Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
disgruntleduser1
Enthusiast - Level 2

It's been six days since we reported our land line dead.   No dial tone after we got back from vacation.  We called on Monday, and the tech said that a repair tech would be out by Wednesday (first lie), and would text us first.  On Thursday, I called and they said  that they were already working on it and it would be fixed by Friday.   This was apparently a complete fabrication, because Saturday morning I get a text message saying that a repair visit is scheduled for 7pm Saturday.   So they hadn't even started on it and seem to just tell customers what they want to hear to make them go away.   I got absolutely no explanation as to why my phone line might be dead.   It has gone dead many times before, so I keep a simple wired handset in the closet just to test the lines.   They never explained in the past why the phone goes dead every few years.

I've been on the verge of switching from cable to FIOS for TV/phone/internet, but I am much more dependent on internet than landline these days, and am not going to switch to a company that is less reliable than my cable company.   After a week, we're starting to realize that we don't really need the landline anyway, and it's nice to not get spam calls anyway.

Can anyone tell me how reliable FIOS is?   If I ever had to go without internet for a week I'd go crazy.   Verizon provides no way to email them about this issue . . . you can only email them about wireless services.   And I don't appreciate having to call and wait ten minutes for someone who just reads from a  script and promises me that I'm a valued customer, while telling me whatever they know will make me hang up and get logged as a "good" call for their supervisors.

Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
eljefe2
Master - Level 1

You have to keep in mind that a forum like this is frequented mostly by users who have problems, so taking a poll here may not be representative of Verizon's service overall.  Having said that, I switched from cable about a year ago and for me  the FiOS service has been great.

I particularly like that FiOS actually delivers better speeds than you pay for, rather than "up to" like cable companies seem to.  And speeds are typically the same 24/7/365, again unlike many cable companies.

You will probably get other opinions here, and some of the answer to your question may depend on what part of the country you're in and what cable company.  In my case, my cable-co is recruiting me hard to come back with very good deals but I'm hard pressed to imagine giving up the solid service we get with FiOS Internet/TV/phone.

Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
disgruntleduser1
Enthusiast - Level 2

True, gathered statistics are only as good as the sample set selection.   But what I'm worried about is if, in the event of a problem, Verizon responds this slowly.   Cable modem has gotten progressively more reliable over the years, and when I do have problems that are specific to our house, they are usually out within a day, not six days later.   We are extremely dependent on internet access, for work and for keeping tabs on elderly relatives.    I'd rather learn now that week-long outages are typical, rather than after making the switch.

That said, I suspect that the crews contracted to support the landlines are probably a completely different organization that those that support FIOS.   Do you know if that's the case?   Maybe they only have a handful of landline support crews because FIOS is where the cash is these days?

Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
eljefe2
Master - Level 1

The installers were the only Verizon crew I've had any experience with, and they were Verizon employees.

I've seen some frustration reported here with tech support on issues like my speeds aren't what they should be, but I would hope that if you called up and said you were completely offline you'd get some action in less than 6 days.

What part of the country are you in?  Someone else may have specific informatoin about Verizon support in your area.

Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
disgruntleduser1
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm in a suburb north of Dallas.

I'm sure that they spend the most money on the initial installations and the marketing to make it happen (we get at least one big glossy package each week imploring us to switch to FIOS).   But as a corporation, they have less motivation to spend their resources on existing customers, since they know most people avoid the hassle of a switch.

At least I'm in an area that has competition between cable and FIOS.   I have to assume such areas get more resources than those that have an effective monopoly on broadband. 

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Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
disgruntleduser1
Enthusiast - Level 2

The tech just came out and found the problem (a truck in the alley probably clipped a line on a pole) and fixed it in a few minutes.  But he apparently just got the ticket today, so the person I talked to on the phone thursday was either misinformed or lying when he said they were already working on it and it would be fixed Friday.

Anybody else run into this situation, or was this a fluke?   I'm looking for more data points before committing to FIOS for every single data conduit into my home.   If this is typical, I'll stick with cable and maybe even ditch the landline.   They've shown me that going a week without it is not really that big of a disaster.    But an internet outage of a week would be intolerable (yes, I'm a spoiled westerner).

Re: Is FIOS more reliable than Landline (ours has been out for over a week)?
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

Some state Public Utility Commissions require that landlines are repaired within 48 hours, or the phone company is subject to penalties.  I don't know if that is the case in Texas.  I've had good luck in CA, MA and PA contacting the state PUC when I had responsiveness issues from the phone company regarding installation issues.

In the  4 and 1/2 years I've had FIOS, I've never had it go out, so I can't comment on repair responsiveness for FIOS, only that the service is rock solid.