FIOS in Hampton Roads, VA

[grydlok]

Sorry I took so long, I am pretty tired. Had a storage room on the exterior of the house that I needed to clean up, fix a light fixture and add some boards for FIOS to be installed on. For all of that to happen a shed outside had to be cleaned out and another room in the house cleaned out.

Well the tech window yesterday was 8-12am. She, yes SHE (thats a first for me) showed up at 11am. She called an hour earlier and asked if I had Tivo and if that was why I needed cable cards. I told her yes she only showed up with 1 m card. I had specifically replaced the order a day after the initial order to specify TWO M cards, one for each TivoHD. So she stopped the install at 1pm and picked up another M card from a nearby Tech. A lot of the time, my time was spent pulling out the D* multiswitch and cabling. I told her to leave the 6 way sliptter just hanging and I would supply a box which I did today, as I do not want any exposed connections. Unluckily for me the 6 -way splitter has the input lead in a different plane than all of the other outputs so I either had to supply my own splitter(s) or remount a huge box I had for the multiswitch. The box wouldnt fit anyway and I would have ended up with a bunch of jumpers in a small box and the splitter in the huge box so I went out and bought a couple of my own splitters from home depot today.

You can see in the picture a lone box on a wall that contains the old cox communications drop and on the other wall the Verizon ONT box, the gray drop box I installed rotated beneath for my diplexers and the old POTS terminal for verizon next to the ONT

The other picture shows the install in the small storage room of the power supply and the battery backup that provides 8 hours of phone service in an outage. I thought they could plug into a GFI receptacle I had in there but the TEch said thats a no no. I was lucky and had changed out a light fixture a day before in that room with one that has an always on receptacle that she wired too.

Well the tech knew nothing about TivoHD or tivos but we managed to get the cards in and write down all of the numbers on the card info screen and get them activated.

The tech was pretty clueless about all of the switches I have in the house but she loaded the software on my desktop PC and I installed the wireless router where I wanted it. Everything seemed to work ok. My TivoHD units saw each other and the computers see them.( This was done while she went to get the 2nd M card at 1pm).

Needless to say she was clueless about the signal level issue that Tivo has with FIOS and didnt leave any attenuators. But Tivo has fixed that problem with 11.0d firmware which I hadnt recieved yet. I really havent seen a problem though except on channel 50 for some reason but hey thats SD channel and I have its HD counterpart thats perfect.

One annoyance is Verizon broadband essentials and virus software which I promptly cancelled. They want 5.99 a month for the the internet protection software. I do not remember signing up for that.

Another annoyance is that I do not have the router password incase I want to turn off its wireless functions and use my old wireless router as an access point without DHCP server running. I also havent figured out file transfer between computers and seeing all of the computers on the LAN/Wan. That may be more of my ignorance of Windows than theirs. LOL

ANyway she was in a pretty big hurry to get the heck out of here since it was 4pm already and left saying she had done everything she knows how to do. After she left I realized that the TivoHD units had to go through guided setup again. Once that happened I had all channels and all premium channels withthe old $139.99 deal.

Vonage sent me an email and their service had ended, Tivos work fine, my sons SD reciver works fine (he's 20 and in comm college and said "its really neat"). Called Cox today and cancelled them too. I went to speedtest website and I am getting 20+/4.6 or so which is pretty close to the promised 20/5 internet speed. Scheduled cancellation for D* is tomorrow.

Pretty pleased with FIOS so far. Great picture, and fast channel changing with the Tivo. I was about to through my D* remotes through the wall waiting for a channel change or a guide scroll!! I just couldnt take it anymore. I'm going to love watching TV in the rain. I can see myself going outside and pointing at the dishes and just laughing at my neighbors.

All the channels seem to be in the clear so far as I downloaded a movie from HDNET to my PC last night. YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!

Call Verizon back and change you speed to the 25/15 for the same price. Since you just got under contract it won't effect you any.

 

[Ken F]

Call Verizon back and change you speed to the 25/15 for the same price. Since you just got under contract it won't effect you any.

If he just got under contract for 20/5 at the old price, then a new contract for 25/15 (closer to 25/25 in throughput) would cost ~$10/mo more.

If you live in NYC, then I would probably call to upgrade to 35/20 (NYC only tier, for now).

 

[vurbano]

Im fine with 20/5.

 

[enthuzist]

What model ONT and router did you get installed?

 

[vurbano]

What model ONT and router did you get installed?

The wireless router is a Verizon labelled Actiontec MI424WR router. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30022/51/
Not sure about the ONT, didnt know there were different ones.

FYI This is the battery in the battery backup unit, Portalac PX12072: http://www.apexbattery.com/gs-porta...es-portalac-emergency-lighting-batteries.html

 

[grydlok]

What model ONT and router did you get installed?

On the east coast your gonna get Craptiontec. Now that ONT is older version than the one I got. I have the smaller rounded one.

