Why
we dropped Cable and
switched to FIOS
I wrote this for
those people thinking of switching
from Cable to FIOS.
We used cable for Internet /TV for
about six years and later added VOIP
and had very few problems. The cable
company service was good, but the
cable prices never seemed to stop
rising. What made the decision for
me was a flier I received from the
cable company. It explained how we
could get a Special package of
TV/Telephone and Internet if we sign
up for a Two year contract for an
amazing $159.00 a
month. Guess they know FIOS would
be available in our area in the next
few months and they want to get
people locked in 2 yr. contract.
Maybe they are taking advantage of
what I think is Verizon's big
marketing mistake. Verizon should
have kept people aware their service
was coming soon and at a much better
price than the cable company was
offering.
We see ads on television with a cute
little kid talking about fiber
optics, but no one knows that it is
actually here in our area.
We found out about it because we
kept asking the people in the
Verizon trucks working around our
neighborhood. One guy told us it was
ready now so a quick call and 3 days
later, we had FIOS. Like I said, no
one knew it was available yet and
there was no waiting list yet. We
were lucky, really lucky. Some of
our neighbors came over when it was
being installed and asked how we
knew, who should they call, etc.,
etc., etc. One neighbor already had
FIOS in his shore home and liked it
enough to drop his cable at his home
also.
OK, how much money did we save? When
I called to order, the woman asked
me what package I wanted and what
was the price I saw advertised. I
was a little taken back by the
question and hesitated. I then told
her I saw TV/Telephone and 20/5
Internet advertised for $94.95 a
month. She responded with "That will
work for us". Pleasantly surprised,
I told her to "Sign us up." In 72
hrs we had FIOS. We did however have
to sign up for a two-year service
contract as is also required by the
cable company for the same package.
The reasons that made me switch to
Verizon FIOS.
At this time for basically the same
package, Cable is $159.95 - FIOS is
$94.95 both are less extras with a
two year signup. That's
an
amazing $65. a month savings
and includes a much faster internet.
Our FIOS speed tests usually show
20400kbps Down and 4200kbps up. This
is very fast... Also, we find our
VOIP is much clearer than with
cable. It may be because the speed
is almost triple than what it was
with cable. More surprises below,
see updates.
Verizon charged us a $29.00 one time
service charge to cover what, I
don't remember... We live in New
Jersey so prices and installation
times may vary.
Cancel Cable
Service day
The day I brought back all the
hardware to the cable company, I
couldn't wait to tell them about the
price savings between Cable and FIOS
but they didn't even ask why I
cancelled their service. They should
keep track of the reason people drop
their service so they can improve
their business. They didn't seem to
care. Personally I think their
attitude will change sooner than
later.
Our
FIOS Install
10/10/07
Three days after we
placed the FIOS order they came for
the install. Two trucks showed up.
One with the equipment and a bucket
truck to run the fiber down to the
corner fiber junction box up on the
pole. As soon as the cable was
finished being hung and tested, the
truck left. The installer was left
to do the rest by himself. He told
me he was fairly new and new little
about computers. Seems they push the
installers though school because
they need them so badly. Whatever
the case, he did a excellent clean
job.
From what I
understand the fiber cable to the
house has one strand of glass
covered with Teflon or something
like it. Over that was a Kevlar wrap
and a plastic outer covering. The
fiber can not be bent too sharply or
it can break but a new type should
be coming soon that can bend much
more with no damage. The fiber
cables are pre-terminated on both
ends and come in different lengths.
This is so they don't have to place
a terminating connection in the
field. Any extra fiber is coiled at
the ends but never cut. An ONT box
goes outside of the house. This
accepts one end of the fiber and
converts the light to electric to be
used by the Coax/CAT5 for TV and
Internet. It also has four telephone
plugs for up to 4 landlines. Inside
the ONT is where the magic occurs.
It converts the light to electrical
signals and it has a small Laser to
convert electrical back to light for
outbound Internet data and TV
requests. Here is one thing I could
not understand. The ONT can accept
either a Coax or a CAT5/5e/6 to run
to the new Verizon router. I heard
that using a CAT5/6 is better so I
ran one before they came. They want
their routers to be used but you can
use another if you know what you are
doing. You can also use your old
router behind theirs. One of the
reasons they want their router used
is because the set-top TV boxes each
have their own IP address on your
network. They update them with fixes
and time / weather settings and much
more. They also can repair many
problems without sending a
serviceman out.
A couple small holes are needed to
run the wires from the outside ONT,
into the basement. Inside the
basement they install a power supply
and battery backup for the phone
service, and a TV coax splitter.
This must have a wall outlet near by
for the power supply. It can
not be a power strip or an
extension cord. Get this installed
before you order your service.
Also run new cables if required,
such as a CAT5/5e/6 from your router
location to the outside ONT
location. They will use your old
cable coax if new no new cable has
been installed. Coax or CAT5 can
both be used so either is OK.
Your installation will vary
depending on what service you get
and how it is wired. Our install
took six hours. He did a near
perfect job with everything. They
also seem to go out of their way to
be helpful and answer all the
questions before they leave.
After the install was complete, the
serviceman did an equipment check.
We experienced two small problems.
The internet was dead so he called
his people and found the ONT was
programmed by default for coax
between the ONT and router instead
of the CAT6 I ran. They fixed this
from the office in a minute. The
only other problem was with the
telephone. We had a local radio
station blasting in. He said "No
problem" and it wasn't. A tiny
filter was put in the box outside
and the connection was very clear.
As soon as he left, I started to
setup my network on the new router.
They gave us a Verizon Actiontec
MI424WR Rev.C router. This was the
only thing that gave me problems.
