When will Verizon deploy 802.11n capable routers?

[Anti-Phish1]

nm 

[PaulSNJ]

Well I saw this forum a few weeks back when I made the call to switch back to FiOs.  We got the service re-installed yesterday after a two-year hiatus, and are quite happy.  Price per month down about $20 overall vs. Comcast, with more channels, better HDTV in my opinion, faster speeds (surpassing the 5/15 in our package per a  "Speedtest" last night) and finally have HDTV in the master bedroom with multi-room DVR tie-in, compared to an old clunker box that was only 75 cents less per month to rent.  We also got a "free SD box for life" in our kitchen, which is the same as all of our previous FiOs equipment

Yes, we got the Verizon Actiontec Wireless "N" router this time.  The unit looks very similar to the one he had installed in 2007, but has an extra "setup" button on the front of the unit towards the bottom.  Apparently the model is MI424WR Rev. F.  This letter on the end is the key that you have the newest model.  So, I retired the Linksys router I had to buy for $70 when we went back to Comcast, and have to say we are pretty pleased so far.  Having the "G+" Verizon router version before, this is a nice upgrade; the signal was always dropping out supposedly due to interference.

Note:  the install tech had no idea if the new router was indeed "n", but he did comment that our TV "pop up" guide was completely different from any he had seen before.  I have read online that the guide does get decoded thru the router, so maybe I am indeed one of the first to get the new unit in South NJ.

[tns]

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@PaulSNJ wrote:

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Note:  the install tech had no idea if the new router was indeed "n", but he did comment that our TV "pop up" guide was completely different from any he had seen before.  I have read online that the guide does get decoded thru the router, so maybe I am indeed one of the first to get the new unit in South NJ.

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The TV guide being different happened because your area just got the 1.9 upgrade.  It has nothing to do with the router.

[viafax999]

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@tns wrote:

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@PaulSNJ wrote:

... 

Note:  the install tech had no idea if the new router was indeed "n", but he did comment that our TV "pop up" guide was completely different from any he had seen before.  I have read online that the guide does get decoded thru the router, so maybe I am indeed one of the first to get the new unit in South NJ.

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The TV guide being different happened because your area just got the 1.9 upgrade.  It has nothing to do with the router.

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Where do you see the guide version.

I noticed last week the 2 of our boxes appear to be somewhat different in their guides, most noticeable is that one of the boxes is showing a mini-screen of the current select channel and the other one doesn't.

[auntcathy]

Menu>Settings>System Information-Release 1.8

[mtbdude]

Just got thru' talking to customer service.  802.11n is available for 150M customers only.  Nothing for a 35/35 chump like me.

[mschauber]

You've got to love VZNs priorities.. They stopped their FiOS build out since it wasn't a financially sound investment, you have to wonder for how long FiOS will even be around 😞 I hope I'm wrong and they do stick around and continue to invest in their current customers, but like any large corp, they are willing to pay to get new customers but not willing to pay to retain them. Luckily for them, the alternative in NYC (Time Warner Cable) isn't a real alternative with their awful internet service, sub par video service and over priced bundles requiring you to get a phone and pay the taxes on it just to get a somewhat decent monthly rate. VZN... Please upgrade current customers and provide us the same pricing new customers can get. That's the way to retain happy customers. I for one will have to seriously evaluate my options when my 2 year discount comes to an end in a couple of months.

[JVM225]

I just upgraded my FIOS service in a bundle that included more channels, digital phone, and 50/20 internet speed.

I've been with them for 5 years and my router is the original.

I did a wired speed test through speedtest.net and got very close to the 50/20. A wirelss speed test at the same site got me a best of 15/15.

Called tech and was sent on a wild goose chase to the Verizon store to exchange my router for an 802.11N only to find out that they don't stock them. The tech told me they did and it would increase my wirelss speeds. Waste of time and gas so I went back home with my original Router.

Called tech back and spent a long time on the phone with a very patient tech who took control of my Laptop, spent a lot of time, brought it through the Verizon speed test which installed JAVA, and in the end the wireless speeds actually went down. She agreed to mail me a more updated router even though she couldn't be sure of what I would get or if it would help.

After I got off the phone I did a system restore and got back to the 15/15 or so that I had before I called tech. Whew! I again went to the Verizon Speed test and said yes to JAVA. The wireless speeds were once again cut in half as per both the Verizon speed test and Speedtest.net. Once again did a System Restore and got back up to the 15/15 speeds as per Speedtest. Lesson learned: Don't use the Verizon speed test because you must say yes to JAVA and JAVA was a speed killer for me.

Now I'm not sure if I should even bother with the new Router they are sending me.

I'd really like to get the quicker speeds wirelessly because we use WiFi exclusively on all the laptops in the house and will be setting up two WiFi TV's so we can get Netflix. That, plus I feel like I should be getting closer to what I'm paying for.

I'm not an expert with these things, but am I expecting too much? Is there a way to increase the speeds (particularly download) for a novice like me?

I really wish the sales people would have told me that the increased speed will only be on the wired side of things.

Additional information: I am getting a 54 .0 Mps Speed connection with an excellent signal strength reading on my Laptop when I'm connected to my home network so there doesn't seem to be an antenna or interference problem that would slow the WiFi speed down.

[mschauber]

Your best bet is to buy your own wireless access point (router) and disable the wireless functionality on the verizon router. If your computer gets full speed (bandwidth) connected via ethernet cable, but not via WLAN, there could be 1000 reasons why. You're neighbor could be using the same channel, you could have a mirror between your computer and the router, there could be a fish tank in the way, the list goes on and on. I an very serious when I talk about mirrors and fish tanks. Mirrors are a reflective surface, nuff said. Fish tanks are filled with water. Water refracts wireless signals. You also have to consider your placement. Yes, you, your human body that is made up of 97% water. Go out and get a good wireless router (netgear 3700 or newer, dlink 625 or newer, any Cisco, but stay away from Linksys by Cisco). You plug a lan port on the wireless router into a lan port on the verizon router, configure WPA2/AES security, set it to N only, if your devices support N, change the default password on the wireless router and join your devices to your new SSID. I can pretty much guarantee you will have significantly improved speeds. The advantage that N has over B & G wireless networks is it's use of multiple antenna (also called MIMO.) This allows for refracted and reflected signals to still read the end points much more efficiently and while you still want to avoid attempted to go through metal or water, you'll get better service. Goodluck..

[JVM225]

Thanks! I'm going to give some serious thought to implementing your recommendations. I just don't know if I have the expertise to set it all up. Making the connections is easy, the hard part for me will be the settings, in particular disabling the wireless portion of the Verizon router.

How do I disable the wireless on the Verizon Router?

How and where do I configure WPA2/AES security, and set it to N only?

Will doing any of this interfere with any of the functions of my Fios TV, Set Top Boxes, or DVR?

Sorry if these questions seem elementary, but I've never done anything like this before.

What I do find strange is that before the upgrade to 50/20 service I had 20/5 service and a speed test with that gave me 14/4 wirelessly pretty consistently.

With the 50/20 I saw a very slight increase in the download to about 15, but the upload jumped significantly from 4 to 15.

The signal is very consistent throughout my house. I get the same wireless speed whether I have the laptop 12 inches from the router or if I am on another floor.