Verizon Fios is going out of franchise now

[charrison]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: Lemon law
Both Fios and uverse are such Fiber optic intensive technologies, that its going to take dam near forever to wire up any but a few large cities.

And being a liberal means I am against the death penalty, but I would cheerfully make an exception for AT&T.

Verizon is actually covering a lot of households when you think about it. By 2010 FiOS is expected to pass close to 20 million households (according to Google there are about 110 million households in the US). Considering they've only been at this for like half a decade, I think that's pretty impressive.

They are passing about 3M a year.

ATT has passed about 18M with u-verse and will pass another 12M+ in the next 2-3 years.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Lemon law

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: Lemon law
Both Fios and uverse are such Fiber optic intensive technologies, that its going to take dam near forever to wire up any but a few large cities.

And being a liberal means I am against the death penalty, but I would cheerfully make an exception for AT&T.

As frostedflakes points out, "Verizon is actually covering a lot of households when you think about it. By 2010 FiOS is expected to pass close to 20 million households (according to Google there are about 110 million households in the US). Considering they've only been at this for like half a decade, I think that's pretty impressive.

"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder if that is some what a wrong view, because I think the next 20 million will not be as easy or profitable.

Meanwhile, people already served by cable or vanilla dsl get super options, while those who have nothing see
their broadband investment dollars go elsewhere.

Fair enough. I still think Verizon is doing a great thing by rolling out so much fiber, but you're right, there are economic constraints. Obviously they won't be able to bring it to everyone, but I wouldn't expect them to. Wireless internet is advancing quickly, though, and should hopefully be able to provide decent service for areas where it isn't profitable to lay fiber.

edit: Point was, considering how much more spread out our population is, I think the US is doing pretty good. In terms of absolute number of households with FTTH, the US is near the top of the pack. We also have the highest rate of growth in FTTH deployment. Because of geography, though, we will never catch up to Asian countries in FTTH penetration.

http://fibresystems.org/cws/article/tech/35122

 

[IamDavid]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi
They have opened Fios in areas that are traditional AT&T footprint. It will be a slow process, but its already built and being buried to homes!

Watauga TX
Colleyville TX

SWEET!! I live there!

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: palehorse
Verizon = worst customer service in the history of mankind, but hands-down the best possible internet service currently offered in the U.S.

Yeah, the cable boxes and routers leave a lot to be desired, but at least I can use their router and a few NIM100's for a MoCA-based network throughout my house on existing coax... 🙂

Dedicated 30Mbit down, 5Mbit up FTW 🙂

Apparently you've never dealt with Comcast. I was actually told by an agent who was supposed to keep me from disconnecting my internet service: "There's nothing we can do for you, you're not our demographic. I see you have television service as well, would you like to cancel that at the same time?"

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: babylon5
Is it true Verizon cut your copper landline when you get their Fios?

That's what I had heard but the guy who did my install didn't do so.

(Obviously) they can only cut your land line if they own your land line. Meaning that in these non-verizon-LEC areas, they will NOT be able to cut your land line, since they do not own it.

They definitely owned mine, but I asked the guy not to cut it, and he said, "no problem."

There were no sexual favors involved. 😉

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: Phokus
what does 'going out of franchise' even mean?

it means they are invading ATTs turf.

Expanding outside of the copper/POTS plant.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: babylon5
Is it true Verizon cut your copper landline when you get their Fios?

That's what I had heard but the guy who did my install didn't do so.

They might need to use the house wire, but normally the nid stays up and the copper drop stays put. Why waste the time to rip it all down? You may have issues going back to dsl/copper, thought this may have been resolved by now.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: babylon5
Is it true Verizon cut your copper landline when you get their Fios?

That's what I had heard but the guy who did my install didn't do so.

(Obviously) they can only cut your land line if they own your land line. Meaning that in these non-verizon-LEC areas, they will NOT be able to cut your land line, since they do not own it.

You're obviously overlooking "accidents."

Explain please? The bury crew could cut it easily. Copper drop can also be repaired by a monkey so it's really not an issue.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: palehorse
Verizon = worst customer service in the history of mankind, but hands-down the best possible internet service currently offered in the U.S.

Yeah, the cable boxes and routers leave a lot to be desired, but at least I can use their router and a few NIM100's for a MoCA-based network throughout my house on existing coax... 🙂

Dedicated 30Mbit down, 5Mbit up FTW 🙂

Apparently you've never dealt with Comcast. I was actually told by an agent who was supposed to keep me from disconnecting my internet service: "There's nothing we can do for you, you're not our demographic. I see you have television service as well, would you like to cancel that at the same time?"

I had to deal with Comcast as a customer a few times in the past, and Cox as well, so I feel your pain.

Verizon still makes those companies seem like red-carpet-joyrides though... I couldn't begin to list the number of issues I had during my first 12 months of service. It was a total f'n nightmare. For starters, when I signed up to get the FIOS installed, I gave them very specific instructions to show up on a a very specific date. Instead, they showed up three weeks early and started digging before I even closed on the house! That went over real swell with the previous owners, let me tell ya... Another example: for the first eight months, half of Verizon's databases listed my real name as "Some Body" at the address "Some Place, VA"... verbatim! I had to jump through hoops every time I called just to prove to them that my first name isn't "Some"! no shit. Heck, some of their databases still have it listed that way! It's craziness...

