Verizon FiOS or DSL

[dhlunar]

I currently have DSL, and haven't had any major problems.  Two or three times in the last year 2 and a half years it went out for half an hour during the day.

However, is it worth it to spend an extra $10 a month for FiOS, or should I just keep DSL if I am happy and haven't had any problems?

[TimSykes]

Fios speeds are much faster then DSL. It just is a matter if you want a faster speed internet.

[mattheww50]

The speed issue is more complicated than it looks. The speed of a DSL connection is determined mostly by the characteristics of the copper pair between you and the central office. As a result, in DSL, you can pay for 768/128kb or 3072/768kb service, but if the quality of the copper pair isn't especially good, you will not actually get that rate. I used to have DSL, and when I upgraded to 3072/768 service from 768/128, I didn't get it all. The best I could do on the uplinke was about 640kb, and in bad weather, the downlink would fall as low as 2500kb (all according to the router,the actual speed tests were even lower). In addition, if I could hear thunder, my DSL service was down. So just because you paid for 3072/768kb service, doesn't mean you will actually get it on a DSL connection. The actual underlying speed may be a little higher if the copper pair is good enough. It can be considerably worse than that if the copper pair isn't very good. If you connect to your router (http://192.168.1.1) it will tell you what rate it has negotiated with the central office and the loss on the up and down link. Very high losses (like over 60db on the downlink, will limit your speed, and will high losses on the uplink, and the uplink is more sensitive to losses than than the downlink..

Fios is pretty much an all or nothing service. I have 20/5mbps service. According to the speed tests, I actually usually have about 19.5/5.9mbps service, and weather doesn't bother it at all. With FIOS, you pretty much get what is advertised, period, regardless of weather, distance from the Central Office, or anything else.

I also found that by bundling my FIOS internet with Fios TV, it was actually less expensive than Cable/Sat TV and DSL for more channels, HD, and much faster internet speed.

Message Edited by mattheww50 on 11-26-2008 12:51 PM

[dhlunar]

Your responses are very interesting.  One of the main reason that I don't want FiOS is I don't want my phone line to be transfer from the current type of line to FiOS.  I want to be able to have my current line in case there is a problem.  I used to not use my Verizon phone a lot and used to use VOIP and cell phones to make phone calls, but the only reason that I got my Verizon phone is in case the power goes out at least we would have something.  I also don't like signing up for contracts unless it is necessary or it is easy to get our of. I only signed up for the DSL one-year plan because I know if I moved to a place that can't get DSL that it can be cancelled with no charge.   I have been able to keep my DSL price the same for 2 years because of the yearly plan.  I don't want to be sucker into having to pay for a yearly plan that I don't really want.

Is it possible to get a phone/Internet/TV bundle but have the phone left on the reugular line?

[TimSykes]

All I have is internet and tv, no cell or land line. They have a good bundle price for internet/tv right now.

[mattheww50]

What you want is the flex package, with Extreme HD and 20/5 mbps internet. My phone service is with Verizon, and it is still on the copper wires that also used to provide DSL. While I have the Battery Backup unit, and the wiring from the ONT to phone connection, it is not connected, nor was it provisioned on the ONT. While I have asked that my phone service be via FIOS, it hasn't happened, and unless I want to invest a lot of time and effort, probably won't.

However there is a significant headache with doing this. Your phone number will not be associated with the FIOS services until you force the issue. When the two are not 'connected', service and technical support issues will tend to be routed to the wrong departments. I eventually was able to get the two associated, although they are on different bills. For me Triple play just wasn't any great bargain. I don't use the optional service, and can make my long distance calls via Skype.

If you get them billed on different bills, there will be a psuedo phone number on the FIOS bill, but it seems like the only folks that number means anything too are the billing people. The other systems don't recognize it at all.

[jkiv]

If I am correctly understanding your post, you don't want to use FIOS for your telephone service because of the possibility of losing service during a power outage.  I wonder if you realize that FIOS has a built in battery backup that powers the Telephone portion of the service during power outages.  

[Beaver]

My advise is don't switch.  I had DSL for $15.00 per month switched to Fios for $52.00 per month and it's no different.  If you're only surfing the net and sending email DSL is fine.

[billski]

I have had both.  If you are satisfied with your current level of performance and don't plan to stream movies and such, and the squirrels don't chew on your copper wires, keep dsl. 

For me, I have five heavy users online in my house along with a bunch of appliances, ipods and other stuff.  FIOS is much more stable near me, not as prone to noise or configuration issued.  I don't use the TV service, in fact I don't watch tv, so I don't need it.  

your choice.