 Review by noping 
member for 5 years, 472 visits, last login: 11 days ago
updated 3.9 years ago
 West Chester,Chester,PA
 $140 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 21 days "Fast and consistant internet service, crystal-clear POTS" "FiOS TV, 'customer support,' billing, unreliable equipment" "Great when it works, terrible when you run into problems"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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[FiOS / POTS]
March 2005: No complaints. Calls are as clear as they were 15+ years ago with Bell Atlantic, if not clearer.
[FiOS / Internet]
March 2005: 15/2 service installed - one of the first in the area. An AFC 610 Optical Network Terminal (ONT) was installed on the side of the house next to the copper Network Interface Device (NID). POTS was migrated to fiber; however, the existing copper was not removed. As the installation took place before MoCA-capable ONTs were available, a length of Cat5e was run from the ONT. A D-Link VDI-604 +custom Verizon firmware was supplied but failed within six months. The service had very consistent speeds and was fairly reliable - only one occurrence of downtime between 3/2005 and 3/2007 [1].
November 2007: Successfully upgraded to the 15/15 tier of service [2] - however, I am still forced to use PPPoE as a result of being an early adopter. Speeds are also very consistent with the symmetrical service. No monthly caps, no throttling, no traffic shaping.
[FiOS / TV]
March 2007: FiOS TV service installed. A Motorola NIM100 was supplied for use in order for the set top boxes to receive guide data and VOD. Two Motorola QIP2500 SD STBs were installed.
July 2007: Two Motorola QIP6416 HD-DVR installed to replace both standard boxes; one unit was downgraded to a standard STB within the month due to "excessive noise" from the fan and/or hard drive. Under the original Microsoft-based guide (IPG), the HD-DVR was much more responsive to commands in comparison to the standard STB.
[FiOS / TV Problems]
»VOD problems
A supposedly "known issue" with the 610 ONT among the field technicians (FT) but not among Fiber Solutions Center representatives. The existing ONT was replaced with a newer model, a Tellabs 611. An Actiontec MI424-WR rev. A router [3] was supplied as the FT did not approve of the "unsupported" Linksys WRT54Gv2 +DD-WRT and Motorola NIM100 setup.
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»[northeast] Losing internet, TV services
An issue due to installer error; the battery backup unit (BBU) was improperly wired and this caused services to cease functioning approximately every 15 minutes over a period of three days. The problem was resolved upon installation of a new 611 ONT and BBU.
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»[northeast] Lost HBO West(s), MSNBC (now fixed)
Self-explanatory. Several channels disappeared for two days then suddenly re-appeared. No explanation from Verizon as to why this occurred.
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»HBO VOD pixeling/tiling, again
HBO Video on Demand titles will randomly exhibit signs of image distortion in the form of white or grey blocks.
The FSC was unable to troubleshoot this problem; several dispatched FTs were unable to correct the problem. Eventually, I was forced to bring this issue to Verizon's "Presidential Appeals" department. A representative diligently worked with me for several weeks in an attempt to narrow down the problem.
Several FTs were dispatched in an effort to fix the problem; numerous STBs were replaced and a new length of RG6 was run to no avail. A local manager confirmed that he was able to reproduce the same problem at one of the local garages but could not ascertain a reason as to why this behavior was presenting itself.
Eventually, the representative discovered that the "white tiling" behavior was a "known issue" amongst only the video engineers and that a fix would be implemented in August 2007.
August 2007 rolled around and the behavior continued. HBO was removed from the account as a result.
According to a knowledgeable network specialist who posts in the FiOS TV forum, the fix has yet to be implemented as it requires further testing.
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Loss of internet service, July 4th
Verizon's archaic, ancient excuse of a system somehow "lost track" of my ONT - the serial and model numbers of the unit attached to the side of the house did not match the numbers recorded in their system. Interestingly enough, POTS and television (minus the IP-related features) were unaffected and functioned normally.
A technician was dispatched and replaced the existing Tellabs 611 ONT with a Tellabs 612 ONT. Internet service was eventually restored.
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Instances of area-wide tiling and/or poor image quality affecting multiple customers at once (in chronological order):
»DE Pixellation (AGAIN!!!)
