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Review by jazzymo See Profile

  • Location: Portland, Washington, OR, USA
  • Cost: $34 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Fast reliable service
PPPoE
Get it if you can
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)

Ordered the 5/2 service. Tech showed up on time. I had already run the Cat5e cable.
Install time around two hours. Replaced their D-Link 624 router with my Linksys WRT54GX.
Service has been running great (5 months), no problems.

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Review by jazzymo See Profile

  • Location: Portland, Washington, OR, USA
  • Cost: $34 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Excellent value for the money.
PPPoE
Get it if you can
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)

Ordered 5/2 service. Tech showed up on time. I had the Cat5e cable in place, so his
install time was maybe two hours. Replaced the D-Link 624 router with my Linksys
WRT54GX. No problems.

member for 17.7 years, 878 visits, last login: 15.8 years ago
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Review by karlbrace See Profile

  • Location: Acton, Middlesex, MA, USA
  • Cost: $35 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Low cost, great upload speed
None so far
Better value than cable internet
Pre Sales Information:
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(ratings match consensus)

I ordered 5M up/2M down for $35/month. Installation was uneventful (I had a spare cat5 run during recent construction). The installer arrived at 9 on the day I chose, up and running by 11, came back after lunch to neaten things up. Outside box is sort of big, inside power supply is smaller. Very professional job. The installer was willing to set things up on my computer, but I declined (preferred to do it myself). Instead, I asked him if he could replace all the crappy connectors I had put on the cat5 cables around my network, and he did so happily.

Measured performance is right at spec, and latency to Vonage.com is 15-25 ms. VoIP with Vonage works great. It's been 2 weeks with no outages, and the voice quality is great. I switch from Comcast because they were dropping too many packets. Saving money was another motivation. I was paying $62 for Comcast 6/0.3. I'm also looking forward to FIOS TV when it comes to my town later this year (Acton, MA) to replace my DirecTV. FIOS TV should be similar cost to DirecTV for a nearly identical lineup, but better quality.

I decided to use their DI-624 wireless G router as my main router instead of my Vonage box. This means my Vonage VoIP adapter is hanging off my network just like any other device, which means it can't give voice packets a priority, but the bandwidth is high enough that this hasn't caused any voice problems. The DI-624 uses DHCP, not PPPoe (as older Fios installations have reported). It also lets me do "static DHCP" (always assigning the same address to recognized devices), which the Vonage box (RT31P2) wouldn't do, so it is easier to find my print server and cross-mount drives between my PC and Mac after a power outage.

The installer also moved my POTS line (for a fax machine) over to fiber. It works fine, both sending and receiving faxes. Others have noted problems with auto-detect fax/voice when a POTS line moves to fiber, but since the fax is the only thing on that line it isn't an issue for me. We have an HP G85 MFD.



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Review by HawksNest See Profile

  • Location: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 15 days
Fast, good connection reliability
Connect through PPPoE
Great speed for the price. If its available in your area, grab it.
Pre Sales Information:
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(ratings match consensus)

I had Adelphia since we first moved in about a year ago. Over the years they had upgraded me from 4/512, to 6/768, and then finally to 16/2 without raising the price, which was $59.95. About the time we moved in, Verizon sub contractors started putting up innerduct for Fiber, and a Year later it was available . After that first encounter with the sub contractors, I called Verizon once every month. During one call during October, they said it was available!

The rep I spoke was very nice, and spoke clearly about the service, in a way that anyone could understand. We setup an install date of 11/7. After many long days of waiting, the install date come around. The installer arrived an half hour earlier, which was fine by me. He began running a drop from a box on the pole to the house. The part of the drop done at the house was very clean, and secured down with cable ties. After that he grabbed the ONT, and the BBU from his truck. The ONT was an AFC 610X, which was mounted in place of the old telephone NID. The BBU was placed inside of the house, on the other side of the wall that the ONT was mounted on. All wires were run, and then hooked up at the ONT with minimal problems. The installer ran Cat5 through some beams in the ceiling for me, and then into the room where the router would be placed. The only problems throughout the whole install was with the Cat5 cable and a punchdown in the connector. A staple had gone through the Cat5, and the connector that had been installed on one end hadnt been punched down correctly.

After all that was done, the installer gave me the Fios welcome package, which had a copy of the TOS, the install cd, and a few info packets. Hopefully all goes well in the coming months, so far the connection has been great. The Verizon supplied router is alright, but i quickly replaced it with my own after the installer left.

If you can get this in your area, get it!