Verizon customer service is the worst in the history of mankind.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Who knows, in 10-20 years you might be where the EU and Asia are now. In five you'll be where Russia have are.

We actually took capitalism seriously and part of it is to disallow monopolies, you know, the stuff you think is socialist. 😉

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: loki8481
never really understood the fiosgasms... my parents have it and the speeds seem more or less on-par with what I get from optimum and the tv part of the service totally blows. worst cable boxes I've ever dealt with and the channel organization is a total mess.

loki speaks the truth. I've got FiOS for TV, internet, and phone. The phone works great but they nick you for 3 way calls. The internet is fast but their DNS servers suck (slow) - use OpenDNS instead. The TV portion is ok but expensive when you start adding services (HD channels, movie channels, etc). The DVR is pretty crappy - the most annoying thing is how slow it is to respond to the remote. It's also a big buggy - I have to reboot mine at least 2x per month. On the plus side, they have the capability to program the amount of time for skip forward and skip back buttons - best option by far.

I couldn't disagree with either of you more. I've had Dish and DirecTV, and of course used comcast/cox/etc. at friends houses. Item 1, Fios doesn't put an advertisement on the bottom of the menu so that you automatically highlight the ad when scrolling through channels. That pisses me off to no end. Menu speed, maybe there is something the matter with yours but this one is noticeably faster than others that I've used. And the image quality is better than any cable based system I've used. I've always noticed more compression and pixelation on cable based systems when compared to Fios.

PS I hate verizon.

 

[danzig]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Come on Charlotte!

:thumbsup:

Move to the backwoods of Watauga County

We may not be 'uptown' 😀 but we got our 'fiber to the premise' last summer.

Yee Doggies, Uncle Jed - LOL

Backwoods Watauga County is a great place ! I live close to there 🙂

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
Both Fios and uverse are such Fiber optic intensive technologies, that its going to take dam near forever to wire up any but a few large cities.

And being a liberal means I am against the death penalty, but I would cheerfully make an exception for AT&T.

Funny that. My cousin got my folks and other relatives to invest in local(AREA) Fiber set up . Company disappeared . Low and behold it reappears as the owners of our local(Home) cable network . Population 373. I get fiber in 2 months LOL. It working under a differant model.

Surprize me and knock me over with a feather. I get everthing TV all programming, phone, internet $99. Don't know speed yet but suppose to be really fast .

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: Triumph

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: loki8481
never really understood the fiosgasms... my parents have it and the speeds seem more or less on-par with what I get from optimum and the tv part of the service totally blows. worst cable boxes I've ever dealt with and the channel organization is a total mess.

loki speaks the truth. I've got FiOS for TV, internet, and phone. The phone works great but they nick you for 3 way calls. The internet is fast but their DNS servers suck (slow) - use OpenDNS instead. The TV portion is ok but expensive when you start adding services (HD channels, movie channels, etc). The DVR is pretty crappy - the most annoying thing is how slow it is to respond to the remote. It's also a big buggy - I have to reboot mine at least 2x per month. On the plus side, they have the capability to program the amount of time for skip forward and skip back buttons - best option by far.

I couldn't disagree with either of you more. I've had Dish and DirecTV, and of course used comcast/cox/etc. at friends houses. Item 1, Fios doesn't put an advertisement on the bottom of the menu so that you automatically highlight the ad when scrolling through channels. That pisses me off to no end. Menu speed, maybe there is something the matter with yours but this one is noticeably faster than others that I've used. And the image quality is better than any cable based system I've used. I've always noticed more compression and pixelation on cable based systems when compared to Fios.

PS I hate verizon.

The coax in the home can hinder menu speed if it is older.

 

[ScottMac]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
Both Fios and uverse are such Fiber optic intensive technologies, that its going to take dam near forever to wire up any but a few large cities.

And being a liberal means I am against the death penalty, but I would cheerfully make an exception for AT&T.

Not true, at least about U-Verse. U-Verse is using existing copper loop, except for new construction, then they are running fiber to the prem.

Typical max available bit rate on a single copper pair is 46-56Mbps, which is (for now) dropped to a delivered 25Mbps by DSLAM profile. In the near future they will be pair bonding, which extends the range from the DSLAM and the bandwidth available.

U-Verse and FIOS use the same active infrastructure, router & switch, and both use the same fiber DSLAMs and ONTs (like a fiber NID), but U-Verse also uses the copper DSLAM and VDSL.

Also around the corner for U-Verse are things like Xbox 360 as a STB, Wireless STB, 3+1 / 3+2 (HD+SD) and some new on-screen applications.

FIOS is still just digital cable TV (delivered as "Cable Overlay" on lambda 1550), U-Verse is pure IPTV. From the DSLAM to the cloud, they're exactly the same hardware.

