FIOS?

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Is there anyone in shouting distance of DSLJ who has FIOS available to them yet? I'm starting to join the chorus of fed up with RCN, and would like to try FIOS. I have friends in Arlington who have been liking it for over a year. I keep getting Ads for FIOS both online and on the television, but the Verizon site says its not available here yet. This reminds me of the Verizon saga I had when I lived in NY trying to get DSL, which took a year from the date they promised it for them even to *tell* me it didn't actually work yet.

Anyone with more info?

Comments

[ron_newman]

I thought the sticking point here was that Mayor Curtatone insists that Verizon commit to wiring all of Somerville if it wires any part of it, and that Verizon so far hasn't agreed to this. (Comcast and RCN did agree, long ago.) Anyone know more?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

i also hear that cambridge won't be getting fios any time soon, if ever.... i can't remember the reason, something about payment for public access maybe?

[ronhaha108.livejournal.com]

Not Davis, but at the Medford Dunkins I overheard some contractor talking about his current job of pulling fiber for fios and that they verizon won't roll it out until it's completely wired up... I'll believe it when it's actually here...

[mr-fancy-pants.livejournal.com]

We get FIOS in West Medford, about a 2 mile walk to Davis. Only internet though, no TV.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

i've had fios before (in arlington), and it is too pricy for what it is ... ~$140 a month (roughly) vs. ~$100 for comcast cable+internet and basic Verizon phone service...

OTOH, the FIOS customer service people seem to be reasonably on the ball (unlike the rest of Verizon, which managed to screw up about 10 times during and shortly after my move to Somerville). :\

FiOS isn't nearly the good deal that people think it is.

[mrcairo.livejournal.com]

If you don't like RCN, then consider Comcast as an alternative, but by all means, avoid Verizon.

Verizon's entire reason for providing FiOS is to get you to have something installed ("the fiber") that is not covered by any tariff that requires them to use common infrastructure or to share that infrastructure (like they are required to with copper.) It is often the case that Verizon will require you to move all of your copper phone lines to Verizon, so they can remove all the copper service to you house. Once gone, they are not required to put it back.

At that point, Verizon owns you. An example of how this could be a problem: If you have (or decide to get) a non-Verizon VoIP phone, they could deprioritize your network traffic, making your phone service unreliable. There are many other things they can (and are trying) to do, pretty much in the interest in locking you into their service, and not in the interest of providing a good product.

If that wasn't troublesome enough, Verizon apparently doesn't mind selling your personal information to third parties: (http://i.gizmodo.com/5166365/free-advice-watch-the-mail-and-opt-out-of-verizon-sharing-your-personal-data)

I'm currently getting speeds around 20Mbps out of comcast, and 50Mbps speeds will be coming soon (http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/comcast-50mbps-speeds-to-65-of-territory-by-year-end.ars) apparently. I'm not sure you'd get any benefit from FiOS that you couldn't get with comcast, and you'll probably get a slightly different selection of things to complain about. Verizon sucks as much as Comcast or RCN. They all do it in their own special way though.

I do not work for Verizon, Comcast, RCN, or Livejournal. My thoughts and allegiances are my own. I just know a bit about telecom, and regularly talk with people who are concerned with how Verizon is trying to do bad things without people noticing.