Update 7/9:

Connect has been up since the install date(11/07/05), zero problems. Estimated date for FiosTV are early 2007. Still running PPPoE, recent installs in the area should be on DHCP. No speed upgrades.

member for 19.2 years, 2292 visits, last login: 5.3 years ago
updated 17.7 years ago


Review by gray rider See Profile

  • Location: East Setauket, Suffolk, NY, USA
  • Cost: $34 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
EXTREMELY STABLE CONNECTION
NONE
DUMP DSL AND GET FIOS
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(ratings match consensus)

I have had Verizon's FiOS service since March - and the service is unquestionably the only way to go. Last summer I noted that Verizon was wiring my neighborhood, and the service became available at the beginning of the year. I signed-up for the 5000/2000 plan, and was upgraded (at no additional cost) to 10000/2000 last month after making a quick phone call. (I have a friend who is a Verizon employee, and told me just to call to upgrade for free.)

The install was easy, and the Verizon tech even "patched up" my existing POTS copper wiring outside my home and in my basement. (They were supposed to transfer my POTS service to "fiber", but never came back to do so. However, with Hurricane Season approaching, it may be a good idea to stick with POTS - remember, with FiOS - if you lose power, you lose service after the battery dies (including your telephone service!))

All I can say is that the FiOS service is far more stable than my old AT&T DSL service. With DSL, re-booting my VoIP (D-Link DVG-1402S) Router was almost a daily chore. Although I frequently complained to my VoIP provider ("Lingo'), I now see the dropped calls and the frequent lack of a dial tone was not Lingo's fault - it was my 1500/750 AT&T DSL service. With FiOS, I think I have had to reboot the wired router once since March! (I kept FiOS' free provided wireless router for future use or for sale on E-Bay.)

My experience is quite simple: For less than money than my old DSL service, I have a service that is five or six times faster. (AT& T DSL was $ 39.95, FiOS is $ 34.95 when combined with Verizon local telephone service.) And more importanly for VoIP users, an internet connection that is extremely stable and reliable!



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Review by marbat See Profile

  • Location: Teaneck, Bergen, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 8 days
Speed and cost
Availability if not in area
The lucky that can get it are happy :)
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

Pre Sales Information:
Wasn't advertised as soon as it became available, but besides that it's all good.

Install Co-ordination:
Tech missed appointment twice, but the third time was a great tech who knew what he was doing.

Connection reliability:
Can't comment yet, but if the DSL service is any indicator, it should be rock solid.

Tech support:
I have no use for this.

Value for money:
I don't think a better deal is possible. Opt online comes close, but with less upload and capping and higher price, who cares?

Overall, the speed is delivered as promised for 20MBps/5MBps, the install took a while, but was well executed, and I recieved a D-Link 624 wireless router. Also, Verizon has finally dropped PPPoE in favor of DHCP!

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Review by pcnetworx1 See Profile

  • Location: Bethel Park, Allegheny, PA, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 14 days
Reliability, Speed, Price, Quality, and Quantity SHINE above other providers and methods
Fiber Optics IS the way the ISPs are going to HAVE to go someday after using this service.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)

While I've only had this service for less than a day, but I can always update later if new developments arise.

This is by far and above the best internet connection for residential I have ever used.

In fact I am currently attending a program at Carnegie Mellon University and it FEELS as snappy as their network when browsing / downloading (Think multiple OC-48s at CMU).

I will list experiences so far with the connection, from installation to tasks I've done since this afternoon.

//INSTALL//

Installation was conducted by TWO techs at my location, it was an all aerial install, but the second guy seemed to be training or something. I did a lot of pre-work for the past week in my spare time prepping stuff in the arrival of them they would have as easy an install as possible, and thus a fast install. While this is definately an exception, the techs were very glad for the couple minutes I worked earlier in the week to setup for them; from the drop from the pole to the spanking new Actiontec R1408 which they installed took about 3 and a half hours. I believe the usual is about 5 - 6 hours? Anyway, I was up, running, and had to spend a little bit of time cleaning the "spaghetti" of cabling because I had Adelphia Cable Extreme Internet before (which I think still is a good connection, but the Verizon is superior in both a lower Price and MUCH better Routing on the backbones). Now for performance tests I've done.

\\Performance\\

I ordered the 15 / 2 package, and guess what I got? A 16 / 2 connection! No complaints on over-provisioning here. I absolutely LOVE the router that came with this connection. Pics here »actiontec.com/products/b ··· otos.php Very high quality router provided with this service, the best one I've ever seen provided residential / commercial. Lots of nice features like good QoS, a slick web interface that doesn't look like a bloated attempt at a candied up crapola interface. Noticed in my partial reconfiguring it has ports forwarded under the label "STB." So after reading actiontec's website, it appears this will later connect to the Set Top Box and probably get shows on demand while the MoCA thing covers the live TV? Just a speculation of mine.