»Decrease in HD "Sharp"ness
»Continuing Picture Quality Degredation In Philadelphia
»HD Pixellation Back (Again) in Philly
»Philadelphia / Tiling on CN, TBS (pages 7-10)
I've had countless technicians come out and tell me that there's nothing more that they can do. All of the equipment and wiring up to and inside the house has been replaced.
What the problem ISN'T: An electrical problem. One electrician has confirmed this, and I have another coming to my home in the coming weeks who will also be able to confirm this.
The theory among some affected FiOS TV users is that the equipment being used in Philadelphia video hub office is sub-par in comparison to the equipment being used in other markets. So far, there have been zero reports of similar chronic "tiling" or image quality issues in other markets such as New York, SoCal, Virginia, Florida. The general consensus is that the part in question is simply too costly to replace.
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»Philadelphia / Tiling on CN, TBS (pages 1-5, 10-12)
Since October, I (and several others, though not to the same degree) have been seeing signs of tiling. The FSC/network technicians continued to insist that the problem was at my home; however, two of the local managers in this area believed otherwise.
The FSC continued to schedule technician visits - however, these appointments were canceled by the local office (again, because the local managers did not believe that the "tiling" problem was at my home). In each case of a canceled appointment, I was not informed in advance that nobody would be showing up.
In mid-January, someone finally realized that the problem was located at the CO. A "card" "relating to the WDM" was replaced and the tiling effect disappeared.
The image quality still looks like garbage, however - I was told that the new software for the STBs would correct this [4]. It has not - across the board, the image looks much worse. In addition, I continue to get a "flickering" effect on several channels, "white lines" and audio/video breakup/freezing at random points in time.
Update (08 February 2008): I was told that they had diagnosed the problem to be with the fiber terminal in the underground vault near the curb. So far, nobody has been out to replace the piece of equipment in question.
Picture quality continues to decline. Since this past weekend, I have experienced even more problems with other channels that were once problem-free.
Update (09 February 2008): Call finally returned, repairs/replacements are supposed to happen sometime early next week. I'm skeptical.
Update (19 February 2008): Drop terminal finally replaced. Channels are no longer tiling during/after it rains. Picture quality has not yet returned to March 2007 levels, however - this is currently being looked into.
[FiOS / Miscellaneous]
Customer Support is horrendous. I have no problem with the local or network technicians - my anger is more directed towards the local managers, supervisors, FSC representatives that continue to pass the buck.
The Encore department does _not_ like to give service credits for down or broken services - you'll find yourself in an endless loop. Encore will claim that only the FSC can issue credits (and vice versa) and will bounce you from one call center to another.
Good luck getting a problem fixed by calling the FSC. It's woefully understaffed and the call center representatives are limited in what they're able to do.
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Terrible TV guide data: »FYI Television (guide provider) still sucks
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»Verizon DNS Redirection 'Service' Spreads
Either stop relying on Verizon's default DNS or change the last octet of the default DNS to .14 instead of .12. Use Level3's 4.2.2.1/4.2.2.2 or OpenDNS instead.
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BBU runtime/copper loss: Not a big issue for me as I have multiple cell phones, several backup batteries for the BBU, an UPS for the ONT and a Honda generator in case of power failure. (»Re: Verizon Fios Old Copper Phone System!!)
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[1] March 2005: The contractors tasked with burying the conduit did not bury it deep enough. They caused a enormous amount of damage to the front lawn and to the driveway. I attempted to contact Verizon for months about having the damage repairs to no avail. It was not until both internet and phone service were offline (due to the fiber somehow being cut) that Verizon decided to re-run the fiber and re-bury the conduit.
[2] Verizon continues to offer unequal tiers of service available depending on the market - NY/NJ/VA/FL customers are able to order 20/5, 20/20, 30/5 or higher while customers in other markets are limited to 15/2, 15/15 (30/5 is no longer available to residential customers). Bandwidth is plenty cheap and there's enough competition in this area - there is no reason for Verizon to not upgrade customers.
[3] The Actiontec MI424-WR is garbage for power users. Run your own length of Cat5 from the ONT and start a thread in » Verizon Direct requesting that they disable MoCA/enable ethernet. Plug in your own router and enjoy uncrippled FiOS internet.
[4] »new IMG and worse picture quality
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