Non cigar question

[NullSmurf]

Verizon has begun offering FiOS, fiber optic service to the door. I wonder for those of you serviced by Verizon, do you have FiOS or have plans to install it?

Here is a short Wiki description:

FiOS is a fiber to the premises (FTTP) telecommunications service offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon. According to Verizon, "Fios" is an Irish word for "knowledge". In mailings to New Jersey customers, however, Verizon states that it stands for "fiber-optic service." Verizon has attracted consumer and media attention in the area of broadband Internet access as the first major U.S. carrier to offer such a service. Verizon has also launched a television service with its fiber optic lines. FiOS started as a pilot program in Keller, Texas, but availability of the Internet service has expanded to many states.

 

[spiffykyle]

When i moved into my house a few months ago, I was all ready to use Verizon DSL as AT&T (my previous provider) wasn't available. However the Verizon people told me that since it was such a new neighborhood that DSL wasn't available yet, so i ended up just getting my phones hooked up.

The Verizon guy that came to install everything told me that by the end of the year FiOS would be available.

I couldn't wait that long however so i endedup getting RoadRunner and have been pretty happy with it ever since. Don't think I'll be chaning it any time soon. I have heard that it's amazingly fast though.

spiffy

 

[junkman_56]

How about another category for "Can't get it".
I live in a small town and can't even get DSL to the house, let alone FIOS (and I work for Verizon...)

 

[Mrepp]

while its a noble idea its really only for people who are big downloaders or are big into streaming media. Hell a song takes 30 seconds to download on a basic cable modem or DSL.

 

[merlik]

If I could get it I definitely would.

 

[tone-ny]

I live in NJ and had a college age student come by and try to sell the product. I currently have Verizon for phone service as well as Cablevision for cable modem and Directv for HD service. I probably could have saved some money, but would have to give up a day or two to get it all squared away. I'll wait till they sweeten up their offer.

 

[NullSmurf]

The amount of bandwidth available in a single (think they're installing two), hair-sized fiber is mind boggling. Phone, 1GB of Internet, cable including video on demand fit easily today with plenty left over. About every 6-7 years, they will double that capacity with electronics alone. Problem is, the existing copper facilities both coax and phone pairs are serving the needs pretty well. That, coupled with the expense of getting fiber out to the house make it attractive to keep things the way they are. It's the smart carriers that are making the investment now. With Fair Access laws, they'd still have to make space available to competitors, cable, Internet, and phone, but not for free. Whoever spends the money now will reap rewards for quite some time. I wish a had a few billion bucks lying around.

 

[Mrepp]

The amount of bandwidth available in a single (think they're installing two), hair-sized fiber is mind boggling. Phone, 1GB of Internet, cable including video on demand fit easily today with plenty left over. About every 6-7 years, they will double that capacity with electronics alone. Problem is, the existing copper facilities both coax and phone pairs are serving the needs pretty well. That, coupled with the expense of getting fiber out to the house make it attractive to keep things the way they are. It's the smart carriers that are making the investment now. With Fair Access laws, they'd still have to make space available to competitors, cable, Internet, and phone, but not for free. Whoever spends the money now will reap rewards for quite some time. I wish a had a few billion bucks lying around.

1GB or 1 gigabit?

 

[AVB]

Don't have, can't get it. There isn't even cable where I live. Fiber optics....pfffttt fat chance.

 

[AVB]

There is no difference in this usage since transmission speeds are alway binary. It is when you get into storage that GB and Gb become significantly different.

1GB or 1 gigabit?

 

[Mrepp]

There is no difference in this usage since transmission speeds are alway binary. It is when you get into storage that GB and Gb become significantly different.

1GB or 1 gigabit?

typically when i see 1GB they mean one gigabyte which ~ 10gigabit, if its only 1 gigabit that seems awfully slow as cable is typically 3.5gigabit. So i thought I'd clarify.

 

[marcsheldon]

i got it and love it.

 

[BrewMeister]

Don't have, can't get it. There isn't even cable where I live. Fiber optics....pfffttt fat chance.

I just spent the last five days hassling the local phone company to repair my dial-up ISDN that I've paid way way too much for way way too long. I've given some thought to satellite (Wild-Blue). But I've heard way too many folks complaining about it, so I've held off taking the plunge.

 

[NullSmurf]

I've never described transmission speed in bytes, only bits per second. It might be a stretch to see gigabit speeds offered to residential consumers, but its not that far off. We went past the terabit barrier between points on our backbone some time ago. We're only limited now by what the damned routers will handle.

 

[davidr2340]

i got it and love it.

Bastid!!!

I would if it was available... Both TV and internet!!! I think I have quite a wait... :angry:

 

[LilBastage]

The only thing Verizon does here is cell phone service, and they do it poorly. Even if I could get it, I would never purchase anything from that flim flam operation again.

 

[merlik]

There is no difference in this usage since transmission speeds are alway binary. It is when you get into storage that GB and Gb become significantly different.

1GB or 1 gigabit?

typically when i see 1GB they mean one gigabyte which ~ 10gigabit, if its only 1 gigabit that seems awfully slow as cable is typically 3.5gigabit. So i thought I'd clarify.

Actually cable is 3.5 Megabit. When you see your download speeds though you are usually seeing it in Kilobytes per second. And yes there is a bit of a difference in transmission speeds because there are 8 bits in a bite. Even Gigabit transfer speeds are quite fast though. I use a gigabit switch at home when the average switch is 100 megabit.

 

[moki]

There is no difference in this usage since transmission speeds are alway binary. It is when you get into storage that GB and Gb become significantly different.

1GB or 1 gigabit?

There's definitely a difference -- by a factor of 8 -- between 1 gigabit/second and 1 gigabyte/second.

We had metro ethernet laid to our office, it's pretty fantastic. It's a fibre line that will go up to 100baseTX ethernet speeds, but you can purchase any fraction of that you like. Upping your bandwidth is a phone call away.

Fiber optic is definitely the way to go if you have the service available in your area.

 

[AVB]

You are correct. I was thinking GiB and typing Gb.

 

[geldor1]

They have been laying the lines in my neighborhood. I went on line to check and it said not yet. Have Verison DSl at the present.

Just got a flyer in the mail stating that FiOS is coming. We'll see as to what they want to charge. Maybe they will have a great start up price plan.