Fios Experiences and Advice Sought

I was about to pose this same question (or bring it up in an old thread). Our building is getting FIOS in a couple of months (Mama, it's on a building by building basis. I'm in north Slope).

Anyone want to share their current speeds with FIOS (speedtest.net)? I don't have any problems w/ Time Warner, but if FIOS is better, and not much more expensive, I'll make the switch.

Like Mama, I don't have cable. This will be strictly for Internet.

-anthony

I had FIOS up in Westchester for several years before moving to Brooklyn. While in the end, it's just another TV service, it does offer some advantages over TWC:

Price:

First and foremost, Verizon is very price-competitive. They will offer you every last incentive to sign with them, including free premium channels and DVR service. It is true, as some others mentioned, that their rates goes up after the first year, but they always renegotiated rates when I called them to address the hikes. For example, I was able to keep the same level of service at the same introductory price for two years. The following year they called my bluff re cancellation, but eventually met me half way and threw in another year of free HBO. For four years, I never paid extra for DVR or for HBO!

Quality of Services

Internet: speeds are not earth shattering in comparison to what you can get with TWC "turbo" these days, but the one thing that FIOS has is speed consistency. In my experience, if you pay for the 15/5, you'll get 15/5 -- whether it's at 2AM or during the peak 6 to 9pm time. The higher upload speeds also make a huge difference when using cloud services and downloading torrents.

TV: I'm hard pressed to notice a substantial difference in picture quality when it comes to HD content. SD content (not like you'll be watching it anyway!) may be a bit crisper, but that may also just be wishful thinking. The quality of your TV will trump any advantage (whether perceived or real) that FIOS has over cable in terms of picture quality. As for the equipment, VZ just began rolling out new set top boxes which trump the old moto and sci atlantic boxes used by both TWC and VZ. Hopefully we can get them here -- not only are they faster and have more capacity, they look a helluva a lot nicer - glossy black finish, etc.

Programming: At roll-out, FIOS program was a bit weak in comparison to cable, but years later, they've appeared to reach parity with cable. For NYC residents, you may miss local programming like NY1, but let's be honest with ourselves, the only reason we watch NY1 so often is because TWC programs their boxes to start at CH 1 when you turn the TV, something catches out attention and !bam!, like zombies, Besides, we all read Gothamist, FIPS, and Brooklynian anyway...

Customer Service

Verizon wins on this. Hands down. I've had nothing but terrible experiences with TWC customer service. Half hours phone calls spent mostly on hold, billing issues when moving to a new apartment, unprofessional installers, etc..

That's all I have for now. Will happily field any questions.