how-to block ads
|
Review by klipko 
UPDATED: 164 days ago
member for 2.1 years, 627 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Portland,Washington,OR
 $140 per month (12 month contract)
 about 11 days
 "Relieable service / better SD pq then Comcast / more HD channels"
 "No 10 Mbps/ 2 Mbps offered in other states/ phone service lacks in features"
 "TV and Internet worthwhile service to get / Phone it's kind of a tossup"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
February / 2008 - update
FiOS TV was released in December '07 so when things slowed down a little (I just became a first time dad and boy is it ever a lifetime changing event) I went to the mall FiOS kiosk in hopes to switch from Comcast.
Background:
One requirement was the ability to port my home number from Comcast. If switching just TV my phone service from Comcast would cost $5 more and I felt that I was paying enough already. At that time my Comcast bill was ~$140 a month:
TV
* Standard Cable (includes basic and expanded basic)
* Preferred Package
* HD-DVR
* SD STB
Phone (Digital Voice)
* Phone service
* Modem rental
Switching TV and Phone to Verizon I would pay ~$140 for all three:
TV
* HD DVR
* multi room DVR w/ Home Media
* Movie & Sports package
* SD STB
Phone Service
* Phone service
Internet (installed the year prior)
* 5 Mbit / 2 Mbit
I've called Comcast various times throughout last year to see if they'll lower my bill one way or another but with no budge. In December (my second to the last call) I mentioned that I've been getting letters from Verizon about FiOS TV, they offered to cut my service right then (I didn't have FiOS TV installed nor ordered so again score one for Comcast). It was obvious that they didn't want to lower my bill at all nor keep me as a customer and I've been with them since Viacom / TCI / AT&T Broadband days. So on to Verizon.
Ordering:
Pretty much painless. The guy at the mall kiosk (Washington Square Mall) knew what he was selling and reiterated the same prices and plans schemes that was on the website. First check on of my number came back that they could not port it over. Disappointed, we chatted some more about when Comcast's new SportsNet NW network (new home to the TrailBlazers from Fox Sports Net NW) will be on FiOS (irony?) and during that time decided to check again. Bingo, it was portable so with that I ordered FiOS TV and Phone to complement my FiOS Internet. Install was scheduled between 1 - 3 pm 10 days after my order.
Before Install Date:
Inquiring on the order on Verizon's website three days before the install date it showed that it was canceled. I called about it. They had no reason why but a new one was created and schedule for the same date and time so I didn't worry. She thought it might have something to due with the number porting but that was just a guess.
Install Day - FiOS TV:
The installer called just before 10 am said that he was going to be at my house in 10 minutes. SO I left work (during a meeting). Not happy about that. Got home and my neighbor was talking to him. He had singed up for the triple service and coincidentally it was scheduled the same day so he thought the installer was at the wrong house. Result was the installer was dispatched to do both installs and decided to work on my house first because I had the ONT installed prior for FiOS Internet. (Score one for me, neighbor zero.)
He ran the new coax along side the existing Comcast cable. He was going to charge me extra to do that but ended up not because I made it really easy for him with pull strings everywhere to help speed things up.
In short description of the run:
* ONT to input of 3-way splitter
* Router (Actiontec) to 3-way splitter
* 3-way splitter to DVR
* 3-way splitter to STB
Both the DVR and regular STB boxes were fresh from Motorola. I think it took him more time to unpack them then running the coax.
Once plugged in the DVR took 10+ minutes to download the firmware, the STB 2 minutes. During that time I looked over his order and noticed that Multi-Room DVR wasn't on there. (It was on my original order.) He called headquarters and got it taken care of but not without being on hold for 20 - 30 minutes... not joking. Multi-tasker he was, he finished installing the boxes and made sure that all the channels I ordered were viewable, setup the widgets and ran an application that checks the router settings for current firmware, On Demand and TV guide are current. Once getting the OK on the phone that the Home Media DVR is "on" we tested it with success...first try.
Install Day - FiOS Phone:
Not too exciting here, my big worry was not getting my number ported over. Turned out to be a lot of worrying over nothing. On the scheduled install date the number was automatically ported which explained why my wife not answering the phone when calling to warn her about the installer coming early.
The side of the house, the ONT replaced the old box that housed the copper line from street, house phone wiring is feed from that location so all that was need was to feed the house pair to line one inside the ONT. Done. Phone was working instantly.
First Impressions TV:
Holy cow. The graphics, picture quality. Amazing. Just the menu alone is impressive. Lots of color and icons of the networks. Both boxes display the same menu baring any functions that they don't support (ie. DVR or Media Center on the regular STB).
