 Review by kyler13 
Posted: 1.4 years ago
member for 1.4 years, 351 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Arnold,Anne Arundel,MD
 $35 per month (12 month contract)
 about 15 days
 "upload speed, price compared to cable"
 "apparently the actiontec router"
 "Fiber beats copper....at least I hope"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Why I signed up:
+ 2Mbps (1.7 real) upload versus Comcast's 768kbps (700 real)
+ more headroom in upload bandwidth for planned switch to VOIP from landline
+ recently cable becoming sluggish sometimes (due to oversaturated network??)
+ $10 cheaper per month (cable internet = $45/month)
What I'm hoping for:
+ better speed reliability of fiber versus cable
+ switch to FiOS TV (already available) in the near future as it is cheaper as well
Background:
I've been a Comcast HSI customer since the beginning in this area (1998) and while I had my problems here and there, I never experienced anything major that wasn't promptly taken care of. I've seen the basics (bad in-ground lines, need for signal boost) and the unusual (nearby lightning strike that killed the cable line while frying the modem, my hub, and my ethernet card). Downtime was minimal and mostly limited to growing pains upgrading the system over the years. Then came Verizon FIOS and Comcast's 3 for $99 deal to counter them. I think they have saturated their market with too many subscribers. Two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, I noticed sluggish web response. Speakeasy's speedtest yielded speeds between 300kbps and 2Mbps from a connection that's been reliably around 6-7 Mbps in the past year with the most recent upgrade. Then came Tuesday before Thanksgiving when I tested over and over a whopping 90kbps. Wednesday I called Verizon. (Note: I returned from Thanksgiving with family to find my Comcast testing reliably between 6 and 7 Mbps ever since. Figures.)
Ordering and Install:
I confirmed with the customer support rep the features, the free router (actiontec), and the free install. I intended to sign-up for the one year deal of $35/month for 5/2 service. He asked me if I wanted 15/2 for $30 for the first three months ($45 after that for the balance of the year). I told him I didn't want to pay the $45 later, but he assured me I could switch back to 5/2 before the end of the third month if I chose the introductory offer. Sign me up! 15/2 it was (for now). I scheduled for 2 weeks later, Thurs Dec 7, though they could have come a few days earlier. I wanted it to be convenient for me. That Monday, the 4th, they started burying the fiber line from the curb, and finished on Tuesday (my driveway is about 175 feet since I'm set back from the street). Thursday the tech completed the installation in a shade under 2.5 hours with no problems. Couldn't have gone any smoother.
First impressions:
Speedtests yield in the high 14's down and about 1.7 up (Mbps). Web access speeds no different than Comcast (when Comcast isn't sluggish). I haven't yet enjoyed the benefit of the additional upload bandwidth, but I'm sure the wife will appreciate uploading to Kodak faster. I haven't yet investigated the free services, but I'm guessing virus protection offerings will be less robust than the free McAfee that Comcast provides. Maybe I'm wrong?
Concerns:
I've read some not so good things regarding VOIP over FIOS with the actiontec router. I have a friend using CallVantage with FIOS and actiontec with the TA in front. It chokes his 15Mbps connection to about 6Mbps, but at least with the TA in front he reports everything works just fine (with his Dlink TA). I'm not interested in investing in a 3rd party router to sit the TA behind and I understand the actiontec is necessary for FIOS TV, which I'm planning on getting. I'm still on the fence and I'm hoping the actiontec router issues get resolved so I can put the TA behind the router OR future hardware offerings from CallVantage better deal with the faster speeds.
Followup comments:  waiting4fios
join:2005-04-08
Howell, NJ
 ·Verizon FIOS
| your issues If you choose the MSN portal that Verizon offers then you get the McAfee Antivirus, so in that regard they match Comcast.
As far as the VOIP, I think it depends on the VOIP provider. I've seen Voicewing work flawlessly behind the router, no speed slowdowns, no call quality problems. I've also heard other providers should work as well but I haven't tried them. The only one I think that has the problem is CallVantage. | |
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kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
 ·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: your issues I've read mixed things about Voicewing on here. I did go ahead and force a firmware update on the Actiontec router, and now I notice that Voicewing is in the pulldown menu when adding devices under the QoS section (as is Vonage and a few others). How does Voicewing compare with CallVantage quality and feature-wise?
Thanks for the heads up on MSN/McAfee. I haven't yet explored the options yet (and I haven't officially canceled the cable service, either). | |
| | | gensai
join:2006-04-15
Seattle, WA
 ·Comcast
| Re: your issues I can't speak for callvantage, but here's about VW:
Sound Quality on fios after the firmware on the actiontec is really good. Only issue you may have is echoing but it's an easy fix. 15 second fix. Features lately have been a bit glitchy but that is getting resolved. Serveral people with that issue have been resolved. A small handful still experience it but there are phone codes as well. Feature issues have been happening on the account manager. That's the scoop right now. I am gonna be getting voicewing myself next week and I'll give you more info if you'd like on how to get the most out of it. | |
| | | | waytron
join:2006-12-22
Wayland, MA
| Actual Speed Besides not being able to get any port forwarding to work as yet with the ActionTec router. I don't really see the speed. I have Comcast as well at the moment until if I want to keep the FIOS.
Speed Tests on Speakeasy.net show it pretty close to the 15/2 that I ordered, but other test sites like cnet do not show it as fast. But regardless of what the speed test are showing, in reality I am not getting downloads as fast as my Comcast.
I have been comparing download times between Comcast and Fios for several days now. I have been downloading things like Service Pack 2 from Microsoft and good size software packages from Download.com. and my Comcast downloads are actually faster. I just don't get it. | |
| | | | | gensai
join:2006-04-15
Seattle, WA | Re: Actual Speed I'm not a fios tech so I'm not sure what's going on. But I do like comcast and have noticed they're reliable. But I've known fios to being reliable too. Do you have fios tv? | |
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kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
| It's not that surprising. Comcast may have a better national network than Verizon right now, though I can't say for sure. I recall 7 years ago when it was the @home network, they boasted their dedicated fiber backbone throughout the country meaning rather than hopping on the general internet locally from your ISP, you rode the @home network to the locality (or close) of the site you were contacting. Your bandwidth was somewhat dedicated most of the distance. Not sure, but I assume the same applies even now with Comcast. What you're paying for from Verizon, and getting, is the pipeline into your home. I think the exodus of cable customers to fiber will help those who stay behind because the cable network's load will lighten, though it hurts cable financially. All I can say is that my bandwidth to my premise on cable was getting choked severely at peak times, probably brought on by the volumes signing up for triple play. I'm just not paying $45 for sometimes 7Mbps, regardless of how fast the downloads are when they reach peak. Plus, IMO, cable faces some challenges as HD grows. As content bandwidth requirements increase, they may have to replace the copper beyond the nodes with their own fiber or they won't be able to handle it, unless they cop out like satellite and compress everything to MPEG4. | |
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