to get two WAN's onto the property with similar capacity. It would have been OK for "load balancing."

 

I think a better approach now is to get the one FiOS line, and then a secondary "satellite" service like Hughes.Net or DirectTV.  Once I downgrade 150/150 to 75/75, I think I can use that savings for the secondary satellite service.  I'll probably go with DirectTV to get the TV and DVR, etc.  It may not be as good for load balancing, but very good for failover, for the reasons you state. And failover would seem to be the greater priority for my home usage.

 

We'll see.

 

 

The 75/75 is the sweet spot for most people but since you will NOT be a Verizon customer and will be a Frontier customer their pricing, packages and TOS could all be different. Good luck

 

That is a concern... what they (Frontier) will do to the service tiers and pricing. And I hear their cust. svc. is also lacking.  We'll have to see... A lot of people on DSLReports seem to think that locking into a 2 year contract now will save them....   I dunno about that...