FIOS in my area now

[VatorMan]

Is it worth it ? I have Comcast for internet and DIRECTV for video. COmcast has been OK-nothing spectacular and DIRECTV is well DIRECTV.

Experiences? Likes dislikes?

[Montehall]

my only question: at what point does FIOS change back to copper?
sure fiber is faster, but at some point it has to swap back to a copper line to go in your computer (Unless Comcast provides an FO NIC)... seems like a bottleneck.

[VatorMan]

my only question: at what point does FIOS change back to copper?
sure fiber is faster, but at some point it has to swap back to a copper line to go in your computer (Unless Comcast provides an FO NIC)... seems like a bottleneck.

Good question. I don't know the answer yet.Comcast is all copper here.

[theanswriz42]

Considering comcast is the #1 most hated company in America...I'd say it's a no brainer.

[Stangkiller]

Unless you're planning on spending the $80+ a month to realize the faster speeds of FIOS there's no real point.

[C5SilverBullet]

I hate having to deal with Comcast, but $25/mo for 16mb service, and I haven't had to ever call them keeps me happy.

[Bucwheat]

Comcast just plain sucks.:kick:

[Montehall]

I told Comcast to suck my balls as soon as our bill had a $30 surcharge for inactivity.... yeah, we didn't use enough data.

now I have Verizon DSL, which is cheaper, but since the hub is 200 miles away, my 3G phone is faster.

[mikeg826]

Good question. I don't know the answer yet.Comcast is all copper here.

At the ONT that Verizon installs in your house, from there you would go Coax to the TV and Cat5e/6 to your router. You can use Verizon's router , which is recommended if you will be remotely managing your set top boxes.

Verizon is starting to deploy routers that support 10/100/1000 , so as long as your NIC supports 1G, you can connect at 1Gb - but you will still be limited to your up/down speed that you pay for which is generally less then 100MB, which copper can handle no problem.

[mikeg826]

I told Comcast to suck my balls as soon as our bill had a $30 surcharge for inactivity.... yeah, we didn't use enough data.

now I have Verizon DSL, which is cheaper, but since the hub is 200 miles away, my 3G phone is faster.

:skep: how far in the sticks are you? Can't imagine any CO being that far from a customer.

for a good CO finder go here: Broadband/CO Finder.. | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo)

[Scissors]

my only question: at what point does FIOS change back to copper?
sure fiber is faster, but at some point it has to swap back to a copper line to go in your computer (Unless Comcast provides an FO NIC)... seems like a bottleneck.

Copper is capable of handling 10 Gbps (usually in certain specific instances like labs) and 1 Gbps commonly. Copper is not a limiting factor.

Wifi is the most common limit on bandwidth.

[Scissors]

Is it worth it ? I have Comcast for internet and DIRECTV for video. COmcast has been OK-nothing spectacular and DIRECTV is well DIRECTV.

Experiences? Likes dislikes?

It's worth it. I swapped from Comcast to Fios and haven't looked back. Outages are way, way down, bandwidth is much improved, latency is about the same.

Negatives: Slightly more expensive, the DVR is slow to respond to the remote's commands, used to crash out to the main screen when searching for shows (but this issue has gone away).

[mikeg826]

It's worth it. I swapped from Comcast to Fios and haven't looked back. Outages are way, way down, bandwidth is much improved, latency is about the same.

Negatives: Slightly more expensive, the DVR is slow to respond to the remote's commands, used to crash out to the main screen when searching for shows (but this issue has gone away).

:iagree:

I did download the Fios Remote app to my ipod touch, and it seems to respond quicker then the remote. I rarely have any downtime with the Fios, especially compared to ComCrap. Of course, it helps when their Hub is less then 30 feet from my house, they mounted it on the pole across our street.

I haven't really found it to be more expensive, especially when you bundle everything. And the PQ is far better then comcast ever was.

[Montehall]

:skep: how far in the sticks are you? Can't imagine any CO being that far from a customer.

for a good CO finder go here: Broadband/CO Finder.. | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo)
I'm not. I'm between Houston and Galveston, but I connect to Austin. I asked Verizon about it, but they said it's an automatic connection.

[bsmith]

I hate having to deal with Comcast, but $25/mo for 16mb service, and I haven't had to ever call them keeps me happy.

