Verizon FiOS Installation and HDTV Quality of Service Review
by Chris Lewis of Babylon Village.com
I decided to try the new Verizon FiOS Internet and Phone bundle after
receiving countless advertisements in the mail from Verizon. I was very
skeptical since I have enjoyed my Cablevision Optimum Online Internet Access for
over 10 years without any problems. I still had Verizon as my Phone
service and was paying about $50 per month and my Optimum Online and Cable TV
was about $120 per month. I did not like the Optimum Voice since it relied
on the cable modem to work and if there was a power outage my phone would not
work, plus my late Uncle Joe worked his whole life for Bell South in Ft.
Lauderdale Florida (30 years) and I always want to remember him by supporting
Telephone Company workers. So on November 13th 2007 the Verizon FiOS
Technician came to upgrade my old phone line service to the new high tech
Verizon Fiber Optic Service.
I was told when I signed up that I would have a Verizon FiOS Technician come
between 8 and 12am which was fine since I was home on vacation that week.
The technician came by around 10:45 and was very friendly. He introduced
himself and ask me some basic questions to help with the installation. He
then asked me if I would like to test the speed of my current connection using SpeakEasy.net .
I said fine and we logged into my computer and accessed the Speed Test Tool and I was told my internet access speed was about 7 mbps download and 2 mbps
upload. He told me we will do the test again once the Verison FiOS
installation was completed.
He then needed to run a Fiber Optic cable to the main junction terminal which
was about 2 house south (about 120 feet). This may be done prior to the
installation. I know this because I was going to have the FiOS installed
about a year earlier but  decided
to cancel since I was still unsure. Before I could cancel the installation date
I noticed I had another wire hanging from the side of my house. It was a
Verizon FiOS cable which was installed in advance of  the
installation date without my knowledge. Since I canceled my 1st install I
called Verizon and asked if the cable could be removed, they where very
accommodating and had a technician remove the cable within a couple of days.
I also asked the Verizon FiOS Technician if he could remove my old telephone
wire while he was on the ladder and he said as long as I asked he was allowed to
remove the old wires and code off the work properly. He finished installing the
new cable and removing the old cable and was ready to move on.
The next step was to install the Verizon FiOS Optical Network Terminal on the
side of my house. This terminal is what separates Verizon from
Cablevision. Verizon delivers the Fiber Optic signal right to your homes
new Optical Network Terminal box and Cablevision customers share the signal from
the central station located somewhere in the neighborhood. I was told by
Cablevision that the Verizon customer is powering Verizon's system because the
Optical Network Terminal box is powered by the customer's electrical supply.
I will let you know if I notice any jump in my electrical bill. I do not
think I will notice anything since I was told that the ONT box uses about as
much electricity as 2 nightlight. Once the Verizon Optical Network Terminal was
installed on the side of my house I started to see how professional this system
looked and was  waiting
to see if this was going to be an improvement or not.
The next step was to install the Power Supply Unit (PSU) and the Battery
Backup Unit (BBU) inside the house. The two units need to be located near
an electrical outlet since this is what powers the system and charges the
Battery so you will have up to 8 hours of phone use if you happen to loose
electrical power.
Once the 2 units where installed it was time to install the new Verizon
secure wireless router. The technician installed the router and also setup
my other wireless network to access the new
network. I was very impressed with the new router since it was one unit
and my Optimum Online network was 2 units (a cable modem and wireless router)
which both used electricity. The only problem I had with the new network
which will effect allot of customers is accessing the new router with my son's
Xbox 360 console. I needed to update
the firmware in the router so the
Xbox 360 would be allowed to connect to the network. I was not concerned
about this since I new this may be a small settings problem in the router and
after 5 minutes of researching the FAQ's on the Verizon web site, I was
upgradingthe router with the new version of the firmware. If you find
yourself having trouble connecting your Xbox 360 to the Verizon FiOS network click here for more information and the upgrade firmware. Clink the link to download and print the Verizon FiOS XBox 360 upgrade
information.
After everything was installed it was now time to download the Verizon Speed
Optimizer Tool the Verizon Central web site. This Verizon FiOS Optimizer
Tool would help improve my computers ability to download and upload from the
internet faster. The Verizon FiOS Technician explained to me that the
TCP/IP and MTU settings need to be tuned for optimal performance and that this
tool will check the settings and make the necessary adjustments. Well it was now
time to check the new internet speed at SpeakEasy.net and
boy was I surprised to see that my computer was now downloading at 20mbps and
uploading at 5mbps.
My new FiOS Phone service was also very clear and now up to date with the
latest Fiber Optic technology. The total time to install the new FiOS
Internet and Phone system was about 3.5 hours but wel l worth the time plus
during the installation I was able to ask the technician about the FiOS TV
service which was now something I was considering doing.
After the FiOS Tech left my wife and I decided to try the new FiOS TV service
since the system that Verizon installed on my house was very professional and
the new FiOS TV Service must be as professional. Well the Verizon customer
service representative was very helpful and scheduled a Technician to come to my
house on November 20th 2007. A new Technician came early in the day
and upgraded my splitter to allow for a optimal HDTV signal for my televisions.
I was unable to be home but my wife was in contact with me and I was able to
speak to the new Verizon FiOS Technician. He asked me some basic questions
and was able to finish the installation in about 2.5 hours.\
When I returned from work I could not believe the difference of the HD
picture on my 32 inch Sony HDTV which we purchased from Plessers in Babylon Village. The same channels which we
watched on IO where much clearer and more defined on Verison FiOS plus
when we change channels on FiOS there was not a delay like we experienced with
Cablevisions IO TV and HDTV.
I would recommend trying Verizon FiOS Internet, Verizon FiOS Phone and
Verizon FiOS TV since the system is very professional. I will update this
review with any new developments as time goes by. Find Out More Verizon FiOS Information by using the "Experience FiOS" button below.
Thank you,
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