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How does the Fios phone service work ?

philb00

I have had Verizon (really New England Tel&Tel ) copper landline phone service for 50+ years.

I ordered the triple play bundle tv, internet, phone (both local and long distance)

Order shows: Trpl Frdm up to 25/25 Extreme HD with WiFi 24M 201

So does this Fios phone service - use VoIP or is it still going to be the BETTER

good as always regualr phone service ?

I dont like VoIP or want to have it or have to depend on the internet for any of my voice calls.

How does this Fios phone service work ? Is this what they refer to as digital phone service ?

I cant find it described on any of the verizon websites anywhere.

Thanks

Comments

lasagna

First a point of clarification ... VoIP is a technology for digitally processing calls across an IP-based network (of which the Internet happens to be IP-based, but also so do many large corporate networks, etc.). There is nothing wrong with VoIP, and in fact, it enables many features and capabilities which once were never possible. You would probably be surprised to learn that many portions of your calls today may in fact be handled over a VoIP network without you knowing it.

As for Internet-based VoIP (from service providers like Vonage, Phonepower, and Verizon Digital Voice), these are all very robust service offerings in their own right. The principle disadvantage with them is that they rely on the Internet for call processing and the voice channel and since the Internet does not offer any quality of service guarentees, you can encounter call quality issues. With that said, I've been a VoIP over Internet user for about 7 years now and I rarely experience any kind of issue -- the biggest problem being a loss of service when the Internet would go down (which is very infrequent) but which is countered by most every provider by a "failover" number scenario (so, if my home phone were to go down, calls to my home number automatically route to my wife's and my cell phone numbers transparently).

Now, if you get regular FiOS telephone service (and not digital voice), this acts like the old POTS service. Verizon has taken steps to keep it working even in a power outage scenario (the battery backup unit you get which attaches to the ONT). I suspect under the covers this is still a VoIP based service into the Verizon cloud, but it's handled seperately by Verizon entirely on their private voice network versus being routed over the public Internet cloud. From your perspective, you won't know the difference. The only real exposure in this scenario is an "extended" power outage scenario where the battery backup would run out -- in which case your FiOS service would also drop as well.

philb00

Thanks but I dont care for VoIP at all and still asking my question -

What do I get for actual phone service if I go thru with switching to

Verizon Fios (TV, internet, phone ) triple play bundle.

Will the phone servcie be still plain POTS or digital voice (whatever that means?) or Voip ?

Can someone from Verizon or who has gone thru this changeover pls answer ?

In a chat session some rep mentioned something about I have a choice if I want ?

Still confused - what is my choice then ?

thanks

lasagna

You missed my point. I suspect you are concerned about VoIP over Internet services and not VoIP in general. VoIP in general is "how the world works" in today's largely digital world and my point was that Verizon may well be using a private VoIP solution to enable their FTTP product -- and that should not, from a technical perspective, concern you.

Verizon FiOS has two phone connectivity solutions: FTTP and Digital Voice

FTTP is like POTS service, however it is delivered to the home over the Verizon FiOS fiber connection which also carries your FiOS TV and Internet traffic. Fiber has lots of capacity and thus many services can be delivered over the same media.

Digital Voice is like VoIP over Internet service and is delivered over the Internet connection. It's cheaper than FTTP because it is not subject to some of the tariffs and taxes found with "traditional" land line based services.

The notable difference between FTTP and copper POTS service is that since it's delivered to your premises on fiber, there needs to be a powered device at the homeowners end of the connection to convert the signal from the digital fiber to analog phone service. This is done by the ONT. The ONT has a small battery backup unit which is installed which purposes keeps the portion of the ONT which handles the phone service operable during a power outage. Batteries however are finite in their resources, so an extended power outage of several hours could still see the ONT power fail -- at which point your phone service would likewise cease to function. This is the same scenario as exists for cable providers, etc. who are offering home phone services -- they utilize a battery backup solution to hold the phone line services active in the event of a power failure.

FTTP is the usual triple-play service provisioning unless you specifically opted for digital voice service.

It would be interesting to understand what specific issues you feel exist around VoIP technology. There's a lot of misinformation that various sources have put out there which is just plain inaccurate.

mcaranci

I've had Freedom Essentials for several years, beginning when I still had VZ metallic wiring and then continuing onto FiOS.

Freedom Essentials is more than likely handled by an ATM (asynchronous transport mode) switch, which is NOT the same as VoIP. As far as I myself was concerned, since I now had FiOS, my service was "digital voice".

Well, yes and no, per VZ. What VZ refers to as "FiOS Digital Voice" is indeed VoIP, but on VZs own network, NOT the public internet. VoIP via the public internet requires that you connect a device between your home phone and your FiOS router, which I do not. VZ used to market the latter under the name "VoiceWing".

I now have FiOS Digital Voice (FDV), having switched a little more than a week ago from Freedom Essentials. Here in MA, there's a $7 savings in so doing, since FDV is not considered a regulated service. Go figure. FDV has all that Freedom Essentials has and more. Check the website.

FWIW - the VZ rep with whom I transacted this change - via phone, of course, never via the web! - assured me I could always switch back to Freedom Essentials if I were unhappy with FDV. I hope she's right.

Advice: NEVER transact any major change (for internet speed upgrade, phone service additions/deletions, TV service or equipment) over VZ's website; it's way-y-y too confusing and most user-unfriendly. You never know where you are or what, if anything, you just did. Do it by phone with a live human. For VZ Wireless, however, feel free to use their web site. I did, when I switched from AT&T to VZW. I ordered both my phone and my service plan online, and got everything as promised.

VZ Wireless and VZ Wireline are almost two SEPARATE entities that don't interact with each other. The former has its act together; the latter I wonder about.

Full disclosure: I'm a Quad-Play (phone, internet, TV, wireless) subscriber.

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