Downloads are variable as usual, a majority of which issues are occuring on the server part of the content -> client conundrum now. It is nice though even when many downloads are not able to burst to the full 15 megabits, the fact is one can run multiple 2-4 megabit downloads seamlessly AND talk on a VoIP phone service (today I tested it with the VoIP provider Lingo). Convergence right?

And of course for a latency test, I consulted an appropriate test I call the "Counter-Strike" tests. Of course this means "testing" the connection by playing CS, and hopping between many servers comparing ping results to location. Some latency improvements are astounding. There was one server in particular I had played on before over the Adelphia Extreme connection and got about 20-40ms ping, which is quite playable and I didn't complain at all. Now over the new FIOS connection I, on that SAME server, get about 6-9ms. Roughly averaged, a 20ms reduction at least. Great improvement.

//Conclusion\\

All in all, the finest connection I've ever had to my home, and I can see how even though many complain about why is the USA not connected FTTH all across the country. I can assure you after experiencing this connection, EVENTUALLY it WILL get to everyone, guaranteed.

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JohnA4
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Pittsburgh, PA

JohnA4

Premium Member

Nice!


Congrats, pcnetworx1. Surprised by that router, since it's not the MOCA enabled one. Enjoy!!!
StEaLtHBuNnY
join:2002-10-12
Bergenfield, NJ

StEaLtHBuNnY

Member

Re: Nice!

heh im guessing that cs server is boosted

SeanThomas666
@verizon.net

SeanThomas666

Anon

Where in Bethel Park.......

Where u located man? I'm located on Janet Dr, over by St. Germaine's School & Church.. I still DONT have fiber.
pcnetworx1
join:2005-09-21
Bethel Park, PA

pcnetworx1

Member

Re: Where in Bethel Park.......

Located on Broughton Road near the intersection of 88 and Broughton Road.

I know the installers told me I was the first on the entire hub distribution (so thats about 1 out of 144 IIRC).

I was in a position where my whole segment of street from Shopping Save to the intersection was un-fibered and I made some strategic calls in March, and eventually in May a third party contractor put the conduit on the poles, then a Verizon crew fibered the conduit a couple days later, there was about a month wait until I could order, a two week wait til the soonest install appointment, and I just got the install on July 3rd.

Unlike many FIOS posters in the forum I didn't have a problem waiting another year if need be, because I was probably one of the few with a QUALITY 16/2 Extreme Cable Internet Package from Adelphia. Except of course Adelphia isn't supposed to exist soon if all goes correct...

SeanThomas666
@verizon.net

SeanThomas666

Anon

Re: Where in Bethel Park.......

What CO are you on? Is your CO by Bethel Bakery? Thats where I am...
pcnetworx1
join:2005-09-21
Bethel Park, PA

pcnetworx1

Member

Re: Where in Bethel Park.......

yup my CO is by Bethel Bakery
WhopperChees
join:2006-08-16
Pittsburgh, PA

WhopperChees

Member

Re: Where in Bethel Park.......

I FINALLY got it a month ago... I got the 15/2 plan... I LOVE IT... I'm constantly getting 15.3 and 1.93... Its soooooooo much fun, I got sumthing b4 my friend Rob... He is JEALOUS!! He came over to c how fast I can d/l, and the file ENDED UP on 1.44MEG.. My jaw just about hit the floor... He said theres no difference between 3MEG dsl and FIOS, well I told him I see one hell of alot of difference.. 2 ?'s for you pcnetworx1, Did u have a guy named Tim do the install, and #2, what speeds are u getting?

Review by localhost See Profile

  • Location: Long Beach, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Cost: $44 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Extremely fast, not very expensive
Port 80 blocked
Excellent
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)

I had no problems with the installation, 10 days from order to service. Service is extremely fast and speeds are very close to the advertised. I am not too happy about port 80 being blocked but i honestly cannot blame verizon for doing so. My area does not offer Fios TV yet, but i can't wait to try that. I have the 15/2 package with 1 year contract. IP's are assigned via DHCP, does not require PPPoE. Free installation with a free DLink router (though i don't use it).

I highly recommend this service to anyone who is in a supported area.

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TaterNutz
join:2003-10-08
Long Beach, CA

TaterNutz

Member

What part in the LBC you live in?

Cuz on the West they havent even started installin the fiber. Its pissing me off wit Charter because they havent upgraded the internet cuz they could of did it in 04 when i got it and last year from what i read that LONG BEACH had one of the best Tiers. Now the past 2 weeks ive been laggin at night for some reason, maybe because they are testing new speeds? Well Can you respond to this because I want to see how far Verizon came along with this. I had Verizon DSL in 03-04 and I hated it cuz it was unstable.

