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Fios TV -just signed up- some questions

Songbird69

I have just signed up for the 3 services and I have a few questions for everyone here who already has them

I have verizon for my phone and dsl. dsl is not cutting it anymore-

just loading pages is too slow and I cant even look at a video without interruption.

I took 10/2 for data because I think that will be enough for me. I want to watch tv online, look at

videos, etc.- can I upgrade that later if I find its not enough?

I have one computer to hook up - If I get a laptop later, will I be able to connect to my services without

having verizon come in and charge me?

The installation process makes me a little nervous from what I have read online. It seems

to all depend on the tech you get.- I know that you get the ONT outside and a battery back up inside.

Do they have to make any holes in the house to connect these boxes? or do they use existing lines

for phone and dsl that I have already?

For tv- they told me that SD and HD boxes are the same price. I was thinking of getting HD boxes for when we

eventually upgrade tv's, so we dont have to switch out boxes. right now we do not have any HD tvs. - Is this

a good idea? will the HD boxes work with regular tv's?

Also, is it true that you can ask the tech for specific boxes during installation? I have read here that

there is a preference for boxes (model #).

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Amy

Comments

jumpin68ny

Regarding the speed you have, most of the current offers are giving you 20/5. There is no reason why they would not allow you to upgrade from 10/2 to 20/5. I would certainly check the offer you have though since most of the triple play packages come with 20/5.

The Verizon service when installed comes with a router which is used to connect the internet and the TV boxes. It has four ports available and also has built in wireless. You can add and remove computers from the router at no charge and do this on your own.

On the install process, this generally takes a full day. The DSL service uses copper which will be removed and replaced with fiber optic cable. The ONT generally does get installed outside and the battery pack is installed inside your home near an existing cable modem. Depending upon your home and where things terminate today you may choose to have this installed in a garage. The Verizon provided router and battery pack etc. that gets installed need cables from the ONT to it. So this does require holes to be drilled or the use of an existing path to the location of the inside gear. The TV part of the install generally will use the existing COAX cable so the TV install is generally straight forward with nothing new.

Regarding SD vs HD I have a regular TV using the HD box with multi-room DVR. It works fine on the regular TV. If you plan to get an HD TV (like I do at some point) might as well take the HD box now.

On the STB there are two flavors of HD DVR that I've had, 7416 and 6416. Both are the same for the most part but I've had problems with the 7416 and VZ swapped it out with the 6416 which has been good so far. The 7416 is newer and supports cable cards. I don't know if you can request a specific model on install.

Hope this was helpful.

Jim

jmcohen231

I concurr 100% with jumpin68NY... good stuff.

Techman28

I am going to say hold off on you calling the billing office to get a higher speeds. Call on or after the 21st to upgrade your 10/2 connection and you will go up in speeds. I'll disperse the info on 6/20

Songbird69

Does that mean that everyones billing date is the 20th of the month? and if you make any changes, it

should be at the beginning of a billing period?

dbrennan

I've read several posts expressing concerens about the installation of FIOS, and just wanted to throw in what I found to be a positive experience. I had what I anticipated would be a very difficult installation scenario, and in fact, tried to get a Verizon tech to look at it before the dayof the installation so that the installer would be prepared. My existing NIB was on the inside of my house in the finished portion of the basement. Not that unusual in itself, but the house was also wired with one of those so called "smart" distribution systems which for some odd reason was located at the complete opposite end of the basement (an unfinished section.) The concern I had was which end of the house the FIOS cable would have to be run to and how they would then get that connection to the opposite end of the house for distribution.

I was not successful (despite several promises) in getting anyone to look at this situation ahead of time, and needless to say on the day of the installation, the installer was a bit stumped as to how to proceed. He was very professional and seemed to now what he was doing, but even more impressive was his willingness to admit that he wasn't sure how best to proceed. He contacted a more experienced supervisor who very quickly joined him, and together they managed to resolve the issues and found a very effective way to replace the inside NIB with the new FIOS equipment, including the battery backup unit. They also found an appropriate cable run to connect FIOS to the distribution panel without having to run new cable across the basement ceilings. In short, they did what I thought was a complex job much more quickly than I anticipated, and did so in a very neat and pleasing manner. I was very happy with the work they did.

I'm a retired Verizon employee (though not from the installation side), and am so pleased that Verizon continues to offer quality service and professionaly trained installers.

I guess, all this is just to say, don't be afraid of the FIOS install process - it sounds worse than it really is. Now if they can just address that nagging "space" issue on the DVR...

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