Loading ...So I was sitting here thinking that if there was a god in heaven, I would have FiOS service available in my area… but I have no such luck at the moment. Todd Swarthout did send me an interesting resource however, it’s a Google Maps of FiOS service areas from DSLReports, very handy to see if you have FiOS in your area, near you, or no where near you as is my case.
Also Todd sent me a link to Scott Janousek’s blog post about getting FiOS service, and I think I hate him.
Before (Speakeasy DSL)
After (Verizon FiOS)
Update #1: Scott was nice enough to follow-up with the ongoing wonderfulness that is FiOS and also made some comments about the TV service. Scott seems to be verifying what I’ve read other places: that the HD broadcast over FiOS is virtually uncompressed. To give a rough example:
- Uncompressed HD Feed: 20 mb/sec
- Cable HD Feed: 12 mb/sec
- Satellite HD Feed: 11 mb/sec (Some would say DirecTV is down around 9 mb/sec or so)
So when you are watching HD from a HD media source like BluRay, HD-DVD (or as it seems FiOS) you are watching a virtually pure feed of HD content.
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January 25th, 2007 at 8:55 am
You’re going to hate me even more … after about 6 months of waiting they finally rolled out Verizon FIOS TV service.
The town next door has had it for 6 months and it is only 1 mile away, but yet it took 6 months. I guess it doesn’t matter where you live, Verizon deploys where and when they want to …
I had RCN Cable for a bit (they suck), then Comcast (a little better), and now FIOS TV. As soon as they turned it on I noticed the picture clearity is at least 2x-3x as better.
In terms of FIOS internet, it is better than DSL hands down. I’ve had little to no problems with the service. Highly recommended when it becomes available to people.
I think Verizon is poised to make a killing on all these services if they can get them to everyone who wants them!
Not sure where you are located, but I hope you will get it soon.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am
This Todd guy seems very knowledgeable.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
(False advertising)^n. I have had Verizon FIOS for 2+ months. My tests via SpeedTest.net indicate average download speeds of 300 kbps, that is 50x slower than advertised, and pretty much in the dialup category. I am disgusted by Verizon FIOS.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
SPaulDev,
That blows… most of the people I work with have FiOS and love it to pieces (they send me screenshots of 4MB/sec *byte, not bit* to brag)
Which state are you located in? Has the speed always been slow or does it fluctuate?
January 16th, 2008 at 6:58 am
My FIOS Internet connection has been broken for 48 hours. A call to Verizon for help yielded the response that it may be a simple programing problem and a technician would call me back in four hours. Did get one call back when I was not home, but repeated calls since then have resulted in nothing but ever changing promises to fix the problem, first within four hours, then within a day, and then within 48 hour of the original notification. This comes on top of major problems twice in the last six weeks.
Beware that Verizon support for FIOS is poor and they may be overextended.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:38 am
damn Michael that sucks… which city are you located in? Is this a “New FIOS” area, or have they had FIOS deployed in your area for a while?
April 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I called Verizon FIOS to order phone, internet, and cable prior to my move in. My Consumer Order Summary was dated 3-28-08, and the scheduled installation date was 4-7-08. I reviewed the e-mail and all looked well. I move into my new house and install date comes. They setup an 8 AM-noon window. I already had the Optical Network Terminal unit (ONT) in my house, so I figured this would be cake for them. I am a Sys Admin at an ISP, so the internet stuff I could do myself with ease.
On install day, no one showed, no one called. I had my mobile with me at ALL times. So around 1:30 PM I called Verizon to see what was going on. If something came up, I had a week off to move in and if they needed to come by in a day or two, I was totally cool with that. After about an hour on hold I got in touch with a “state level” dispatcher. That said that there were “no facilities available for my order” and I was called. Nope, I wasn’t called; they did have my cell (which I had with me all of the time) in their records. I wanted them to come out later in the week if possible since I was home. They said that their next available time for me was 4-12-08, which was a day where I was going to a wedding. The next available time after that was at the end of the month, on a work day for me.
Basically because they did not show up, or even notify me with a reason, they put me at the back of the line. I was trying to escalate my request and the support only gave me unreasonable dates and that “no facilities available for my order” BS. I later wanted to get my copper line put back so I could at least get phone service, and after a long wait in hold they gave me the end of the month as a date. Basically I was being run around in circles and being shoved to the end of the line because Verizon screwed up my installation. I was told the only way I could get it sooner is if I “knew an installer who’d do me a favor,” and I was pretty much screwed with the window of time I had to get the service installed. The salesperson fed me a load of bull and the installer didn’t even call me with a reason. I tried to figure out what “no facilities available for my order” meant, and why this was such a problem since I already had the ONT in my house. Half of their work was already done.
The same day, I called a local cable company who installed my phone, internet, and cable the next day. They showed up on time and did the normal pre and post appointment verification. I unplugged the ONT in my house and let the battery go out. Verizon gave me such a lousy customer experience I swore I would never do business with them, and be sure to let other people know about their awful customer service and commitments they setup and do not honor. Verizon screwed up prior when they bought Bell Atlantic, and screwed up our perfectly find DSL service I had around 98/99. My money is going to a competitor, and Verizon won’t see it because they have abysmal customer service. I am certainly interested in fiber optic lines connected to my house, but so long as Verizon is the only provider, I will happily do without.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
James thanks for taking the time to post your own experience here with Verizon, it’s good to hear both sides of the stories.
I wonder if Verizon is under-manned during this mass rollout and just can’t handle the requests coming in, in a timely manner?
That *really* blows what happened to you, but glad to hear you got squared away with the competitor instead.