 Review by rockotman 
UPDATED: 15 days ago
member for 9.2 years, 5078 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Allison Park,Allegheny,PA
 $45 per month (12 month contract)
 about 14 days
 "Fast, fast, fast"
 "Verizon is an even bigger bureaucracy than Comcast"
 "Seems good, so far."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I switched from Comcast to Verizon FIOS because of an issue with Comcast not wanting to honor the agreed upon triple-play price for the full two years I had agreed to. Up until three weeks ago, I was a happy Comcast customer, and have used cable (Comcast and its predecessors) HSI since 2000.
So far, the FIOS internet connection has been great. I was getting about 16/3 with Comcast (even though I was only subscribed to 6/2). With FIOS, I am getting a rock solid 20/5, which is consistent with the package I signed up for.
I signed up for all three services from Verizon (HSI, TV, Phone), and the package price is very competitive (better than what Comcast was offering). It is difficult to state what the actual price for the HSI is, as it is a bundled package. The 20/5 tier which I am receiving has a standalone price of $55, but the entire bundle, include phone service and the Extreme HD TV package bills out at $110 (plus $30/month for full premium movie package). Verizon charges extra for each TV STB that you use, so that brings the price up to about the same as what I was paying for the Comcast bundle (I got the DVR STB included in the Comcast bundle price). On the plus side, with the FIOS package, I am getting the DVR STB free for 6 months, and one additional HD STB free for a year. So that will make the price lower than the Comcast package for the first year.
Installation went smoothly; installer arrived at ~1:00 pm and was done by 5:30.
He did a nice job of running the fiber cable into my house, via a hole he drilled through the cinder block wall at about grade, so the entry is easily concealed by my landscaping. The ONT/PS/BBU is mounted in the garage is the same general are where my cable and old POTS lines come in. The installation is very neat and professional looking. The installer did have one problem getting the router to maintain the internet connection at first. After about 15 minutes of operation, it blocked all internet access. He could not get it to reestablish a connection, and had to do a hard reset of the router. That seemed to cure the issue. It has been rock solid since then.
On the down side; Verizon only allows a total of 10M online web storage, to be shared amongst all email accounts (max 9), as opposed to the 25M per email account (max 6, for a total of 150M) that Comcast allows.
The only other downside items seem to be related to the TV and phone service.
When I signed up, I asked to also have the movie package included for an additional $30 month (similar to what I had with Comcast). I realized later that night that the channels were not available, and it took phone calls three days in a row to finally get someone to acknowledge that they could turn on the movies for me, but that it would take about a day to take affect. So we will see... tomorrow will tell if it is working as it should. BTW, in talking to the rep. today, he told me that the first two months of the movie deal is free.
[UPDATE]Movie package finally showed up about a week after initial installation[/UPDATE]
The one issue with the phone service is with respect to their voice mail. I noticed that the Verizon voice mail was answering the call after 4 rings; we have our answering machine set to 6 rings, and would prefer to just use our answering machine. When I navigated through the laborious Verizon voice mail configuration menu, I finally got to the setting that would allow me to increase the number of rings before their voice mail would answer. Despite trying several times to change the setting to 8 rings, I kept getting a message telling me that my change was not successful, and that I should try again. The representative that I spoke with today told me that it was probably because the account was so new, and that I could try again in a few days; then offered to just turn off the voice mail for me. I agreed to have him do that.
[UPDATE]Never did get Verizon voice mail working properly. I finally gave up - it wasn't that big of a deal to me anyway. I prefer an answering machine.[/UPDATE]
[UPDATE]Nearly six months after install, and still no gripes. The FIOS internet service has been great. The FIOS TV is real nice, but I actually prefer the STBs and the menus and displays that I had when I was on Comcast. But not enough to make be switch back.[UPDATE].
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Verizon FIOS |
|
Verizon FIOS
(152)
(178)