Because they chose to implement existing copper, U-Verse will be 98% deployed in their 22 state footprint by 2012. Verizon will be nowhere as near that for years to come. By that time AT&T will be replacing the old copper with new fiber and continuing to build their customer base.

 

[brandonbull]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

worst cable boxes I've ever dealt with and the channel organization is a total mess.

Ah, they must use scientific atlanta then, as does Time Warner. Personally, I hope that company is dissolved immediately and everybody who has ever worked there or even passed the headquarters remains unemployed until they die. Those cable boxes piss me off to unbelievable levels.

If the SA boxes that Time Warner uses are the same as Brighthouse, they look like something from the future as compared to the Motorola crap Verizon uses.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Originally posted by: palehorse

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: palehorse
Verizon = worst customer service in the history of mankind, but hands-down the best possible internet service currently offered in the U.S.

Yeah, the cable boxes and routers leave a lot to be desired, but at least I can use their router and a few NIM100's for a MoCA-based network throughout my house on existing coax... 🙂

Dedicated 30Mbit down, 5Mbit up FTW 🙂

Apparently you've never dealt with Comcast. I was actually told by an agent who was supposed to keep me from disconnecting my internet service: "There's nothing we can do for you, you're not our demographic. I see you have television service as well, would you like to cancel that at the same time?"

I had to deal with Comcast as a customer a few times in the past, and Cox as well, so I feel your pain.

Verizon still makes those companies seem like red-carpet-joyrides though... I couldn't begin to list the number of issues I had during my first 12 months of service. It was a total f'n nightmare. For starters, when I signed up to get the FIOS installed, I gave them very specific instructions to show up on a a very specific date. Instead, they showed up three weeks early and started digging before I even closed on the house! That went over real swell with the previous owners, let me tell ya... Another example: for the first eight months, half of Verizon's databases listed my real name as "Some Body" at the address "Some Place, VA"... verbatim! I had to jump through hoops every time I called just to prove to them that my first name isn't "Some"! no shit. Heck, some of their databases still have it listed that way! It's craziness...

Verizon customer service is the worst in the history of mankind.

I can agree with that.

I switched over to Fios from Comcast six months ago. First month we barely had 20 working days with the new system. Then they changed the main unit and the wireless router they gave us remained unreliable. Would constantly drop the connection. Its an Actiontec make and if you read around you'll see that many people are having the same problem.

What make it worse is that we cannot use our own router without losing the TV guide and other TV functions like on-demand. So I used my old router and set up a sub network. Connected the two router wired. Now the wireless works properly.

My wife is a data analyst who works from home 2 days a week and you can imagine the nightmare for her till we figured out how to get reliable service. Her office is 60 miles away so it's expensive and time consuming for her to commute 5 days a week.

Recently the Actiontec router died and it took Verizon 3 days to get a new one to us.

I have not noticed any difference in internet performance between cable and Fios. In fact initially it felt slower than cable even though on paper the speeds are higher. Maybe it was a bad router to begin with I don't know. I think I'll try switching to open DNS to see if that makes it better.

Verizon customer service has always been horrible. You cant get them after 5.30 in the evening and on weekends, except repair. It has always been a nightmare dealing with Verizon, whether at the office or at home. I can tell you stories about the problems we have with Verizon at the office. Its been 5 years and they haven't been able to sort out the problems we have every time it rains or snows.

I'm waiting for the contract period to get over and I'm going back to cable - as bad as Comcast is and I hate it's monopoly, it still is easier to work with and more reliable than Fios so far.

IMHO the most consistent good customer service I've had over the years is with American Express and T-Mobile.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi
They have opened Fios in areas that are traditional AT&T footprint. It will be a slow process, but its already built and being buried to homes!

Watauga TX
Colleyville TX

Sweet, my home is in Colleyville! Too bad my house is mothballed while I'm on active duty...

 

[AndrewR]

They're rolling into our area...very, very slowly. Our house will apparently be covered in about 5-7 years. Gee, thanks.

 

[Phokus]

I wish they'd come to connecticut, but at least we're getting AT&T U-verse which is a step up from Optimum Online (owned by comcrap i think)

 

[ElFenix]

i have a big fiber optic internets cable running in the backyard to serve the local school. i wonder how much the isp wants for access?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Phokus
I wish they'd come to connecticut, but at least we're getting AT&T U-verse which is a step up from Optimum Online (owned by comcrap i think)

OO is owned by Cablevision.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: Oceandevi
They have opened Fios in areas that are traditional AT&T footprint. It will be a slow process, but its already built and being buried to homes!

Watauga TX
Colleyville TX

Sweet, my home is in Colleyville! Too bad my house is mothballed while I'm on active duty...

Haha that's a hoot.

 

[QuantumPion]

I was thinking about ditching comcast for FIOS in my area, because comcast's tv channels are compressed to crap. However, my comcast internet service at my house has been amazing; only 1 hour of down time in 3 years, and full power boost speeds 24/7 (I recently downloaded an 8 GB torrent in about 40 minutes). So I think I might switch to FIOS for the tv but keep the comcast for internets.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Come on rural Mississippi!

/wishful thinking