About 60 days ago we got FIOS installed for Internet, TV, Phone on the $99 package deal. Verizon painted and dug up our lawn, spent 5 hours installing all the wires and devices. Everything was installed and seemed to work just fine.
Then, 5 days ago, our internet connections started dropping. We have 3 computers on our home network. Two of them are brand new Toshiba laptops running Vista, the other we use as a backup server (an old Toshiba running XP). The connection seems to hold up for anywhere between 2-60 min. When it drops, I disconnect and connect again, and it seems to work for a little while and then drops. I've also tried deleting the wireless network profiles and re-entering the WEP key. Same result.
We've run all the diagnostics on both Vista machines to no avail in the resolution of the dropped internet gateway. We connected both machines directly with new cables and the same thing keeps happening, so it's not about wireless issues. We also disconnected the XP machine in case there were XP/Vista network issues causing the problem. We also cable-connected just one machine to the router, but still the problem occurred.
When the internet drops, local networking functions are retained among all three computers.
We ended up getting a new router after calling the original technician who installed our system. He re-setup the internet connection with the new router officially (DHCP seal), but the interent connectivity continues to be a problem. So it's not the router.
We've now resorted to going to local coffee shops to get our work done, since we can't do it at home now (that's where I'm writing this from). The laptops function just fine at the coffee shops with no loss of connectivity at any time. As soon as we get back home and try to get on the internet, the problems start up again.
Virus scans have been done. All the "connectivity tools" that Verizon provides have been run several times. Firewall settings have all been checked. We've spent about 40 HOURS on this problem, and nothing seems to work. Verizon has been of NO help whatsoever.
The only conclusion I can make about this is that there is some sort of intermittent Verizon switching problem in the Beaverton, Oregon area.
If anyone from Verizon can address this issue in any way we'd appreciate it. We're to the point of going back to Comcast just for the internet, paying extra just for that, since the TV and phone are much lower priorities in our lifestyle.