Any other PPCThinkers on FiOS?

[Mark Johnson]

Verizon just rolled out FiOS (Fiber-optic to-the-home) service in my city and I got it installed yesterday. Are any other PPCT readers in one of the active service areas?

I'm kinda curious if there are regional performance differences. I'm loving it so far. $40 a month for 5 Mbps inbound and 2Mbps outbound. They blocked port 80 inbound though, so I can't host a webserver on it. Aside from that, the service rocks. Downloaded the 2.4GB DVD .iso image file for Fedora Core 3 last night. It took about 3 hours.

It's days like this I'm extra proud to be an American! From what I've heard, internet access in Europe is VAT'ed like it's some kind of luxury for only the super-rich. It's really nice to see that there's finally some progress getting fiber rolled out in the USA, at least in California.

I'm wondering if any of our Korean or Japaneese readers have fiber yet either?

[Jason Dunn]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I'm surprised it's not faster - my cable modem is 5 Mbps downstream, though the upstream you have is awesome: 250 KB/s. Somehow I thought fibre would be even faster though?

[Mark Johnson]

I thought fibre would be even faster though?

Yeah, I went with the cheapest package $40 for 5/2. They also offer $50 for 15/2 or (no way) $200 for 30/15.

Maybe I'll upgrade to 15/2 for a month or two just to see how it goes...

I didn't know cable was up to 5. This is great. It feels like there's finally some real competition building between the cable companies and the phone companies. When the techs installed the box (an "ONT" if I remember correctly) they pointed out the outputs on it: one ethernet (100mb, not gigabit), a POTS connector, and a coax port for video. When I called Verizon tech support today for my IP/DNS settings so I can switch from the D-Link wired router/dhcp server they included to my Linksys wireless one, I asked the tech when I'd be able to get TV service from Verizon through my fiber. At first he said they could do it right now, that his department had already gone to training on it, but then he asked someone else there and told me they haven't turned the service on yet, but will "really soon."

It'll be nice to see the phone companies and the cable companies really start to make effort. The pricing for both cable internet and cable TV have been pretty high. Now they'll have to respond to the fiber challenge.

[Jason Dunn]

30/15? ........drooool............!!! 8O

[macs4god]

Man, you guys have it so easy :wink:

DSL is the only highspeed option here in this crappy college town I live in, and even though the phone company offers 1.5Mbps downstream, the phone lines in the town are so old that the most anyone gets is around 700Kbps if they're really close to the switching station and have good lines. Me? I get around 300 Kbps downstream / 200Kbps upstream, which really sucks, considering they don't have any other plans than the 1.5Mbps, so I have to pay more for crappy internet. The whole town is holding its breath for Cable, but I don't see that happening soon, considering our first Wal-Mart opened yesterday. :mrgreen:

[jimski]

Man, you guys have it so easy :wink:

DSL is the only highspeed option here in this crappy college town I live in, and even though the phone company offers 1.5Mbps downstream, the phone lines in the town are so old that the most anyone gets is around 700Kbps :mrgreen:

Hey dude, I can't believe that anything in NM is that old. Back here in the Northeast I think Alex Bell installed my phone line. Now that's old :cry: .

[ADBrown]

I hate you. I hate you all. You have no idea how infuriating it is for those of us out here in the boondocks to listen to you complain about how expensive 30 Mbit fiber is. I pay $80 per month for a 26 kbit telephone line, a one-way satellite dish that has a 169 MB cap, and 1000 ms of lag.

I hate you all. :devilboy:

[KTamas]

Damm. In Europe, there is 25% VAT for computer items and internet too. Currently i ahve 384/64 kbps internet, and it costs about 52$ :(

[Jason Dunn]

I hate you. I hate you all. You have no idea how infuriating it is for those of us out here in the boondocks to listen to you complain about how expensive 30 Mbit fiber is. I pay $80 per month for a 26 kbit telephone line, a one-way satellite dish that has a 169 MB cap, and 1000 ms of lag.

Wow. THAT'S why you're so angry all the time! :lol:

[ADBrown]

I hate you. I hate you all. You have no idea how infuriating it is for those of us out here in the boondocks to listen to you complain about how expensive 30 Mbit fiber is. I pay $80 per month for a 26 kbit telephone line, a one-way satellite dish that has a 169 MB cap, and 1000 ms of lag.

Wow. THAT'S why you're so angry all the time! :lol:

I'M NOT ANGRY! (sound of veins popping) I'M JUST... LOW ON BANDWIDTH! (apoplectic fit)

:lol: Seriously, that fiber sounds like it rocks. I can't wait until they make it out here with it. It may take ten or fifteen years, but hey, I can wait.

[Islanti]

Whenever North Americans ;) start feeling smug about bandwidth, I feel forced to point out that South Korea has 100Mbps to the door for $50 / month. 8O

Now THAT's worth getting excited about. The difference between 4 and 5 Mbps down is insignificant by comparison. :)