Hi All,
I have decided to make the move from Time Warner Cable to Verizon FIOS. This means I now have a 1.5 times faster internet connection. TWC was 10mb/1mb connection and FIOS is 25mb/5mb. The installation went fairly smooth. There were some issues with bad equipment and some misleading advertising on Verizon\'s part. They advertise with their Home Media DVR you can record a program and watch it on \"any other set top box.\" (equal to TWC cable box) This is NOT the case however. I have a HM HD DVR in the livingroom, a (plain) HD DVR in my computer room, a digital set top box (STB) in my bedroom and 2 digital converter box\'s in the kids room\'s. The recorded program on the HM DVR cannot be watched on the 2 digital converters (I understand that). It also CANNOT be watched on the (plain) HD DVR because it has a computer hard drive installed (to record it\'s own programs). So that means the only other location I can watch a HM HD DVR program is in my bedroom. No big deal you say.
Here is their monthly pricing structure for the different boxes;
Digital Converter = $3.99/month
Plain STB = $5.99/month
HD DVR = $15.99/month
HM HD DVR = $19.99/month
Not as appealing when you see their prices for \"renting\" their boxes. Luckily they had a promotion going when I signed up. I get the HM HD DVR free for the first 3 months. After that I will most likely be returning it for a regular HD DVR. At this point, it just isn\'t worth (to me) the additional cost per month when only one other tv in my house can watch the HM DVR recorded programs. Thay seem to be aware of the issue and say eventually they will fix that glitch, but for now, it\'s just not worth the extra $60/yr.
I also had alot of problems with their Verizon/Westell Router. The installer simply installs it and makes sure you have an internet connection. Any problems you need to call their tech support. Turns out, 9 out of 10 calls to their tech support you will get someone that really doesn\'t know much about the technical side of support. Granted, I know more than the average user. I have a degree in computers and have run an ISP as well as been a network manager. If Verizon Tech Support can\'t help, they gave me (what they called 2nd tier tech support) Westell\'s number. Turns out, Westell won\'t talk directly to the end user. They will only talk to Verizon tech support. I got tossed around a few times until I started saying, \"If you can\'t get someone to help me with my problem, this equipment is of no use to me, please come and remove it and I will go back to Time Warner.\" The problem I had was forwarding ports so my domains, KozRadio.Biz & kprods.com were visible to the internet. As well as my shoutcast radio station KozRadio5252 (live.kozradio.biz:5252 from WinAmp or WMP). First I was told by several of their reps that they block port 80 and that is why I couldn\'t forward ports. But, if I upgrade to a business account and a
static IP, port 80 would be unblocked. I also couldn\'t get port 5252 (radio station) to forward. Anyways, turns out Verizon \"used\" to block port 80 but for the past 2-3 months they no longer block port 80. Without some knowledgeable help, what appeared to be straight-forward instructions were not, it was complicated and their first level tech support had no clue how to set it up so it worked. I finally gave up trying to get port forwarding to work. The next day the phone rang and it was a Verizon Tech Support rep that wanted to know if the problem was fixed. I said no and she offered to help me set it up. Even though I was skeptical, I said yes. This woman actually knew what she was talking about and got me to the point where both ports (80 & 5252) were forwarding correctly......from here end. She said she could surf from one of her computers there to my website and was able to listen to my radio station using WMP. I could get to the radio station with no problems but port 80 was still not working for me. I kept getting the routers login page when I tried to go to kozradio.biz, which is definitely not a good idea to allow anyone from the outside access to the hardware. I thanked her for her help and hung up. After having something to eat, I decided to give it another try. With much experimentation, I finally found the correct setup and all is working as before! Yaaaaa!
I think the trick to Verizon Tech Support is calling after 6pm. They offer tech support 24/7 but the customer service support goes home for the day at 6pm and after that is the \"real\" tech support.
So far, even with all the issues I had from the start, I would still recommend Verizon FIOS. You don\'t need to get the entire bundle like I did (FIOS TV, Internet and Phone). If you are a speed freak, like me, FIOS internet is the way to go! They offer several levels of service up to 50mb/25mb speeds. For downloaders (people who use FTP\'s, IRC, P2P etc) you will be amazed at how fast you get your files. I was utterly amazed when I went from a 56k modem to cable at how fast web pages loaded and how fast I was receiving files. I figured there wasn\'t much more that could amaze me. I was wrong! My 25/5 internt connection is just phenomenal!.
You\'d think TV is TV. Not much that could make a difference. FIOS TV is also amazing. The picture quality is in a word, \"wow!\" Getting used to the new channel numbers and remote control will take some time but I can deal with that!
As far as the Phone service, phone is phone. Nothing different there.
Koz
Moved to Verizon FIOS |
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