Can you beat Verizon?

[glatt]

OK, I've been on hold for 12 min to ask Verizon a question, but I bet I can get the answer here faster.

My wife just ordered FIOS internet with the phone bundled with it. No TV. Didn't know you could do that.

Will our old phones and existing copper phone lines within the house work with this service, or do I have to buy new VIOP phones and pull CAT5 cables all through the house to get phones to work?

The link they gave her for getting started talked about having an available 3 prong outlet by the new service entrance, and they say they won't snake wiring through the house, but they don't talk about if my old phones will work.

Can you beat Verizon with an answer?

[glatt]

Crap. They answered it. But it took them like 16 minutes.

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by glatt

Crap. They answered it. But it took them like 16 minutes.

What is annoying is to get someone new who reads through the handbook.

I find that esp when it comes to computer help.


So how is Verison as a carrier over all? The family plans are more expensive than T Moble and AT&T also ,AT&T does not seem to have much of a coverage area.

[glatt]

Got the FIOS installed on Tuesday. Went very smoothly. The installation looks neat and professional. I must say, the bump up in speed from our temporary dial-up to fiber optic speed leaves me breathless. My parents were visiting, and had their laptop. With the wireless transmitter located in the basement, they had an extremely strong signal everywhere in the entire house. I'm quite pleased.

I've been on vacation the last week, and haven't checked the Cellar. There are 179 threads with new posts, and today promises to be busy at work. It will take a week to catch up.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

Got the FIOS installed on Tuesday. Went very smoothly.

Describe what boxes you got and where they are installled? Was any of this installation outside? How was it mounted? Does the internet modem have Wifi, ethernet wires, and a connection to other boxes with a coax cable? Or does the wifi and ethernet router get connected by ethernet (RJ-45) connection? What did they provide as a UPS? Something separate?

As noted before, I have seen many variations of FIOS. Just wondering how many more are out there?

[glatt]

The fiber optic cable goes from the telephone pole at the end of my driveway through the air to the side of my house. It uses the same wall anchor that the original copper phone service uses. It drops down next to the original service box outside, and comes into the basement through the original service hole (which had been cleared of the original copper wires.) Inside, there is one large box mounted to the wall. The fiber terminates in there. There is a battery backup in that box. Coming out of that box are a phone line, a coaxial internet cable, a ground wire, and a power cord. The phone line goes to the original phone mounting junction located at a nearby joist and connects to all the phones in the house. The coaxial cable goes to a separate wireless router supplied by Verizon. This router has 4 Ethernet ports, and I've got two of them used by cat5 and cat6 I fished upstairs for the current computer location and also a future computer location. My father tested the wireless signal with his laptop, and it's very strong throughout the entire house. The power cord plugs into a compact surge protector that is plugged into a new GFCI outlet I installed. The previously mentioned ground wire is clamped to a nearby pipe that goes from our boiler to an upstairs radiator. (I think, but am not certain, that this constitutes a good ground, because metal pipes appear to be used continuously from the water service entrance to the boiler and then to this radiator pipe. They are also tied in to the gas pipes and the electrical panel ground.)

I can post a picture if you are interested.

I find the ground wire curious. I'm not sure what they are grounding. It must be the phones in the house, but I think that system is already grounded from the phone junction on the joist. The electrical system is already grounded. And the fiber optic cable is not conductive.

[Flint]

What's the answer?

[glatt]

My old phones will work. They somehow convert the fiber optic signals back into regular old phone signals inside my house. All I have to provide is an available un-switched grounded outlet near the service entrance.

[glatt]

They install these three things and then hook everything up to them. Somehow. But I was worried when I saw that they wouldn't fish CAT5 wiring. Who said anything about CAT5 wiring? That must mean if you have multiple PCs throughout the house and you want to network them.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by Flint

What's the answer?

Sorry, it hasn't been 18 minutes yet.