The positives over Comcast:
* changing channels is quicker [SD and HD]
* menu graphics
* better (much much better) picture quality on SD channels
* HD looks a little better (I believe the standard HD stream of 19.2 Mbps is too much compression in general)
* NO DVR lockups
* DVR larger drive (Verizon 160G, Comcast 120G - no a lot but a little helps with HD recording)
* more channels [SD and HD]
* more music channels
* more clear QAM channels
* On Demand programming includes CBS and NBC shows
* less expensive for more programming/channels
Same between the two:
* DVR response, slow to bring up the menu after hitting the button
The negatives over Comcast:
* No HD On Demand programming at all
- I knew about this before making the order in hopes that it will come this year ('08)
* On Demand menu takes a longer time to come up
* Time on the DVR takes a while to display when changing channels or viewing recorded shows
* DVR rebooted twice while watching a show between 4 - 5pm on a weekday over a two week period
First Impressions Phone:
This is where I wish I would of done more research on. The phone service works find but I diffidently got the better deal with Comcast when it comes to features.
The positives over Comcast:
* cheaper when paired with Internet and/or Fios TV
Same between the two:
Phone
* Voice quality is the same
* Caller ID and call waiting work just fine
The negatives over Comcast:
* no online access to phone/voicemail
- this is kind of a big deal, with Comcast's system allowed a lot of control over the phone's functionality.
* $.40 more for Call Waiting Caller ID - (throw it in for free Verizon)
* Voicemail
- no online access to retrieve messages
- can't modify number of rings before VM picks up
- no option for email notification if voicemail was received
- voicemail notification does not show up on the phone (my phone [Panasonic KX-TG8232B] display "voicemail" if there is one, worked with Comcast Digital Voice and the older service Digital Phone)
Over all I am satisfied with making the switch but the phone service's lack of features does kind of suck. This was an over site on my part as I concentrated more on the TV aspect of FiOS and didn't do any comparisons between Comcast & Verizon on phone service. I will keep the Verizon phone service because it will be too expensive to move back to Comcast but I do hope that they will improve on it. I can see why people are moving their service to the Cable Co. if they all like Comcast provide a wide range of control and functions.
June / 2007 - update
Still with Verizon FiOS and I canceled service with Comcast in February '07. Much to my surprise there was no "Please don't go" or "We'll offer you this price for ..." from the Comcast rep. It was like he didn't care that I was leaving and service ended right after hanging up the phone.
Still no FiOS speed upgrade for Oregon but Verizon did say in a press release that "some of the 11 other states" will see upgrades before the end of the year (»newscenter.verizon.com/press-rel···its.html) . Hopefully Oregon will be one of them but some how I doubt it. It seems like Verizon and Comcast feel no need to duke it out over speed / price in this area. Friends with FiOS or Comcast HSI service in Seattle area are seeing the same thing. It could be that most of the NW is QWEST and they pose no threat of being a real broadband leader in the near future. Question being, do I really need a boost in speed... At this time no but could prove to be useful within the next year. I've started experimenting with IPTV (ok picture quality, content is lacking) and more family members are subscribing to some kind of broadband service with the hopes of doing video conferencing (grandparents seeing their "first grand child" via IM in Jan '08). I had hopes to be able to have a device to rent HD movies via some download service but still find that market a big disappointment so that still is far off. XBOX 360 and AppleTV maybe but still lack in movies and features.
OK so back to my update review, in mid March '07 a neighbors water pipe broke near the meter and during this fix the contractor cut my fiber line. (My fiber line crosses over their water service.) The contractor called it in but didn't tell my neighbor. That evening when I discovered the cut I talked to my neighbor, he didn't know that it was cut (nor was knowledgeable in FiOS in the first place... ugh.) so I called it in. Verizon didn't have on record that my "outage" was reported before so a new ticket was created. Weak I thought. Next day Verizon was out and laid a temporary [fiber optic] cable on the ground so we could have some service and created a ticket to have their cable bearing sub-contractors come to replace the broken line.
Week later coming home I noticed the new fiber line coiled up next to the ONT. Another week went by and no transition from the temporary to the permanent so I called. Was told that they will be out in the next week to make the change. The "week" went by (it's now mid April) and my wife called me to tell me the sub-contractor was there to put in the new cable. Huh? I talked with him on the phone but his English was very limited so need less to say we got nowhere. I told my wife to just have him do what ever. We were getting tired seeing the temporary cable being a part of our landscape. Just like the other two, they managed to do a good job for the third one. No cut electrical, water, sewer and gas lines. Then finally about 8 days later Verizon made the switch to the new fiber line.
From the initial cut to the final switch over it took about 5 weeks. Even though service was disrupted three short times (when the fiber was first cut, to switching to the temp line, then to the permanent) I wasn't pleased in the time frame the way Verizon handled it. I wish Verizon could of updated me with the progress of the job via phone call or access online.
So the service is still going strong. Online speed tests show 14.8 - 15.5 Mbit down and 1.7 - 1.9 Mbit up. One part about Verizon broadband service we really like is the integration with Yahoo or MSN. We are a Yahoo family so we linked up our Yahoo accounts with Verizon. Now we have access to most or all paid Yahoo services. Unlimited email storage, POP3 access, no adds viewing email via web interface, CD quality streaming music (not quite close to CD quality according to my ears), free CA anti-virus software (if going MSN they supply McAfee), larger online briefcase storage and so on. An added benefit switching to FiOS from Comcast HSI.
