Welcome to the Product Spotlight -- a continuing series of articles highlighting individual products commonly used by our members.

In The Spotlight: Verizon FiOS
Last week: HughesNet

Even the non-technophile has probably seen campaign spots for Verizon's FiOS -- broadband-to-your home seductively delivered by light over fiber optic lines. Fiber is the ultimate in Internet service, and Verizon has embraced the technology, investing heavily, while shareholders and analysts debate if their large investment will ever be profitable.

Requirements, Hardware and Installation

At Verizon's website, the telco pitches its FiOS service as "beyond super fast surfing." Their marketing pitch reads:

"When FiOS meets your computer, you'll have access to blazing fast speeds. Online gaming, video chatting like it's instant messaging, downloading feature films and CD-quality audio... Do it all faster than ever with FiOS. FiOS Internet gives you everything you need. Essential features, exclusive entertainment, option to choose an online service (MSN, AOL or Yahoo!), special member discounts and great extras are all available."

Verizon FiOS is stated as being compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista but actually, like nearly every other broadband service, no software is required. Your PC speaks to a regular wireless or wired router, and the complexity, once setup, is hidden behind that.

Minimum and recommended systems for each speed package are charted here. Verizon notes that wireless adapters are not officially supported for Macintosh.

The cost for equipment and standard professional residential installation depends on whether you choose to sign a one-year agreement or join a month-to-month plan. With a one-year contract, installation is free for your primary computer (though there is a one time $19.99 activation fee). If you choose to pay month-to-month, installation will cost you $69.99. You will also be given the option of setting up additional computers during the initial installation for $75 each.

A free wireless router is included with installation (or you can use your own). The main routers offered seem to be the DLink 624 and, more recently, the ActionTec MI424 WR (pictured on left). A small but pertinent discussion on the two routers can be read here in our Verizon FiOS User Forum. The customer must provide the appropriate wireless adapters for other computers you wish to connect to the router.

Verizon also installs a backup power supply that will provide up to 8 hours of backup power for voice calls. Installing FiOS leaves the old fashioned copper to your house (powered by the central office in an electricity outage) dead. Your data, and FIOSTV, will cease to function until full power is restored to the ONT (Optical Network Terminal).

Pictured to the right is a typical outside wall box for FiOS (click to expand). An excellent description of the actual installation and some good advice on the process can be found here in our Verizon FiOS FAQ. Average installation time seems to be about 5 hours, and most reviews generally agree that installs go well overall. Order-to-live service time seems to average roughly 10-14 days according to reviews, though as little as one day and as long as 6 months have been reported.

If you cancel a one-year agreement between months 2-12, there is a $69 early termination fee. There is no termination fee for cancelling month-to-month service.

Speed, speed, speed! And reliable, too...

Having been a FiOS Internet customer since May of 2006, I have had an entire year to use the product and break it in. Well, there was no break in period. It has been extremely reliable and has NEVER been down or unavailable in the year that I have had it. I consistently get 20000 down and 5000 up, and it is always the same. It quickly recovers after a power interruption, and you are back on-line in seconds. »User reviews - Verizon FIOS

There are three speed plans to choose from, as listed on the Verizon FiOS website. Speeds are the same whether you choose a one-year contract or go with month-to-month service. However, there are differences in price between a one-year contract and month-to-month service.

If you sign up for one year, your speeds and cost of service are: 5Mbps download/2Mbps upload for $39.99/month; 15Mbps download/2Mpbs upload for $49.99/month; and 30Mbps download/5Mbps upload for $179.95/month.

If you go with month-to-month, the prices change to 5Mbps/2Mbps for $47.99/month; 15Mbps/2Mpbs for $57.99/month; 30Mbps/5Mbps for $199.95/month. All speeds are listed as "up to."

Earlier this year, Verizon upgraded these packages to 10Mbps/2Mbps, 20Mbps/5Mbps and 50Mbps/5Mbps in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Verizon has not announced when additional regions will receive the speed upgrades. In many service areas, Verizon also offers a $5 monthly discount for double-play service (TV, Internet) and a $10 monthly discount for triple-play (TV, Internet, phone).

Most reviews state that their service meets or, in some cases, exceeds the expected and impressive advertised speeds. Many reviews also cite the service as being extremely reliable, with very little downtime.

Service Areas

Though the telco seems to be rolling out the service at a pretty good pace, Verizon does NOT reveal their road map for service areas. It is fair to say that if you don't live in a commuter belt suburb with easily trenched gardens and large lots, FiOS is unlikely to be passing your door anytime soon. The technology, requiring entirely new lines and equipment all the way to the door, does not lend itself to cityscapes.

You can check out where service is available (and where it posssibly could be available soon) on our availability map. It is interesting to zero in on cities like Boston and New York to note the clusters around, but not in, these cities.

You can also keep checking on availability by entering your address at Verizon's FiOS Qualification page or entering your Verizon telephone number at Verizon's FiOS homepage.

Nobody is perfect -- especially Tech Support

While the majority of the current reviews of Verizon FiOS are very positive, no service is perfect, and there are some problems that are pointed out in more than one review. The most common problem cited in customer reviews of Verizon FiOS is their tech support and customer service. Typical comments from reviews on this subject are:

What do you do when call back after call back is promised, but no one ever calls back? How do you respond when a technician shows up at your door and complains AT YOU because there's no installation on the side of your building? Why do billing reps not know their own pricing?

Sales support is not clear on what is allowed, and what ports, if any, are blocked. I asked for answers beyond the standard browse-the-web and read-email questions, and threw the guy for a loop. But, I let him off the hook, since I knew the answers from here.)

Bottom line - it's still the same clueless Verizon techs at the other end of the line. But at least they're rude/clueless/indifferent/hostile (use your own adjective) in clear, plain English. Wonder how long it will take for FiOS to get outsourced to India, China or one of the "Stans."

Terms of Service

The FiOS service is subject to Verizons ToS. This means, even with all this power, no web servers are allowed (Section 3.7.5 of the ToS: "You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature"). According to our FAQ, "Port 80 and Port 25 inbound are blocked; however, port 25 outbound seems to be open at this time." In addition, although FiOS does not impose any hidden bandwidth caps, using excessive net traffic may alert Verizon, who then may monitor your line for "suspicious" activity. Also, Verizon apparently caps email size at 8MB if you use Verizon Central, with 2GB storage. However, the email size limit increases to 20MB if using a 3rd party client, such as Outlook or Thunderbird. There are also some reports here and there of localized problems with the service.

Summary

I have informed friends who say that Verizon is actually trying very hard with FiOS and that their new services are good. This experience has been good. If you're able to, I say get It. The Internet data rates and having a fixed phone/tv/Internet monthly bill alone are worth it. »User reviews - Verizon FIOS

So, does Verizon FiOS live up to the hype? Yes! If (a big if here!) you live in suburbia and they are rolling it out in your area, it is a leading contender for your broadband dollar. In fact, the underlying technology is different enough from cable and DSL that if the focus on suburbs continues, FiOS alone may contribute to the opening of a new "digital divide" in the US: suburbs vs cities.

Good value for the money -- especially with their bundle options -- decent choice of service plans, good reliability, excellent speeds and the overwhelming number of positive reviews on this site. These good points outweigh any Tech Support flubs, the somewhat annoying limitations put on the service by Verizons ToS and the small risk of a messy installation.

Verizon has a winner in FiOS if they continue rolling out the product as they have so far. It is not surprising the service maintains a Gold Rating here and is consistently ranked at the top of our combined rating chart.