Cable/Internet: Cox v. Verizon? (Woodbridge, Cana: sales, townhome, transfer)

[viking1974]

Thanks, everyone! I'm very unfamiliar with FiOS-- sounds like it could be worth it.

[New Hampshire]

It is not possible for you to dislike Comcast more than I dislike Comcast. I've dashed off my upteenth letter to the president last week. Comcast was voted the worst company for customer service in the July, 2007, Page 67, issue of Washingtonian magazine.

[jmarkd]

I had internet only through Cox for about a year in Chantilly. No problems. It got switched off accidentally once, I called and got an appointment for them to come out three days later, they flipped the switch back, and it was fine.

Not sure if Verizon does this but Cox will run a lot of promotions. I got the high speed cable modem service for $19.95 a month.

[Alanboy395]

I got Verizon high-spped internet a couple of months ago and aside from the free modem's crappy performance i'm very happy. As soon as i can get verizon fios cable inside the City Of Alexandria, comcast and their horrific customer service and high prices are going completely out of the door at my apt.

[saganista]

Keep in mind that Cox has been on fiber optic cable for quite a while in its NoVa service area. The FiOS commercials make it sound like something new and hot, but while the Verizon standards are different, the technology is not. Keep in mind as well that as Verizon installs fiber-optic to your home, they will be ripping out the copper wire that you've used for years. That will make switching back impossible without an expensive rewiring that the customer has to pay for. Also, of course, with either fiber optic system, if the power goes out, so does your phone service. Keep the cellphone charged...

[New Hampshire]

Originally Posted by Alanboy395

I got Verizon high-spped internet a couple of months ago and aside from the free modem's crappy performance i'm very happy.

Don't understand...if the modem doesn't work properly, how can you be happy with Verizon? Did you purchase another modem? We don't have FiOS yet in our area, so please explain.

[New Hampshire]

Originally Posted by saganista

...while the Verizon standards are different, the technology is not. Keep in mind as well that as Verizon installs fiber-optic to your home, they will be ripping out the copper wire that you've used for years. That will make switching back impossible without an expensive rewiring that the customer has to pay for.

Would Verizon be installing phone lines or cable lines? Why would you want to return to copper?

Also, of course, with either fiber optic system, if the power goes out, so does your phone service. Keep the cellphone charged...

If you had fiber optic cable for internet service, and there is a power outage, the phone goes out?

Just asking as we don't have fiber optic in our area. Trying to get a heads up.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by New Hampshire

Would Verizon be installing phone lines or cable lines? Why would you want to return to copper?

Verizon installs fiber optic cable that carries your phone, internet, and TV service. The issue re copper is what if you ever want to leave Verizon, particularly for your phone service. Without copper, you can't. Even if it owns the copper, Verizon has to let other service providers use it. No such rules apply with respect to fiber optic. Many home protection services also work properly only with copper, so if you had one of those, you would want to check out the implications of switching to FiOS. With Cox, for instance, I have basically the same fiber optic services as I would have with Verizon, but I still have all the copper I might ever need.

Originally Posted by New Hampshire

If you had fiber optic cable for internet service, and there is a power outage, the phone goes out?

Right, it all needs electrical power to get through the modem (optical network terminal, actually). The newer Verizon systems all include a backup battery. Kind of like the emergency lighting in the stairwells of public buildings. Once that's gone, you've got nothing.

Like that little kid in the ad? You've got your 1310, your 1490, and your 1550! Sounds hi-tech. It's not. The first two are simply carriers for outbound and inbound TCP/IP traffic respectively. The third carries your cable TV signals since those don't use TCP/IP. Another thing to ask about FiOS is whether once you record a program broadcast in hi-def, you can play it back in hi-def. On most current systems, you can't.

Bottom line is that fiber optic is a great technology, but different people implement it in different ways. There are going to be plusses and minuses involved with any of them. Just make sure you know what all the minuses are before you jump in...

[gnu]

Originally Posted by saganista

Right, it all needs electrical power to get through the modem (optical network terminal, actually). The newer Verizon systems all include a backup battery. Kind of like the emergency lighting in the stairwells of public buildings. Once that's gone, you've got nothing.

The battery lasts for 10 hours though, at least the one that I got a two years ago - newer installations most likely hav egone up in capacity since then. Additionally, the battery will disengage when it's down to 30 minutes of useful life, and if you need to use the phone, you can push the re-engage button, and it'll let you use the remaming half hour. Unless the power is out for over a day, the issue of phone power is not too great.

[saganista]

Well, it's supposed to last ten hours. Even the Verizon Training Manual claims only five hours, and that's just for the phone. They don't make any promises at all about TV or internet service on back-up. And the life expectancy of the battery itself is 1-3 years, and you get to do the replacing, currently at about $40 per pop. None of which is to trash FiOS or any other fiber optic service. It's just that you won't see any of the downside in Verizon's advertising (and not really in their documentation either), and if FiOS is something that one is considering, it would be good to know beforehand that there are indeed issues out there...