jacqdan
FiOS
Got FiOS installed today. This is the ONT in our basement.
They also gave us a Wi-Fi router. You can't easily use your own, because it requires MoCA. In theory I suppose you could probably connect your own router to the ONT's Ethernet terminal and put this MoCA-enabled router behind your own. This would probably require a phone call to Verizon to get them to activate the Ethernet port, though. However, it turns out that this seems to be a fairly decent router with more built-in capability than my old Linksys router (e.g. DNS with DHCP updating and dynamic DNS updating via No-Ip, dyndns.org, etc). I've read about other FiOS customers complaining about its performance, but it seems to be doing just fine for me. Besides, I've only plugged low-speed devices into it anyway (Wi-Fi access points). All high-speed devices (computers) get plugged into the gigabit ethernet "switch". So far the Internet speeds are as fast as advertised. I downloaded Windows XP service pack 3 at an average rate of 24.8Mbps.
Prior to the installation I was curious to know how they terminate the fiber cables. It turns out they don't. The cables are manufactured to predetermined lengths. They select the shortest one that will reach the ONT and any slack that is left in the cable is spooled up inside the ONT box (the lower half of the box). That is why the box is so large. About half of the box's interior volume is used as room to spool the fiber-optic cable. So unfortunately, no, I didn't get to watch them use some high-tech tool which I had imagined they use to fuse an optical connector onto the end of a cut fiber-optic cable. Dang.
On the voice side of things, it seems identical to our previous Comcast voice service. Landline voice service just isn't much to get excited about these days, anyway.
The Television service is so far noticeably better than Comcast. FiOS TV seems to have far more HD channels than Comcast did (at least here in our area). The picture quality on most (but not all) channels seems better. Some channels still have noticeable compression artifacts, but I guess that must mean that the networks are simply over-compressing some of their content. Verizon swears they don't re-compress any video -- they just pass it along exactly as received. Still, it bugs me a little because HD that's been compressed with a lossy compression algorithm isn't really HD anymore, is it? Also, the Motorola cable box from Verizon is quite a bit snappier than the older one Comcast was using. There's a little less delay when changing channels and navigating the menus. Especially with the on-demand stuff. No more "please wait one moment" screens freezing the box for several "moments".
As far as the bottom line goes, we're getting considerably more services (faster internet, a DVR plus an additional cable box, more channels, and better quality video) for a good deal less than what we've been paying Comcast.
I love competition.
FiOS
Got FiOS installed today. This is the ONT in our basement.
They also gave us a Wi-Fi router. You can't easily use your own, because it requires MoCA. In theory I suppose you could probably connect your own router to the ONT's Ethernet terminal and put this MoCA-enabled router behind your own. This would probably require a phone call to Verizon to get them to activate the Ethernet port, though. However, it turns out that this seems to be a fairly decent router with more built-in capability than my old Linksys router (e.g. DNS with DHCP updating and dynamic DNS updating via No-Ip, dyndns.org, etc). I've read about other FiOS customers complaining about its performance, but it seems to be doing just fine for me. Besides, I've only plugged low-speed devices into it anyway (Wi-Fi access points). All high-speed devices (computers) get plugged into the gigabit ethernet "switch". So far the Internet speeds are as fast as advertised. I downloaded Windows XP service pack 3 at an average rate of 24.8Mbps.
Prior to the installation I was curious to know how they terminate the fiber cables. It turns out they don't. The cables are manufactured to predetermined lengths. They select the shortest one that will reach the ONT and any slack that is left in the cable is spooled up inside the ONT box (the lower half of the box). That is why the box is so large. About half of the box's interior volume is used as room to spool the fiber-optic cable. So unfortunately, no, I didn't get to watch them use some high-tech tool which I had imagined they use to fuse an optical connector onto the end of a cut fiber-optic cable. Dang.
On the voice side of things, it seems identical to our previous Comcast voice service. Landline voice service just isn't much to get excited about these days, anyway.
The Television service is so far noticeably better than Comcast. FiOS TV seems to have far more HD channels than Comcast did (at least here in our area). The picture quality on most (but not all) channels seems better. Some channels still have noticeable compression artifacts, but I guess that must mean that the networks are simply over-compressing some of their content. Verizon swears they don't re-compress any video -- they just pass it along exactly as received. Still, it bugs me a little because HD that's been compressed with a lossy compression algorithm isn't really HD anymore, is it? Also, the Motorola cable box from Verizon is quite a bit snappier than the older one Comcast was using. There's a little less delay when changing channels and navigating the menus. Especially with the on-demand stuff. No more "please wait one moment" screens freezing the box for several "moments".
As far as the bottom line goes, we're getting considerably more services (faster internet, a DVR plus an additional cable box, more channels, and better quality video) for a good deal less than what we've been paying Comcast.
I love competition.