Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Well, IMO, give it some hard thought and ASK QUESTIONS before having it installed. We finally switched over yesterday and boy, I wish I had been home and not at work when they did the install. Last weekend, I'm out in my front yard putting up decorations when this young guy (20, maybe) comes to the door in a Verizon shirt saying Verizon sent him to see me specifically by name due to complaints about service. Recent rains had cause service outages and because of the magnanimous Verizon, they were willing to upgrade us and install FIOS for free. One problem. I hadn't made any such complaint. I told the kid this, and he stammered and said well, maybe not me in particular, but others had, and Verizon was running a "Black Friday" special. I blurted out the first thing I thought, which was "Seriously?!! Now Verizon is sending people door to door with a Black Friday schtick???". The poor kid didn't know what I meant by "schtick" and went on to explain how much money I'd save on my computer and phone by switching, as well as TV. However, no way I'm leaving my beloved Direct TV, so we talked only about internet and phone. The kid said the install would take 4-6 hours, I wouldn't noticed the new equipment, and everything would be so much better and less expensive. Based on the less expensive and less invasive part, which consisted of I needed to have my computer near a three pronged outlet (well, duh, I thought) and the "terminal box" needed to be 50 feet or closer to it. I asked, and by terminal box the kid said the new Verizon FIOS box. I agreed. Well, the hell with the less invasive part. While the person whom Verizon sent showed up on time, around 8:30 a.m., that was probably the best thing he did all day. My mother in law baby-sat the house while he was here, and she didn't question anything he did, God bless her. First, the installer tapped into the utility lines that run between the power poles in the backyard. He runs a new line to the roof of my house. Not to where all the other lines go to the various other junction boxes installed over the years on the unseen side of the house, but right above our back door, which is around the corner from the Edison electric meter, a high traffic area, WHICH I COME TO FIND OUT LATER IS THE "TERMINAL BOX" the sales kid really meant. The new line is then run down the side of my back door to the new Verizon FIOS, again not the Terminal Box, which is actually an unsightly plastic monstrosity about six inches deep, a foot tall and a foot wide. With VERIZON stamped on it. Directly in the inside part of the interior wall, our laundry room, is not ANOTHER unsightly box, which is right next to the THREE PRONGED OUTLET the kid referenced. This outlet happens to be in the laundry room, the furthest part of the house from where the computer sits. The interior box is now plugged into the outlet. So is our washer and dryer. This is obviously the hub of operations for the new FIOS, as cables now sprout from the exterior box, run up to the roof line, then go under the house and emerge from under the house on the unseen side, where I thought all this crap was going in the first place. The cables run down the side of the house, and then go through a brand new hole drilled into the wall to where the computer is. Whew. So the physical install is quite noticeable and not at all what I expected. But it gets "better". Right after the installer leaves, the phones go dead. My MIL runs out to flag him down, but he literally waves at her and takes off. She calls Verizon, who promise to get someone out by 5:00 p.m. Remember, she's already been there since before 8:30 a.m. Well, when I get home shortly after 5:00 p.m., another installer, a very nice guy, is there. He tells us the previous installer is not a regular Verizon employee, but a contractor. They have had continuous problems with these private contractors and often have to come in and fix things like he's doing at our house. He's surprised the contractor hasn't returned on his own volition, as what made the phones go dead and make an audible screeching noise that enabled my MIL to hear it was a device he had left connected to one of the phones, a device the contractor paid for himself, as Verizon doesn't reimburse him for tools. Regular Verizon guy said he should have noticed he left it behind by now. Regular guy was going to take it with him and return it to the contractor. He also fixed the phone issue, and cleaned up other technical parts of the internet install he said were wrong. He also apologized profusely for the physical install, cleared up the terminal box definition for me (meaning they meant the electric meter, and offered to come back at my convenience to see what he could do about cleaning up the physical install. So hopefully, next Friday, when Regular guy returns, some things will be remedied. Meanwhile, I'll be spending time trying to disable all the new invasive Verizon FIOS software that magically appeared on my computer as a result of all of this. The net result is my old bill was usually $113 a month, and now it should be around $67 a month. I really don't know if it is going to be worth it.
Originally Posted By KatieKate123 Wow that really sucks. We got verizon fios, and we love it. I love the tv programs. THere are no lines that we have to worry about showing up. Also our internet lines were less noticable than b/f so I bet you once the verizon guy comes out things will look better. Sounds like they need to get rid of the contractors.
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD Wow. I have Verizon FIOS and did not experience any of that. We did have a few issues at first with the on demand feature not working, but nothing like that.
Originally Posted By LuLu All I can say is, Verizon has been nothing but trouble for me. I'd love to get FiOS, but I just hate Verizon, so I'm boycotting.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< We don't have that here but is FIOS similiar to ATT U-Verse? >>> Same general idea (phone/Internet/CableTV from one service), but I think that FIOS actually involves fiber being brought into the home, whereas UVerse only brings fiber into the neighborhood, with the final portion into the home being on a traditional copper wire pair. Whether the implementation makes any difference from the consumer's point of view (other than the fiber install being more intrusive per SPPH's experience), I don't know. Since FIOS and UVerse never compete directly with each other, it's probably a non-issue for the most part, as what really counts is how either of them stack up against traditional Cable TV and/or Satellite TV.
