Review by mobbo 
Posted: 62 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 691 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Denton,Denton,TX
 $65 per month (12 month contract)
 about 8 days
 "Very fast speed, ping times, great TV pq"
 "Hard to get a human on the phone, Actiontec Router is bad!"
 "Speedy, perfect for gamers, awesome TV, good CS when you can get a human"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I moved back to Denton in June and specifically looked for a house that could qualify for FiOS service. If you read my prior reviews about Charter Communications, you can understand why I would rather swallow a cactus whole than get Charter again. I actually had a Charter sales person call me to try and sell me service and I just laughed, told her I was getting FiOS, and hung up. I wouldn't get Charter again if they were giving it away for free.
Anywho, to FiOS-
Pre-Sales Information:
I did my research well ahead of ordering so I knew pretty much exactly what I was getting. But I wanted to get a good deal on top of that. I tried to get a free month of service out of the deal plus some other extras free for a few months and I was promised that by a salesman named "Kevin". He signed me up for the FiOS 15/15 tier, FiOS TV Premier, 3 months of free HBO/Cinemax/Starz/Showtime/Encore, plus one month entirely free. I was told that the first month would be credited later once I had an account number and a bill was generated.
Unfortunately this was not 100% executed. I did get free Showtime/Starz/Encore, but did not get the free HBO/Cinemax as promised. I had to call in and complain but they only gave me one free month. Not the end of the world since HBO has really nothing to watch anymore and I subscribe to Netflix. I also learned that anything a sales person promises, it does NOT go into the system to be executed automatically. The sales person must input that discount or item on their own time, so be sure that you somehow confirm they will do that for you.
Install Co-ordination:
This went very well. I waited a bit too long to order so I was going to be without internet for almost a week at my new place but I was able to move up my install date a several days by checking the online scheduler frequently. I also called a few times to see if they could check for a sooner date, and one time they did. So I was really only without service for 3 days! I was not present for the install but my girlfriend was. Everything went smooth and I came home to blazing fast internet and great HD TV.
Conenction Reliability:
So far it has been good but I've had to reset my router a few times as I tweak all my systems. I am not a big fan of the Actiotec router. Speedtests show that via wireless, my speed maxes at 8mbps. Wired on the same laptop, I get the full 15/15 (now 20/20). I'm sure I can fix that by tweaking it, but, in principle, I shouldn't have to do that. I see some great tutorials on DSLR to walk me through using my own router along with the coax Actiontec router.
TV service has never been down, but there have been a few errors when attempting the VOD service. A second try at a video will show it usually though.
The speed is blazing. My ratio on Demonoid has gone WAAAAY up now that I actually have upstream that isn't laughable (Charter 384Kbps... die already). Playing on XBOX Live is much better. With the bandwidth I now have, I am ALWAYS the host of COD4 games.
Tech Support:
Humans = Great, Robots = Bad.They really need to fix the "automated" system. I really really hate explaining tech problems to a robot. It never works. I wish the robot would just take your info, ask what department I want, then get me to a human. I do like that some departments will call you back instead of making you wait on hold.
From now on I just give the robot my phone number (it HAS TO look it up twice because I do not have Verizon phone service...) then say "AGENT AGENT AGENT" to get a person. Once you have a person on the phone, everything is great. When I called to bump up my speed from 15/15 to 20/20 recently, there was an error with the upgrade and my service went out for a day (I was at work, so no biggie). The guys on the phone fixed it quickly and had me back up within an hour.
Value for the money:
I think FiOS is definitely worth it if you rely on the internet as much as I do. I am a big BitTorrent user, so upstream is very important to me. I have 2 HDTV's I love more than my girlfriend (don't tell her that), so HD is important, and FiOS TV gives a noticeably better picture on all HD channels (except my locals... which I'm told are compressed before they get to Verizon). I do wish they had more HD channels, but I read more are on the way by September for my market.
You cannot compare this service to Charter. There is absolutely nothing to compare because Verizon blows Charter out of the water in every category: speed, CUSTOMER SERVICE, TV channels, equipment, the guide/user interface on the set-top box, and quality.
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