Verizon FiOS complaint
So far I have loved having Verizon FiOS–it’s screaming fast and really stable. But over the past two days my IP address has changed twice (for a total of three addresses). Normally this isn’t too big of a problem, because it’s only the last set of numbers that changes, but I have seen every set change. The two addresses from the past day haven’t been anything alike.
This means it’s a huge pain for me to work on servers that control FTP authentication by IP. I called Verizon to see what was up (this is the first time I have noticed an IP change, and it happened twice in such a short time) and they had the balls to claim that it’s a feature. Another “feature” is they make the pattern a secret. Like somehow knowing when my IP will change makes the network insecure.
Bah! At least I’m still downloading at 1.3MB a sec (yea that’s bytes not bits).
UPDATE: Here is the FiOS for Business pricing matrix. Not even all business accounts have static IPs. What in the world? They ding business users $40/monthly for the pleasure of having a static IP which makes the business side of my package twice the price.
Wanna hear something really funny? Someone I talked to has Vonage and Verizon’s FiOS and every time they make or get a call, the call drops after about 2-3 minutes. It turns out their IP is changing about once every 5 minutes. Maybe the IP switch is based on uploaded data or the rate of upload. While the devices do register every 20 seconds, when a call is in progress, there isn’t a mechanism set up to handle when the IP changes in the middle of a call. Sure, it’s a feature.
same exact problem here…. static would be nice for like 5.00 more…. but forget static, a dynamic ip that lasted more than 12 hours would be nice 🙁 and saying its a feature is BS. Only other thing i noticed about above post (1.3MB/s should be more around 1.8MB/s)
The speed depends quite a bit on the server, most places start capping.
Isn’t it a bit broken to apply trust relationships to IP addresses? Besides, you can cirumvent all your problems by tunneling your traffic through a server with static IP and use strong authentication methods to gain access to said server from any localtion. Sure FIOS may be a PITA, but that isn’t the real issue here, not is it?
P.S. It’s not like you where expecting to gain access to predefined static IPs while being offsite at a random location with whatever connectivity and there you will have the same problems, unless you fix the real problem behind all this trusted IP stuff.
Zed: You’re right, but for a quick solution (the company had some security problems and needed to tighten the hatches really quickly) it was what happened. I had a static IP with my cable modem… Technically it could have changed, but I don’t think it ever did.
FIOS is great when it works. Mine has been down periodically since I subscribed several months ago. Today it has been out for the past 22 hours and I cannot get an answer from Verizon as to what is wrong or when it may come back online. Phones are OK, but data is out.
My cavalier telephone and DSL has been down now for 6 hours. I looked into verizon fios and then realized the BS with ip addresses constantly changing and no static ip available to residential customers… no way am i going to sign up even if it was free for 6 months.
connect your voip service and the like to the router if your ip changes you will be fine the ip address on your phone will stay the same.your clients ip will stay the same ip adress happens dynamically and no packets should be lost if the ip changes
Dynamic IP’s can be problematic, but you should just get a DDNS provider instead. Using Dynamic DNS, you get a static domain name that never changes. See if your apps can check a domain name instead of an IP, and then it wont matter if your IP changes
You can check out http://www.tzo.com for more details on DDNS
Yeah, I have FIOS here in Tampa, FL and although the speed is good, my IP address changes every 10 to 15 minutes! I have a little program that logs the changes. I counted 4 IP address changes yesterday. I have called Verizon about this 5 or 6 times and they do not seem to be abe to give me a straight answer on this.
That sucks. Unless they fix that mess I am canceling FIOS and going back to DSL or Cable Modem. It wreaks havoc with PC Anywhere sessions.
Sorry, I mistyped above….I meant to say I had at least 40 IP address changes in one day with FIOS! Forget them.
Do not sign up for FIOS just yet until they fix this. Get Cable Modem instead. Just as fast.
Hmm was their any resolution to this? I’ve currently got cox 15/2 mbps and was looking to switch to fios. Am quite satisfied with Cox at the moment, just greedy about the 30/5 fios tier 😀
“Do not sign up for FIOS just yet until they fix this. Get Cable Modem instead. Just as fast.”
