how-to block ads
|
next review in page
 Review by braindead 
member for 7.7 years, 2002 visits, last login: 24 days ago
lodged 3 years ago
 Plano,Collin,TX
 Contract price not specified.  "F*cking Fast!" "I would have to say none" "If it is in your area get it."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I am writing this review because my friend who lives in Plano Texas has the Fios triple play package. So I had to guess on the price but I am assuming it is around there. If anybody knows what that price is on average feel free to leave a comment about it. While I was playing around on his line I found out he had the 20megs down and 5 megs up. To say the least I am quite envious of the speeds he gets since I grew up on a 384kbps(up and down) dsl line and I didn't get the luxury of U-verse till I was about 18. So in all if you have the money to get Fios it is well worth the investment. Also the zip code may be off but it is at least a Plano zip.
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by smyroad
member for 3 years, 0 visits, last login: 3 years ago
updated 3 years ago
- Bowie,Prince Georges,MD
- Contract price not specified.
- (24 month contract)
 about 22 days- "HD Picture does not break up during verizon mobile text messages"
- "Poor HD picture, lousy customer service, confusing options"
- "Still waiting on hold, no one at VZ actually knows what's goin on."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Pray that FIOS install goes flawlessly!!!! Mine didn't, see my notes after the comparison.
Compared to Comcast internet and tv:
VZ win - More HD channels and better organization.
VZ lose - Poorer HD picture quality
VZ win - Better SD picture quality
VZ lose - Guide is confusing. Comcast was simple and quick to the point.
VZ lose - Poor remote layout. The guide, single ch +/-, ch jump +/- and ok buttons are awkwardly placed so you have to move you hand to use the buttons. Comcast guide and channel jump +/- buttons are the same. Hit it again, and your jumping up the channels.
VZ speed test on CNET, gives the same result as Comcast did. Around 2.2Mb/s.
VZ lose - email support. VZ forces you to use yahoo or ?. Comcast email is on comcast.net.
April 20th ordered FIOS triple play for $69.99/mo for 6 months and $99.99 for 2 years after.
Translates to $110/mo for six months and $150/mo for two years...
1 HD Set with Multi-room DVR, 2 SD sets.
15M download, 5M(?) upload
Transfer residential ISDN phone to FIOS national unlimited plan (no international service)
April 26th install any time between 8am and 5pm. Showed up around 1 and stayed until 5:30.
install order was really messed up.
No phone, no DVR, no HD
Installer was able to add DVR and HD, but no phone.
The installer knew what he was doing, but VZ makes him wait on hold also.
Noticed HD picture was poor after the tech left
Lowest cost digital converter does not include the guide, will be upgrading!
Multi-room DVR recordings in HD, can't be played on SD sets, will be downgrading to standard DVR.
April 27th called about phone not being transferred to FIOS. 1 hour, 5 different customer service reps.
Turns out ISDN number I had has to be re-graded to POTS before assigning it to FIOS. This involves canceling the ISDN service, so the phone can be transferred. It could take up to 60 days! That's correct 60 days!
May 4th, ISDN line is dead - looks like 7 days, not 60. No FIOS phone yet.
May 6th, internet is down due to an account problem. 2 1/2 hours, 13 different customer service techs, including one that spent 60 minutes on hold with me waiting for another tech to answer.
Latest opinion was when they canceled my phone, they canceled the FIOS account, but my tv service was still working.
I had to re-order FIOS to be re-installed on may 12th.
I'll re-review after the next FIOS install.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by ptr727
member for 9.3 years, 1315 visits, last login: 44 days ago
lodged 3 years ago
- Redondo Beach,Los Angeles,CA
- $210 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 30 days
- "Fast"
- "No BBC HD"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
35Mb/35Mb, very fast.
