When is FIOS coming to NEPA? (Wall, Penn: how much, purchase, luxury)

[jimazee]

You are 'fortunate' to live in a city area. The outer suburbs often can't get any cable service, and if fortunate get some marginal DSL from companies like Frontier. They are struggling to provide service to the boondocks where the big guys choose not to play at all. As a result large portions of the country have poor, expensive, if any, service that is getting worse since there is no competition. Contributing to this, the practice of towns awarding lengthy restrictive exclusive cable contracts that restrict competition (but not requiring specific services), and the lack of common/shared carrier (cables wires etc) have not served the community/customer very well.

While politicos occasionally talk about this as a strategic area, it doesn't have the same current focus as similarly long term items like high speed rail and independent green energy. Maybe I am missing something here as I don't follow it closely now. Perhaps all we need is to bring back Al Gore or rather redirect his efforts from global warming ($$$) back to his invention... the Internet.

The 'good news' (for the young) is that continuously improving technology like ubiquitous ultra high speed service 'from the sky' and Gigabit Ethernet are on the horizon (no pun intended) but probably not in most of the US for many years. Here are two short articles that illustrate some of today's reality. There are plenty more.

Frontier Adds Insult To Injury After FiOS TV Hikes - Extends free DirecTV offer that DirecTV didn't know existed | DSLReports.com, ISP Information

Ubiquitous Gigabyte per Second Internet Speed in S Korea by 2012 | Softlanding

A year or two ago I recall Scranton discussing applying for the following Google initiative. I thought they had a chance based on the criteria stated, and submitted suggestions to whoever was 'heading this up'. I haven't seen anything about it since.

Official Google Blog: Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network

In the meantime it is unlikely (IMHO) that unless it gets pretty lucky, most of NEPA is unlikely to be provided with leading edge and will make do with marginal service providers. The money goes where the money is.

[jordanspop23]

I live in Wilkes barre city and I am sick of sectv... We need better internet... Sectv limits you to 2 Mbps upload.. No matter how many times I've upgraded they say .. your capped at 2mbps that's all we offer..its 2016 and that's it what a joke.. Please help

[Rogue0888]

Originally Posted by jordanspop23

I live in Wilkes barre city and I am sick of sectv... We need better internet... Sectv limits you to 2 Mbps upload.. No matter how many times I've upgraded they say .. your capped at 2mbps that's all we offer..its 2016 and that's it what a joke.. Please help

With you 100%. It's Blue Ridge Comm (PTD) for us and since its the only game in town they charge ridiculous amounts for service that isn't even up all the time. Caps are Bullsh!@#$. Other services that have to compete offer 50up/50down for half of what I pay.

[jimazee]

"NEPA" is a huge geographic area serviced by multiple providers. FIOS is expensive and difficult to deploy...even more so in small cities and especially rural areas. It'is being rolled out in large cities and they are not 'done' there. Probably many cities may never be. Verizon, Frontier, and others shuffle their customers and restate their FIOS and higher speed strategies yearly.

Many NEPA people will probably never want/get/use FIOS. Some are just lucky to get DSL... with no land alternative available. Hopefully some day better technologies will supplant/replace FIOS and be easier to deploy. It will take a while... don't hold your breath. 2Mbs upload is way more than probably 90% or more of the country gets...many people are happy to get that downloading.

If you really want an answer and just not whine about it, first Google (or duckduckgo or) FIOS and your provider's name, then do some reading... then call and ask them. Don't be surprised if you get a 'huh'?

This forum is hardly the place to get an answer. So it would be great if you let us know what you learn...thanks.

[thecoalman]

Upload speeds are low because generally speaking unless you are running a business you don't need that type of service, fast uploads are usually only obtainable through business plans.

Service Electric Cable TV and Communications - Commercial Internet Services

I will note they do offer a very reasonable plan for the average consumer.

$24.95

3 Mbps down
2 Mbps up

That's plenty for most people and it's rare to see a plan priced liked that.

[Rogue0888]

I'll have to respectfully disagree with "only need if your running a business". I think you underestimate the average consumer in 2016. Most people under the age of 30 don't bother with old school cable/satellite any-more. They get what they want ala-cart with a mixture of streaming services, known as cord cutters. Not only better choice but cost savings are quite alot as well Not to mention kids online gaming, and upload is important. Just a few videos on your kids that you want to share with relatives you try to upload and it crushes your downloads because your crushing your bandwidth.

That is the reason FIOS 50up/50dwon is a consumer product. Just not available here, most likely because our population isn't large enough to warrant the cost of VZ running it.

[SteelCityRising]

Has NEPA really changed all that much over the past seven years since I moved away? I used to work at Lowe's, and in 2009 when I'd start referencing "online" options available for a customer to have the option to track deliveries or see more special ordering options from the comfort of their living rooms via our web site I faced customer after customer who didn't have home Internet access, let alone a Smartphone. Yes, you read that correctly---"Innernet? What's that?"

Is NEPA firmly in 2016 now technologically, or is still stuck in 1996?

[Gettingouttahere]

Originally Posted by Rogue0888

I'll have to respectfully disagree with "only need if your running a business". I think you underestimate the average consumer in 2016. Most people under the age of 30 don't bother with old school cable/satellite any-more. They get what they want ala-cart with a mixture of streaming services, known as cord cutters. Not only better choice but cost savings are quite alot as well Not to mention kids online gaming, and upload is important. Just a few videos on your kids that you want to share with relatives you try to upload and it crushes your downloads because your crushing your bandwidth.

That is the reason FIOS 50up/50dwon is a consumer product. Just not available here, most likely because our population isn't large enough to warrant the cost of VZ running it.

^this
Two kids and two adults, all running online apps or videos, and everything is at a crawl on midrange Blue Ridge G15 plan (15mbps download)

[jtab4994]

We have the Blue Ridge G15 ($52.95 plus tax when bundled with cable) and the two gamers in my house don't complain that often.


I've offered to let them kick in some money toward the next plan up, which is the $69.95 (plus tax) "Dream 60" 60mbps download plan, but they haven't taken me up on it so far.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by Rogue0888

Most people under the age of 30 don't bother with old school cable/satellite any-more. They get what they want ala-cart with a mixture of streaming services, known as cord cutters. Not only better choice but cost savings are quite alot as well Not to mention kids online gaming, and upload is important.

I'm certainly over 30 and I have a kid in high school who plays sports. So it's important to me to keep up with the local sports scene which my cable provider (Blue Ridge in Monroe County) does a good job of. As a matter of fact he and the other basketball seniors from his school will be on Sports Scene 13 at 7:00PM on Monday!


Whenever I call Verizon for any reason they always try and upsell me on FiOS, and I always point out their lack of local -- and I mean local-local -- news and sports coverage.