– Anonymous
Well. Mine changes every once in a blue moon so I’d say it really depends on your problem. After a number of computer restarts later it changes, never ever changes while my machine is actually on.
Strange eh considering it has little to do with one machine on a network? Well, I figure it is a router issue with fiber. In which case I wish to point out try searching the net – they have a number of docs on how to correct this problem with the D-Link routers.
Regardless, I’m in New York and I very rarely have this problem. I run a number of servers and sure I mind it, but 15 mbps is pretty good so I don’t mind the slight pain to switch the IP address in my afraid.org sub domain. 🙂 Another solution if you are having this problem (just distribute that address and have a program update it everytime the domain switches).
Yeah a slight pain, but where I live – for the service I get with Fios, this is more than worth it.
Well I have good news to all of you FIOS and Vonage customers. At the end of this month Verizon is getting rid of the PPPoE authentication and is moving to DHCP. Hopefully this will help, but being in telecom and knowing Verizon like I do I doubt it.
The reason that I can think of for the rapidly changing IP addresses is to bollocks up P2P and VoIP applications- admittedly a weak reason and a BAD feature. Damn, I’m glad that I’m needing a Static IP- even though I’m having to pay $40 more per month for it and VERY pissed off over the same, not many applications other than Web Surfing will tolerate the IP address changes; they’ll lose track of where you are or in some cases, think that the machine you’re talking to is being DDoSed. Idiots. The bulk of their customers are going to be gamers and the lot and if you think that a hosting machine is going to track your IP change like that in the middle of a Deathmatch or similar, you’re mistaken. There’s going to be a lot of unhappy people over time if they’re doing this.
I guarantee that there going to be a lot of unhappy people and I’m one of those. In my case they also block incoming connections on some ports (e.g. HTTP), so I’m switching back to cable unless thay turn off the filters.
My FIOS keeps my ip’s for about 2 or 3 days because I set my linksys router to redial for pppoe every 30 seconds so I think that is what keeps my ip alive plus I always keep some internet app on so it stays
I recently had FIOS installed. Works great. One problem though, my Vonage service will not come up with FIOS. I have tried every configuration, does not work. Currently my Comcast service is supporting the Vonage while I try to troubleshoot this scenario. I can switch over to Verizon VOIP, but I like my Vonage service and pricing. I don’t like the idea of being forced to switch and under these conditions I am not saving money. i.e. paying for two Internet services. I am sure a solution will present itself.
I use Vonage with FIOS no problem. Make sure you shut down all devices, clear your DHCP allocations and make sure that your Vonage MTAs boot first and grab the first two IP addresses that your router hands out.
https://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=89&category= has an article on what ports might need to be enabled for forwarding on your router but I did not have to do this. I have a Linksys DI624 and it worked straightaway.
I have fios through acedsl (because they used to give me a static ip until verizon pulled the rug out from under them.) Then ace said they’d set up the tunnel to static ip for me, and never did.
Anybody know of a company that offers this service? I wouldn’t mind connecting to a vpn to get my static ip, but I don’t know where to go, and ace promised, but never came through.
A dynamic IP is actually very good for security. I once wanted a static ip but now i see it’s much better to have an IP you can change by disconnecting and reconnecting again. FreeDNS and services like that make it unnecessary to have a static ip. However the ip should not change while you are connected. That can cause problems and I would see it as a defect in the service… I pretty happy with my Verizon DSL. 3000/768.
I had cable but then moved so when I called up comcast(Time Warner) they actually told me to get verizon because the didn’t servic my new area. So meow I have Fios which is so much better. 15063 kb+ sec download and 1812+ kb+ upload.
Also my ip has not change since i’ve gotten it. I would love to be able to change my ip though. Anyone know how, that’d be great?
My verizon fios is horrible. It goes out more than my satellite. And I at least had some sort of customer service with dish. Verizon reps are complete morons. Says alot about the company. Anyone else think there commercials are gay?
I’ve had FIOS out here in the Vertura, Ca area since August 2006. It’s been absolutely perfect, 100% uptime and the ip changes only every week or so.