If you need to make any changes to
this router such as port forwarding
etc. you better download the full
manual from Verizons website. Be
sure you get the correct manual for
your router. You will need it.
Trying to make a simple setting
change was confusing. I never had
such trouble doing something that
should have been a simple task.
After I read the manual and
struggled through the changes it
worked perfectly. My wireless
reached another building where we
backup our files each night without
a problem. We have 11 devices
connected to our network, including
a network camera, 5 computers and
more. Some use a small Netgear 4
port switch after the router giving
us the extra ports. Using Network
Magic, I check the logs. Never has
any device dropped from the network
nor have we lost internet
connectivity. I find this
interesting after reading about the
older routers having problems. One
thing I wish the router had was
higher wireless speed (n) but it
works well.
I heard from a Verizon line worker
that new electronics will be
available soon that can run at
100Mbs or 1000kbps as they have now
in Japan and South Korea. I wonder
what they will charge for this
service. When this speed is
available for a reasonable price,
the cable companies will go the way
dialup is going now. Imagine that...
A good feature
that they don't tell you about.
We have an old 25" RCA TV but we
didn't want to spend more money for
another set top box. After looking
at the back of the set top box in
another room I saw that the TV was
using HDMI connection form the box.
I also noticed it had a coax
connection so I connected the coax
to the other old TV and because it
was close enough to use the remote,
I now have all channels on both TV's
from one box. No HD on the old set
but very clear reception on all
channels. The box output sends a
signal from all outputs. This is a
nice feature that they don't tell
you about. Of course I could have
just plugged this old TV into the
splitter and received just the basic
channels but this way we get all
channels we pay for on this old TV
also.
So far everything is just fine. If
we have problems they will be posted
here.
Update:
Ok we had a problem, but nothing
serious. Our TV and Internet went
down at 10: pm. It should be noted
that our landline telephone did not
go down nor did our Verizon
telephone. I called the help line
at 10:15 pm and the support person
was baffled. They just could not
find the problem. They said they
would have a person at the house the
first thing in the morning.
At 7 AM I checked everything and the
TV and Internet was working just
fine. At 9:30 AM I answered the
door and two verizon support people
were standing there. I said I called
to cancel the call at 7 AM as all
was working now. They said yes, they
know that. "We are stopping at each
account to explain and to apologize
for your outage" "We had a system
wide outage, and it was the first
time this happened. Everything
should be OK now.' WOW, this was a
pleasant surprise.
Update: One month
after install
We received a letter from verizon
telling us that anyone getting the
triple play and did not receive any
promos will receive a free 19" Sharp
LCD High Def. TV if install date is
before 1/15/08. We are waiting for
delivery. (See below update)
More information:
I did learn something interesting
from their tech support. They had
told me to shut off the power to the
router for 10 sec. while I was on
the phone to reset it. I said if I
do that the landline telephone will
go down. They said no it won't.
Amazing, I shut off the power and it
still worked fine. The reason was
the FIOS phone service is a
"Landline" service as before and not
VOIP. They said it just uses fiber
from the house to the switching
center as opposed to copper. So far
it's great. We do use another VOIP
(Voice Wing) line with FIOS and this
line would shut down if router is
off, but it is less expensive than
getting another FIOS number.
A word to the wise.
You don't need any of the software
that Verizon will want to install on
your system such as Custom
browser's, anti virus and backup
software etc. Everything you need to
connect is supplied with Windows. We
did not choose to use any of their
software. Much cleaner computer this
way.
Also, the Actiontec MI424WR router
has a built in business class
hardware firewall. With this we felt
we don't need firewall software
which allows our computers run
better and happier.
Landline phone - If your power goes
out you will still be able to use
your phone (Not a VOIP phone) for a
couple hrs. It uses the installed
battery backup they install. This
backup also has an emergency button
to press that will give you even
more time to call 911 in an
emergency.
Update: Two months after install
Our service is working however at
times we must access our Verizon
router for IP changes to our camera
or wireless USB drive for port
forwarding etc. Since yesterday we
could not access the router settings
anymore. After logging in we get a
"Too many sessions are open, please
wait until open sessions expire"
from the router. The "sessions"
never seem to expire so we can't
access the router anymore. Power
down the router does not help.
Getting through to Verizon phone
tech support is a disaster to say
the least. One hr. wait time is
standard and this is after 10
minutes of computer prompts trying
to auto repair the problem that you
know it can't do.
When I did get through, their tech
support person said it was not a
problem they knew how to fix. In
fact she said she never heard of it
before. Amazing. So she told me to
call a number of the router
manufacturer and I refused to do
this. The router is supplied by
Verizon, why should we have to go to
the manufacturer I said. She then
said she would call on a conference
with me. Another hour of waiting for
Actiontec.
Router problem resolved:
We found through trial
and error that the router error of
"to many sessions open" was caused
by the new version of 'Network
Magic" software. If it is installed
on only one computer it did not seem
to interfere with the router but two
or more computers using it caused
and error. Tech. support at Network
Magic said to use the older version
until a firmware update was
available for the Actiontec router.
I'm not convinced that this was a
firmware problem. I think perhaps
this new version of Network Magic
has problems. After removing Network
Magic from other computers the
router worked just fine.
Update: We received a letter today
from Verizon. Our new Sharp 19" HD
LCD TV is on the way. A gift for
getting the package deal installed
before 1/15/08.
There
tech support does not support
help with the router settings. If
you need help with anything other
than the Default settings you out of
luck.
Actiontec tech.
support was good and answered our
email in about 12 hrs. Be sure you
download the manual from Verizon.
Update: 11/17/08 After
over a year, no regrets with FIOS.
We really like it.
