Optimize Home Network with Fios 500 mbps or 1 gig plan

Question

I want to optimise the home internet so that a good wifi connection can cover the entire large house. I'm wondering what would be the best and budget-friendly option: 1 gig plan which includes router rental with Whole-Home Wi-Fi and up to 3 WiFi extenders OR 500 mbps plan + own Wifi Extenders and other accessories. If the first option (1 gig) then would it be enough to cover the entire large house with good WiFi? If the second option (500 mbps), then what kind of setup would you recommend to buy apart from the router rental from Verizon?  Thanks.

gs0b · Accepted Answer

It's impossible to say what will work in your home, as every RF environment is different.  Number of floors, number of rooms, number of walls, building materials, capabilities of your WiFi devices, proximity to neighbor's WiFi systems, power of neighbor's WiFi systems, proximity to other interference sources and more all are factors in how much coverage a single WiFi access point can provide.  There are rules of thumb, such as one access point per floor; but you won't know how well it works until you try it.

Further, your choice of speed is independent of your choice of WiFi system; other than what equipment Verizon bundles.  You should choose your speed tier based on your needs, and then purchase or rent whatever WiFi nodes you need.  Most people don't need gigabit or even 500Mbps unless they are frequently transferring large data sets.  Streaming does not require higher speed tiers; a 4K stream takes about 25Mbps, which means even the 300Mbps tier can support a lot of simultaneous streams.  Most people will be perfectly happy with 300Mbps, but they buy into the gigabit marketing hype and get a faster service.  I suggest you take a good look at your requirements and use those to drive your speed choice.  Do you often transfer large data sets? Do you stream more than 10 simultaneous 4K shows?  If so, 500Mbps or gigabit might be for you.  If not, 300Mbps should be fine.

If you go with a lower tier, you can buy or rent Verizon network extenders to expand your WiFi coverage.  You could try rental for a month or two to figure out what works and how many extenders you need, then pivot to purchased devices to save money in the long run.  Both rental and purchased are fully supported by Verizon.

You can also use non-Verizon gear behind a Verizon router.  Or skip the Verizon router entirely if you don't have Verizon set-top-boxes.  There are a lot of great non-Verizon options out there.  If you stick with Verizon gear, you'll get support from them; which some people find valuable.