Other than that, nothing else to report. At the beginning of getting FiOS I thought that signing up for the 15/2 service would be over kill but I find that the wife and I are able find ways to use that bandwidth, mostly streaming video but also streaming music and VPN. Hopefully Oregon is on the list to see the upgrades and when it does I'll post another update.
-- old review --
Fiber was laid in my neighborhood in late August early September '06. Some time in October I was illegible for service but I waited to see if Verizon would do a speed increase for FiOS customers in Oregon. At the time I had Comcast HSI ( 6 Mbps / 384 kbps) and I was hoping to move FiOS's 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps service that is offered in other Verizon states. The idea of paying $11 less a month for faster service...(drool).
Comcast HSI: $45.95 - $42.95 (for 6 Mbps / 384kbps) + $3.00 modem rental
Verizon Fios: $34.95 - 5 Mbps / 2 Mbps (10 Mbps / 2 Mbps in some states)
In late December it never happened so I called up to order the $44.95 service (15 Mbps / 2 Mbps). Thinking that I can always drop back to the lower tier of service if I felt that it's too much. Order was placed on December 23 and schedule for Jan 3, 2007 @ noon. Bonus was that install is free and I get the first three months of service for $29.95.
Dec. 26, the sidewalk, part of my landscape and walkway were marked for all underground utilities. It's Winter in Oregon and so I didn't care if a plant or two nor my bark dust had spray paint on them. It will go away.
Dec. 27, a Verizon representative stopped by the house to scout out a location for the fiber to access the house from the street. My wife was home to meet with her and they both picked a very good spot. (The way the Fiber was laid in the street it was not possible to use the same path as the old copper line.) My only requirement was to remove about 10 bricks from the walk way for the fiber cable to poke out. The Verizon rep. said that their contractor will be out as early as Friday (Dec. 29) to bury fiber from the street to the house.
Jan 2 Verizon's fiber contractor showed up around 10:00 am ish. Wife was home to meet with them and answer any questions. I did speak with one of them on the phone just to make sure that the fiber was to come out where the Verizon rep. said. He reiterated what the rep. said and I felt comfortable after hanging up. The job only took 2 hours and no damage to any of the utilities. Gas, water, power, old Verizon copper and storm/gutter drains is what they had to navigate around. (I wish I could watch them do it.) They did leave a tarp in my neighbors yard.
Jan 3. I ended up taking the whole day off so I could finish up preparing for the install. (A different and long "lesson learned" type of story.) While at HomeDepot that morning (8:00 am ish) I got a call from the Installer asking to come over at 8:15 am. Their morning install didn't have the fiber to the house yet (mix up between Verizon and the fiber contractor). No problem to come early since I had the day off.
Two guys, one has been doing installs for 20 years with Verizon, the other, an apprentice worked in sales for 5 years than moved to installs. Both very friendly and didn't mind if I just stand around and watched.
I had them remove the old POTS box ( I current have Comcast Digital Voice for phone) and place the ONT in the same location. (It was obvious that the primary installer had been do this for years. He was very cautious when drilling holes making sure that they are clear of power or other obstacles.) They coiled up the old copper and left it in the ground. They said it's required by the county or State (I don't remember) to leave it in case I wanted POTS service from some other Company (Integra, Eschelon, MCI/Verizon).
Hour later the power supply was installed in the garage and the ONT installed outside. Fiber connected to the ONT and power on...but no blinky lights. They did something out in the street and then it started working. Next, service in to the house.
I had them place the CAT5 box up in the closet of the computer room. It was the easiest since the ONT and that side of the closet are on the same side of the house. He drilled a hole for the CAT5 access and ran it along the house. (My house is pretty much light in color so the CAT isn't noticeable unless you are trying to look for it.) The computer room is on the second floor so he stapled the CAT along a groove on the exterior down to the foundation. There he ran along the foundation to the ONT. Installed the connector on the CAT for the ONT and did the same for the small service box in the computer room.
They un-boxed the router and hooked up my computer to it. Powered up the router, initialized my account and then finally ran a speed test from www.speedtest.net (Seattle server). Speed at first jumped to 15 Mbps then dropped drastically to about 4 Mbps. He said my machine's TCP/IP parameters needed to be configured to run at a faster speed so we went to www.speedguide.net and ran the TCP Optimizer. Rebooted, ran the speed test again got the advertised speed 15 Mbps down and 1.8 Mbps. Not quite there on the upload but it's still 4 to 5 times faster then Comcast.
Currently I haven't canceled Comcast service because I wanted to compare the two. What I do mostly is listen to online radio (Shoutcast or my XM Radio subscription) and work remotely. Having the jump in upload has greatly helped my speed when VPN to work and syncing files or dealing with 5 - 15 meg attachments. Once in a while I need to download a Linux ISO or software from MSDN and I get a kick seeing download speeds of 1 Megabyte per second ( ~ 1.7 MB to be more exact).
After having the service for a week now, I just love it and of course Verizon has me hook on the 15/2 service. Now my only complaint is that some servers I access have slower connections then me so I'm forced to slow down. ( oh darn.)
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Verizon FIOS |
|
|
Verizon FIOS
(187)
(157)
(145)
(99)
·
·
