As I've mentioned before, I have FiOS internet/TV service, with which I've mostly been happy.
Anyway, I just got my latest bill, and they've done something weird. They've made it very difficult to find the due date. It isn't printed on the payment coupon anymore at all, and is very easy to miss on the statement.
What I can't quite figure out, though, is why they'd do that. The only thing I can think of is that they're hoping people won't be able to find it, and will end up paying late. That seems a decidedly hostile way to do business, though; I can't see why they'd pursue it. It might help them make a few percent more in the short term, but I can't see how it wouldn't bite them in the ass, long-term.
Showing posts with label fios. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fios. Show all posts
20140428
20131212
Tech In-vanity
Just listened to the latest Accidental Tech podcast, and there were a couple of interesting notes. One is that my experience has also been that Verizon's tech support is very good (you don't get dead silence when you ask about their DHCP server; something I've had to do a couple of times). Compare that to Comcast (of whom I used to be a customer), where calling their tech support was basically only useful for having them send a tech out to the house.
Also compare it to what happens if you need to deal with their billing department (say, if they lose your payment); that's an absolute nightmare. The one time it happened, it took me over twenty hours on the phone to track down.
The other note I had was the note about the Honda CVT and paddle shifter. Apparently, that's not just something on the Acura ILX, like I noted.
Also compare it to what happens if you need to deal with their billing department (say, if they lose your payment); that's an absolute nightmare. The one time it happened, it took me over twenty hours on the phone to track down.
The other note I had was the note about the Honda CVT and paddle shifter. Apparently, that's not just something on the Acura ILX, like I noted.
20110503
Showtime Has a Problem
I get my internet/tv/phone service via verizon (fios is nice, even if the monopoly nature of verizon bugs me). For reasons unknown, they decided to give me free access to the Showtime channels a couple of months ago. I mostly ignored it, other than saving a couple of movies on the DVR (which I really need to watch, I guess). Well, the free part was about to expire, so I called to cancel it.
Not too interesting, right? Well, they asked why I wanted to cancel it. Well, I never asked for it, what do you think? But to put it a bit more pointedly, it occurred to me right then that it wouldn't ever make sense to pay for it. So I answered, "If I really wanted the movies, I'd just subscribe to netflix". And, you know, I would.
But there's even more of a kicker to the whole thing. While talking, I asked about faster internet service, and agreed to pay $15 more per month for that. No big deal, right? Well, the kicker was that that faster internet service also came with more TV service, including the Showtime channels. Even sillier, the Showtime channels alone, that they were trying to sell me, were going to cost $25.
Showtime has a serious business model problem, as does HBO. I find myself doubting that their original programming is enough to make up the difference. All Netflix has to do is offer a better deal to make their own original programming (which I hear they're now working on), and it's pretty much game over.
(Now to go re-reconsider that Netflix subscription, which I've been mulling over for almost ten years, now.)
Not too interesting, right? Well, they asked why I wanted to cancel it. Well, I never asked for it, what do you think? But to put it a bit more pointedly, it occurred to me right then that it wouldn't ever make sense to pay for it. So I answered, "If I really wanted the movies, I'd just subscribe to netflix". And, you know, I would.
But there's even more of a kicker to the whole thing. While talking, I asked about faster internet service, and agreed to pay $15 more per month for that. No big deal, right? Well, the kicker was that that faster internet service also came with more TV service, including the Showtime channels. Even sillier, the Showtime channels alone, that they were trying to sell me, were going to cost $25.
Showtime has a serious business model problem, as does HBO. I find myself doubting that their original programming is enough to make up the difference. All Netflix has to do is offer a better deal to make their own original programming (which I hear they're now working on), and it's pretty much game over.
(Now to go re-reconsider that Netflix subscription, which I've been mulling over for almost ten years, now.)
20090615
MoCA-ccino
I mentioned in my last post that I still needed to use Verizon's ActionTec router. The reason for this is actually rather stupid.
But first, a small digression about it. Most people have their system set up so that that router gets all of its input from its coax connection. (The reason for this is that it spares them from having to run another cable to the router. If you're using existing cable TV wiring, this is a good reason. But it limits your options; you MUST use this router to connect FiOS, if you don't run that extra cable. This will detail why that might not be such a good idea (like most things related to the network, it depends on your needs).)