$80/Mo for 10Meg here. :dance:

[Montehall]

what's really messed up is the "tech" tried to swindle me with "it connects to Austin because you don't have a voice line. If you added a voice line, it would be much faster"
I asked for a supervisor, whom then explained it's an automatic connection.
:rolleyes:

[bsmith]

:iagree:

I did download the Fios Remote app to my ipod touch, and it seems to respond quicker then the remote. I rarely have any downtime with the Fios, especially compared to ComCrap. Of course, it helps when their Hub is less then 30 feet from my house, they mounted it on the pole across our street.

I haven't really found it to be more expensive, especially when you bundle everything. And the PQ is far better then comcast ever was.

What is on the pole outside your house?

[mikeg826]

What is on the pole outside your house?

Verizon Distribution Hub..

[prospero63]

I told Comcast to suck my balls as soon as our bill had a $30 surcharge for inactivity.... yeah, we didn't use enough data.

now I have Verizon DSL, which is cheaper, but since the hub is 200 miles away, my 3G phone is faster.

I'm sorry, but I don't think there's a single thing in your post that makes any sense.

[prospero63]

Copper is capable of handling 10 Gbps (usually in certain specific instances like labs) and 1 Gbps commonly. Copper is not a limiting factor.

Wifi is the most common limit on bandwidth.

QFT. No one is terminating OC-x at their house, so copper is no big deal.

[VatorMan]

It's worth it. I swapped from Comcast to Fios and haven't looked back. Outages are way, way down, bandwidth is much improved, latency is about the same.

Negatives: Slightly more expensive, the DVR is slow to respond to the remote's commands, used to crash out to the main screen when searching for shows (but this issue has gone away).

:iagree:

I did download the Fios Remote app to my ipod touch, and it seems to respond quicker then the remote. I rarely have any downtime with the Fios, especially compared to ComCrap. Of course, it helps when their Hub is less then 30 feet from my house, they mounted it on the pole across our street.

I haven't really found it to be more expensive, especially when you bundle everything. And the PQ is far better then comcast ever was.


It seems that to get any kind of real savings, I'd most certainly bundle. Right now DirecTV without any special channels (HBO,STARZ,sports...etc..) is $67.20. That's 2 HD DVRs and 2 HD recievers.

Comcrap DSL is $65 a month.

Anyone have a line on similar service with FIOS ?

[Montehall]

I'm sorry, but I don't think there's a single thing in your post that makes any sense.
We got back from a month vacation, and our Comcast had turned off our connection. Comcast said that we didn't use our internet the whole month, and put the account in hibernation. When we got home, our internet didn't work, and we had to get it turned back on. That costs $30.

We switched to Verizon DSL shortly after. For some damn reason that even Verizon techs can't really figure out (except to tell me "it's an automatic connection") my DSL connects to Austin, TX... because of this distance, my Phone has faster internet. (really, though, they are about the same)

According to the website posted, there are many closer CO's.

[dwjz06]

FIOS is much better. As soon as I could get it to dump feckin Comcast I did. Two years now and only one time has it been down. That was not on Verizon, but the power company.

[prospero63]

We got back from a month vacation, and our Comcast had turned off our connection. Comcast said that we didn't use our internet the whole month, and put the account in hibernation. When we got home, our internet didn't work, and we had to get it turned back on. That costs $30.

I've never, ever, ever heard of anything remotely close to this ever happening. While I won't go so far as to call outright BS, I will say there's probably a lot more to this story than you are giving/making up.

We switched to Verizon DSL shortly after. For some damn reason that even Verizon techs can't really figure out (except to tell me "it's an automatic connection") my DSL connects to Austin, TX... because of this distance, my Phone has faster internet. (really, though, they are about the same)

According to the website posted, there are many closer CO's.

DSL works out to like 40K feet. There's no way you are connecting to Austin from Santa Fe. Again, I think you might be playing things up a little here. Drama sure seems to follow you...

[Montehall]

I've never, ever, ever heard of anything remotely close to this ever happening. While I won't go so far as to call outright BS, I will say there's probably a lot more to this story than you are giving/making up.