I access everything through domain names instead of ip addresses so FTP stuff for me is no problem…although I realize what I’m doing is very simple.
BTW my download speeds are 15450kbps. Upload 1796kbps. Someone mentioned Cable was just as fast? Not a chance.
BTW – forgot to mention I’m in a brand new home so perhaps our network is so reliable because of all new ‘stuff.’
I have had FIOS for three months and am happy with the service but the billing charges have doubled on the 3rd month’s bill and I can never get through to a live customer service person who can explain why. Their customer service sucks!!!!!!!
I’ve had fios for a while now. All of sudden I can’t upload to my discountasp.net ftp server and it’s been touch and go with the connection. It’s ended up being flakier than with Time Warner (Comcast) which is suprising. I did have great help from their support though and the FIOS quality on speed/Tv/HD is still worth it. I just can’t shake the feeling i’m always busy fighting with the technology instead of it helping me. very frustrating.
First I have to admit that Basic Fios network system is faster then regular cable services and the fastest service as a basic residential broadband service available (cable can be just as fast if you are willing to pay the extra charges) although Verizon marketing practice, Verizon public relations, and Verizon customer support are just incredibly incompetent and probably will be a reason for people to proffer other broadband internet services.
First of all Verizon Fios does not make available for the so call “residential accounts†“static IPâ€( a necessity in order to access your computer with programs as “MS Remote Desktopâ€, “MS Phone Dialer†which are standard programs in windows XP, and many other network IP dependent applications, Blocks “port 80†(a necessary in order to host your own web site which is a standard feature in windows XP Professional) and “port 25†(a necessary for SMTP sending mail directly to recipient), that are about $39/month, think that other broadband internet services are supplying without extra charges as cable etc. when you ask for a static IP from Verizon Fios they try to tell you that dynamic IP and port blocking is a feature (A feature? No thanks) and when you insist that you have to have a static IP etc. for your need suddenly in order to get rid of the unwanted “FEATURE†you have to have a business account for $100/month. Why do not say a full basic package is $100/month (obviously no one will go for it when you can get cable for about half the price) to my opinion Verizon Fios marketing practice maybe the future reason for crumbling empire!
Verizon public relations, and Verizon customer support to my opinion are no more then trained Monkeys in order to insult the average person intelligent most of the time that I talked to them the person had no clue what he/she was talking about. looks that he/she was reading some pre edited text and when the monkeys realize what they are they refer me to there boss which are not much better.
For the basic internet user the different between cable and fios is not that big, most sites will appear ½ to 2 seconds slower in cable verses Fios, if that is a problem then get a life, the greater and the big different is when you downloading large data and especially when uploading massive amounts of data the Fios is doing the job much better
My advise is if you want to stay out of trouble and respect your self stay away from Verizon Fios and advise other to do so (do not agree to be moneyed around)
Hi,
I have COMWAVE voip service. Normally you just plug the voip unit in and gets an IP address and you are good to go. Every cable provider that I have tried in the last 2 years has works flawlessly, except verizon. Verizon will not let my Comwave voip box (Dlink) work. Tried the voip box in NJ & NY on the verizon network – no go. Call verizon and they claim that they do not block any ports. Anyone have success using Comwave voip on Verizon? By the way Optimum online upload speed was faster than fios upload speed.
Well first off you have to access your router… http://192.168.1.1 or if you have changed it then use that ip. The user is admin and the pw is password1 UNLESS YOUV’E CHANGED IT… read below.