Ok, so you have your router plugged directly into the ethernet port on the ONT; why do you still need their router connected? Well, because the set-top boxes for your TVs need it for the guide, VOD, and similar stuff. How do they use it? They use it as a MoCA (Media over Coaxial cable Alliance) bridge to access the internet.
This seems like a pretty cool thing. Now you only need to run a coax cable (which you've already done) to each TV to get that stuff.
So why did I say that it's pretty stupid? Because the STB already has an ethernet port. And it won't use it. So, even if you've got that cat5 cable run, you still need that router to act as the bridge. And that just blows.
But first, a small digression about it. Most people have their system set up so that that router gets all of its input from its coax connection. (The reason for this is that it spares them from having to run another cable to the router. If you're using existing cable TV wiring, this is a good reason. But it limits your options; you MUST use this router to connect FiOS, if you don't run that extra cable. This will detail why that might not be such a good idea (like most things related to the network, it depends on your needs).)
Ok, so you have your router plugged directly into the ethernet port on the ONT; why do you still need their router connected? Well, because the set-top boxes for your TVs need it for the guide, VOD, and similar stuff. How do they use it? They use it as a MoCA (Media over Coaxial cable Alliance) bridge to access the internet.
This seems like a pretty cool thing. Now you only need to run a coax cable (which you've already done) to each TV to get that stuff.
So why did I say that it's pretty stupid? Because the STB already has an ethernet port. And it won't use it. So, even if you've got that cat5 cable run, you still need that router to act as the bridge. And that just blows.
FiOS installation
Warning: this will be pretty long, and mostly uninteresting unless you're looking to get FiOS installed yourself.
So, I've been waiting for FIOS since verizon announced it was coming to the DC area. I believe that was in Oct of 2004. I live pretty close to the city (we sometimes walk to Georgetown for dinner, and my wife is not a walker), so I thought we would be one of the earlier areas to get it installed.
Nevertheless, I signed up for it no more than two days after it was available, took the first available installation appointment, and they came out to install it Wednesday. Almost five years. *sigh*
I'll preface the rest of this by saying that the installation guy, Chuck, did a really good job overall, and put up with a lot of me saying, "I want it done this way", even if that's not the way they normally do it.
There are a couple of reasons why I needed to be very specific. One is that we are keeping our cable modem for at least a month, to make sure everything is good in transitioning to FIOS. Another is limitations on the wiring in our house; some of it is pretty difficult (and some is very hard to find without ripping out walls. I also wanted to keep my router as the main path into the house; it accepts two WAN connections, and can do load-balancing between them (and doesn't have a significant limitation on the NAT table, like the ActionTec router Verizon provides)).
Because of the wiring limitations, I had a specific spot in the house where I wanted the Verizon equipment to go (basically, the cable intersected with a lot of wiring that I did myself at that spot). I dropped a couple of extra lines in that spot the night before the guy arrived for the install, just in case they were needed (an extra network drop, and a phone line).
Well, he showed up, and after discussing it with me for a little while, convinced me that we might as well connect their router directly to the ONT (not sure what that stands for, but it's the in-house unit that accepts the fiber line; it outputs phone lines (up to two in the standard model), coax (for TV and/or internet), and ethernet (internet only; usually not used) via coax.
The reason for using coax is that a) the router needs to have that connected, regardless, for MoCa (I'll come back to this), and b) we'd need to run another line to this box for the ethernet anyway (and I'd had trouble feeding my fish through the ceiling to enable this anyway).
We went through the steps to get the fiber into the house (I also didn't want this done the way they probably would have done it normally), and connect up the ONT. When it failed immediately, he did some investigation, and found out that he had the wrong model of ONT. Basically, it wasn't compatible with the neighborhood distribution point unit, since that is a brand-new model (like I said, I signed up immediately, so the equipment is really, really new).
To make matters worse, he didn't have the newer model. He (and his supervisor) made some calls to procure one. Eventually, they succeeded, but it was going to take a little while, and he had earlier told me he had a doctor's appointment to which he had to go. I didn't want to screw him on that appointment, so when he asked if finishing the next day was ok, I said that was fine.
It ended up being a good thing that I did, because when he left, I did some research on that ActionTec router. That's how I found out about that NAT table limitation. I also found out how to get my router to be next to the ONT. All that was needed was to connect to the ONT via ethernet; ok, I now had the time to fish another line over there.
