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View Full Version : Holding my breath -- FiOS is coming.....maybe....



Jack Hogoboom
08-17-2007, 3:51 PM
I've been trying to get FiOs for over three months. I've taken three days off from work and they've made 5 separate visits to my house.

Hard to believe how poorly coordinated Verizon is. First guy came out to do the install and -- surprise!! -- no wires:eek: Multiple calls to Verizon followed highlighted by great comments like "Oh, that's engineering. You have to coordinate with them.....No, there is no way you can call them directly").

Second guy scheduled to come out to do the installation. We told the scheduler at Verizon "Hey, there's no wiring yet." She said it would all be taken care of. Second guy came to do the install -- surprise!! -- no wires.:confused:

Further multiple calls. Same confused response. Finally, we're told they'll run the wires. Few days later, Verizon comes out to mark out the location for where they want to put the conduit. Paint and little flags everywhere. The gas company comes out and marks out all the utlity locations. One little problem -- the conduit is already in the ground!!!:eek: Amazing incompetence!!

Two weeks go by. A third guy is scheduled to do the installation. We tell the scheduler there still is no wire. We're told -- "no problem, they'll do it all that day." Third guy came to do the install -- suprise!! -- no wires.:mad:

At this point, I'm going out of my mind. We can't talk to anyone about anything. No one seems to know what is going on. The third installer was great though. Gave me his cellphone number and said he would talk to his boss and his boss would call us. Guarantees it will be done before the week is out.

We hear nothing for 10 days. I call the third installer. He can't believe what is going on. Promises to call his boss and solve the problem. Yea, sure.

Amazingly, the next day (yesterday), "Ziggy" shows up to check out the situation. Promises me he'll have his boss call me. Says they'll be back tomorrow (today) to pull the wire and the installer will come and do the installation. I'm too jaded to hope....:(

However, according to my wife, everyone showed up as promised. Apparently, working on the installation as we speak. If so, great news!!! If not, a pox on Verizon. I swear I will write a letter to the President and never do business again.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Jack

Jim Becker
08-17-2007, 5:00 PM
Sadly, your experience isn't as unusual as desirable...but in the end, the service is worth it! I'm envious. My township wanted the sun, moon, stars and apparently a few body parts that VZ wasn't willing to give them, so they stopped the roll-out. I have fiber on the poles in front of my house, but it's not likely to get lit anytime soon. (Yes, this is the same township that was a pain in my you-know-what with the building permit for my addition...)

Michael Schwartz
08-17-2007, 5:08 PM
We had no problems with our Fios installation in Maryland. Just call them and threaten that you will take your buisness to Comcast or Direct TV or something.

Wes Bischel
08-17-2007, 6:45 PM
I hope it all works out Jack.
We just went through the ringer with Verizon a few weeks ago - but this was to get our copper lines fixed!:mad: Similar run around and multiple days stuck waiting watching different techs come and go without doing anything. The shame is, the guy that finally fixed things was great - tested the line and DSL and made sure everything was to my satisfaction. He ran a new line from the pole to replace the 1954 original which the last guy taped up and called it "done"

As Jim said, it's all too common - never had the problem with the Bell systems.:(

Wes

Mitchell Andrus
08-17-2007, 9:50 PM
Wow!!!! In Stirling (not far from Mendham) I had the phones/data done in about three hours on the day promised. Four months later, HDTV was added (had it with Directtv) in about two hours, again on the day promised.

Jack Hogoboom
08-19-2007, 1:26 PM
It's a pain, but it certainly seems worth it.

Download speed is about 20MB. Upload speed is 4.78MB. TV picture is astounding. I have a 1080p projector in a dedicated theater space and the HD picture on my 115" screen looks like Blu-Ray.

Still have some kinks to work out. My wireless network is now a mess and the tech didn't know how to deal with that. I'll probably have to get some help for that.

Half the TVs in my house are staying on cable. Somehow the tech seemed to have screwed that up, but I'm not sure how or how to fix it.

They left the cable laying in the grass. They are going to come back and bury it next week.

All early adoption problems. I went through something similar when I got DSL many moons ago.

Highly recommended, if you can live with the glitches.

Jack

Russ Filtz
08-20-2007, 8:00 AM
I got mine installed quick, and no problems. They even had to drill under my driveway to run the line. I'm still afraid to turn on the sprinkler system!

I had one snag with the battery backup box crapping out after one week, but they replaced that quick (even on a Sunday after I complained!).

One thing I don't like is their menu programming on the DVR, my Brighthouse seemed more professional. You can't even change aspect ratios without doing some funky button pushing to get into a service menu. Took me about 30 tries. Another peeve is when you watch a recorded show, the DVR displays "PLA" instead of the time.

Picture quality is outstanding though, much better than cable.