Took a long time to get address database corrected so that I could order.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by pvera
member for 11.4 years, 320 visits, last login: 332 days ago
updated 3 years ago
- Reston,Fairfax,VA
- $70 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 8 days
- "Insanely fast speeds, very low ping, better than expected wireless router"
- "Ordering service and seeing it through the installation can be a horrible ordeal"
- "No brainer if you are 100% sure that all preparation work is done"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I spent the past two years and change getting FIOS installed, to replace my Comcast cable modem which I had since this cable company was taken over by Comcast. Every single time that I tried, the same thing happened: they would schedule the work, show up late and claim that yes, the fiber has been installed into the building, and yes, the individual strands had been pushed up into the attic of our four story condo building, but the strands still needed to be pulled down into each unit.
Every time I fell for it and tried to have them do whatever needed to be done. And while this happened for over two years, I kept getting 2-3 solicitation letters from Verizon basically begging me to dump Comcast.
Until earlier this year, I just assumed I would keep trying every few months until they got it right. From what I could research pretty much everyone I knew or read about was happy about FIOS ... once it was installed.
Earlier this year my situation changed: Comcast implemented a 250GB cap and removed language that they had early promised would include some kind of overage fee. The new version of the cap as brought out here comes with a simple message: go over once, we'll call you. Go over twice, we'll shut you down for a year. I checked my usage history and for the three months prior to the monitoring page going up, I had crossed over 250GB at least once. I decided to keep an eye on what we were doing online. For the next month, we hit almost 250GB just doing normal things and watching Netflix streaming (two of us in my household watch a lot of Netflix, I play it while I work to give me background noise, and my autistic 11-year old son watches movies a few hours every day).
While this was happening,Comcast oversold my area, so I was never getting half of what I was paying for, and this is including upgrading one or two tiers every time. No matter what time of the day I tried, I couldn't get better than 15MB down and barely 1MB up from test servers not 50 miles away that just a few months ago showed me always getting my full plan speed.
So this time I really needed the FIOS installed. For $7 extra per month I was promised 25MB/25MB service with no cap and no throttling whatsoever, while Comcast couldn't produce half of the speeds that I was paying for.
The ordering itself was not a problem, but my order got mixed up and I had to redo it over the phone, an ordeal which took over one hour.
On the (planned) day of the install, the technician called me very early in the morning to give me his estimated arrival as 30 minutes earlier than my maintenance window. He eventually showed up, two hours late and bearing bad news: we can't do the job because there's no fiber into your unit.
Right before I started screaming at the tech, he asked me a very innocent question: do you own or rent?
I own.
Well, he said, since the box that distributes the fibers is on your home office wall, why don't I just drill a hole, run an outdoor-type fiber through your wall and seal the hole? That is, if you don't mind the ONT mounted in your office wall...
I didn't mind 
He couldn't do it that day because he was missing that one cable he needed, so he rescheduled for the next day, Saturday morning. This time he was punctual, and in less than three hours the install was done and we had tested the connection with at least one of my machines. He had hinted that I could simply connect my Cisco 851 into the ethernet port of the ONT and not use the wireless router, but since it is a no-cost option, and he already had it, he left it for me but warned me "not to lose it" since it is their equipment.
The installation was simple: he drilled a 3/8" hole through the wall, pushed the fiber through it and sealed the hole, then installed the one-piece ONT over the drilled hole. The ONT is about the size of a Comcast PVR but this my home office, it's just one more beige box, and the only cables coming out of it are the power cord and one ethernet cable. The tech spent his time putting together the ONT, every single cable lock tied with slack loops, everything neat. It wouldn't surprise me if I went to check the heads of the screws and find all of them lined up perfectly.
That's the end of the "bad" part of my FIOS experience.
The good is that it runs like the hammers of hell. It is like Comcast was during the few months when cable modems were brand new and almost nobody in my neighborhood had one, so cable modems ran without tier caps, usually close to 30MB. I had feared that their wireless router would be a pain, but so far it has worked extremely well, and it plays nice with the Cisco 851 that I use to connect my work VOIP phone (these phones need a VPN, so the router needs to be able to make its own tunnels). Everything else that I have networked in the house worked perfectly on the first try: one Intel iMac, one Mac Book Pro (both on wireless), two Xbox 360s on a gigabit ethernet switch, two Apple TVs and a Dell laptop, also on the same switch, plus the Cisco 851 being used only for the Cisco VOIP phone.