[Pie]

It's the same method they use for phone-over-cable; they just unhook your external phone connection from the LEC and connect it to the modem, which then plugs either into the cable network (in my case) or the FIOS network.
Don't bother fishing cat-5; go for gigabit wireless (802.11n). Much less hassle.

ETA: sorry I didn't see your post in time! I certainly could have answered it.

[Undertoad]

It will all work and you will love it.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by glatt

My wife just ordered FIOS internet with the phone bundled with it. No TV.

Question:

Why not the TV? That's the main selling point of fiber optic/FIOS. I'd love to get FIOS for the TV offerings but it hasn't made it out this far yet.

The graphic said they will install CAT5. But if you do network your computers together, I'd go with CAT6. I just ditched my wireless 802.11g wireless network for a hardwire network. I had an Apple Airport, which is good hardware, but it skips too much and I worry about security. I can see all my neighbors SSIDs so I know they can see mine. But, lucky for me, the previous owner installed network jacks all over the house so I really don't need wireless.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Question:
Why not the TV? That's the main selling point of fiber optic/FIOS. I'd love to get FIOS for the TV offerings but it hasn't made it out this far yet.

Smarter is to prepare for their installation. All networking, TV cable, phone, etc must enter and meet at a common service entrance with the fuse box. Simply prewire your Cat5 or Cat 6 cables to that point or where the WiFi router will be located (see below). If necessary, reroute all existing phones and cable TV wires to that point.

Install an AC receptacle on the box best with its own circuit breaker. Reserve an area on the wall to mount those Verizon boxes. Locate someplace (ie in the basement ceiling in the joists) where the WiFi router can have a mostly unobstructed transmission to the rest of the house. If not adjacent to the breaker box, then wire an AC receptacle for the Wifi that connects to the same above dedicated circuit.

Best is to install a separate duplex plug so that an existing receptacle is still available for other temporary equipment use such as a light to see and service the breaker box. And again, dedicated (separate) breaker because the system is essential for human safety.

Then get Fios installed.

FIOS is what AT&T wanted to do when was run by incompetent bean counters who basically sold off $130billion of defective networks to Comcast for only $75billion. Yes, AT&T executives were that dumb.

FIOS is not about TV. Fios is about any and all communication on one connection. Verizon refused to do it until innovation forced their hand. 3rd generation cell phones meant Verizon was completely out of the landline business. Copper wire terminated in circuit switched computers could not do what cell phones (ie Qualcomm) were about to do.

Once FIOS is installed, then you and future homeowners can never have copper wire service again. Appreciate the commitment.

Verizon and Comcast are creating a monopoly. They got the 1996 Communication Act revised so that nobody else can use their wires. To make sure no other company (ie Cavalier Telephone) can use their existing copper, they creates a rule that copper wire must be terminated permanently when FIOS is installed. It is the classic Coke and Pepsi monopoly so that prices are all but guarantees high and make it too expensive for competitors who might arise with superior service.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by tw

...Then get Fios installed. ...Verizon and Comcast are creating a monopoly. They got the 1996 Communication Act revised so that nobody else can use their wires.

I get bundled service from Cox (TV/Internet/Landline) and am very happy with it. And Cox is wiring the area for digital so they seem to be staying one step ahead of Verizon. But I do realize that this area is probably an exception to the rule.

I don't know enough about the market to evaluate the idea that Comcast and Verizon have enough of an advantage to create a monopoly/oligopoly whatever but I have to wonder how long an advantage that hinges on exclusivity of a physical distribution system (wires, cables, fiber, etc.) will last. With wireless telephone and TV being widely available, wireless internet can't be far behind which would pretty much wipe out their current stranglehold.

I'm no fan of monopolies but they are almost a necessary evil. If monopolies were benevolent overlords then the economic inefficiency they create would not exist. And it is this inefficiency which provides an economic incentive to provide the same good/service for less by innovating new and better systems of production and distribution.

So in the long run, monopolies cannot survive. But they will always be around. Its just part of a natural cycle.