 

[grydlok]

If he just got under contract for 20/5 at the old price, then a new contract for 25/15 (closer to 25/25 in throughput) would cost ~$10/mo more.

If you live in NYC, then I would probably call to upgrade to 35/20 (NYC only tier, for now).

I checked the prices since he just got it, the money difference shouldn't be 10 dollars. It's different in VA than NYC. I miss my old 30meg plan for 50 bucks.

 

[vurbano]

I checked the prices since he just got it, the money difference shouldn't be 10 dollars. It's different in VA than NYC. I miss my old 30meg plan for 50 bucks.

There is a price difference between the two 139.99 old promo vs 129.99 new promotion. But there is also a difference in premium channels. I got in under the old one which includes ALL of the movie channels with the HD extreme package and a 150 dollar kick back, and 2 yr price guarantee. The new promotion does not include all of the movie channels only showtime, but faster internet speed 25/15 and a netbook instead of the cash. I have called and asked about it. IMO what I have is a better deal for me. I was paying for 12/1 with Cox before for 44 bucks a month. I am not planning on sending/uploading large files to anyone on a frequent basis and download speed is often dependent on the website you are dealing with. I'm convinced that Asus is running at 2400 baud. LOL

 

[enthuzist]

Not sure about the ONT, didnt know there were different ones.

Yes, there seems to be. It appears that they are still depleting old inventory in our area. I hope that by the time they get my area up, they will be well into any newer versions of the hardware.

 

[tds4182]

Vurbano, does this mean that we will not be hearing from you in the D* forums anymore?

Enjoy your FIOS!

 

[grydlok]

There is a price difference between the two 139.99 old promo vs 129.99 new promotion. But there is also a difference in premium channels. I got in under the old one which includes ALL of the movie channels with the HD extreme package and a 150 dollar kick back, and 2 yr price guarantee. The new promotion does not include all of the movie channels only showtime, but faster internet speed 25/15 and a netbook instead of the cash. I have called and asked about it. IMO what I have is a better deal for me. I was paying for 12/1 with Cox before for 44 bucks a month. I am not planning on sending/uploading large files to anyone on a frequent basis and download speed is often dependent on the website you are dealing with. I'm convinced that Asus is running at 2400 baud. LOL

Yeah I won't switch my plan. I got my HD reciever free for a year. I had it free for 6 months. The Movie pack free for 6 months.

 

[vurbano]

I apologize for the troll that has followed me into this thread. Apparently he has a crush on me.

 

[tds4182]

I apologize for the troll that has followed me into this thread. Apparently he has a crush on me.

I (We'll) take that as a yes.

Hallelujah!!!

 

[vurbano]

Everyone thanks you for your valuable contributions to this thread.

 

[riffjim4069]

I apologize for the troll that has followed me into this thread. Apparently he has a crush on me.

Don't worry...I sometimes receive the same treatment in the Dish Network Forum simply for pointing out how I still have my three Dish Network ViP622 sitting in the closet waiting for E* to return to their old ways of providing terrific HD picture quality (not DishHD-Lite and TurboHD-Lite), outstanding programming value (Cable Triple Play, FiOS TV, U-Verse, and others now offer more for less), and customer service reps who speak English and can accurately answer questions. Until then...FiOS and my TivoHD is about as good as it gets!

Hmmm. To be honest, I've never had anyone follow me into the follow FiOS Forum.

 

[riffjim4069]

Everyone thanks you for your valuable contributions to this thread.

Glad to have your aboard! Except for the billing/ordering system, our FiOS service has been 100% outstanding and 100% reliable the past 16-months. We couldn't be happier! Of course, we welcome criticism and posts about bad experiences too.

 

[enthuzist]

I love both positive and negative posts that stick to the facts. I don't think any provider is perfect and each has their followers. I like the best and can tend to deal with the bad as long as my service is up more than it is down (unlike VZ's DSL in the past).

Vurbano:
We welcome you here and appreciate what you offer to the forum. Thank you.

 

[enthuzist]

This morning as I was leaving for work, several Verizon Boom Trucks with reels of fiber and vans pulled into my neighborhood. There weren't any trenchers insight. Does this mean that I will get overhead FTTH? What are the pros/cons of overhead versus buried?

 

[grydlok]

This morning as I was leaving for work, several Verizon Boom Trucks with reels of fiber and vans pulled into my neighborhood. There weren't any trenchers insight. Does this mean that I will get overhead FTTH? What are the pros/cons of overhead versus buried?

How is you telephone drop ran to your home?

 

[enthuzist]

Back before Isabell I had a wire ran to the house from the pole. However since that hurricane and the uprooting of the tree in my front yard taking down six power/telephone poles, I haven't had anything. I didn't worry since I had Cox at the time.

So it there a different ONT for this setup? Would that better my chances of it being able to be put right at my meter at the rear of my garage? That is what I really want since my homeruns will be terminated there. Lastly are there any pros/cons other that no issues with storms knocking down the pole?

Sorry for so many questions. I'm very curious to what to expect.