DW & I went out & bought a new High Def Sony 40" LCD yesterday, and I need to upgrade from my current Comcast basic cable service. The salesman at the TV store (small shop, NOT a box store) highly recommended I look into switching over to the new Verizon Fios service. I checked availabilty, and found that the new fiber optic wiring is indeed on the road in front of my home.
I've been generally satisfied with Comcast since I first subscribed when I last moved, and found that Verizon's DSL was not available on my street.
Looking for opinions from anyone now using Fios. Is the internet speed really as blazing fast as claimed? Is the HDTV channel selection & quality really better than what Comcast offer?
Any & all opinions heartily welcomed.
David, in Howard Co, MD

Comcast works great for me. Their 6mb/s internet gets me about 3.5MB/s downloads on servers that can move that fast and I regularly get 500KB/s through BitTorrent.

I don't have HDTV so i can't comment on it but their extended basic cable has FAR too many spanish-speaking only channels for my taste. At least in Denver, I don't know about other cities.

I just got the Fios for my phone, cable and internet and it is all they say it is. I love it. And if you get into a pickle there is a phone number you can call with real people at the other end.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Hey how much is it running you for a month of service on the Fios thing?

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Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

I am a bit biased because I am a Verizon Fios tech. I'm a bit jealous of everyone with Fios because I am installing it daily and see all the great picture quality and HD but yet, do not have Fios available in my neighborhood.

Before a Fios internet install, I always do a speedtest and have YET to see a Comcast speed higher than 4 Mbs. Our slowest speed is a 10Mb down with a 2Mb up. I have come across a couple times where the speed was significantly slower but after I used Dr. TCP to optimize, I got my 10Mb/2Mb.

Also, I have seen the before and after picture quality. One customer was even contemplating a new tv because comcast had told him that his poor picture quality on certain stations was caused by the tv. After installing the fios tv the picture was great. You make the call.....

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Frank
84 500SEL EURO 101K ( JUST LIKE MY 1ST WIFE. GLAD TO GET RID OF HER! )
85 300D 310K (sold)
90 350SDL 184K sold
83 300D 118K (sold)
88 300E 153k (sold)
93 400E 105K (sold)

Hi,
I have Verizon Fios (phone,internet and tv),and the internet is amazing (comcast would always go out),phone is awesome,tv is very clear (using LCD tv's and projection tv's).

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1998 S500
2006 E320 CDI
1963 220S
1994 S500
1995 S500
2005 BMW 545i sport
2007 GL320 CDI
2007 ML320 CDI
1991 Toyota Previa White over Blue
2000 Lexus RX300 White over Beige
2008 Audi Q7 Black Opal over Grey
1993 Toyota T-100 Silver over Grey
2002 Chevy 2500 Express White over Grey

Well I have heard great things about FIOS, so I would consider it.

I will support ComCast though, although I only have basic TV.

Internet right now is a little slow at 17150kbps up, 1600kbps down. I have seen it over 20000 down and as high as 3200 up.

I have had 2 difficult times with ComCast, about a year and a half a go I would loose Internet intermitently, they finally found a bad connector at the pole. And then from a week ago Wed to Tues. Same thing very intermitent, I could watch the signal jump up and down for 10 minutes, then lock solid for an hour or two. We all know what these intermitent problems can be to solve.
Beyond that, it has been all but perfect for the 3+ years I've had it.
And I work via the internet 12ish hours a day.

I have NOT heard good things about ComCast voice.


I guess the real question will take time for Verizon to prove they can deliver a reliable system, and handle the increased load as it ramps up.
FYI I do believe they will deliver.


Bandwith is an amazing thing, 10 years ago a 10mbps LAN was hot, 5 years ago 100mbps, today it's gig. With 10 and 100gig becoming standard, and I'm talking home and small to medium businesses. Consider what is moving between the big carriers.
More amazing is that the speed I am getting right now is roughly a T1 line. They cost 400->650 Month, 10 years ago 3x+ times that.

Finally there is another wave of speed coming to cable, Comcast specifically, they have new technology (beginning installation, not just in the lab) that will increase cable bandwith by a factor of 20+ over the next 2 years. Remember TV uses bandwith on the cable too.
I saw a demo where they downloaded a movie, a complete DVD, just over 2 seconds. The DVR couldn't handle the load.

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KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

I have the 32" Sony, awsome picture. Took a few days to get the settings just right. Don't forget about the best source of HD programming, OVER THE AIR! The price is right. Go to www.antennaweb.org and see what you can get. You might also find some good info on your FIOS question at www.highdefforum.com

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Thanks to all for the feedback.
I'm still on the fence about switching. I went ahead & ordered a high def DVR box from Comcast, which is coming Wed afternoon. It adds $12 /month to my existing package. This allows me to check out my new toy right away.

I imagine I will make the switch to FIOS before long. My AP/AR clerk has a FIOS install scheduled for this week at her home, I'm anxiously awaiting to hear what she has to say about it.
From what little reading I've done so far, it sounds like a fairly time consuming install, so I'll probably wait till early September, when I'm off 2 weeks, to schedule installation.

David

How do you get 3.5 megabytes/second if 6 megabits is .75 megabytes?

I've got the same deal as you I believe.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Can't comment on Comcast since it isn't offered in our area, but our community was the first in the nation to get residential FIOS service.

I finally caved in to Verizon's aggresive marketing campaign, and since I already have their land-line service, I opted to get the internet service. I went for the cable service a year later.

The only caveat here is that subcontractors link your house to the fiber in the easement. I've heard some horros stories about severed water lines, etc., but my connection was practically invisible. They even replaced my old phone utility box with an upgraded one.

If your house is already network wired, things go pretty smoothly. I had cat5 runs done during home construction, so it was a breeze for the installer to set up the router.

They provide regular cable boxes for standard sets and HD boxes for your HD-compatible units...they connect high-quality component video cables to your sets. The TV signal is routed from the fiber to an ethernet to coax converter box they intall at the base, then that feeds all of your coax connections around your home.

1080i HD signals are so awesome, it's hard to sit through regular 480p programming anymore.

The best thing is that I have rarely experienced downtime with either the cable or internet feeds to the house. I highly recommend FIOS.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car