FIOS Digital Voice from Standard Phone ?

Question

A few years ago, I was converted from copper to Fios, for just continuing with phone service in my area, per Verizon's request.  So, I always though that I had FIOS Phone, but just realizes that my Phone Service is still consdiered "Standard Phone Service (i.e. Message rate).

1.  This is confusing, can one explain this ?

2.  So, can I just get FIOS Digital Voice", by itself ?  ... Or, can I only get "FIOS Digital Voice", if I order it with either FIOS Internet or FIOS TV ?

gs0b · Accepted Answer

Sure, it's easy to explain. You were actually converted from copper to fiber, not FiOS. FiOS is a set of services that run on top of fiber, but not all services on fiber are FiOS. Since Verizon's advertising doesn't distinguish between FiOS and fiber, this confuses many people.

Verizon uses fiber optics to deliver two different phone services. One is the government regulated, tariffed service know as "standard phone service," or POTS (plain old telephone service). It has all the same features (or lack of features) as a copper phone line. Pricing is the same as any other copper line. The only difference is potentially better quality due to the use of fiber and the need for power and a battery on your premise.

FiOS Digital Voice (or "FDV"), is an unregulated, VoIP based service. Since it's VoIP over a private network, there are no quality issues. It has lots more features than POTs.

As to if Verizon will sell FDV without any other FiOS services, your best bet is to ask them.

Good Luck