DSL works out to like 40K feet. There's no way you are connecting to Austin from Santa Fe. Again, I think you might be playing things up a little here. Drama sure seems to follow you...
When I went to a speedtest.net, that's the server location it gave me.
I called Verizon to ask about it, because it did test a wee bit slower than my phone, and I was told that all connections are done automatically by the system, but they couldn't (or didn't want to) verify where it was going.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1187936950.png
According to the site someone posted earlier, (Broadband/CO Finder.. | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo)) there's a CO about 3 miles away from me.

no drama here, I paid for the 4 to 7mb service and I'm just a little slower

as for comcast, that's what they came up with. True or not on thier end, they wouldn't turn our service on, after a month of inactivity, without a $30 charge. We told them to stuff it and swtiched to Verizon.
I guess I should also mention that Comcast did offer to waive the fee, without any prompting.

[Scissors]

When I went to a speedtest.net, that's the server location it gave me.
I called Verizon to ask about it, because it did test a wee bit slower than my phone, and I was told that all connections are done automatically by the system, but they couldn't (or didn't want to) verify where it was going.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1187936950.png
According to the site someone posted earlier, (Broadband/CO Finder.. | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo)) there's a CO about 3 miles away from me.

no drama here, I paid for the 4 to 7mb service and I'm just a little slower

as for comcast, that's what they came up with. True or not on thier end, they wouldn't turn our service on, after a month of inactivity, without a $30 charge. We told them to stuff it and swtiched to Verizon.

DSL's speed is determined by the distance to the switch you're connected to. However, all Speedtest.net is going to display is whichever device it can see that's closest to you, which is probably the ISP's proxy. Which means that your DSL was connecting to your local office, and then the packets were switched and routed out to the proxy, and then to the internet.

Cable internet is similar, only the bandwidth is determined by how many neighbors are using it at the same time. Just as with the DSL, however, you can physically connect to something local, but not hit a gateway to the internet for many physical miles.

Generally speaking, any slowness is at your end and has very little to do with how physically far away your proxy resides. Backbones tend to be very fast.

[prospero63]

When I went to a speedtest.net, that's the server location it gave me.
I called Verizon to ask about it, because it did test a wee bit slower than my phone, and I was told that all connections are done automatically by the system, but they couldn't (or didn't want to) verify where it was going.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1187936950.png
According to the site someone posted earlier, (Broadband/CO Finder.. | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo)) there's a CO about 3 miles away from me.

no drama here, I paid for the 4 to 7mb service and I'm just a little slower

That's the location of the SPEEDTEST server. Not your DSL CO. The muddy waters are becoming clear now. :-)

as for comcast, that's what they came up with. True or not on thier end, they wouldn't turn our service on, after a month of inactivity, without a $30 charge. We told them to stuff it and swtiched to Verizon.
I guess I should also mention that Comcast did offer to waive the fee, without any prompting.

There's a saying about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Comcast in Houston is the inherited Road Runner service from TWC. It's capable of 60Mbps on a fairly routine basis.

http://speedtest.net/result/1179606349.png

That is a good clarification on the fee though. Still makes zero sense to me, unless you also happened to not pay your bill on time. Seeing as how Comcast (and all ISP's) are data service providers, customers who pay their bills but down use the service are EXACTLY the kind of customers they want. Just sayin...

[Montehall]

I appreciate the clarification.
If the router broke, I can fix it, but once the electrons leave the device, I'm not too familiar with the paths.

As far as Comcast, I agree, perhaps there was a mistake. Our bills were automatically withdrawn, so it could not have been late. I do not know. Kind of like an Auto insurance company declining the policy because you haven't made a claim. But it also wasn't our first run-in with the poor service. Mistake or no, it was a final straw.

I dunno, but I switched to Verizon, and have been pleased with the exception of one four-day interuption.... road crew cut my line, and that was the soonest Verizon could get a tech out. Prorated me for the 4 days on my April bill, and credited me the entire month or Feb.

We don't use our internet for anything super high-speed anyway; don't watch many videos or even download music, no gaming... truth be told, if Verizon Wireless didn't have such a twisted panty about tethering, we'd probably do away with the home internet all together.

[TabuIsMe]

When i had comcast, we would have to call them atleast once a month... whether it was internet or cable issues.. switched to optimum :hurray: