If you're not going to use the extra speed, is there any reason to switch from, lets say...Comcast?

 

Its cheaper

 

some say the HD tv quality is better.

 

barely.

 

I'm actually quite alright with the 3Mb I have right now with Verizon DSL. It's the 2Mb upload that comes with the 5Mb plan that makes me happy.

 

They gave me a D-Link router. I have admin rights to make changes. When I first got the service I replaced it with a Linksys router. I then started to notice my speed drop a little. I found out later on that the D-Link was apparently optimized for the FIOS service. So I put that back on and disabled wireless on it and used the wireless on my Linksys instead.

 

Comcast Customer Service < *

 

Our local cable company (Patriot Media) was bought out by Comcast and they just switched over this month. So far, I've been waiting since Superbowl week for a goddamn HD cable box. These people are on my last nerve. I looked into FiOS, but it is not available in my neighborhood, so it leaves me no option but to stick with Comcrap.

 

Higher capacity for HD programming...FIOS pretty much unlimited data transfer in HD, Comcast is limited

 

I don't have HD yet I download....alot of "stuff" so maybe the higher speed would be worth it...

 

I just had mine install a few weeks ago. The actiontec router they provided kept shitting on me so I disabled the wireless on that and now use my d-link to send a wireless signal. I was fine with the 1.5mbps I was getting before but now I can actually run the PS3, Wii, and both laptops online without any lag. The best thing about it is that everyone in my area got a free upgrade.

 

Optimum is still way better than FiOS in westchester NY. My upload and download speeds are much faster than any fios person i know. and fios HD has a lof of pixelation when things get moving fast on screen. I would know, my parents have both optimum and fios in the same house (dont ask why, they have direct tv too).

 

15up and 15down for $64.99.... those upload speeds are ... that would be great for *cough* torrents *cough*....

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24238071/

By Chris Williams
updated 10:56 a.m. ET, Mon., April. 21, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - In Brent Swanson's basement home theater, there should be nothing drab about "Battlestar Galactica." He's got a high-end projector that beams the picture onto a wall painted like a silver screen, and speakers loom in the corners, flanking two big subwoofers.

Yet when he tuned in Sci Fi HD for a recent episode filmed in high definition, the image was soft and the darkest parts broke up into large blocks with no definition. Explosions, he said, were just dull.

"It kind of looked like they took the standard definition and just blew it up," said Swanson, a 33-year-old graphic designer and videographer who subscribes to Comcast Corp.'s TV service. "I couldn't really tell if what I was seeing was really better than what I saw on regular television."

As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station.

Limited capacity
The problem is viewers want more HD channels at a time when many cable and satellite providers are at the limits of their capacity, said Jim Willcox, a technology editor for Consumer Reports magazine.

"They have to figure out a way to deliver more HD content through their distribution networks," he said.

Compressing the signal is cheaper than costly infrastructure upgrades to increase capacity. Satellite TV providers — including DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. — also have the option of launching satellites to boost the number of HD channels on their systems.

Are you getting the high-def quality you paid for?

While information is nearly always lost when signals are compressed and then uncompressed, the process can theoretically be made unnoticeable to eyes and ears — and Comcast says it should be.

But some viewers say they can see it. Willcox said complaints about compression have been showing up on Web forums, including the AV Science Forum, a site for serious audio visual enthusiasts.

"It's not exclusively Comcast, although Comcast, being the largest cable provider, is probably the largest target," he said.

Derek Harrar, a Comcast senior vice president in charge of video, said the company recently began using new technology on some channels to compress three HD channels into the bandwidth of one analog station. Other channels continue to get the previous 2-to-1 compression.

In a posting on the AV Science Forum, Ken Fowler of Arlington, Va., compared Comcast signals with those on Verizon Communications Inc.'s all-fiber-optic network, which doesn't have the same capacity limitations. Fowler found the higher-compressed HD stations, including Sci Fi, Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, the Food Network and A&E, fared particularly poorly.

He analyzed the signals by recording them on a digital recorder, then transferring them to a personal computer for analysis. He found there was much less data, measured in bit rates, flowing to some channels than others.

For example, Discovery's bit rate was 14.16 megabits per second on Verizon's FiOS system but only 10.43 Mbps on Comcast; A&E HD was 18.66 Mbps on FiOS compared with 14.48 Mbps on Comcast. The FiOS system didn't offer Sci Fi HD, which Fowler's testing showed at 12.59 Mbps on Comcast.

