Review by mark123 
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 2565 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Brandon,Hillsborough,FL
 $49 per month
 "Reliable fast connection"
 "Actiontec router needs to rebooted every month or so"
 "Great deal for the speed"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Got Fios a four months ago, been holding back on a review until I had a chance to check reliability over a time span.
Install went great, I already had my house wired for cat5e, asked that the battery backup and router be installed where my existing wiring was located and the tech did so. The installer stuck around while I setup one pc and when I ran a speed test that showed as sub-par (12mbs instead of the 20mbs I signed up for) showed me where to download the fios optimization tool, but the web site at the time would not work. The tech then gave me a different web site to obtain a registry hack to optimize the network settings and I was up and running at 20mbs without a problem. I was really impressed with the installers knowledge of his Fios and setup knowledge, something that can't be said for other installers that install their product and run without making sure speeds are what they are supposed to be.
Two weeks after install, come home to no internet or home phone. Check the battery backup unit and it was dead. Checked the power supply, no green led, also dead. We had no storms that would have caused lighting damage. Called support on my cell phone (a Thursday night) and going through automated voice prompts from hell and never talking to a human, got a computer response that said something like "we need to send a tech out, please leave a number where you can be contacted, we are committed to resolving your problem within 24 hours". Seeing how I called around 7pm and never talked to a human, figured I would be down for a few days waiting for a call back, or have to call back in the morning to schedule a tech call. I was wrong, about 1/2 hour later, get a call from a real human, runs me through a few checks and confirms that a tech is needed. They had a few slots open the next day, but I could not take time off from work. They then setup a call for between 8 and 10am on Saturday. 8am Saturday morning, tech arrives, replaces power supply (confirms it is dead), does not fix problem. Then replaces battery backup unit and it has worked fine since.
Overall, I was at first really ticked off on my support call for never being able to talk to a human, but a human did call back pretty quick. I've NEVER had a broadband provider give me a two hour timeslot when they arrive, usually you wait all day and half the time they don't show up (ie, when I had Mediacom at another location). Couldn't ask for better support other than not talking to a human FIRST.
Speeds were great for a month or two after getting service, but then went kinda sour for a month or so. I could still pull 19.8mbs from my newsserver, but other sites were around 5mbs. Traceroutes showed that my newsserver went through one router out of Tampa, and most everything else went through another. Others on this site also complained of slowdowns in the Tampa area. I took them a few weeks, but they fixed the problem and have great speeds to most anywhere now.
The Actiontec router about once a month decides to lockup. Does not respond to pings from hardwired or wireless computers on my network. A restart fixes the problem. I'm not sure if others have this problem with the Actiontec or not, but I can deal with it as long as it's once a month instead of every day.
Overall, speeds a great now. Tech support (at least install-hardware, haven't had to deal with any software support issues) has been better than expected with installers knowing their product better than most ISP's I've dealt with over the years.
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