[Grovenet] Verizon FiOS v. Comcast

Sat Dec 22 22:41:05 PST 2007

Thanks for the info Ed. So it's cheaper! Nice! 

Coaxial cable has a HUGE bandwidth capability. Trouble is, as you may know,
coaxial cable has serious losses at the very high frequencies demanded for
high data bandwidth, which weakens the signals. Bringing it to the outside
of the house sounds like a good compromise. It's unlikely any reasonably
sized home with cable serving several floors would suffer enough loss to
notice at all, and coaxial cable inside avoids the need for a technician
with specialized fiber optic tools to make any changes to your internal
setup. 

Ron D'Eau Claire 

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Ed Davie
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 8:46 PM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Verizon FiOS v. Comcast

Hi Ron,
Yes. They brought it up to the house and it will be connected to an ONT 
(Optical Network Terminal) on the outside of the house. From there it comes 
into the house on either coax or Cat 5 cable. In my case I'll probably use 
the TV cable that already exists. Its right outside my office so it's a very

short run of cable, probably less than 15 feet.
The battery backup is mounted inside.
I don't think you will ever actually get the specified speed and I don't 
expect to.
Too many variables along the way.
My DSL has always been very close to the promised speed so I expect the FiOS

to be comparable.
We'll see.
In any case, it's costing me less than the DSL was so even if it isn't at 
the top it should be a big improvement.
I'll let you know as time goes on. It should be installed Jan 8th. Ed

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <ron at cobi.biz>
To: "'Forest Grove local interests list'" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 8:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Verizon FiOS v. Comcast

> So, they're bringing the fiber into the house? You're having houses
> rewired?
>
>
> That's very rare in homes. All the "fiber optic" service I've seen 
> stops
> at
> the utility box out front and they continue to bring coaxial cable into 
> the
> house. Sometimes the fiber stops at the local offices and it's coaxial 
> line
> from there as always.
>
> Contract terms? Does anyone have a firm speed/service agreement before
> they
> sign? All the systems I've seen so far promise "up to" such-and-such 
> speed,
> which means any speed at all, no matter how slow, meets the vendor's
> contractual requirements and, without an 'up time' agreement it means they
> only have to provide it now and again as they see fit.
>
> Ron D'Eau Claire
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] 
> On Behalf Of Allen Warren
> Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 2:17 PM
> To: Forest Grove local interests list
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Verizon FiOS v. Comcast
>
>
> What concerns me is how fiber-optic service is being currently offered 
> so inexpensively when fiber-optic modules themselves are very 
> expensive.  A fiber-optic network card, for example, is a minimum 2x 
> the cost of it's copper cousin.  And the higher the speed the greater 
> the difference in cost. The fastest network speeds from 
> server-to-server using fiber-optic just hit
> 10Gig.  The cost of that 10Gbe fiber-optic card is almost 4x the cost of
> copper.
>
> Fiber-optic speeds will continue to increase, only limited by how long
> it'll
> take to keep developing the higher speed fiber-optic modules.  But the 
> cost
> clearly exceeds copper.  And I don't see Verizon or Comcast or any other
> provider eating those setup costs forever.
>
> Allen Warren
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: chuck <chuck at grovenet.net>
> To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 10:12:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Verizon FiOS v. Comcast
>
> Hey Mike,
>
> Verizon has been pushing the FIOS on me as well.  I currently have 
> DSL, copper phone lines, and Dish TV.
>
> Dish TV is a whole 'nother story - but since I don't watch a lot, for 
> what we pay for the basic channels - it'll do.  As far as a phone 
> system, I like the fact that I can plug in one of those 'old 
> fashioned' phones, the ones that don't need an electrical outlet, and 
> still have phone service during a power outage.  Like someone else 
> already said, that is not an option with Fiber.  The battery backup is 
> a nice feature
> - but - it's something else to plug into an outlet, and replace from
> time to time.  Of course I know people who live on their cell phone now
> - so phone service may not be an issue either.
>
> I'm a computer nut, and live on the Internet.  DSL works fine for me. 
> My email is plenty fast enough, I can watch Youtube videos just fine, 
> and can usually load up a web page within a second or so.  And I think 
> I am about 1M download speed.  Do I really need 15M Down?  I can't see 
> it
> - yet.  I'm sure as more and more web services come out that require
> extra bandwidth - I may change my mind - but for now - I'm fine.  Even
> in the old shop, when I had Comcast and 4M down, I could still have 6-8
> computers all connected with plenty of bandwidth.
>
> If you don't download a ton of stuff, or are an online gamer, plain 
> ole DSL may be just fine.
>
> Ultimately - it comes down to price.  Definitely find out what your 
> 'real price' is - after all the promotions.  Also ask about contract 
> terms, how long they can lock you in for - etc.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> chuck
>
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