He found the signals from the major networks and ESPN weren't getting the increased compression.

In an interview, Fowler said he reran his analysis about two weeks ago and found "basically the same thing."

Philadelphia-based Comcast wouldn't identify specific signals that are 3-to-1 compressed, and a Sci Fi channel spokeswoman referred questions back to Comcast.

Harrar said the company works to make sure any new compression technology is invisible to consumers, but Comcast is "constantly monitoring our network and making adjustments" for best picture quality. The company has been rolling out the new compression technology at different times around the country.

In fact, postings on the AV Science Forum from early April suggest the Comcast network has improved in some places.

And there are other reasons a high-definition picture can appear subpar: The source image might not have been recorded in HD, or the television's settings, the viewing angle and even the ambient lighting in the room could be the cause.

Better compression?
New York-based Time Warner Cable Inc. has avoided many of the criticisms aimed at Comcast, although the companies are technologically similar and face the same capacity limits.

Time Warner spokesman Alex Dudley attributed it to his company's testing procedures. He said that before Time Warner rolls out new technology that may affect image quality, it sets up two identical televisions in a lab, one with the old signal and one with the new. Technicians make adjustments until the pictures can't be told apart.

"The testers are our engineers who we call 'golden eyes,' who have a proven track record of picking up subtle differences in picture quality," he said.

Verizon's FiOS doesn't compress the signal once it receives it, and Willcox said it's considered the picture quality "benchmark." However, Verizon said the system is growing but is now available only in parts of 17 states and has just over a million subscribers — compared with more than 24 million for Comcast.

He said two possible solutions are on the horizon, an improved version of compression, called MPEG-4, and something called "switched digital video."

Comcast and Time Warner Cable have introduced switched video on a trial basis across their networks. In concept, it's like on-demand videos. The company sends only the channels the viewer is watching, instead of all the channels at once.

But switched video has its own issues, including possible slower channel switching times and compatibility problems with digital video recorders.

Willcox said cable providers can't afford to ignore quality complaints. Many customers are already picky about quality after paying $800 to $3,500 for an average-size, HD-ready LCD television.

 

^^ I just read that article yesterday

"Higher capacity for HD programming...FIOS pretty much unlimited data transfer in HD, Comcast is limited"

 

Still waiting for it to be available in Parlin,NJ. Hope it will be soon. I check online and it says its still not available. Once it is, I'll be changing.

 

Why yes it is

 

I've had Verizon FIOS TV and Broadband for quiet some time now. BEST of the BEST!!

 

Just got notice today that our neighborhood is being surveyed for fiber. FIOS is coming and I'm very happy about it. Brighthouse's digital cable has been starting to have issues - random reboots, heavy compression artifacts, lack of connectivity with On Demand. I'm thinking it's oversold bandwidth. Time to move on.

 

i pay 65 month for 15/15mbps..perfect for those private torrent sites that require u to upload =) I heard one of the rep said we might be able to get 30/15..but that just insane. they are testing that speed out in cali...but for now, im happy with 15/15

it sad that some of my friends are still paying 50+ dollars with time warner cable and such around here...they are missing out big time.

check it

 

sample of HALF of the upload speed. 7 terabytes in 9 months..not bad eh?

 

Did anyone else get the triple play deal where you are "supposed" to get the free HDTV?? Got it installed way back in Jan, and still no TV.

Got a call from Verizon last week saying they were not expecting so many people to sign up for this deal so it's going to take a little longer before we receive the TV. They said we "should" receive it by the end of July.

 

Verizon is dumb at wasting their money. I have the 15/15 internet and they keep sending me mails about fios fiber optic internet, (seem like one mail per week) someone need to update their database.

 

I get that shit all the time. Advertising both internet and TV..

 

FiOS is available now at my apartment. I'm a little wary of switching. First of all, they're only offering 5 down 2 up for $48 a month. I pay $45 a month with comcast for 6 down. I would have to pay $58 for 20 down and 5 up. People here are getting 15 down for $45 a month, which just rubs me the wrong way a little.

I also can't find anything about their channel lineup that comes with the package deal. I want HD, and would need a DVR, but what channels are included?

I guess the problem is, we're used to Comcast's channel lineup and I don't want to lose any of them. And I REALLY hate having to sign up for a contract with early termination fees.