So, when he showed up the next morning with the new ONT (a Motorola 1000, I believe he said), I told him about the need to run the extra line (I'd already done the hard part of pulling it, so I was only adding about five of minutes of work for him). He was a bit skeptical, but didn't see any reason not to do it; so after the ONT was in, we worked on it.
Unfortunately, apparently the provisioning on this ONT was also different, so he (and his supervisor) had to figure out how to do it.
...
Ok, this is getting so long _I'm_ starting to get annoyed. Kudos if you made it this far.
Well, they figured it out (the ethernet part was an additional hassle, figuring out, but they got that, too; apparently, nobody uses that). Eventually, after a tiny bit of stupidity on my part, I got my router to be the entry point again, putting their router behind mine. I'll talk about why their router was still necessary in another post.
So, I've been waiting for FIOS since verizon announced it was coming to the DC area. I believe that was in Oct of 2004. I live pretty close to the city (we sometimes walk to Georgetown for dinner, and my wife is not a walker), so I thought we would be one of the earlier areas to get it installed.
Nevertheless, I signed up for it no more than two days after it was available, took the first available installation appointment, and they came out to install it Wednesday. Almost five years. *sigh*
I'll preface the rest of this by saying that the installation guy, Chuck, did a really good job overall, and put up with a lot of me saying, "I want it done this way", even if that's not the way they normally do it.
There are a couple of reasons why I needed to be very specific. One is that we are keeping our cable modem for at least a month, to make sure everything is good in transitioning to FIOS. Another is limitations on the wiring in our house; some of it is pretty difficult (and some is very hard to find without ripping out walls. I also wanted to keep my router as the main path into the house; it accepts two WAN connections, and can do load-balancing between them (and doesn't have a significant limitation on the NAT table, like the ActionTec router Verizon provides)).
Because of the wiring limitations, I had a specific spot in the house where I wanted the Verizon equipment to go (basically, the cable intersected with a lot of wiring that I did myself at that spot). I dropped a couple of extra lines in that spot the night before the guy arrived for the install, just in case they were needed (an extra network drop, and a phone line).
Well, he showed up, and after discussing it with me for a little while, convinced me that we might as well connect their router directly to the ONT (not sure what that stands for, but it's the in-house unit that accepts the fiber line; it outputs phone lines (up to two in the standard model), coax (for TV and/or internet), and ethernet (internet only; usually not used) via coax.
The reason for using coax is that a) the router needs to have that connected, regardless, for MoCa (I'll come back to this), and b) we'd need to run another line to this box for the ethernet anyway (and I'd had trouble feeding my fish through the ceiling to enable this anyway).
We went through the steps to get the fiber into the house (I also didn't want this done the way they probably would have done it normally), and connect up the ONT. When it failed immediately, he did some investigation, and found out that he had the wrong model of ONT. Basically, it wasn't compatible with the neighborhood distribution point unit, since that is a brand-new model (like I said, I signed up immediately, so the equipment is really, really new).
To make matters worse, he didn't have the newer model. He (and his supervisor) made some calls to procure one. Eventually, they succeeded, but it was going to take a little while, and he had earlier told me he had a doctor's appointment to which he had to go. I didn't want to screw him on that appointment, so when he asked if finishing the next day was ok, I said that was fine.
It ended up being a good thing that I did, because when he left, I did some research on that ActionTec router. That's how I found out about that NAT table limitation. I also found out how to get my router to be next to the ONT. All that was needed was to connect to the ONT via ethernet; ok, I now had the time to fish another line over there.
So, when he showed up the next morning with the new ONT (a Motorola 1000, I believe he said), I told him about the need to run the extra line (I'd already done the hard part of pulling it, so I was only adding about five of minutes of work for him). He was a bit skeptical, but didn't see any reason not to do it; so after the ONT was in, we worked on it.
Unfortunately, apparently the provisioning on this ONT was also different, so he (and his supervisor) had to figure out how to do it.
...
Ok, this is getting so long _I'm_ starting to get annoyed. Kudos if you made it this far.
Well, they figured it out (the ethernet part was an additional hassle, figuring out, but they got that, too; apparently, nobody uses that). Eventually, after a tiny bit of stupidity on my part, I got my router to be the entry point again, putting their router behind mine. I'll talk about why their router was still necessary in another post.
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