The guy just finished. He got here around 9:30 and it is now 12:30.
He ran a fiber line from the pole (it just so happens the fiber hub is on
the pole directly in front of my house, he commented that he was happy
with that so he didn't have to run the line down the street as he has had
to do at other places).
He removed the existing NID from the side of my house and installed the
new fiber NID in the same location. He then went into my basement and
connected the power supply and battery backup for the NID. This is
connected to the NID outside via two cables, one brings power out to the
NID (12v DC), the other brings power back in from the NID to charge the
battery, as well as power from battery to NID and communication from the
battery to NID so they can monitor the battery status. He said I should
get about 6 hours of life on the battery. He also said, contrary to what
I was told over the phone, the batter is Verizon's problem to replace
when it goes bad. Although it is a standard lead acid battery so the cost
would be under $20 if I had to replace it.
He then replaced the phone line from the old NID to my inside puch block.
He did this because the existing wire was an old, non outdoor rated
length of station cable. He replaced it with proper UV rated cat 3 (about
5 feet of cable).
He then ran a cat 5 from the NID, up the side of my house, and in the
wall to where my existing router was located. He basically followed the
path of my cable TV line. This was my choice to have it run this way, he
offered to find a way thru inside the house. I told him it wasn't worth
it. The cable TV was already run there, just follow that.
They supplied a DLink wired router, he set it up and downloaded the set
of FiOS "tools" that Verizon pushes on you (read Verizon and MSN
sponsored Adware). Did a speed test of the line and showed me that I was
getting 14.5 Kbs down and 1.7 Kbs up (15/2 was the speed level I ordered).
Then he removed the copper line from the street, packed up and left. All
in all, it was a pleasent experience, and I'm now crusing at about 10
times the speed I had with my DSL.
The only thing left for me to do was reprogram the new router to match
the network settings I use (I don't use DHCP, I also have a specific
subnet I use, and I have ports forwarded for services inside). I made my
custom changes in about 2 minutes. As soon as I finish this email I'm
going to reconfigure my now unneeded LinkSys Wireless router to set it to
Access Point only mode so I can resume using wireless over my new FiOS
Internet Connection.
As to the reliability of the speeds and service, I can't say. My phone
sounds crystal clear, and the data service is working right now... but
its been done for less than an hour. Give me a month of using it and I
can give an idea of how reliable it is.
The guy also confirmed that they are offering Static IPs for FiOS
Service, at least for business accounts. He said he has done a bunch of
them already. He said he doesn't know if they are available for
residential, but he agreed with me, that much like the DSL, they may just
not advertise it, but if you ask for it, and are willing to pay for it,
they will give you a static IP. In the end, they don't care if you are a
business or a residence. If you are a residence, willing to pay the
higher business price to get the static IP, they will be happy to take
your money.
>I'm curious, is Verizon placing any restrictions
>on VOIP over FIOS ?
No, they are not. I mentioned to the guy that once this was in and
running, I was going to move to VoIP service, and he asked who I was
going to use. So that tells me they aren't stopping you. I told him I was
actually looking at the Verizon VoiceWing offering, but I haven't made up
my mind yet (I have to see how prices and services compare to companies
like Vonage).
But, one thing they can do is not handle QOS on the traffic for anyone
that isn't using Verizon VoIP. That could mean other carriers will risk
having occasional call problems. There would be little to stop them from
doing this. But I'd guess CV would be doing this already. So if Vonage
works with OOL, I'd guess it will work fine with FiOS.
source
He ran a fiber line from the pole (it just so happens the fiber hub is on
the pole directly in front of my house, he commented that he was happy
with that so he didn't have to run the line down the street as he has had
to do at other places).
He removed the existing NID from the side of my house and installed the
new fiber NID in the same location. He then went into my basement and
connected the power supply and battery backup for the NID. This is
connected to the NID outside via two cables, one brings power out to the
NID (12v DC), the other brings power back in from the NID to charge the
battery, as well as power from battery to NID and communication from the
battery to NID so they can monitor the battery status. He said I should
get about 6 hours of life on the battery. He also said, contrary to what
I was told over the phone, the batter is Verizon's problem to replace
when it goes bad. Although it is a standard lead acid battery so the cost
would be under $20 if I had to replace it.
He then replaced the phone line from the old NID to my inside puch block.
He did this because the existing wire was an old, non outdoor rated
length of station cable. He replaced it with proper UV rated cat 3 (about
5 feet of cable).
He then ran a cat 5 from the NID, up the side of my house, and in the
wall to where my existing router was located. He basically followed the
path of my cable TV line. This was my choice to have it run this way, he
offered to find a way thru inside the house. I told him it wasn't worth
it. The cable TV was already run there, just follow that.
They supplied a DLink wired router, he set it up and downloaded the set
of FiOS "tools" that Verizon pushes on you (read Verizon and MSN
sponsored Adware). Did a speed test of the line and showed me that I was
getting 14.5 Kbs down and 1.7 Kbs up (15/2 was the speed level I ordered).
Then he removed the copper line from the street, packed up and left. All
in all, it was a pleasent experience, and I'm now crusing at about 10
times the speed I had with my DSL.
The only thing left for me to do was reprogram the new router to match
the network settings I use (I don't use DHCP, I also have a specific
subnet I use, and I have ports forwarded for services inside). I made my
custom changes in about 2 minutes. As soon as I finish this email I'm
going to reconfigure my now unneeded LinkSys Wireless router to set it to
Access Point only mode so I can resume using wireless over my new FiOS
Internet Connection.
As to the reliability of the speeds and service, I can't say. My phone
sounds crystal clear, and the data service is working right now... but
its been done for less than an hour. Give me a month of using it and I
can give an idea of how reliable it is.
The guy also confirmed that they are offering Static IPs for FiOS
Service, at least for business accounts. He said he has done a bunch of
them already. He said he doesn't know if they are available for
residential, but he agreed with me, that much like the DSL, they may just
not advertise it, but if you ask for it, and are willing to pay for it,
they will give you a static IP. In the end, they don't care if you are a
business or a residence. If you are a residence, willing to pay the
higher business price to get the static IP, they will be happy to take
your money.
>I'm curious, is Verizon placing any restrictions
>on VOIP over FIOS ?
No, they are not. I mentioned to the guy that once this was in and
running, I was going to move to VoIP service, and he asked who I was
going to use. So that tells me they aren't stopping you. I told him I was
actually looking at the Verizon VoiceWing offering, but I haven't made up
my mind yet (I have to see how prices and services compare to companies
like Vonage).
But, one thing they can do is not handle QOS on the traffic for anyone
that isn't using Verizon VoIP. That could mean other carriers will risk
having occasional call problems. There would be little to stop them from
doing this. But I'd guess CV would be doing this already. So if Vonage
works with OOL, I'd guess it will work fine with FiOS.
source