Well Maybe Because Fios is using DCHP… you can manually assign an ip address, like for example say that your ip address is now 72.77.248.63, and that is configured in DCHP you would select under your router the task bar icon named “My Network”… and on the left side of the screen in the menu select network connections… this is a loophole, while using DCHP is much more safer, because you don’t get tracked by people etc, your ip is always changing… you’ll see a list with a bunch of things on it… select: Broadband Connection (Coax) go down to the bottom and click settings… then where it says “Internet Protocol” select in the drop down Use the following ip address… and before you ddo this go back and look at the numbers assigned by DCHP… look at ur ip, write that down, look at ur subnet mask, and look at your Default Gateway &DNS Server. WRITE THEM ALL DOWN!!! And fill in the necesarry items on the thing press settings and under use the following ip… write in those numbers and select apply all done!!!! This is done on an actiontec router… If these directions are confusing, then E-Mail me because im all over the place I can walk you through it… step by step, heres my email Flamingarrow04@aol.com
Thanks and good luck
I’ve had Fios for a couple of years now. The router on the Ethernet they hand you is PPPOE where I am and every time your router reboots you get a new connection (i.e. new IP address). The solution is to use a free DNS service like zoneedit.com or dyndns.org and then the router (with the right firmware) can update your DNS records for you with the new IP address you were just assigned. I hate it, I’d really like to have a static IP too. but it is what it is. The upload at @Mb/s is much better than cable and with that bandwidth you could run an enterprise web site and mail server which is exactly why they won’t give you static unless you buy a commercial package. Verizon also has some odd policies in their e-mail rules, like you can’t have a plus sign “+” in an address to forward your inbox to. Why do they make up these arbitrary rules. Also, stay away from the Fios TV product. The Motorola DVR is crap and the picture on Standard Def is crap. HD is perfect however. I suspect that they have a lot of garbage in the SD pictures they get at their head end and that garbage is delivered to your set perfectly over the fiber no doubt. Their customer service is worthless on the Fios TV side too. The network side is better. They are a phone company, not a cable company yet.
I just found out that Verizon Fios blocks incoming traffic to residential customers. I never had this problem with any other service provider, I’m not going to run a server I just need to share some files. In order to remove this block I have to go to business Fios that will bring my monthly bill up $114.00 a month. Yes I love the download speed but thats not worth all incoming ports being blocked. I would not recommend Fios to anyone that will use there internet for more that just surfing.
correction to my comment they don’t block port 3389, I’m still not happy but will get by.
that really suck , i was thinking of getting FIos
There are things people need to know about Fios and verizon. If you use any phone service such as Vonage you will receive terrible customer service. When you call them, the first thing they ask you is for your phone number. If you do not have a verizon phone then you will likely get shuffled around from rep to rep and put on endless hold. Also they give you the speed but don’t want you to actually use the bandwidth, they traffic shape and will cut you off if they detect torrent traffic, even if it’s legitimate. Over a year ago they mis-billed my account; after they caught the mistake my service was restored. (After hours and hours of getting shuffled around and getting disconnected) Then two weeks ago I woke up to check my email and found the service was off again. After several hours on the phone, I finally get told that the billing error had resurfaced; it would most likely take a month for fraud services to resolve the issue. No apologies for the mistake or the terrible service. I had to sign up for RR just to get service back and my home phone working again.
I actually have had the same ip for about 2 weeks since my install of fios. So i jsut made a dns fowarder on my web server so i can use say x.mywebsite.com as my link to my computer. But I haven’t had any ip changes so far. I LIKE 🙂
Had residential 15/2 service for 6 months (day 2 after it became available here – everything actually great) and then I decided to run a server part time. Since incoming port 80 is blocked on residential, I needed to switch to a business account (also to remain within their TOS). Anyway, been somewhat of a pain to get this all working. At first told all ports would be unblocked with a buiness dynamic IP (which was nice for me since I only needed the server up now and then and the IP was no real concern *only was changed twice in those 6 months anyway* – plus a small cost increase, I was happy). Ordered that – one day switch over and that went smooth, but soon realized that port 80 (and others) were still blocked. Called, was told I needed a static IP for all ports unblocked. umm ok, new news to me – so on this call within 24 hours of the dynamic IP order, a change to business static w/ 5 IPs package was placed. After 3 weeks, numerous calls and 4, yes 4 reorders and many, many more calls – because everything got messed up with their tracking, lost account info, order, etc…(longer story) – finally got it sorted. Service was up and down for this time period. Just got everything 95% going on the 29th. Tech guys were great in helping but when trying to setup other machines on the different static IPs, they had no other numbers and were puzzled and said to call customer support to have them work out the problem. Come to find out today when I called about some compensation for down time & the other IP addresses, they say only 1 static IP issued now!?! “it was changed some time ago” I was told (could provide no date when I asked) and will cost extra if I want more then 1 IP. Sooooo many conflicting reports from customer service and tech support and I still do not know what to believe except the fact I still only have 1 static address and paying alot more. BTW, the downtime issue they could not resolve yet because of this new account so early Communication between their agents and/or technical personal is surly lacking. Some tell you one thing and others tell you something else. And I let them know that in a nice way. Since I got a direct local number to tech support in my area last week, I am happy enough. Wait times minimal and nice techs – hopefully will not have to call again anyway! . But for business customer support I have had the run around (passing the buck), disconnects and hold times and as long as 65 minutes before giving up at times. Despite everything, for what *I* want to do, it is fine in the end. The bottom line, if you just browse the net and download/upload (alot), stick with residential service, it was great for me – nice price for the speed… anything more you want to do and stay within their TOS, good luck and be prepared. Oh, if you have not got FiOS yet, and just planning on data service, insist they instal cat5 and not coax… you’ll thank me later.
