Resolved Questions About Verizon Fios

[JayAgostino]

I currently have Xfinity cable internet, but due to the pandemic and all of the video conferencing that I will most likely be doing, I’m going to need faster internet for my house. Verizon Fios is available in my area, so I’ve been eyeing it for a while. Thanks to optical fiber, the symmetrical gigabit download/upload speeds are very enticing. I only get about 40mbps upload with Xfinity, and the much faster Verizon Fios upload speeds caught my attention. I could really use those faster upload speeds when uploading videos to online video sharing platforms and the like.

Even if I wasn’t using ethernet, it would still be worth it for the upload speeds alone. I’ve heard that download and upload speeds are still great over WiFi, so no worries there.

I have a few questions.

1. How does Verizon Fios work? How do they install it to your home? I’m not to familiar with the installation process of optical fiber.

2. I currently use the rental router that came with my Xfinity cable internet plan. Is the included Verizon Fios WiFi 6 rental router any good? It seems fine, but I want the opinions of others (take a look at the specs and features).

Verizon/Fios Wi Fi Home Router G3100 ,tri band

Hardware configuration Four Gigabit LAN ports One Gigabit WAN port Coax port supporting MoCA 2.5 LAN MoCA 1.1 WAN Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz 11ax 4x4 Two 5 GHz 11ax 4x4 Internal antenna One USB 3.0 port IoT - Bluetooth Button - Reset (Back) - WPS (Front) LED indicators - One Status LED (Front) - One MoCA LAN ...

www.amazon.com

3. Are there any major downsides to Verizon Fios (unavailability is not a problem in my area)?

I probably have more questions, but I can’t think of them right now.

I already pay a crazy amount of money for Xfinity cable internet, so $79.99 a month is a steal. Here’s what I picked.

Gigabit connection (what kind of madman would go for one of the lower tiers).

I already have Hulu, so for the internet offer, I went with the Stadia Premiere Edition ($129 value).

Fios Router Rental (instead of purchasing the router outright for $299.99 or using my own router).

None of the Verizon protection stuff or the wire maintenance stuff (I don’t think that I’d need it).

For live TV, I was debating on getting YouTube TV for another $64.99 a month to further distance myself from Xfinity and cable in general, but my wife refuses to get rid of Comcast television.

No “Fios Home Phone” because I simply don’t need it (I already have similar phones around my house).

With all of that said and done, it’d still be $79.99 a month without YouTube TV included. That sounds like a solid deal for gigabit fiber optic internet, so should I jump on it and get that Verizon Fios plan?

 

[glenthompson]

No experience with FIOS but I would kill for access to those speeds. As a general rule the routers/WiFi supplied by an ISP aren’t that great. If possible I prefer having separate modems and routers. That way you can upgrade either if needed. Depending on layout of your space, mesh is nice if you want full coverage everywhere in the house. I’ve been happy with my Eero.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have a lot of experience with FiOS. I have had it installed in two different homes, and switch between FiOS and Comcast often to get the best price possible.

1. How does Verizon Fios work? How do they install it to your home? I’m not to familiar with the installation process of optical fiber.

What type of home do you have? Single family, townhome, apartment, condo?

Unless the fiber is already ran to your home, the first thing they will do is have a crew come out and bury the fiber line from their tap to your home. Then you can schedule an install if you haven't done it already.

An installer or two will come out and tell you what they plan on doing, but I highly suggest for you to offer your input. I would have them install the ONT box on the inside of your home. This isn't alway possible depending on the type of home you have.

Having it installed inside gives you access to it, and more importantly, the Ethernet port, so you can use your own router of choice without renting one from them. Even if you choose to rent one from them, it might be a good idea to have the option to do this later.

Even if the ONT box is installed on the outside of your home, it is still possible to use the Ethernet port on it, but you have to run the cable yourself, which depending on your situation, may not be the easiest to do. It is just so much easier having it on the inside.

