I first reviewed Verizon FiOS more than a year ago when I lived at my previous house. I had stellar reviews for the product. I did not have one issue with Verizon while I was in my old house.
I moved into my new house about eleven months ago. FiOS was prewired so I was exicted about not losing anything. I ordered phone, tv, and internet before they called it triple play. I never intended to keep the phone line, but did take it because I requested a last four of the phone number and they had it. I took it because it was the last four digits I wanted and I planned on porting the number to Vonage as soon as everything was complete (this was before the 99 dollar triple play). The port turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. I never was able to pay my tv and internet online or through the phone. I had to pay by money order every month because Verizon's website was unable to work for me.
For the past six months, I fired off emails to random execs and was finally working with the head of Verizon FL and their advanced technical support. I worked with them for five months and they never were able to fix my account to allow my to pay online.
From the time I had Verizon in my new house, I spent countless hours on hold waiting for someone to pick up and when they did, I was in the wrong region. It turns out if you don't have a phone with Verizon, you are pretty much on a goose hunt for customer service. Once I got a direct number to the person incharge of fixing my account, hold time was not an issue.
I will say all customer service reps I talked to did try to help and were very nice, it is the databases that Verizon uses that will not allow them to fix problems.
Advanced tech support was never able to fix my problems (more than I mentioned here) so I gave up. Basic cable is included in my home owners fees so I went back to cable. I was paying just under 160 for Verizon Tv (no premium channels) and 20/5 internet. I had two HD DVRs and three HD boxes. I now pay around 100 for the same boxes and 10/.5 internet. I really miss the upload speed.
The reason I had so many problems was Verizon billing databases would not drop my phone service from the bill. I would not get billed for phone service, but (this is the reason my account could not be fixed) no one was able to remove the phone number from my internet and tv account even though they knew what the problem was. Their computer systems do not work with each other. Once they figured this out, they still were not able to fix it. The computer system will not allow them to do this and they would not allow me to cancel and sign up again with a new account number. Their billing system has a way to go before it is ready for prime time.
Internet service was great when it worked. It had numerous problems with Xbox live until recent fixes and there were many times during the day that the internet would just lose connection. When I left, they still had trouble with Xbox live and the NAT connection. Internet was working very well besides Xbox live when I left. I miss the internet upload speed the most.
Other thoughts.
Verizon promised no bandwith restrictions with their TV channels. However they forgot to put in the right equipment to allow them to deliver the HD channels they promised. I get more HD channels with Brighthouse than I did with Verizon.
They did have the best picture quality. I went to some friends the other day and looked at Dish and Direct and Verizon did have the best quality on HD and SD. Brighthouse is poor compared to all three. I had to hook up an antenna to get a great picture via OTA. However, HD between Dish, Direct, and Verizon at this time is not a deal breaker. Cable easily has the worse quality. The other three all were very good.
I do feel when Verizon figures everything out, I will probally go back. It is too good, they just need to figure out how to work everything.
I moved into my new house about eleven months ago. FiOS was prewired so I was exicted about not losing anything. I ordered phone, tv, and internet before they called it triple play. I never intended to keep the phone line, but did take it because I requested a last four of the phone number and they had it. I took it because it was the last four digits I wanted and I planned on porting the number to Vonage as soon as everything was complete (this was before the 99 dollar triple play). The port turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. I never was able to pay my tv and internet online or through the phone. I had to pay by money order every month because Verizon's website was unable to work for me.
For the past six months, I fired off emails to random execs and was finally working with the head of Verizon FL and their advanced technical support. I worked with them for five months and they never were able to fix my account to allow my to pay online.
From the time I had Verizon in my new house, I spent countless hours on hold waiting for someone to pick up and when they did, I was in the wrong region. It turns out if you don't have a phone with Verizon, you are pretty much on a goose hunt for customer service. Once I got a direct number to the person incharge of fixing my account, hold time was not an issue.
I will say all customer service reps I talked to did try to help and were very nice, it is the databases that Verizon uses that will not allow them to fix problems.
Advanced tech support was never able to fix my problems (more than I mentioned here) so I gave up. Basic cable is included in my home owners fees so I went back to cable. I was paying just under 160 for Verizon Tv (no premium channels) and 20/5 internet. I had two HD DVRs and three HD boxes. I now pay around 100 for the same boxes and 10/.5 internet. I really miss the upload speed.
The reason I had so many problems was Verizon billing databases would not drop my phone service from the bill. I would not get billed for phone service, but (this is the reason my account could not be fixed) no one was able to remove the phone number from my internet and tv account even though they knew what the problem was. Their computer systems do not work with each other. Once they figured this out, they still were not able to fix it. The computer system will not allow them to do this and they would not allow me to cancel and sign up again with a new account number. Their billing system has a way to go before it is ready for prime time.
Internet service was great when it worked. It had numerous problems with Xbox live until recent fixes and there were many times during the day that the internet would just lose connection. When I left, they still had trouble with Xbox live and the NAT connection. Internet was working very well besides Xbox live when I left. I miss the internet upload speed the most.
Other thoughts.
Verizon promised no bandwith restrictions with their TV channels. However they forgot to put in the right equipment to allow them to deliver the HD channels they promised. I get more HD channels with Brighthouse than I did with Verizon.
They did have the best picture quality. I went to some friends the other day and looked at Dish and Direct and Verizon did have the best quality on HD and SD. Brighthouse is poor compared to all three. I had to hook up an antenna to get a great picture via OTA. However, HD between Dish, Direct, and Verizon at this time is not a deal breaker. Cable easily has the worse quality. The other three all were very good.
I do feel when Verizon figures everything out, I will probally go back. It is too good, they just need to figure out how to work everything.
I think price, customer service, quality of service and choice are the biggest factors. Although price outweighs with some not the quality of service. I'm in the same boat with availability. It's been 50 yards away from my house for the past 6 months and I haven't got it. The method and ways they determine where it goes is beyond me. Maybe something to do with permits. The reason why they only offer the 2 services and video last has to do with the placing and testing of equipment in the central offices and in some areas non compete agreements (such as Pinellas county).
