Review by rebus9 
member for 11.1 years, 1535 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 106 days ago
 Tampa Bay
 $50 per month- (24 month contract)
 about 9 days "Fastest internet ride available in the area" "Static IPs are ridiculously expensive" "You get what you pay for"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
--- Update: 2/2/2013--
Still outstanding service, stable, speeds fluffed to consistent 26/31 on a 15/5 connection. Price went up to $57.99 but it's still a good value as long as the fluff remains.
--- Update: 11/8/2010--
It's been about 15 months and the ride is still sweet. Speeds are still faster than advertised, and my upstream is actually faster now than 6 months ago.
The downside, and it's a BIG downside, happens when you have a problem. I was suffering with horrible packet loss, on the order of 50%. VZ sent a field tech who did everything he could from this end, including replacing the ONT and cleaning every fiber connection between premises and the hub several blocks away. But even while he sat there with his VZ laptop plugged directly into the ONT and was seeing 50-60% packet loss to the default gateway (first hop outbound) and speedtests were barely hitting 2 Mbps, the tech he was on the phone with at the Fiber Support Center was telling him there was nothing wrong with the connection. Worse, the FSC tech said the default gateway was "on the general internet" (WRONG!!!) and packet loss to it was beyond VZ's control (WRONG AGAIN!!!). FSC also said it was a Qwest issue. (WRONG YET AGAIN, because we don't have Qwest in this region... and what would Qwest have to do with the local FIOS service anyway?) And worse yet-- if it could get any worse-- there was already a "group ticket" open for a rash of complaints with their Digital Voice service (which rides the IP network) as well as complaints from other subscribers connected to the same CO regarding heavy packet loss.
The FSC techs apparently have a serious problem with denial, even when presented with widespread complaints of the same issue. I posted in the VZ Direct forum here, and got some responses. I don't know if that's what got the ball rolling faster, or if it was just coincidence, but several days and 2 major downtimes later (one for ~75 minutes, then 2 days later another one for ~45 minutes), the problem was finally resolved.
I'm updating my rating to reflect the superb speed, but horrible tech support (except for the field tech who came out, who gets an A+, and the helpful rep in the VZ Direct forum, which is why I gave 2 stars instead of 1).
------------------------------------
So far, the connection is substantially faster than the advertised speeds. How often do you get MORE than what was promised, especially from an ISP?
The install went smoothly, and our router (we didn't use Verizon's junk) grabbed an IP address and started passing traffic almost immediately-- no fuss, no muss.
Price is good compared to cable, for the speed you get. Knowing that VZ keeps raising prices, I took the 2 year agreement (and the price was of course lower than a 1 year contract). If they come out with better packages, we're allowed to switch mid-term. The early termination fee only applies if you cancel entirely.
I'll update the review for a more long-term viewpoint, once time has gone by. Today, I'm just enjoying the speed which is a huge improvement over 7/512 Road Runner-- which was A+ reliable for 7-1/2 years but just too slow by today's standards compared to FIOS.
The reason I dinged them 1 star on Install Coordination is the only info I got was a single email (9 days in advance) indicating the install date, and there were no followups. They gave no indication whatsoever of what time the installer might arrive, so be prepared to take the whole day off work in case he doesn't show up until afternoon. They could at least give us a 4 hour window like the cable company does.
Comments:
 | | 50.00 per month is nothing!! I wish my bill was 50.00. | |
|
| |
|
·