Verizon FIOS High-speed Internet Review
Right now I’m having 15Mb / 2 Mb Verizon FIOS high-speed internet service installed. It’s $49 / mo but available in my new home in Staten Island. Time Warner’s road runner, which I had before, cost me the same after their 6 month introductory price expired, and only offered 7 Mbs down / 384Kbs up. They also had some service issues, occasional downtime, and once they “accidentally” physically disconnected my service.
FIOS is interesting, because it’s fiber optic high speed internet. This means they have to physically send people to your home to string fiber. The guys that are here now are nice, fairly professional guys. They strung black fiber down the hallway, drilled a hole in the upper corner of my studio room for the wire, and then strung and stapled the black wire around the room to where they’re going to connect it to their router-like endpoint. After that they just have to splice the wire they strung into the main system running into this building and I’ll have super fast internet.
Looking around the internet, all I see are glowing reviews:
- “Well I finally had FIOs installed at my house, and let me tell you it is well worth the money!” [src]
- DSL reports has 637 positive reviews to 22 negative, with six month rating of 85% [src]
- “If you can get FIOS, its definitely worth the time and hassle to switch. Dealing with their 800 number can be frustrating, but the service quality is still good.” [src]
- Macworld can’t shut up about how great it is, heh.
The bad reviews are hilariously empty of any real information or complaint, and read like bad trolls:
When it’s working, it’s nice … but right now my 14.4K modem over a noisy tin can string would have better throughput.
In a few minutes when it’s installed I’ll be able to run a speed test for you and let you know if FIOS can, in the short term, deliver the download speed it claims.
Update: It can. Not only does the NYC Speakeasy speed test report 10 Mb/s down and 1.8 Mb/s up, but a popular application like Azureus confirms that you can attain these speeds in real life. Don’t believe? Here’s the proof:
And that’s with a firewall turned on! Niiiice.
| This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 11:17 am and is tagged with speed internet service, high speed internet service, high speed internet, dsl reports, island time, introductory price, download speed, test report, endpoint, service quality, road runner, mbs, speed test, staten island, throughput, downtime, macworld, trolls, hallway, hassle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
Please don’t waste your time and money for Verizon, the worst company I’ve ever seen. I had a one yr contract of DSL service which should be end in June 2010. But they keep charge me for half years. After I called them (waste a lot of time) several time. They agree to stop the account and return the credit back to me. Then the next month they still charge me!!!. I’m still trying to reach them now, each time it took hours to get access to a person who will only tell you that she/he will transfer your call. It’s so frustrating. This is another example of too big to fail.
My parents got Verizon in place of Cox Communications because of the cheaper price. If I had any control over who we went with for internet, phone and tv I would go back to Cox. Verizon’s internet is slow much slower then Cox. They’re TV station setup and remote make no sense and they’re customer service is terrible their employees no nothing about the system. Maybe we pay more for Cox, but at least their service doesn’t go down because it’s 11:00 on a Friday and their people actually attempt to help you if it does go down. Verizon is a waste of money.
I am not going to discuss problems with Verizon or CableVision. In my opinion they both stink as companies – both interested only in cost cutting and greedy profits. I would like to discuss Fios Internet service. It is very fast – until you sit on a page for more than two seconds especially at peak hours. Notice how long it takes to load a new page? Or to browser back? No, it’s not your computer. It’s not your cashe. The new Fios fiber optic system DISCONNECTS you at every pause and then takes awhile to reconnect you to the system when you want to go elsewhere. In other words, your internet connection is NOT always ON. What a hassle! They do this to conserve BANDWIDTH on the network and there’s nothing you can do about it. Cablevision, on the other hand, is ALWAYS ON. As far as other issues, well don’t expect anything good from any of them. It’s all about $$$. Surprised?
The above comment is non-sense. Anyone with good knowledge of TCP\IP would tell you that this is completely untrue.
Closing and reopening a new connection between two computers consumes a relatively very large amount of bandwidth. Once open, though, data moves freely back and forth.
It would be the equivalent of shutting your gas-powered car off at every stop sign to save 3-milliseconds worth of gas! (At the expense of using even more gas to start the car.)
(Note: Google is considering making a new type of connection standard that would make the situation above situation more like an electric car analogy, if you follow.)
While I read all the glowing comments about FIOS (many probably writtten by Verizon staff) let it be known that I am a Cablevision customer who has tried Verizon twice and both times I cancelled my subscription because of very poor customer service as well as poor selection and pricing versus Cablevision.
In one instance, I cancelled my account withing the fifteen day window and was still charged for earlt termination which I disputed and after finally agreeing to pay the cancellation fee, I have now found that Verizon placed a chargeoff on my account and ultimately almost ruined my credit standing. My advice to anyone contemplating Verizon FIOS is to investigate their promises and beware of them when it comes to satisfying customer concerns or complaints.
I have Verizon FiOS and switched from Comcast in MD. I was having trouble with my wireless router. When I connected to the verizon router, it would download at less than 0.3mb/s, when I was sitting right next to the router. Then I plug in, 20mb/s… My wireless works perfectly with my NEIGHBORS Comcast router. Consistant 10mb/s.