GET BAcK at me.

localhost
Premium Member
join:2005-01-19
Cypress, CA

localhost

Premium Member

Re: What part in the LBC you live in?

I'm east, near CSULB. My CO is in Seal Beach. I heard that they were laying fiber near LBCC but that obviously isn't rolled out yet.
Tosco
join:2001-05-04
Pomona, CA

Tosco to TaterNutz

Member

to TaterNutz
I have FIOS In 91766

Lord Prox
@speakeasy.net

Lord Prox to TaterNutz

Anon

to TaterNutz
FIOS in 90815-1111 soon. A verizon tech was wandering around in my backyard (Bellflower and Spring - Bellflower and 405 - Cal Worthington Ford Dealership. 11 Sept 2006) doing a survey on the lines and poles. FIOS lines due to be installed on 12 Sept 2006. No idea when the service will start, end of the year?

Called Speakeasy to see if service will be available over FIOS. No love. I will be staying with Speakeasy xDSL for a while but they did say it could happen in a year or so. Speakeasy on Fiber... mmMMmmmm *drool*

Lord Prox.
»i-bless.com
»i-curse.com
axess_denied
join:2004-07-23
Long Beach, CA

axess_denied

Member

Re: Cal Worthington and his dog FIOS!

I'm in the same neighborhood (just east of CW Ford and Lowes) and got it yesterday - 15/2 package is pretty quick. Localhost - did you ever find a good speed test???

kevincw01
@charter.com

kevincw01

Anon

no dice at clark/atherton

All last year I watched them install the fiber on clark from 405s to conant st. They're done now but no fiber yet for clark/atherton. It sucks, if you go 1 mile east, it's yours. if you go half-mile south, its yours. If you live in my neighborhood, no dice. Charter cable is good after hours but at night it lags with everyone using it.

Review by jkimble See Profile

  • Location: Huntington Beach, Orange, CA, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Awesome speed, new Cat5e was run by install techs, includes DI-624
Fiber was run to house same day house was wired (poor coordination)
Excellent and consistent speed for a decent price.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

I had difficulty ordering on-line for some reason. Eventually had to call to order from Verizon during business hours. It was some bug in their web site software.

The Verizon folks said they would first run fiber via a trench cut in my yard, but that didn't have to happen; they connected directly from the telephone pole that sits at the edge of my backyard fence.

Verizon had two trucks roll out the same day to do the install. One of them ran fiber to the house; the other one did everything inside the house, including setting up the wireless router and running Cat5e.

Note that the price on the web site and the one generally advertised is $45/month. They sent a flyer for $40/month. I got the lower rate by asking.

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Review by ravencajun See Profile

  • Location: Wylie, Collin, TX, USA
  • Cost: $41 per month
Very dependable and very fast.
none
I would never go back to anything else.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

It has been some time since I had my install so I do not remember some of the info. But my install date was Feb 1,2005. I had a very short time from the order to the install and it was done on the date as scheduled. I had 2 installers that worked well together one doing the outside work the other doing the inside work and it was completed and up in about 3 hours. It was a very smooth transition with no problems.

Since the install I have had no problems with my fios. I absolutely love it and would never go back to dsl or anything else. I am definitely a verizon fios fan.

I did not get the top speed package and have thought of upgrading to that package but I have been so happy with the one I have I just do not see the need to change anything at this time. I have the 5 Mbps/2 Mbps package. My monthly rate is $39.95 with added tax my total comes to $41.19 per month.

My speed tests show my speeds to be very accurate with what was predicted for my package. I was provided with the D-link router which they set up for me. I did not choose the wireless.

The only problem I had during the entire process was that I was unable to finish the order process online due to a glitch in their forms which did not recognize my town with my zipcode. This is common however since we share a zipcode with a few other towns. So I had to call in and complete the order on the phone but since it was their problem they did allow me the first month free as promised on the website at the time. All of the interactions I have had with the Verizon fios and encore people have been very pleasant and quickly resolved.

I would highly recommend Verizon fios.

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Joey Oval
@verizon.net

Joey Oval

Anon

Verizon FiOS--Massachusetts

The residents of Massachusetts, not to mention the country, have no idea what they are in for. Verizon is providing a fiber optic cable with bandwidth that has the ability to carry, both voice and data, on a wire that is not exposed to the elements, thus resulting in a service where customers will never have to hear static on their lines again. Coupled with the unbelievable speeds on the data portion of the package, one will never hear the end user saying, "I got kicked of-line again." However, once the state gives the green light for a franchising license to offer television in all communities, consumers can say good bye to cable forever. Good work Verizon, ou've made me a customer for life.

heylo
@verizon.net

heylo

Anon

cool

yeah i have the same package
its muuuch faster than dial up
but i want the 15/2 package