Everything works perfectly.
Speed tests vary, but for the last 12 hours or so I am getting nothing worse than 20MB/20MB. Just for the hell of it I started some torrents and then started a movie on Netflix streaming, and everything ran along fine. The only two things (apart from the passwords) I have changed in the router so far: forward IDENT port 113 and changed the DNS servers.
I also tried VPN sessions to my work network and these worked no different than when connected to Comcast.
I chose the Verizon branded Yahoo services, which was a waste of time. The email verification is buggy, and all I can see is what is basically a white labeled Yahoo portal branded for Verizon. I really don't see the value on it, I did notice that uploading to Flickr was instantaneous, but I am positive this is because of FIOS, not because of the Verizon-Yahoo relationship.
Unless my FIOS dies in the next day or three, I am going to cancel my Comcast cable modem and I have to think hard about ditching their cable TV service too. I am infuriated that Comcast can get away with not supplying enough HD cable boxes as an excuse to push their $20/month HD PVR, which more than a few people get for free simply by calling Comcast and threatening to downgrade or cancel their service. Right now I am more interested in making sure that my Internet access problems are over, I can worry about the TV part later.
Would I recommend this?
Yes, with caveats:
1. If you are in a multiple dwelling unit, and Verizon has already wired the building, and you are 100% sure that YOUR unit has the fiber strand already pulled in, then this is a no-brainer. Go for it.
2. If you are like me, you know that the building is wired but the cables may have not been pulled yet, then it is OK as long as you understand that there is no way that they can knock this out in 4 hours as they will promise.
3. If you are on a stand alone house, then I don't know what to tell you. I have read some consistent stories about how two separate crews have to service these installs, overall it seems they make it happen as long as whoever runs coordination for these teams doesn't drop the ball.
4. If you are a casual web surfer, and you don't watch Internet video, then this 25MB/25MB product is already overkill, and the Comcast traffic cap wouldn't hit you so you may need to pitch Verizon against Comcast and see who gives you the best bang for your buck.
UPDATE 5/4/2010
My connection has been rock solid, no outages or glitches so far (except for an automated router upgrade). The first bill eventually showed up online, no email warning, no ETA for the charge to post to my credit card. The first bill was for just a couple bucks over a normal month, my prorate was only for a couple of days.
I have been randomly testing, and download speed never drops below 20Mb/s, the worst upload speed I have seen is 18Mb/s. The ping usually stays under 10 ms, sometimes as low as 4 ms.
The automatic router upgrade took me by surprise, but it didn't take me more than a minute to notice what was going on. Except for this, it has run pretty much perfectly.
Attachments:
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by hata28
member for 4.4 years, 550 visits, last login: 83 days ago
lodged 3 years ago
- Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
- Contract price not specified.
- (24 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "Got installed 3 business day from day ordered!"
- "Installer refused to run CAT5 from ONT"
- "Value for money! Reliable Speed! Upload go as high as 40 mb/s"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Switched over Comcast more than a month ago. Comcast wanted to increase from $150 to $200 after my promotion end on April 10 after with them for a few years.. I guessed it their standard practice, have emailed their Corporate Sales and they told me no promotions have to call back later. I knew about the rate gonna increase soon. So contacted a FiOS salesman and he gave me $109.99 for six month Triple plays 35/35 , UltimateHD, and Verizon Freedom Essential. Free 6 months DVR media. Comcast wanted about $200 for 50/10 and only Digital Starter HD package and Digital Voice. The FiOS salesman got me installed about 3 days or less. Ordered on Friday and UP and running on Monday! Having a hard time getting the installer to run CAT5 from ONT. He refused, claiming that it's wont work that way. I had to plug in the cable myself and called FSC to switch over. And have to called 3 times in order to speak to the REAL Tech in order to switch over remotely. Overall, FiOS service is good for me! Speed is consistent , more HD channels and the HD are more sharper than Comcast.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by BigJayinNYC
member for 3 years, 36 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
lodged 3 years ago
- Staten Island,Richmond,NY
- $178 per month
- about 15 days
- "Easy install process, bandwidth is through the roof, TV is awesome"
- "Pre-sales information is lacking, TV channel listing is not up to date"
- "If you can get it - get it!"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
We were increasingly frustrated by our previous ISP and TV provider, Time Warner Cable, so I decided to switch to Verizon FiOS after getting approval from the landlord.
