Broadband vs FIOS

In My Humble Opinion
1

We currently have Brighthouse Cable, which provides our cable television connection and broadband cable connection. We also use Verizon for our local phone. Cable + Internet is $97/month, taxes included. Phone is $26 including tax for only local calls.

Lately I’ve had a lot of outages in the afternoons, either big lag spikes or just losing connection entirely. Since I work from home this is not really acceptable. It may just be time to replace the cable modem, but we’ve also had twice where the yard guys have nicked the cable, which is buried very shallow and then the cable need to get repaired. My understanding is that Verizon did a better job of burying the cable deeper to prevent this sort of thing.

Verizon is currently offering a special for phone + cable + internet for $79-99 month, depending on level of service. This price is good for 12-24 months and now they’re adding a “sweetener” of $150 back on start up. Don’t know how much taxes will kick that price up, or what the price would be after the honeymoon period.

I’m looking for general advice and experience on this. Main issues for me:

  • how much does the cost change?
  • what is your experience with Verizon as a provider for these services?
  • what can I expect in terms of reliability and performance with fiber optic versus broadband?
  • what are the questions that I haven’t thought to ask?

Thanks,

Shibb

2

I have had FIOS for a few years now. Last month my bill was $178 (including everything). I don’t have any premium channels. I don’t have HD (I don’t really know if that costs more). I have not had any outages that I am aware of. I am in Northern New Jersey.

Right now you are likely getting telephone via copper. Once they switch you to fiber, you can’t go back to copper. The only possible disadvantage to that is if you have frequent power outages (fiber doesn’t carry its own power the way copper does). They install a UPS in your house, so short outages don’t affect your phone.