Greetings:
I have the 10 Mb/s download and 2 Mb/s upload plan. Using either www.speedtest.net or speedtest.verizon.net I get quite a variance in speed. I have measured my download speed to be as low as 1.2 Mb/s and as high as 9.5 Mb/s. I don't upload that much so the upload speed is not an issue. We watch several movies on Netflix instant view. Sometimes we can get through a movie with the dreaded "reloading" pause only happening two or three times. Other times we can't even get through 10 minutes of a movie because the "reloading" pause happens every few seconds, lasting for several seconds to minutes and it ruins the movie watching experience. Several times, we'll see a message from Netflix stating that our Internet connection has slowed. Sometimes it's Netflix's fault where their servers may not be keeping up, but most of the time when it happens I'll check my download speed and it's in the basement. Obviously Verizon puts a throttle on our line which ruins some of our movie watching experiences. I've debated about switching over to Time Warner, but have heard they do the same thing.
I'm very disappointed with Verizon FIOS. It's sad that the fine print says you'll get "up to" xx Mb/s. So if you're paying for 25 Mb/s and you're only getting 2 Mb/s, Verizon is in the clear because they don't guarantee a minimum speed. That's bad business.
I power cycle the Actiontec router by unplugging it every week or two whether it needs it or not.