One of the major problems I had was getting installation information on just how FiOS was installed. While I was able to piece together exactly what to expect, I still had a difficult time putting together a proposition for the landlord. Fortunately the landlord felt my pain when it came to dealing with TWC and OK'd the FiOS installation.
Placing the order was very easy as I placed it online (I don't like dealing with sales reps on the phone). I chose the 35/35 Internet + Ultimate HD package and opted to go month to month to avoid the early termination fees.
After ordering and initial payment I received an install date of 5/3/10 (two weeks from initial order), and would receive several follow-up calls.
4/20/10 - received a call to confirm that I had placed the order and that I understood that some digging would be required since all of my utilities were underground. No problem.
4/25/10 - received a call to confirm that I knew a contractor was going to come out to my location to lay the conduit for the fiber optic cable. Again, not a problem.
4/28/10 - the crew came out to lay the conduit from the street to the house. I was anxious about this because I didn't know how much damage would be done to the lawn and sidewalk. Thankfully they don't dig trenches out here (Staten Island, NY) and instead only dig up a small rectangle of the lawn - enough space to move their impact drill. Conduit installation was done within half an hour.
I want to give the contractors here some credit: while you can tell where they dug, the sod was treated well and the sidewalk was cleaned of the dirt they displaced. Overall a very excellent job.
4/30/10 - received a call from Verizon confirming my installation date and confirming that I met the requirements for installation - specifically proximity to a ground and three prong outlet, as well as confirming that I had permission from the landlord to install the service.
5/2/10 - received a call from Verizon asking basically the same thing as from the 30th. Interesting. I suspect that the call on the 30th was the FiOS department and this call was from whatever branch of Verizon handles the actual installation, as the lady from the 30th sounded like she was reading a script from a computer, while this guy sounded more like a blue-collar installer.
5/3/10 - installation day. My windows was from 8am to 12pm. Installer arrived around 9:30am. After a brief walk around and through the house, he felt an inside install in the unfinished basement would be best. I agreed and he got to installing everything. Installation proper started around 10am and finished around 3:30pm (about 5 1/2 hours total).
One thing I loved about the install was that everything was completely hands off for me. The installer was very experienced with the whole process and was able to figure out which coax wires went where (not an easy feat in this house, believe me). I didn't have to direct him where to run cables, or how to terminate a coax run (unlike the TWC contractor, thank the gods).
Yes, getting FiOS is a long process, but whatever past problems Verizon has had with the order and install process seem to have been ironed out (at least where I live).
Speeds are absolutely amazing. I'm moving up from TWC who has some serious bandwidth issues in this area. Previously I had a 15/2 cable modem connection, which would only hit 7/768 on a really good day. Currently I have the FiOS 35/35 package and I'm seeing exactly those speeds with very low (15ms) latency to many sites I visit.
The TV service has blown me away. This may seem like a really stupid thing, but when I change the channel, the channel actually changes! This was not the case on TWC's Scientific Atlanta Mystro boxes - you could end up pressing the channel up button several times before the box ever responded and then quickly threw you through several channels. When I press a button on FiOS things actually happen. Again, I can't believe I actually have to say this is a perk, but it is.
Channels appear to be very clear, and quality is what I would expect from them. I'm not a video freak, just your average TV watcher, so all I can say is that the SD channels look great, and the HD channels look like HD. Audio is fine for what I use the TV for, so no complaints there.
