 Review by grobinette 
UPDATED: 90 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 5414 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Springfield,Fairfax,VA
 $54 per month (12 month contract)
 about 26 days
 "Insanely Fast Internet and Dynamite Audio and Video"
 "Did not like the option offered for where the power supply was installed"
 "Good value for the money"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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So I dropped my DSL provider that I have had for five years and switched. The install period would have been as short as 10 days but because I wanted the FIOS TV service and my availability to be off from work, the install period had to be extended.
30Mbps down 5 Mbps up is insanely fast and I am meeting or surpassing the download speeds and just under the advertised speeds - 31100 down and 4599 up with Speakeasy's WDC test. I had not run a lot of speed tests for a while but these are fun.
The installer did not want to put the power supply in a location in the laundry room where it would have been completely out of the way. This is a minor issue but bothersome because a different installer did take the time to locate the power supply in the same area I had initially chosen in a neighbor’s house. Admittedly, putting the power supply in my preferred location would have taken way more time and involved a lot of blind fishing through a chase from the outside, but there is an obvious difference between what their installers will do for you.
Both inside and outside cabling was done neatly but inside cabling is exposed.
Regardless, both installers did a neat job, wore shoe covers when they went outside and came back in, cleaned up most of their debris from the installation and were courteous and friendly. I did get two installers, one who was familiar with the internet portion and one who did the television portion.
Other things the site asks for:
Home equipment is the Actiontec wireless router.
The router is configured nicely out of the box, because it forces you to change the default user name and password on initial access and has some fairly decent default security settings for the wireless.
DHCP Dynamic IP
There is no need to install the Verizon supplied software beyond the initial setting up your account process. To see how it would go - I opted to use their configuring software for Outlook Express and was given an unpleasant surprise of having additional software downloaded and installed that I was not informed of or given the ability to opt out. That was not really necessary and not a good practice in my opinion. They also offer optimizer software to reset your RWIN for the higher speeds, but it is also not necessary as you can do the same with DrTCP.
Overall a fairly good experience.
So, I've had Verizon for a little over a year now and things are going well. I did have one instance where I lost all connectivity (Phone TV Internet) for 4 days. The coordination between customer service and getting a service call was atrocious. Many promises were made but it took from Friday until Tuesday afternoon to get service back. After 3 hours of diagnostics and head scratching on my ONT the tech discovered that it was self inflicted by another Verizon tech, who during a separate install moved my connection because it was in the way and did not put it back right.
My Actiontec router lasted a whopping 14 months and then it got the LAN jitters. All LAN lights flickering like everything on the network was talking to it but no action.
Wireless and the TV portion of the service survived and to Verizon's credit they dropped a replacement router on my doorstep the next morning. It was configured for PPPoE but a phone call, a hard reset and a release of the IP address fixed that.
So, I am still pleased with the overall triple play bundle except that they have dropped the 30/5 package I have. So far they have not bugged me about it and I am still running at that speed. A few minor price increases in the STB and a service here and there. To put them in perspective comparing them to the increased cost of gasoline, it's been minor.
Working on my third router since I've had the service. First one lasted 14 months as stated above. This one lasted less than 10 months and the transformer went bad. I am disappointed that Verizon has partnered up with a company that cannot seem to provide decent quality equipment for them. If you have a wireless router I recommend keeping it around to fill the gap when your Verizon provided equipment craps out on you.
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