Another thing to tell the installer PRIOR to them doing any work at all, and I mean you run outside as soon as you see them, before they can touch anything, is to NOT to cut the Comcast line coming into your home. I am unsure if they still do it, but at one point, it was a part of the installer training to do this.

Regardless if you decide to keep Comcast or not, it is so much easier and convenient to leave the existing cable there. It is harder for the installer if they choose to have the ONT on the outside (they connect the ONT to the existing coax running in your home), but it isn't best for you, their customer. Using Coax, they connect from the ONT to their router. If you get TV services, they also connect with coax using a splitter.

If they give you push back on not using the existing line, tell them that you are still using Comcast for TV. You really shouldn't have to do this, but sometimes they just don't understand, or they just don't want to do the extra work.

Is the included Verizon Fios WiFi 6 rental router any good?

I only used their routers when I first signed up for FiOS over ten years ago, and I hated it. I ended up just using my own, bridging with their modem.

I used to switch back and forth between Comcast and FiOS to get the best deal possible. Once my rates would go up, I would just switch. When I switch back to FiOS for the first time, I started using their Ethernet port on the ONT, so I wouldn't have to use their Router. The website claims that you have to use an approve router, but if you do not use their TV service with their STB, then you can use any router you want.

Gigabit connection (what kind of madman would go for one of the lower tiers).

Me for one, and plenty of other people if they were smart. Why pay $80 for Gigabit internet if a $40 100Mbps internet would work just as well? That would be just wasting $500 a year.

I personally believe that many people overpay for internet tiers that they would hardly or ever utilize. I am not referring to you necessarily, but I personally know people that have Gigabit internet that use it for Facebook and Netflix.

ISPs use silly questions like "How many devices that connect to the internet do you have in your home?" to sell people internet speeds that are way overkill for them.

Of course there are some people that need or would benefit from the higher tiers, but I think that the average home doesn't come close to utilizing Gigabit internet. Probably wouldn't come close to 100Mbps.

it’d still be $79.99 a month without YouTube TV included. That sounds like a solid deal for gigabit fiber optic internet, so should I jump on it and get that Verizon Fios plan?

Prices are very dependent on location, especially in the US. $80 Gigabit internet could be average in one zip code, but the next one over that could be super cheap. Actually, this could vary from street to street.

Considering there are plenty of places in the US that would pay those prices for 30Mbps speeds, I think you are doing okay.

 

[Boyd01]

I'm in a rural area and couldn't get anything but sub-megabit DSL for the first 10 years in my home. Two years ago, an army of installers ran fiber all over my area and they offered some nice deals so I jumped right on it. The 150/150 package was the fastest they offered, but I talked to the installer who said that was just marketing and everything he installed was gigabit-compatible. I did a number of tests back then and was actually getting the full 150mbit up/down speeds.

They buried 800 feet of fiber beside my driveway (my house is way off the road) and didn't charge anything for installation (which was done by a contractor Verizon hired for this area). Installation was really quick - maybe an hour - but we have sandy soil here. A few days later a Verizon tech came by and installed the equipment - a box outside and another one inside that connects to their router. I didn't get their TV service, but the phone was included (that I have never used). They just wired the existing outdoor phone wires to their new box so any existing indoor analog phones/outlets would work.

Prices went way up after two years when the original promotion expired, and the options on their website were very confusing and expensive. So I did an online chat and they were great. I now have 400/400 for $80/month and that also clocked very close to the advertised up/down speeds. No installation was required, they activated everything remotely and it was live within a few hours after signing up.

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail saying they were giving me a free trial of gigabit service. I never would have even noticed if they hadn't told me, LOL. Did a quick test and was getting over 800mb upload but slower download - however I later realized that Sling was streaming at that time, so that's probably why.

Went to their website to check pricing and again, that was useless. Did a chat to see what the price was and got annoyed that it was taking forever to get an answer. When it finally came, it was going to be about $20 more than my 400/400 service (about $100/mo with all the fees and taxes) so I didn't go for it. Really don't need anything faster right now, if it was only $5 or $10 more then I might have gotten it just for bragging rights, LOL. 😂

Anyway... completely satisfied with this, they have delivered on all their promises. The installation guys were very nice and knowledgeable, we had some nice conversations. It's also been really robust, only a couple very brief glitches. Has never gone down during a power outage. They just ran the fiber on existing utility poles in my rural area, but everything from the pole to my house is buried.

