how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 2.5 years ago
 Lutz,Hillsborough,FL
 $185 per month Verizon "Internet and Phone Service" "Cable Service, Billing System" "Overall terrible experience, wouldn't use them again"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I have had Verizon Service (Internet, Phone and Cable) for about 8 months
now and in general, it's been a pretty poor experience. The Internet and
phone service have been fine in terms of up time, no issues, etc. The same
cannot be said for the cable service, which constantly cuts out, freezes, or
has other such issues. To make matters worse the billing process has been a
complete NIGHTMARE. Here's the gist - I originally signed up with Verizon
because I was moving and my prior cable company (Brighthouse), said they
couldn't port my number. It was a business line so I really needed to port
it if possible. I called Verizon and they assured me they could port my
number. I was thrilled. A few days before the installation, I got an update
and it confirmed my Internet and cable installation. I didn't see the phone
service listed so I called them and they assured me it was included. The day
of the installation rolls around and the installer shows up. And...you
guessed it...he had no paperwork to show that the phone was supposed to be
installed. I called Verizon and they proceeded to tell me that 1) The phone
number I had requested actually wasn't available and there was nothing they
could do about it. Based on my location, they couldn't provide that number.
2) They could assign me a new number but they couldn't list it as part of a
'bundle' with the cable and Internet initially. They would have to list it
as a separate order and then within a month they would combine the two. I
was livid but couldn't really do anything about it so I went forward. Once
the installer left and I was setting up my phone, I realized that they
hadn't given me voice mail, even though I'd specifically requested it
originally. I called them, again, and they informed me they didn't have a
record of that and that it would take 48 hours to set up. After the initial
nightmare setup episode, things calmed down for about 2 months before the
cable service problems began. Long story short, I was calling them at least
once a month to deal with some issue. Then, 2 months ago, I got two separate
bills, 1 for my phone service and 1 for combined Internet/Cable service. The
pricing looked wrong, plus I was supposed to be 'bundled' so of course I was
concerned. I contacted a representative via chat who was confused and, after
10 minutes, took my contact info and said she'd call me back. I never heard
back. A week later, I called again and got the first truly helpful person.
After an hour and a half on the phone with him we figured out that the
billing system had screwed up my account and because of the initial fiasco
with the phone and Internet/cable being ordered separately, it had separated
my accounts under two different account numbers with incorrect billing. He
offered me some credits and assured me the bills would be fixed. I went
ahead and paid the total, understanding it would be credited appropriately.
I received the latest bill a few days ago and the payment doesn't show on
the bill, only the credit the representative issued. At this point I am so
utterly disgusted that I am cancelling the service. My experience was
terrible and I would absolutely not recommend Verizon's residential service
to anyone.
Bethany Lopusnak
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by garimacsrivastava
(review was emailed from domain yahoo.com)
lodged 2.7 years ago
- Ashburn,Loudoun,VA
- $132 per month
- (2 month contract)
 about 20 days
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
At the time of order they didn't tell us about all those hidden instalation cost. On their ad it will show no instalation cost . Just make sure ask the instalation guy all those cost . if you are going to live in new construction area they might charge you all those hidden cost for equipment . Don't sign very long contract with them . If case they will charge you extra bucks .You can get rid of them soon instead of paying very heavy fine.
And for international chanel ( south asia) ask them all those detail upfornt.you can not choose only one chanel . dish network , comcast , or direct tv will let you choose one chanel but here you can't .
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by grazed 
member for 6.6 years, 1281 visits, last login: 44 days ago
lodged 2.7 years ago
- Havertown,Delaware,PA
- $110 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 4 days
- "Decent HD quality"
- "Horrible internet latency issues for months on end, telephone service equally as poor"
- "The absolute worst experience I've ever had with an ISP."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I'm 2 months into service with FiOS. Issues started only days after installation. First, we would get erratic latency during the wee hours of the night, and into the early morning. It then progressed to last from 10pm until 4pm the following day, with about a 6 hour window of usable internet service.
Latency would peak at 1500ms to the first hop, making not only our internet service completely unusable, but also our phone service became horrid at that time too. Because of the latency to the first hop, callers on the other end would hear us echo twice over during calls and complain that we were cutting in and out.