I have read through this thread, but anyone who HAD Comcast and now has FiOS want to chime in and tell me if I'd be happy with the channel lineup?

Hell, I'd even be willing to ditch just the Comcast internet and getting FiOS for that speed.

 

Not :communistcast, but we switched from DirecTV and we're very happy with the FiosTV channel lineup, HD included:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._FiOS_channels

 

I had Comcast for quite some time. I had no choice, so when FIOS came, I jumped on it. I noticed a much better signal quality in both picture and sound. I also have the 15/15 package and NEVER use it. You have to really do some crazy shit go utilize 15Mb downloads.

 

Where I work, we have a 100Mbps (megabits per second) up/down connection to the Internet. Shall I say, fast? I love downloading a 700 MB (megabyte) files at 10-12 MB (megabytes) per second.

The only reason it's 100Mbps up/down is because the interfaces on our PIX box are only 100Mbps . Once we upgrade to another firewall appliance, the connection speed potential is up near 1 Gbps!

 

Yeah, I found the channel list, but I'm assuming it's like Comcast where you need to buy "packages" to get some of the channels. Like right I get discovery and science channel, etc, but I don't have any movie channels. It's basically all of the channels they offer minus movie channels. Is FiOS like that with different package options, or do you just get ALL of those channels i the lineup, minus movies?

 

I think so. There are a couple of other packages besides the movie channels, like I believe there's a Spanish-language package that we don't get, plus a sports package that has some extras like FoxSportsNet; we don't get that, be we do still get NFL Network and all of the ESPN channels as part of the basic package.

As for the movie channels... you can get all of them, just HBO & Skinemax, or everything but HBO & Skinemax, which is what we get (Showtime, TMC, Starz, Encore, Flix & IFC).

Edit: Other than the movies, we don't have any other special package and I believe we're getting everything, other than the extra sports channels and the foreign language channels.

 

So FIOS is due to be installed in our home next Tuesday. The other day we received a letter informing us that they will have to dig up a path to our home in order to install the fiber and that they will try their best to replace the dug up soil and return the area to what it looked like before. Did any of you guys get notices like this?

Also, i'm still kinda worried as to where they will be installing the hardware, namely the router. I don't want that shyt installed in our garage as it gets very very hot in the summer in there and our reception from the garage is teh sucketh. I'm hoping to install some new hardware from netgear anyway.

 

They had to run the fiber to our house as well; never even noticed the after-effects.

As for the router, they just replaced our old one with theirs and kept it in the same place (the office).

 

nice! i'm hoping they will do that for us.

 

Does anyone know if you have to use the Verizon-provided router and/or do they give you access to log in to it and change settings, like port forwarding, MAC filter, etc?

 

Mine is getting installed Friday. I'm hoping it goes smoothly.

Edit: I asked that same question. The customer support lady assured me I would have admin access to the router.

 

You do have admin access, yes. If you're getting the whole deal including FiosTV, you need to use their router; otherwise, any router should work.

 

I just got another lovely call from a Verizon Telemarketer informing me that FIOS is available in my area.

1) I ordered the service over 2 weeks ago
2) Installers are going to be installing the service today

These guys really need to get their shyt together. I told the lady that you guys are wasting your time and money calling, emailing, mailing flyers to people that already ordered it and/or have it.

 

These companies are really stupid, I swear. Called Comcrap last week yet again about an HD cable box, and they said they are STILL WAITING for more to come in. I've been waiting since February!!!! I'm past fed up at this point. Customer service does not exist these days.

 

So does Fios just look the other way when it comes to Illegal downloads cause I do some heavy downloading and have never gotten any kind of message from them to stop.

I am assuming they know that a resident getting 15/15 isn't doing much web browsing alone

 

So we finally got FIOS installed at the house. Because of the layout of our home we had to run the cat5 to the family room where the router they provided is located.

Now comes the issue of whether or not a third party router will work. I tried connecting my Netgear Router (WGT624 v3) using the cable out of the wall and it wasn't able to establish a connection to the network The installer mentioned something about their service recognizing the MAC address of the router, so I set the MAC address of my router to be the same as the MAC address of the router they provided and it still didn't work.

Is there a step I'm missing or or there particular routers that will only work with their service? Previously in this thread I raised this question and a couple people said they were able to use their own routers with the service.