Its not an overload, but rather the router sucks. I did read someone’s response saying that I can hook my other router up to the modem, so I will try that. But this is my second verizon router, and they both sucked.
Also… The “in home agent” that you have to use to set up the router isn’t supported on MAC. Very inconvenient.
I switched from Comcast to FIOS about 11 months ago for better pricing. Today, I just switched back to Comcast because the Verizoon FIOS customer service is so horrific.
I originally had a 12 month contract with FIOS, but with a 2 year price guarantee. My apartment was destroyed from broken pipes, and I moved to a new apartment in the same complex. With only 1 month left in the contract, Verizon wants me to pay an early termination fee, raise my monthly service price, and force me into a new 1 year contract. This is all despite the 2 year price guarantee. And this is despite the fact that they have current advertised offers slightly less than I was paying, that also include substantial rebates of up to $150.
Verizon had the option of making the transfer process easy and fair. But instead, they chose to institute random fees and rate increases, and demand new contracts. It took me all of 5 minutes to call Comcast and get a better price, and more channels than I had with Verizon.
Good Bye Verizon! Good Riddance!
I switched from CableVision to FIOS for my Internet connection. The installation went smoothly and the service provides the advertised speeds. On the one occasion I had to call customer service I was connected quickly and the problem was resolved by Verizon’s shipping a new modem that arrived the next day.
My problem with CableVision was its technical support. Although their personnel were competent, polite, and professional the networks tools provided to them by the management were inadequate. When I would report an outage the technicians would say that they had no reports of outages. Hours later the automated phone message would confirm the outage that I had reported. On one ocsasion I was without service for 4 days!
That’s because the reps are not allowed to tell you there is an outage. Policy!
quoted a higher price and different terms. Are you looking at my work order? Yes. Don’t I get a discount of the connection fee? I don’t see that. So I ended up calling again and talking to another person who was also looking at the work order. Got quoted a fourth price for the transfer fee / connection fee/ incread in monthly charges. Asked them to put it in writing. We are not allowed to put that in writing. You say at the beginning of all service calls that you may record the call. Yes. Well, can you read back the transfer fee / connection fee / increase in monthly fee and let me record that. No, you can’t record the conversation.
At some point, INTEGRITY or the lack thereof trumps all else. Verizon’s unwillingness to put the terms of the transfer / installation / monthly fees in writing is a dead giveaway. So is the cancellation fee. (If it were all that good, there would be no need for the gig of a cancelation fee because no one would want to cancel.)
I will pay the cancellation fee and go somewhere else or do without before I will deal with the poor service and lack of integrity in business dealings. I learned long ago that some so-called bargains are not bargains at all.
2 years ago I ordered FIOS with “free” installation per tv ad and sales person confirmed it would be free for a new customer. Two months later, Verizon drafted my bank account for $ 450.00 installation and service fee. Had to go to general counsel (with notice of pending suit letter) to get money back (but not expenses).
Now I have bundled internet and tv. Am moving. They want to cancel my bundle and re-enroll me with price increase of $15.00 per month and extension of term to one year from now. Okay, I say, you are canceling my bundle so I want to go elsewhere. No, they say, if you do we will charge you a cancellation fee of $ 119. But, I say, you are canceling me. Oh, they say, we can do that and force you to re-enroll at a higher rate and longer term. And if you decline, you have to pay a cancellation fee.
Now I made an order and they set up a work order ticket and quoted a fee. I got to thinking about it and called back and asked for it in writing. We can’t put anything in writing, they told me. So I asked them to read back the work order and give me a price. Got q
Had the same trouble with the Verizon customer (non)service people. Kept getting the run around until finally I called to cancel my service. Then all of a sudden they were so cooperative!! Got what I needed in 48 hours! Imagine that. I guess you have to call to cancel to get their attention.
The Verizon guy who came to my apartment to install internet and phone system messed up my ceiling and drilled three holes (3rd one being the best, according to him) up my ceiling. Then, he gave me instructions that only him would understand. He says, if I have questions, either call their 800 number or consult the instruction manuals. Charming guy! I want my $10 tip back!