After 3 weeks of calling every day, multiple times per day, they finally switched out our rack at the CO station and all issues were resolved.
Fast forward 3 weeks, and everything is back to being horrible. All our issues have returned.
I can't express the pure atrocity that this service has provided us with. I wouldn't wish this type of connection on anyone. Please steer clear.
(as a side note, if you're interested, please read the 150+ post thread in the fios forums showing numerous others experiencing the same issues)
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by Beefncow
member for 12 years, 238 visits, last login: 1 year ago
updated 2.7 years ago
- Riverview,Hillsborough,FL
- $59 per month
- about 3 days
- "Speeds up finally!!! Have been actualy listening to ppl in Tampa and giving the customer what they want NO Contracts!!"
- "the only bad point i can say right now is I hear thay are talking about rasing prices ..not a smart idea in this economy!!"
- "Fios finally listened in the Tampa bay area because ppl were not happy with the sign me and forget me attitude they had!!"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Now as for all you people drooling who can't have fios yet because its not in your area. I feel for you, they spent two years all around me teasing me with installs everywhere but my street. But once I saw them laying fiber I called before it was done for install dates. If you all are like me it about the speed and price. In the day everyone said you will never use 3.0mb/1.5mb up or higher and as files got bigger speeds should have increased with cable,but they just stood there sitting on their hands while all of us yelled for faster speeds. They even tried to say in their commercials when fios first came out our "pipe" is bigger to fit more speed so why would you want a smaller fiber. Most of us kinda bought it for a while. Well I am here to tell you I have had them all. I started with isdn,then dsl 784/128k, then I tried Directway sat service with their so called 1.5mb/512k service. Then I went back to dsl when they came out with 3.0mb/784k service,then to cable who promised big things starting with 3.5mb/1.0mb service and it went up slowly over three years to 7.0/1.5 mb service. Well after spending almost a year asking if they ever planned on increasing to speeds as close as the fios service that verizon was installing I was told no plans. So that was my driving force to get fios. Like I said earlier I called before they had finished installing it on my street. I lost out on the specials they are offering now with new installs but oh well. I purchased the 15mb/2mb package for $49.00 a month. I called on Monday and they had crew here same day to install wire from box out in street to where the ont outside house was to go. They called me and said they could install a day earlier than I was supposed to and I said sure. So after almost three years of knowing about fios and the long agonizing wait it was installed in less than 3 days from order. The software that came with it the tech installed for some reason doesnt like windows xp media so I uninstalled it all. I still have AOL for kids and yes its still the beast with fios but not as bad, I run explorer 7 and Firefox 2, opera, wireless and my packet 8 voip off it and other software most of us high speed junkies use and with the new speed increase here in fl to 20mb/5mb my pings are down 25%. I now this is a real long review and if your like me you want as much real info as you can get from real people. To sum up this is "If you aint got fios, You need to get it" unless your cable company is gonna offer you 30,40,50 mb down and 10-15mb up which I dont see happening. Even if they do im sure they will want more than you are paying now for what fios is offering for 15/2mb or 20/5mb here in fl.
Update!! 11/12/2007... Fios continues to be a better deal than cable in my area. There are whispers that the local cable provider is going to offer a much higher speed for a lower price than im paying now with Fios. The one problem I have noticed with Fios and I might be an exception to the rule compared to other Fios owners. Anyway my Fios service is 20mb/5mb and over the last two months as more and more people have had Fios installed in my area, I have seen speeds drop and lag increase significantly to almost half my advertised speed. This is not a temporary thing I have been watching, tweaking and speed testing alot all with the same results. I will update again after I have a tech check it out to see if the issue is somewhere else other than my connection.
Updated!!! 8/19/2008..........Fios has continued to drop in speed as the months have dragged on. I even purchased a new computer again this time is a quad core X2 and as much memory as you can stuff in it......And yet Fios stops paused ......freezes and drags.....i have called and i was told its my machines settings...So i went to verizons web site and down loaded their computer tweaking software......It got slower....now that's funny.....18 tests at 7 different times and they all produce almost the same speed barely 5 mb down if im lucky..the upload is faster most times than the down load speeds......Where has fios gone besides a price increase and that made it go slower......I think I will check out cable again maybe they got the crap together finally. ................................
