Image courtesy of {a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Actiontec_MI424WR_Rev.D_top_171.jpeg"}wikimedia{/a}.
FiOS is a great service. If you have access to it where you happen to live (and Verizon is getting better as the years go on), do check it out. As one who has had DirecTV for many years in CA, and then Comcast for about 3 years here in MD, it is an elegant solution for phone, internet service and television.
I currently have 25/25Mb service, which I pay $5/mo extra for. A single underground optical cable goes to something called an Optical Network Terminator (ONT) in the basement. From the ONT, an RG6 cable goes to a network router, while a phone line goes from the ONT to give a dial tone. The network router, supplied by VZ has a MoCa built into it to split the network signal (I’ve bridged an Airport Extreme to it as the signal from their supplied router wasn’t so great.) Anyway, a separate RG6 goes to the TVs in the house, to supply the set-top boxes/DVRs supplied by Verizon.
It is the family room that has been the problem. We have a slab foundation, with a second floor on top, the TV against a wall with a sliding glass door. Just impossible to get an ethernet cable wired in or under. I had an HTPC setup that just didn’t work right for streaming video. I tried a phoneline networking device, I tried a wireless bridge (which is what I’m currently using), it just doesn’t work fast or reliably enough. I was resigned to run Cat5e around the outside of the house just like the buried RG6 that got drilled through the wall, and then snake it from the basement to the second floor to where the router is, and procrastinated on that for many months. Well, Verizon last month offered us a great ‘triple play’ package – before taxes, a $99/mo deal on phone, 25/25 internet, and TV with 1y DVR rental thrown in.
(My prior contract-free ‘double play’ at 25/25 and phone ran $105 before taxes, which my employer pays for as I work from a home office when I’m not travelling), so this was like TV for less than free. But MoCa solves a big problem which I have for the HTPC, which is fast 4ms latency 15Mb speed to the family room.
And since theVerizon modem has a MoCa built into it for the router, I only need one MoCa for the family room. It hasn’t arrived yet but should be minimal setup – just PlugNPlay.
Hmm – I should post this….
Hi Dale, I have FiOS as well and I’m very happy with the service except for one week having to do with an inexpertly handled line break at my complex. On the internet side of the package, one tool that I use to test network speed vs. other ways to slow things down is Speakeasy Speed Test (
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ ). FiOS is almost always right on the promised bandwidth.
Hi Brian, you are correct regarding network bandwidth from the external ISP (Internet Service Provider) side to your place, but if you want to measure within the network other methods need to be used (such as an FTP of a large file).
I’ll have to look up how much of the US population is accessible by FiOS service – there are many rural areas where dial-up or funky satellite are the only options.
Love FIOS. Switched from Comcast in January. Cheaper, faster interwebs,…phone that I don’t use….love it.