Review by stoli412 
UPDATED: 1.7 years ago
member for 6.7 years, 2931 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
 $40 per month (12 month contract)
 about 2 days
 "Fast speed on a reliable connection at a reasonable price"
 "Poor customer service, missed first installation appointment"
 "Glad I switched!"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've been a Comcast HSI customer for many years -- and not always a happy one -- but I never thought I'd be able to switch to FiOS. I live in downtown Philadelphia, and FiOS isn't active in many urban areas. I had just read that Verizon is now offering 7.1/768 DSL to residential customers so I figured I'd give that a try instead. I went to the Verizon web site, entered my info, and lo and behold it said I qualified for FiOS! I figured it was some kind of error and decided to call them directly to see if I qualified. The person on the phone said FiOS was definitely available at my address and they could come out the next day! I didn't hesitate and ordered the 5/2 package for $39.99.
The appointment window came and went and no one showed up. I called Verizon and they said the order showed internet AND phone service being installed and that's why no one came. She never explained why that would have any bearing on my missed appointment. I never ordered phone service anyway; in fact I repeatedly said I wanted ONLY the internet service. Somehow it still got on there and messed up my order. The rep rescheduled me for the next day, but she said I'd have to call again in the morning to make sure the phone portion was cancelled or the same thing would happen again. Then she started giving me all sorts of conflicting information: saying I shouldn't have received a next-day appointment anyway because all orders have a minimum processing time of 5 business days. But she just rescheduled me for the next day, making it only 2 days since I placed my order. How does that add up???? I hung up unsure if I would be getting installed the next day or not.
The next day came and the installer showed. He was very friendly and knowledgeable (and cute!). He did an excellent job and installed a new phone jack for me (I've never had phone service in this apartment and the jacks were old and in terrible shape). My building is a FiOS/VDSL combo: fiber is installed to the basement of the building then the existing phone lines are used to each apartment. They just finished installing everything in my building and I was the first person to get service, and I have a ZyXel VDSL modem in addition to the standard Actiontec router. Everything was up and running in about 90 minutes. He even called the next day to make sure everything was running smoothly. Overall a top-notch install experience!
The service itself is excellent. I always get my advertised 5/2 speed with low latency. I haven't experienced any of the problems some other people have reported with the Actiontec router. I decided to choose the Yahoo option when I set up my service, and I'm glad I did because I discovered you get a Flickr pro account in the process. I'm a big Flickr user and being able to have unlimited uploads and storage for free is a nice deal...it's normally $25/year.
Other than that I have to say that Verizon's online portal is awful. It's confusing, disorganized, and many pages are broken, don't work right on a Mac, or are just flat out wrong. I was shocked actually. Information as simple as accessing the news server was nowhere to be found. I had to get the settings from a third-party web site. I'm not big on using providers' portals but they should at least make the support section useable!
Other than the lousy customer service and portal, here are my gripes with FiOS:
First, my only speed options are 5/2 and 15/2. I wish we had faster options that some other areas are getting like 10/2, 20/5, and 20/20, but there isn't a whole lot of competition in Philadelphia. It's basically Comcast or Verizon.
Second, we'll probably have a very difficult time getting FiOS TV here in Philadelphia. Comcast's corporate headquarters are located here, and this city does whatever it can to keep them happy. I wouldn't be surprised if that means not approving a TV franchise for Verizon. The state of Pennsylvania is no friend of Verizon either considering they basically stole $2 billion from the taxpayers a while back, so I won't be looking for a statewide franchise any time soon.
Third, why was there no marketing effort to let me know FiOS was coming soon or that it was available? I would have never known had I not stumbled upon it myself. To think they spend all that money to install the service and then not put effort into acquiring subscribers. Flyers in the lobby or under everyone's door would have been more than enough.
Finally, the only thing I miss from Comcast is their Powerboost feature. If you're not familiar it gives you super-fast speeds well above your tier for the first minute or two of a large download. I went from 6 mbps down on Comcast to 5 mbps on FiOS. They're comparable, but downloads do take noticeably longer since I'm not getting that initial jolt. The upload on FiOS is a nice trade off though. I can now watch my Slingbox remotely, video conference, and VNC into my computer all with a much smoother experience. I also really like the unlimited news server. Its retention isn't the greatest but it sure beats the 2 GB monthly cap Comcast has on its news server.
Overall I'm glad I made the switch, and I'd definitely recommend FiOS to anyone who is able to get it. For people living in apartment buildings in Philadelphia it's probably coming to you sooner than you think. The installer said there's a big push to use this FiOS/VDSL solution...they just need permission from building management to install the new equipment. So if you're eager for FiOS make sure to let your property managers know about it and urge them to get in contact with Verizon!
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