..Dec 03 2008 edit for the info of those who posted......I have more than done all you have recommended,. as for tech support um ok i know more than they do, rwins are max i have sent hours setting them, as for lines being below said speed i have over 200 tests to prove its below the level im paying for , once in a rare moon it hits 20 mb and thats rare . sorry for not replying sooner family first sometimes. Beef
April 30th 2009 12:36 am updated on service, As i have stated in the past i have had more phone conversation with Verizon on my service speed Issues. The newest round of trouble is there service drops off at mid evenings sometimes and does not return till the next morning. At first I thought it was the box , so I had it replaced twice, no change. Next I had yet another tech here to try and resolve a speed issue which is still slowing down even more. I asked the tech to pull up the old work orders to compare them to the past service orders to see what has and has not been done. He could not find ONE ever done at my address. As of now I have speeds of 10 down /4 mb up speeds, for some I know that sounds great. But when you started with speeds over 22 mb down and 7 mb up its less than half of what was originally installed now. They can not figure out why it keeps going off occasionally, they have said they moved me to a different feed to stop it but yet it continues. I am at the mercy of them if they just keep brushing it under the rug and refusing to fix it. As I was told by one tech as long as you exceed 10mb down and 3 up im within there allotted limits they consider acceptable for fios customer. Beef
July 14th 2009 6:00 pm
Once again I will state all avenues had been depleted from Rwins to YES tech support 8 times with all being the same results, Not one solution to the signal loss issue. I had to edit the original post as I was told it was too descriptive of fios tech support phone calls and names of people I spoke to so I can understand where some think I left that step out. After I finally told them to test it or disconnect me they sent a test man from new york to go over every part of the install and there is some bright news on the horizon they are coming to redo the line in the ground and place a booster on the property. From what the tests show im so far from the street the signal is degrading ( hmmmm I remember telling them that over a year ago). Its 618 feet to the ONT box and then to the OPSU& BBU interface its another 106 feet to the router/hub.
Their tests show a 24% drop in line efficiency in line signal at the router/hub so he feels it needs to be replaced. the good news is because of all the years I have been complaining I will be able to test the new speed upgrade. For all the people who did not see the original post and thought I left important steps out in diagnostics, I now see why all the comments were not insightful info instead of insults when I had clearly taken all the approperite steps to fix what I felt the fios installers did not understand. I told them after the first few weeks the signal was being stretched to far.
Its come down to I was right from the start! A new drop goes in on august 14th when Both me and Jim (man from new york) can be present to watch the full installation from street to router. I will decide then if I wish to test the new 100 mb service. Beef
---------------------------------------
August 9 2010 7:55 Pm
Howdy All, its been a while and some ups and downs and some changes to Verizon (but first I wanted to say I am sorry for the misspelling's as I am a guy with bad arthritis and its a pain to go back and fix stuff and sometimes i forget about spell check plus i didn't know i was being graded plus I think most are worried about the details not a misplaced letter or two silly spell checker ppl.
OK, on to the reason I am updating my post. version has recently made a change in our speed , I was going to order their bundle services and i am still looking into it and when Verizon makes me an offer i am OK with to leave Bright house I will give their TV and Phone service a try but for now this is just a review for the internet services I receive. I originally had Verizon 15/5 MB service which as you all have seen in my other posts was amped up to 20/5 mb service by them and still made no difference.
Ok well a few weeks ago I got a note on my email telling me they were raising my speed to 35/35 as part of the triple package I was going to get but between my time constraints and other things i could not be here and had to cancel or re do the install times, but as the weeks rolled on i found some info that told me things didn't add up so i canceled my triple play install. well they went ahead and raised my service to 25/25 Mb or so I thought until I went to test it on a serv er I now use exclusivley to test my speeds it gives me very acurate speeds and its been tested by a few of my firends and we all across the country have found it to be one of the best. Ok now as I said i thought I had 25/25 Mb service but infactr I was getting 35/35 service which was only supposed to be for the triple play package.
I knew if i left it as 35/35 service I was going to see some huge bill so I called and emailed them about this and was pleasantly told on the phone and in my emails that is my new speed and its no difference in price ( yes I saved them emails just in case the tried to say we did not say this) compared to what i was paying when i had the 20/5 that's moved to the 25/25 that's eventually and currently is 35/35 service and I will say it seems to make some difference in certain sites not all of them but any better connection or less time in lags is always a great thing when time is so precious now in life.