 

[ipponrg]

I currently have Xfinity cable internet, but due to the pandemic and all of the video conferencing that I will most likely be doing, I’m going to need faster internet for my house. Verizon Fios is available in my area, so I’ve been eyeing it for a while. Thanks to optical fiber, the symmetrical gigabit download/upload speeds are very enticing. I only get about 40mbps upload with Xfinity, and the much faster Verizon Fios upload speeds caught my attention. I could really use those faster upload speeds when uploading videos to online video sharing platforms and the like.

Even if I wasn’t using ethernet, it would still be worth it for the upload speeds alone. I’ve heard that download and upload speeds are still great over WiFi, so no worries there.

I have a few questions.

1. How does Verizon Fios work? How do they install it to your home? I’m not to familiar with the installation process of optical fiber.

2. I currently use the rental router that came with my Xfinity cable internet plan. Is the included Verizon Fios WiFi 6 rental router any good? It seems fine, but I want the opinions of others (take a look at the specs and features).

Verizon/Fios Wi Fi Home Router G3100 ,tri band

Hardware configuration Four Gigabit LAN ports One Gigabit WAN port Coax port supporting MoCA 2.5 LAN MoCA 1.1 WAN Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz 11ax 4x4 Two 5 GHz 11ax 4x4 Internal antenna One USB 3.0 port IoT - Bluetooth Button - Reset (Back) - WPS (Front) LED indicators - One Status LED (Front) - One MoCA LAN ...

www.amazon.com

3. Are there any major downsides to Verizon Fios (unavailability is not a problem in my area)?

I probably have more questions, but I can’t think of them right now.

I already pay a crazy amount of money for Xfinity cable internet, so $79.99 a month is a steal. Here’s what I picked.

Gigabit connection (what kind of madman would go for one of the lower tiers).

I already have Hulu, so for the internet offer, I went with the Stadia Premiere Edition ($129 value).

Fios Router Rental (instead of purchasing the router outright for $299.99 or using my own router).

None of the Verizon protection stuff or the wire maintenance stuff (I don’t think that I’d need it).

For live TV, I was debating on getting YouTube TV for another $64.99 a month to further distance myself from Xfinity and cable in general, but my wife refuses to get rid of Comcast television.

No “Fios Home Phone” because I simply don’t need it (I already have similar phones around my house).

With all of that said and done, it’d still be $79.99 a month without YouTube TV included. That sounds like a solid deal for gigabit fiber optic internet, so should I jump on it and get that Verizon Fios plan?

You don’t need to rent a router if you have your own. I am using my own router. However, you will have to rent their ONT device (I think it’s a one time fee?).

I have 250 up/down, and it’s glorious. I’d highly recommend Fios over Cable any day when symmetrical bandwidth matters

 

[Boyd01]

You really need to do the online chat to see what kind of deals they have. In my case, there was no charge for installation/equipment and the router was also included at no charge with no monthly charges. There was a big initial discount because they were migrating existing analog phone service to FIOS in my town. It was actually much cheaper to get the package that included phone service than the internet-only package. Same thing again when I upgraded to 400/400. Have never even plugged a phone into it, I use my iPhone for everything.

BTW, the included router did not support 802.11ac wifi, not sure if that's changed. Didn't matter to me, I just plugged my existing gigabit ethernet LAN cable into their router and am using 802.11ac with my Time Capsule.

 

[JayAgostino]

As a general rule the routers/WiFi supplied by an ISP aren’t that great.

Really? 802.11ax seems really compelling (along with the other things mentioned in the spec sheet).
[automerge]1597597181[/automerge]

Depending on layout of your space, mesh is nice if you want full coverage everywhere in the house.

I live in a condo. It isn't too big, so I'm not too worried about coverage.

