[Highland Park] Fios service comments

31 May 2009

      Thanks to all who replied to my question about experiences with FIOS. Several people asked for the responses, so i've put them together for anyone who needs them:

We had DSL and switched to FIOS.  The phone 
service has never been a problem.  If you're going to connect your PC 
directly to the router then switching to FIOS won't be an issue.  If, 
however, you plan to connect wirelessly, router placement is key to get good signal strength. In fact we got just as good if not better wireless 
speed with DSL.  

With FIOS I had to buy a better router antenna to 
boost the signal because Verizon gives you some pretty lame equipment.  
Even with the antenna wireless speed doesn't seem to be as fast as wireless 
DSL was and setting up my wireless workstations was a royal pain in the 
neck.  I had to take apart each of my wireless desktops and haul them to 
the router put them back together and plug them directly into the router before 
I could get the wireless settings to work.  It took me the better part 
of two days to get it to work and even though I had been on the phone with to 
call Verizon tech support about 20 times, I had to start over in their queue 
every call which resulted in me spending hours on hold.  

Caveat emptor.
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I love my FIOS internet - and use VOIP over it - but I do go through Full Service Network (reseller) to get both - prices are better.  Although I do only buy the Broadband Regional Phone Plan at $14.99/month - any long distance calls are extra, but I don't really make any so it works for me.

You can call them at:   
1-888-347-6000
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My sister has it and hasn't had any problems.  She generally likes the
speed for the internet and had no problems with the phone systems. 
They are 'suggesting' we move also as we have verizon phone and dsl but
it is more expensive for fios and I told them until the price is equal
to what we currently pay I saw no reason to switch.  Good Luck.
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i recently purchased their internet service.  I 
already had the phone.  Thus far I have not had any concerns; and, i've had 
the service of 3 mos.
_________

I went through the same thing about 6 months ago. Once you managed to
contact them, make sure of all the things, when they come, etc, it is
definitively worth it. The actual process can be a little bit cumbersome.

Once installed, the systems works very well (much better that the one we
have at the University of Pittsburgh, I must say) and is quite fast. Be
aware that you will have to change your international provider -if you
have one- to Verizon, which we also did. Make sure that you talk about
that and get one of the many plans they have, and then it will be good.
Otherwise they will charge you about a dollar per minute.____________

we have it, and we love it!  it is sooo fast, even wireless up on our 2nd floor - the box is in the basement!
_____________

We switched to fios about 6 months ago, I don't notice a speed
difference, but we've had a significant improvement in reliability.
______________

I
took the cheaper deal and love it! (The $100 wasn’t bad either!) The
internet is great, the high speed works (I teach university courses on
line and it works for huge files, live classrooms, etc) and the I
haven’t noticed a difference in the phone (except it is less expensive).
_____________

We have it and love it.  The speed far exceeds that of DSL, and
we've never had any issues with it at all.  The difference was
notable.  Since I work from home frequently, we used to get bogged down
on the DSL when my computer would try to backup its work files to my
company's network.  We no longer have those issues.  The set up takes a
while; the guy was here for about 4 hours, I think, but he was pleasant
and did a nice job. 
 Ultimately, I think that we're spending less every month than we used to when we had DSL. It's definitely worth it.
______________

We have had FIOS phone and internet (10/2 Mbps) for a month now and
have been pleased with it.  The phone service is expanded from what we
had before (caller ID, unlimited calling to US/Canada).  It is hard to
compare the price exactly, because we were using a calling card for
long distance before.  We also had the slowest DSL speed before.  I
sure we are paying somewhat more now, but the higher internet speed and
expanded phone service seems to be worth it.

Verizon has a pretty poor reputation for customer support and billing
issues, but our first bill was correct (as far as I could tell--the
change in phone service made it pretty complicated) and the only
support issue I have had so far was handled well.  The problem that
required support was that the voice mail message alert (the beeping
dial tone you get when there is a new voice mail message) was not
working after the FIOS was installed.  I submitted a problem report
online and, surprisingly, the problem was fixed within a few hours.  I
have heard of others having this same problem, so if you can I would
suggest testing it while the tech is still there after the installation
(I didn't have time to check it out until later).

I suspect that once Verizon gets its TV franchise in the city we will
be inundated with offers to add the TV service.  We do not have TV
cable now, and have no intention of adding it, so we'll see how
persistent they are.

The installation tech did a good job with the physical installation and
gave me some choices such as where to install the ONT (the box where
the fiber comes in and is converted to phone/internet signals) and the
router.  He was less accommodating with the computer/router setup--I
wanted the router set up with wireless disabled, but he left it
enabled.  It was not too big a deal for me to change it myself, but I
am fairly computer literate.
________________________

We have had the Fios internet and phone
for about a year.  The internet service has been great.  We have the least
expensive Fios package (5mb?).   The installer was very professional and
capable – although the install took 6hrs for him to complete.  A few months
after the installation, the router malfunctioned and Verizon sent a new one in
a couple days.

I would highly recommend the internet
package as it has been more reliable (and faster) than the DSL we had
previously.
_________________________

We have Fios and love it. Can’t wait
for them to start offering Fios TV
____________________________

Got FIOS (internet only) after I moved to Penn Hills last month;
everything seems to be working fine.
_________________________

We have Verizon Fios and I would say we are 90% happy with it.  Any problems that came up for us were promptly fixed by Verizon.
__________________________

I have had Fios for almost two years and am very happy with it.
_____________________________

It is cheaper but we have not had good experience—it is
not very reliable
_______________________________

m h

PEGGY DRAKE

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