Anyway I am still comparing the offers for the triple play but my net speed I hope will not change with the addition of TV and Phone and if it does I think I will boot them to the curb ASAP as more of my time is on the net anyway now.
I hope this helps anyone in our area of the planet in there choices in who what when and where. Beef
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by bi0tech
member for 9.9 years, 157 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago
lodged 2.8 years ago
- Cockeysville,Baltimore,MD
- Contract price not specified.
- (48 month contract)
- "installers/techs seem to keep their appointment times"
- "anything beyond basic problems seem impossible for them to deal with"
- "Serious gaps in tech support for advanced issues."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
The long and short in this case comes down to: It's now 2+ months after install and I still don't have a stable internet connection. From my experience if there are any issues a local tech cannot do a part swap to alleviate then you will not see a resolution.
The original install went mostly ok, I had internet and cable service within a few hours of the tech arriving. However I began to notice wild latency fluctuations to the default gateway (anything from a normal 5-10ms to 2000+) which effect latency to all points beyond. After attempted contacts by email, tech support line, calls to the local tech, and contact via the direct support forum here there has been no change. It seems impossible to relate with any consistency to technical support that latency matters and the overall usability of the connection I'm paying for is more than just a verizon bandwidth meter. Issues that are intermittent are basically ignored, and they won't even start any diagnosis without a tech onsite.
I'm also experiencing cable signal issues possibly relating to the m-card itself, but my primary concern was always getting the internet fixed, so I won't comment on that half.
At this point I can only term this install as a failure as the issues present have seen no change in months.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by Zennest
member for 8.7 years, 1548 visits, last login: 241 days ago
updated 2.8 years ago
- Saint Petersburg,Pinellas,FL
- $109 per month
- "high speeds, low down times"
- "don't even try to get after your contract expired"
- "recommend to only NEW customers"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
My contract expired on June. And I was shocked to see my bill went up to $109. (I know this is normal for cable companies). I called them up to see if I was eligible for another plan or I could just get only internet.
Answer was a NO without a CONTRACT( eventhough verizon has advertising NO CONTRACT in my town) cause I wasn't a new customer.
They forced me to look for a new company. Hopefully brighthouse running special in my town
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by butler360
member for 10.8 years, 36 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
updated 2.9 years ago
- Long Beach,Los Angeles,CA
- $50 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 14 days
- "Fast, good price, good service, good installers"
- "Availability, their crappy system thinks NO ONE qualifies, ETF fee even if you move somewhere there is no service"
- "The best you can get, even though you have to practically beg Verizon to give it to you"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I got a flyer on my door one day announcing the availability of FiOS at my location. I put myself on a list years ago to be notified when it becomes available in my area but that list doesn't work I guess. So I went online to order it and it said it wasn't available in my area.
I called, thinking the site is probably not up to date. On the phone they took about 30 seconds then said, "Nope, it's not available at your address!" and were ready to let me go. I kept saying that the flyer I got said that FiOS is available at my residence now and that all my neighbors got it too and it specifically says that it's now available. SO eventually they said they'd send someone out to verify that it's available.
Sure enough, a week later they inform me that, yes, it really is available! Oh, really? So I sign up and a week later their installers show up. They really seem to put their best guys on FiOS. They were super nice and not in a big hurry and got everything set up pretty quickly.
On speed tests I got the full 15mbps down and 5 mbps up, so that was great. Never had any connection problems. They have a special forum here where you can switch to using your own router just by requesting it online, which worked well and was nice.
But then I had to move and even though where I moved to was only half a mile away, they again insisted that FiOS was not available, but this time they wouldn't even send someone out to check. So I said forget it, I'm not going to beg to give you my money anymore and now I'm with DSLExtreme.
Funnily enough, my old address where I HAD FiOS to this day STILL shows as unavailable! Ugh! Geeze, guys, people want your service! Get your database straight! I even found out from the new landlord that if I got FiOS going there, practically the whole apartment complex would switch to it since they've all wanted it for a while. The same for another property they manage, a whole group of people wanting to switch. When I told the phone tech they basically said, "That's nice... We're not going to verify it for you, it says here you can't get it." Even though it also says there that I can't get it at the address I had it at for months! Why is it so hard to give them money every month!