 

[JayAgostino]

What type of home do you have? Single family, townhome, apartment, condo?

I have a condo.

 

[JayAgostino]

I only used their routers when I first signed up for FiOS over ten years ago, and I hated it. I ended up just using my own, bridging with their modem.

I used to switch back and forth between Comcast and FiOS to get the best deal possible. Once my rates would go up, I would just switch. When I switch back to FiOS for the first time, I started using their Ethernet port on the ONT, so I wouldn't have to use their Router. The website claims that you have to use an approve router, but if you do not use their TV service with their STB, then you can use any router you want.

Well, if that was 10 years ago, things could've changed, right?
[automerge]1597597748[/automerge]

Me for one, and plenty of other people if they were smart. Why pay $80 for Gigabit internet is a $40 100Mbps internet would work just as well? That would be just wasting $500 a year.

I personally believe that many people overpay for internet tiers that they would hardly or ever utilize. I am not referring to you necessarily, but I personally know people that have Gigabit internet that use it for Facebook and Netflix.

ISPs use silly questions like "How many devices that connect to the internet do you have in your home?" to sell people internet speeds that are way overkill for them.

Of course there are some people that need or would benefit from the higher tiers, but I think that the average home doesn't come close to utilizing Gigabit internet. Probably wouldn't come close to 100Mbps.

Yeah, you're definitely right.

 

[JayAgostino]

Prices are very dependent on location, especially in the US. $80 Gigabit internet could be average in one zip code, but the next one over that could be super cheap. Actually, this could vary from street to street.

Considering there are plenty of places in the US that would pay those prices for 30Mbps speeds, I think you are doing okay.

Okay, that's good to hear.

 

[Boyd01]

Well, if that was 10 years ago, things could've changed, right?

I had mine installed in 2017 and the Verizon router does not support 802.11ac wifi, so apparently things do change. One interesting thing is that I see my neighbors wifi when I look at available hotspots and I only have two neighbors. One house is about 400 feet from mine and the other is about 300 feet.

 

[JayAgostino]

You don’t need to rent a router if you have your own. I am using my own router. However, you will have to rent their ONT device (I think it’s a one time fee?).

I'm confident in the Verizon router. I would rather get the rental router for 802.11ax. The Xfinity rental router I currently have isn't spectacular, nor is the old Orbi router that I have.

 

[JayAgostino]

I have 250 up/down, and it’s glorious. I’d highly recommend Fios over Cable any day when symmetrical bandwidth matters

Thank you for your input!

 

[JayAgostino]

You really need to do the online chat to see what kind of deals they have.

Wait, where's the online chat?

 

[JayAgostino]

BTW, the included router did not support 802.11ac wifi, not sure if that's changed.

The included router now supports 802.11ax, so it has in fact changed.

 

[JayAgostino]

I had mine installed in 2017 and the Verizon router does not support 802.11ac wifi, so apparently things do change.

They didn't even offer a 802.11ac router in 2017? Wow...
[automerge]1597598985[/automerge]

One interesting thing is that I see my neighbors wifi when I look at available hotspots and I only have two neighbors. One house is about 400 feet from mine and the other is about 300 feet.

That's certainly bizarre! I should try that out...

 

[JayAgostino]

Someone asked me a confusing question in the thread linked below. Could someone clear things up or help me please?

[SOLVED] - Questions About Verizon Fios

I currently have Xfinity cable internet, but due to the pandemic and all of the video conferencing that I will most likely be doing, I’m going to need faster internet for my house. Verizon Fios is available in my area, so I’ve been eyeing it for a while. Thanks to optical fiber, the symmetrical...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[2984839]

I just upgraded to gigabit Fios and it is awesome. I don't use their router. You're better off with a fast, enterprise wired router and use wireless APs where you need them. If you're paying for gigabit, it makes sense to have multiple APs to get the most from that connection.

 

[Boyd01]

Someone asked me a confusing question in the thread linked below. Could someone clear things up or help me please?

