Review by chunkhead 
UPDATED: 45 days ago
member for 6.8 years, 53 visits, last login: 45 days ago
 Arlington,Arlington,VA
 $99 per month (24 month contract)
 about 3 days
 "Fast, low latency, rapid installation once the order was actually in"
 "Labrynth of voice menus to talk to someone"
 "Currently the Mercedes-Benz of connectivity"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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After 4+ years as a Covad (by way of Digizip) customer my DSL connection was getting long in the tooth and it was time to part ways. There are a number of other DSL offerings available in my geographical area but I considered this to be a good opportunity to move away from the telco's copper plant. Not that there have been any significant problems but considering it's age (the pole wiring in my neighborhood is at least 40 years old) I concluded it's only a matter of time.
My requirements were fairly simple - not DSL, available static IP addressing, no port filtering. That narrowed things down to two providers - Comcast and Verizon FIOS.
The FIOS package ordered was the lowest service tier with the availability of a static IP - 20/5 which had an advertised cost of $99/mo (+applicable taxes) with a 24 month agreement. The installation includes a $99 router and $89 installation fee, both of which are to be rebated after the first bill arrives.
The installation probably could not have been smoother taking almost exactly two hours from the truck appearing to the installation tech pushing packets over the newly installed line. I requested inside installation of the ONT and was met with no resistance; it seemed almost welcomed. Note if you are considering the same; the new ONT units Verizon is deploying are Motorola GPONs that have a smaller footprint than other installations you may have seen but are significantly deeper (an extra 2-3" perhaps) to allow for slack fiber to be coiled internally. Also included is a ~6"x8" UPS and a power brick.
The included router is an Actiontec that you can read about elsewhere. After the tech departed I disconnected it, packed it back into it's box, and plugged my freshly renumbered Linux box straight into the ONT so I could make direct use of my static IP. Link was established nigh-instantaneously and a few trips to speedtest.net between 1900 and 2100 confirmed I was receiving the promised service (19.55Mb/s down, a max of 5.03Mb/s up, latency was between 8 and 10ms.).
Actually getting to the point of a truck roll was an exercise in frustration and patience. Ordering a business line for a residence appears to be something that is still a bit off script for Verizon's sales dept. so if you decide to go this route be prepared to sit through a lot of transfers and hold queues. My original order, allegedly placed almost three weeks prior, was discovered on the promised day of installation to not have actually been entered. Calls prior to the date to obtain an order number or confirmation were fruitless but at no time until the day I was sitting at home was I told that the original order had never been entered. Highly annoying, but the representative I spoke with on that day who did a new order from scratch nailed it just fine and three days later I was pushing packets.
Because of the above I had to deduct a point from install coordination; except for that problem it was actually a pleasant experience with plenty of information provided in a timely manner.
ETA 10/30/09 - there was some confusion regarding billing. I'd asked if the $99/mo promo price was inclusive of any taxes/other fees and was told no. The latest bill indicates otherwise, showing $99.99. No complaints here. As promised I also received a letter with instructions on obtaining the equipment and installation rebates - that's been submitted and is being processed. Service is still functioning great with a rock solid 7-11ms latency, 19.55 down/4.8 (+/- 0.2) up regardless of the time of day.
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