One good point is that since I was moving to a place where they didn't offer service, there was no fee for breaking my contract.
UPDATE: They charged me the ETF and when I called them they refused to reverse the charge! This is a $120 fee that they promised me would be waived! With that in mind, I have to revise my scores.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by ggraves
member for 11.8 years, 89 visits, last login: 225 days ago
updated 2.9 years ago
- Bala Cynwyd,Montgomery,PA
- $50 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "Speed & reliability"
- "Unbundled costs"
- "Watch your bundle price and your contract date."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Just found I can add a second and third Actiontec router over the home network to extend wired connections to media room and upstairs office over the coax. Hurrah! That saves two expensive ethernet cable runs. MoCA rocks! I can now stream Netflix, Vudu, Blockbuster, etc in HD live over the internet portion.
I'm a former Comcast customer who always failed speed delivery tests. Verizon seems to be meet their advertised speeds.
Order and install was simple. Standard Actiontec router is no great shakes but I purchased a second Rev D Actiontec and a Rev E. The E seems faster in many ways, but especially in administering settings.
No bad experiences with Verizon. Comcast techs were here about every month or so.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by swannyva
member for 11 years, 236 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 3.2 years ago
- Herndon,Fairfax,VA
- $43 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Excellent Dependability"
- "Hi cost."
- "Switching to Cox because 10/2 service went to $53/month!"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've been a happy Fios user for over 3 years. The service is dependable and meets my needs. Upgraded speed last year with a discount for a 12 month package at $43/month. Received a notice of the increase to $53, called and got an offer at $47, but decided to switch to Cox. Got to vote with my wallet.
I did dump the supplied router within weeks due to instability, but that has been the only trouble. Switched to Vonage phone service 18 months ago, with excellent VOIP over Fios. No complaints, but can't justify paying 20% more for less bandwith.
It's been fun!
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
Review by drkramer
member for 10.6 years, 32 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 3.4 years ago
- Fairfax,Fairfax,VA
- $162 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 60 days
- "When it works, it's fast."
- "EVERY piece of equipment has been replaced except remote."
- "IT's too early to market"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I got phone, tv, 15/2 internet, and wireless bundle. Phone and wireless work. The other is spotty. TV has multiroom dvr, but sound just stops with no pattern (not good if using dvr). They've replaced it 3 times now. Hold times to get to a tech is so long, get on a corded phone or have a spare battery handy - serious!
The website to check billing and service has a tremendous amount of server internal errors. I cannot even get to my bill. For some reason, after 4+ years of e-billing (they send bill to my bank, my bank sends full amount due on day due), it stops (the day I ordered FIOS to be connected.. hmmmm). I am told it cannot be verizon. Bank of America steps in - they prove it is a known sporadic issue with verizon for months. Verizon admits on call back and credits the late payment charges (big of them - since i find out when they threaten to cut off services).
I am on hold again because they have inadvertently turned off multiroom dvr when they completely reloaded the dvr last night to try and fix the sound that is still broken. Why isn't it this screwed up in the mall store where they show all this crap outperforming cable and satellite???
Oh, and the current solution to every tv issue is to reset your boxes or reload them. That process wipes out all the customizations AND any recorded videos - how nice. That's why you pay the extra $13/mo for the DVR so you lose all the crap you intended not to ever watch.
The router they make you use controls the video on demand. It has its own 300MBPS (yea - they sell you 15MBPS but use 300MBPS for their own purposes... one doesn't interfere with the other so they say). When they install it, the wireless radio is wide open, so if you don't go in and tinker, everyone in the neighborhood will be playing on your bits. My first router managed to stop passing traffic on port 80 and 53 until it was rebooted (then eventually replaced). Oh - when you get ready to replace a limping router with a new one, CALL tech support FIRST - else you will be swapping back to get connected to get their phone number to call them, then reconnecting the new router...
I've been wasting more time than I gained with the jump from 3MB DSL to the 15MB. We really had NO problem with verizon DSL and Directv. I really wish I wasn't a speed addict. I could bleed to death on this FIOS hit.
Comments:
|
|
·
·