The DVR storage space is a bit of a bummer, but to be honest, I don't keep a lot of shows around anyway. I generally only DVR something - like Burn Notice - so I can watch it later. Once I've watched it, I usually don't go back and watch it again, so while space is limited, I don't particularly care.
One big difference between TWC and FiOS is the On Demand selection - there's a ton of stuff On Demand with FiOS and it actually plays! For whatever reason, TWC here just does not have very good On Demand service - movies take forever to load, many items never play, the menus are slow, etc ... FiOS has apparently solved whatever problems TWC has with On Demand. I like it.
Oh, and I get the NFL Network
I'm sure I'll come to hate the Verizon Bureaucracy in the coming months, but considering that I'm actually getting what I'm paying for, I'm very pleased thus far. I'll be sure to update this post if/when something happens.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by bloodybloody
member for 3 years, 20 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
lodged 3 years ago
- Plano,Collin,TX
 Business customer- $200 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 4 days
- "SPEED, Low ping times"
- "inconsistent speed"
- "AWESOME"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I ordered 25/25 with a static ip for hosting a website. I tested the speed here when I first got it, and it measured about 20mbps up and down. Since then my speed has raged from around 20mbps to as low as 2 mbps down, but usually above 10mbps upstream. Great for bittorrent, youtube, porn, sending large files, also great for hosting a website. Blazing fast, the fastest internet I have ever seen without a DS3 or OC type circuit...
Two thumbs way up.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by aztecnology
member for 10.2 years, 4704 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 years ago
- Murrieta,Riverside,CA
- $45 per month
- "Fast!"
- "None"
- "Best bang for your buck if you can get it..."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Best bang for your buck if you can get it... 25/15
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by Nasto
member for 11.8 years, 1846 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 years ago
- Long Beach,Los Angeles,CA
- $64 per month
- about 14 days
- "Amazingly Fast!"
- "None"
- "If you can get FIOS, do it!"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Went with the 20/20 plan. Actual speed is 20.7 Mbps down/18 up. Awesome!
Update March 2010: Upgraded to new speed bundle of 35/35. Get it if you can.
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
 Review by BlitzenZeus
member for 13.3 years, 6438 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 years ago
- Beaverton,Washington,OR
- $99 per month
- (month by month)
- about 14 days
- "Was far better than Comcast."
- "Being sold to Frontier who doesn't have a clue."
- "If your area is being sold, avoid it like the plague!"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Were being sold to Frontier, and our transition customer service can be unreachable now as they cannot handle the call volume.
I've been noticing more frequent problems, and the normal Verizon customer service is unable to access our accounts to even help us.
Updating the tech ratings based on the transition.
---------------------------
We upgraded from Verizon DSL. Basically it's fast, and it's not Comcast, however at this point it's picking which 800 lb. gorilla you want to go with if you have a choice. Only went with the 10/2 as we really didn't need faster.
Apparently they were very backed up in our area, it took two weeks to get an install completed. It was cool how they were able to bury the cable with their drill, but we did have to request some protection for the optical cable when it came up less than 6 inches deep next to our driveway when they were just going to bury it unprotected only a few inches below the surface. Once the installer got here they were able to just tie into the existing coax, but had to run a new phone line to the closest outlet. The installer was here an extra hour due to his remote tools not working, and they had to manually activate our equipment, however I didn't blame them for these problems. Overall we had everything possible setup for them before they got here, once they got inside all he had to do was plug in the stbs, and the gateway, however what should have been a few minutes to activate our equipment at best turned into tons of time on voice menus along with filling out manual tickets, however we just plugged in our existing wireless router to get on the internet while he was doing his thing. After everything seemed fine we had to call back the next day when we realized the time was off on one of the stbs, it turned out it was not correctly tied to our account, and we had to call back the next day to get it corrected.
Edit: Had an outage early in the morning, there was a problem involving a local gigabit router killing all vod, and internet services. The support was quick to test that the problem was their network, and escalate the issue. In around 1.5 hours it was fixed. I've lowered their reliability from this, but did raise their tech support rating due to this.
Comments:
|
|
·