Honostly verizon is not a good service in my opinion. The technician who set up the cable box in my room uplugged my modem and my tv tuner and used my computer without my knowledge and left me to clean up his mess for 1. My family actually switched over from comcast. Who ever agrees with verizon FIOS that you get faster speeds then comcast, you are dead wrong. My speeds dropped 10mbs download and 6mbs upload switching over. The router/modem is a bad choice with low range and cannot handle more than 2 connections at once. Sometimes the wireless assistant in the router has actually crashed due to “overload” of connections in the router and that is a load of ****. That’s another thing with the router/modem…..you cannot buy a better router to connect to the modem/router like in comcast, since verizon decided to combine both a router and a modem together you can’t upgrade your range easily. I find that a HUGE engineering flaw on their part because for people who actually know a thing or two about computers and electronics cannot easily upgrade, we still can upgrade the range but not as well as buying a more supported router, alls we can do is maybe uprade the attena for more range. If anyone has checked speed tests, they should know comcast boost is actually much faster than verizon, even with a direct connection to the verizon modem, comcast wins. I used to recieve 2200 kb/s on my downloads from websites, now i recieve a mere 300 kb/s taking almost an additional hour longer for many files. As well as my download speeds, videos that used to take mere minutes to load, take 2 + hours now with verizon (megavideo.com). I also find the Verizon FIOS TV very unorganized menus and very low detail into the menus compared to comcast with from what i see more to offer and much more organized. My friend now has verizon workers in his neighboorhood, just installing the FIOS cables in the yard, they don’t ask the people in the neighboorhood they just do it, and the day they were working in his yard…..his comcast internet was dropped and they just go around marking your lawns throughout the neighboorhood without permission from the actual residents. Every logical and well informed technology orianted person i know (more than u would expect) all have the same opinion as I to verizon, I have never heard a good review about Verizon FIOS personally and I have asked many people about it, all complete **** reviews. I will admit Verizon Wireless for cell phones is very successful and well organized and just incredible, but as far as verizon internet and Television, I find many engineering flaws in both and do not understand their resoning and how they expect to compete with comcast with how their systems work. Anyway that’s my rant, if you actually read all this good for you. Please no hate comments, this is merely my own opinion.
All I have to say is that it is very simple to plug in a third-party router and create an entirely different network for your internet. I have Verizon FIOS with an Apple Airport Extreme connected to it, and it works perfectly fine. No problems here!
I agree Ryan, it’s a pretty simple thing. Also, if Comcast is faster than your FiOS installation there’s a short list of reasons why. The most likely cause is that you are running junkware like McAfee or Norton.
Concerning running cables in people’s yards; there’s this thing called a utility right of way. No utility needs landowner permission to work in this right of way. Permission to place the service is granted by the local government. If any utility company had to negotiate and gain permission from each individual landowner you would not have electric, CATV, telephone, sewers or water. One landowner denying permission would mean the service ends at that property line.
I have Verizon Fios in my apartment (Maryland). It took some time to get the network installed in buildings that were clearly overbuilt but after the initial headache of laying the conduit in the walls, the rest of the installation was smooth. Had the service for about a year now. The Fios TV is OUTSTANDING… the FIos internet is INCREADIBLE. I have the 20/5 speed package and consistantly peg the network at that speed. There has been ZERO down time since it was installed. The other reviews are correct when they say the 800 number / customer service / can be a tad frustrating but let's deal with facts.. is Comcast any better? I think not. Well worth it guys.. grab it if ya can.
God, The customer service is do horrible. It will ask you set of 100’s of question you endup reaching a wrong department. Same set of questions are asked again and again in vain to reach the wrong department. Why do this people make it so difficult to reach them. Charge me another couple of bux and provide me a good customer service. I wish I had a choice I would have never choosen Verizon….
Well, despite YOUR glowing review, I must speak about the absolute non-professionalism of the techs who installed FiOS in our neighborhood. WITHOUT checking, they would drill through walls with known electrical cables, and my neighbor had to repair a wall himself (the techs said it wasn’t their fault his house was damaged) when they decided the best placement for his cablebox was in his living room. He’s extremely upset with the entire situation as the box is an eyesore.
In my parent’s house, they installed FiOS in the garage, out of sight, out of mind. We were happy about that. Except… with the TV box the remote for the TV is so poorly programmed, you need to sit down and click STB (for the cable) then power, then TV then power repeatedly to actually turn the TV off. As for the internet? On my wireless laptop, if I move my laptop where it stands, two inches in any direction, my connection stops. Places where my connection was no problem with Adelphia/Time Warner, with a very strong signal, I can’t get a signal. At all. I have had NO problems connecting elsewhere, WiFi hotspots, back at my own apartment, etc. I know it’s not my computer. I know it’s not my wireless card
And to top off all of this? Verizon was responsible for jackhammering into areas of the street that had been ruled unsafe to do so with stress points in the hillsides.
Thanks, but I’ll pass on Verizon…
I have had Verizon FIOS for 2+ months. Despite wasting hours with their customer service, my downloads average 300 kbps according to SpeedTest.net. My experience says Verizon FIOS is much, much slower than the cable service I used to have in CT.
Verizon’s technical support rates a D- on a good day. Responses are generic. I was having throughput problems with my laptop in Dallas. The week before on vacation in Baltimore a POTS line & 56 kb modem spooled up reasonably well for common applications like email, banking, credit card log ins etc. Back to Dallas and time outs, spool up web pages at 160 seconds plus. Tried to use speed optimizer and told me my XP sp2 laptop couldn’t access speed optimizer because because speed optimizer only works with 98, 2000 & XP. Same problem with QUICK Support and SYSTEM STATUS except the IE6 on my laptop wasn’t recognized. Forray with technical support was useless. Told them I suspected a server problem serious server problem. Guess what? Everything works beautifully at 4:00 am. Regarding download speeds when you finally get connected it is fast. It’s that getting connected may mean I’ll be drawing Social Security benefits during the wait period.