Verizon Garumpage

[PRBuzz]

Xfinity! I'm a total Comcast, oops Xfinity guy: phone, internet, TV. Over the last couple of months service has really increased, especially HD offerings. Today saw a report of internet speeds soon to be 100MBS (min?). Their service has been good, too.

Comcast appears to not be waiting around for FiOS to install their fiber to every house. Interesting: search ViOS on Google and first thing on the list: Xfinity!

Here's my problem with any of these upgrades: since being in the house 25yrs, I've run many cable lines which have one or more splits. Power boosters have already been installed. I've run a direct, uninterrupted line to the single HD TV but what happens when I replace other older TVs with HD sets? The higher capacity demands of HD means I have to upgrade lines within the house, too. So no matter if FiOS installs fiber optic to the house, inside the house must also have high quality feeds. Of course assuming a TV lead in every room. I also had to replace my router with a newer version.

[TheSpecialist]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

Xfinity! I'm a total Comcast, oops Xfinity guy: phone, internet, TV. Over the last couple of months service has really increased, especially HD offerings. Today saw a report of internet speeds soon to be 100MBS (min?). Their service has been good, too.

Comcast appears to not be waiting around for FiOS to install their fiber to every house. Interesting: search ViOS on Google and first thing on the list: Xfinity!

Here's my problem with any of these upgrades: since being in the house 25yrs, I've run many cable lines which have one or more splits. Power boosters have already been installed. I've run a direct, uninterrupted line to the single HD TV but what happens when I replace other older TVs with HD sets? The higher capacity demands of HD means I have to upgrade lines within the house, too. So no matter if FiOS installs fiber optic to the house, inside the house must also have high quality feeds. Of course assuming a TV lead in every room. I also had to replace my router with a newer version.

Usually the existing cable can be used, you can remove unnecessary splitters, and replace cable runs as needed but that is rarely needed. This is a big problem time wise though, you could spend hours chasing down splitters in someones house, most people forget where they put them, and some people bury them in walls. It will be a long while before Brockton gets FIOS, you have RI to thank for it. In most of the towns with similar demographic there is a high rate of people who do not pay their bill. They then switch back to the cable co. The cable co is so happy to have them back that they forgive their past bills, only to have the customer do it to them again. Next they go to satellite and pull the same job, then back to FIOS. It's a vicious cycle

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

Here's my problem with any of these upgrades: since being in the house 25yrs, I've run many cable lines which have one or more splits. Power boosters have already been installed. I've run a direct, uninterrupted line to the single HD TV but what happens when I replace other older TVs with HD sets? The higher capacity demands of HD means I have to upgrade lines within the house, too. So no matter if FiOS installs fiber optic to the house, inside the house must also have high quality feeds. Of course assuming a TV lead in every room. I also had to replace my router with a newer version.

We just had FiOS installed last week. The house is 120 years old, but fortunately, all the cable lines to the rooms terminate in the basement. The Verizon tech disconnected the Cluster Eff with 4 splitters that Comcast had created and replaced it with a single 1IN-6OUT splitter. According to the tech, there is 10db of headroom coming into the house from Verizon and the splitter drops 5db so there shouldn't be any drop in quality (who knows though). They also provided a free WiFi router that has been working as well as my Linksys. Oh and no charge for the 5 hour installation.

One of the things I really like about Fios is the direct pipeline to the house. We have the basic 15Mbs/5Mbs internet and that is what it will always be, regardless of how many of my neighbors switch to Verizon.

On the other hand, before I moved to where I am now we had Comcast and they "Upgraded our speeds to 30Mbs (or something like that) for free" according to them. I noticed a measurable decrease in internet speeds during the evening hours. Using websites like Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test, we never came close to Comcast's advertised speeds but Verizon has been dead on.

I never liked Comcast. The service was spotty, we always had errors on our bill, a faulty router, 2 separate failed DVRs that deleted hours and hours of saved programs, charging us for the Set Top boxes and then charging for the remotes to operate the boxes. It was always one headache after another and rarely came with any kind of apology or compensation. Hopefully, that's just my experience and others haven't had to deal with that.