XFinity vs Verizon Fios?

hallrk

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 28, 2006
417
15
I will be getting one of these two very soon. Just wanted to know what are the pros and cons of each? I'm just getting into the 21st Century and will be getting broadband Internet for the first time at home. The prices for each look comparable to me. Verizon includes a router and access to their wifi hotspots with their service. I didn't see anything about getting a router from Comcast. So if anyone can give some advice or pointers on who and what to get it would be appreciated. :)
 
Hard to answer, as the services are different in each area. Just like in some areas FIOS is a regular cable system and in other areas its a Fiber to the Home service. :D
 
Hard to answer, as the services are different in each area. Just like in some areas FIOS is a regular cable system and in other areas its a Fiber to the Home service. :D
no FIOS is fiber to the home (ont on the side of the house)..but it hasnt been converted to Video over IP in all areas (yet) (kinda like cables switched video)The picture is crystal clear because of the fiber.. Internet has speeds up to 100 meg ( but i don't know the price)
 
There are places in Boston where FIOS just just a regular cable system.
In some areas u "might" still be able to get analog channels but they been turned off for the most part and on some older olts the speeds are the same as cable (thats probably the Boston Area) but it is always fiber to the home with a ONT on the side of the house
 
In some areas u "might" still be able to get analog channels but they been turned off for the most part and on some older olts the speeds are the same as cable (thats probably the Boston Area) but it is always fiber to the home with a ONT on the side of the house

That's the way it looks where I live in northern Virginia. I'm not getting the TV service. Just the Internet.
 
Ok, I'm in Northern Virginia - Fairfax County. I have Fios for internet and land line phone. I do not use their TV service. I have the ONT and fiber to the home. The service is great. I've never had an outage. I use their wireless modem/router feeding a 24 port switch. I also have an Apple Airport Extreme. Quite happy. I understand my 25/25 service is about to become 35/35 with no additional charge.
 
Ok, I'm in Northern Virginia - Fairfax County. I have Fios for internet and land line phone. I do not use their TV service. I have the ONT and fiber to the home. The service is great. I've never had an outage. I use their wireless modem/router feeding a 24 port switch. I also have an Apple Airport Extreme. Quite happy. I understand my 25/25 service is about to become 35/35 with no additional charge.

Thanks! I'm in Loudoun County. I'll probably go with them. I like that a router is included. I thought about starting with the 15/15 and I wasn't happy with that I could always go up a level. I'll just mainly be using the Internet for browsing and maybe some music downloads.
 
I decided to go with Verizon. The installation is next Monday. I don't know much about this except what I have read on Verizon's website. I have a three level townhouse. The telephone box is on the bottom level next to the door leading to my backyard. I assume they will install the ONT there. They can install the router anywhere I want it. I'll probably have it close to my computer. My computer is on the 2nd level in the family room. I assume they will run some type of cable line to the router and then to my computer? How long will all this take? They told me on the phone it would take about 1 to 2 hours to install. Does that sound about right? Anything else I shoud prepare for except for giving them good space to work in?
 
Hmmmm. Trying to get my rememberer in gear. I live in a single family detached. My longest wait was for them to come lay a line from the street to my house. But when they did arrive, they did it quickly and with surprisingly little disturbance to the soil. They had a tunneling gadget that they used to go under a shed and brick pathway to come up within 2 inches of the wall. Very accurate, as that was a tiny patch of dirt - oh, say 1 square foot - area bordered by concrete, a brick wall and the brick pathway.

I don't recall how long the inside guy was here, but I'm pretty sure it was less than 2 hours. He set up the ONT next to the electric meter, which is where the old phone line came in anyway. He ran an RJ-45 thru the same puttied hole the main electric line enters. Actually, I had run that RJ-45 thru my garage ceiling before he got here, and he snipped the connector, pushed it out the wall, installed a new connector and plugged it in. He plugged in the router on a shelf in the laundry room I had set up for the purpose, and I plugged it in to my 24 port switch. I did the software installation using a laptop while he tidied up.

You'll need an outlet near where the ONT wire comes in to the building, for both power and their tiny UPS. I put the wireless router on a much larger UPS of mine.

Let us know how it works out for you.
 
Thanks Navy! I have run into one small (hopefully) snafu. Tuesday a contractor for Verizon came by and left a flyer on the door saying they needed the fence open to install. Apparently they have run a line from the Verizon box to the telephone box at my home. Verizon said nothing to me about this when I ordered or I would have left the gate open for them. I called back the contractor that had came and told them this. They apologized and said they would be back in 3 to 5 days. I told them I had the installation scheduled for Monday and they just said it should be done by then. We'll see. I usually have bad luck on these things. If they haven't come by to do this by tomorrow I'm going to have to call Verizon and tell them they need have everything lined up right to do this. I don't get that much leave from my work and I really don't won't to waste a day and nothing accomplished. Verizon isn't off to a good start for me. I hope it improves quickly.
 
Bummer.

Odd thing is, where I used to live, I kept the gate locked. Actually, I moved the latch full over and removed the handle (tang?) so there was no way someone outside the gate could enter. Yet the UPS guy was somehow leaving packages outside my back door. Point of pride for him, I guess. Nice for me. I never figured out how he did it. They were placed carefully, not thrown. Was he really jumping the fence? :confused:
 
There differences btw Comcast and Verizon Fios. Comcast allows you to use your own internet modem as long as it is compatible with their DOCSIS system and free Norton Anti virus. Whereas Verizon Fios modem is free, you will pay rental fees for the modem and $5 month for Norton Anti virus. I did do some shopping online on both company's websites.I do have Comcast internet which cost $62.95 after the promotion was over; no tax or fees and I don't need the tv because I'm not home all the time. I watch movies online no commercials straight streaming better than regular tv with commercials. I do have FTA satellite which is a hobby and fun. Sometimes you just need some freedom from all these contracts with cable, tv and satellite companies. I will say do your research on both websites or call sales dept for quotes before signing up for any of the services. Each services do have their own advantages and disadvantages.
 
I'd go with comcrap for the extreme 50. you can download 4.36gb in about 15 min. this is your moneys worth if you download alot of video and other large files.
I have already went way over the cap for the 1st month I had it. 1.5tb over and no email nor phone call from them.
 
D22 said:
I'd go with comcrap for the extreme 50. you can download 4.36gb in about 15 min. this is your moneys worth if you download alot of video and other large files.
I have already went way over the cap for the 1st month I had it. 1.5tb over and no email nor phone call from them.

1.5 terabytes?

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I had Verizon Fios installed yesterday. Everything went great! The technician arrived aearly which was fine with me. I had everything moved and ready by mid morning anyway. It took him just under two hours to have everything up and running. He seemed very good at what he was doing and went right to work. He seemed like a nice guy too. I haven't had much time to play around with it yet. I had some other things to do yesterday after he was done. But it looks like I will like this very much. Thanks for the help!
 

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