It's a bit awkward to try and carry out a discussion across multiple forums. Just had a quick look, and you said "I’ve heard that download and upload speeds are still great over WiFi".

The other person was making the point that the speed of the wifi in your home doesn't have anything to do with the throughput that the FIOS connection can deliver. So, for example, if your wifi maxes out at 150mbit/sec then you won't see any improvement in download speed by getting gigabit FIOS as compared to 150mbit FIOS. But if multiple users or devices are using the internet at the same time, the faster connection will help.

I think they will show you a sample bill when you sign up and there will be some other fees, taxes, etc that make it cost more than $80. Also, I think you have to sign up for auto-pay from your bank account to get their best price. I'm paying $80 for everything with 400/400 FIOS and have automatic billing. They quoted me more for gigabit.

 

[JayAgostino]

You're better off with a fast, enterprise wired router and use wireless APs where you need them. If you're paying for gigabit, it makes sense to have multiple APs to get the most from that connection.

What do you mean?

 

[JayAgostino]

if your wifi maxes out at 150mbit/sec then you won't see any improvement in download speed by getting gigabit FIOS as compared to 150mbit FIOS. But if multiple users or devices are using the internet at the same time, the faster connection will help.

I’ll probably be getting the rental router, so I won’t necessarily have to worry about that, right?

 

[Boyd01]

Not familiar with what they currently offer, so I don't know. I don't think any Macs can offer gigabit speed on wifi. I know that my 2013 MacBook Air can only do ~400mbit/sec. My other Macs are hardwired on ethernet.

You might think twice about whether you really need gigabit FIOS. The hardware should be the same for the slower versions and you could always upgrade later. But I suppose it depends on what kind of special deals they are offering. 150/150 is pretty darn fast already - I could upload a 1gb video to Vimeo in a minute. The 400/400 I currently have is nice, but not sure that I see much difference for that kind of thing (which is limited by the speed of the other site). Where it helps is if you are also streaming video on Sling, etc. at the same time. But when I had the free trial of gigabit service, I did not notice any difference at all from my 400/400 service.

 

[JayAgostino]

Not familiar with what they currently offer, so I don't know.

Here’s the description of the router.

Description

The latest Wi-Fi generation, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax) with speeds averaging 60% faster on 2.4 GHz and 38% faster on 5 GHz than previous Verizon Wi-Fi routers* Tri-Band 4x4 antennas, increasing Wi-Fi coverage by an average of 63%* Self-Organizing Network technology for automatic band steering and single Wi-Fi Network name Compatible with Fios Home Wi-Fi Extender (Model #E3200), and many features, including SON feature will not work as designed when paired with a different extender. Fios Home Router (G3100) uses the latest Wi-Fi generation, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) to provide an efficient internet experience throughout your home. Tri-band 4x4 antenna supports one (1) 2.4 GHz band and two (2) 5 GHz bands to provide wide and reliable Wi-Fi. This simply means Fios Home Router provides an optimal experience for Wi-Fi intensive activities, such as 4K UHD streaming, gaming or large-sized file transfers. Smart home and mobile devices will be connected to the strongest signal available nearby without a manual setting with Self-Organizing Network technology. Plus, control your Wi-Fi at your fingertip with My Fios App.
Features & details

• Wi-Fi 6 technology
• 2.4G 11ax 4x4/ 5G 11ax 4x4
• 4 Gigabit LAN + 1 Gigabit WAN, MoCA2.5 + LAN MoCA1.1 WAN
• Automatic Band switching between 2.4GH and 5.8GH Band
• 150% more WiFi range than G1100

 

[JayAgostino]

You might think twice about whether you really need gigabit FIOS.

I’ll probably be doing Zoom calls with large amounts of people, so wouldn’t the extra bandwidth be helpful (especially if other devices are connected and being actively used)?

 

[Boyd01]

Specs look good, but I have no idea of how well it works. And regardless, you will be limited by the capabilities of the computers and devices that connect to the router.

I have never used Zoom, so no idea. But again, you are not likely to get gigabit speeds over wifi.