Can anyone tell me how to host an exchange and web server on the FIOS residential service? I currently have FIOS business w/ a static IP, and I have to say, the service has been exceptional. However, knowing a little bit about DDNS, I was wondering if I could continue to host my exchange and web server on the residential FIOS service. Ultimately, I’m trying to consolidate my phone, TV and internet onto 1 bill without giving up the functionality of hosting my mail and web services. And as many people have commented, paying 60.00 a month more for a static address is somewhat costly. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I just had my Fios service installed today and I am thrilled. You can used a dynamic DNS service to keep track of the IP address changes by Verizon. To do so you need to change some settings in your router to update a dynamic dns service. The router did not specify which service to use so I thought I would start and try them, I started with DynDNS.com where I created a record. I inputted my login information and the host address I had chosen at DynDNS.com and then hit submit, amazingly my Actiontec router automatically updated my record on the DynDNS servers without issue. Pretty slick and easy, definitely better than paying an additional $60/month for static IP’s. Good luck.
BTW, I have noticed port 80 inbound is blocked upstream from my router. I changed my server to work on port 8300, created the rule in the Actiontec router to pass traffic on this port to a specific PC and I was in business.
I am a Verizon user. I also use Digiportal’s Choicemail filter. Whenever I am away from home for more than a couple of days, when I return and first check my email, Choicemail’s challenge messages get my outgoing smtp service blocked because Verizon flags me as a spammer. This has happened twice–11/18 and 11/26 (today). I have called several times to Verizon. Each time the person who answers the phone refuses to forward me to a 2nd-tier person. Further, each time the person who answers says there is nothing that can be done about this.
FYI I am forced to use Verizon’s smtp server because I use FIOS and Verizon won’t let me use the smtp server of the company that provides my pop service.
This is an example of Verizon killing a great product for an idiotic reason. I’m trying to fight spam too! But according to Verizon I either must allow myself to be flooded with spam–or switch back to cable.
I live in New Jersey. I’ve have Verizon fios since Sept. 2006. No problems until last week (Nov. 29, 2007).
I cannot connect to my vpn at my job anymore. A co-worker of mine also has verizon fios in new jersey and has the same problem. What’s going on? Verizon says they can’t help because they say it’s outside of their network.
My network administrator at work said he didn’t see us in his fire wall since that date. Other co-workers from NY can connect no problem. Don’t know if they have Verizon fios or not.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I’d like to share a compliant I have with Verizon FIOS TV service. I ordered Verizon FIOS online, which was a seemingly easy process, and scheduled a date/time for the technician to come out. That date is today and the time slot I was provided was 1-5pm. Of course, I had to take the afternoon off from work to meet the technician. It is now 5:40pm and the technician still has not arrived, nor have I received any phone call letting me know where the technician. I am very dissatistifed with this service and have not even had it installed it yet! This is truly a terrible first impression and I am debating even having Verizon return to my home and install the service at all. It is unbelieveable to me that in this day, Verizon has forgotten about their customer service.
Yesterday I ordered that bundle special they are promoting: Fios TV and internet, phone with unlimited calling, (except international), free router, choice of 19″ HDTV or $200.00 Best Buy gift card. My monthly bill will be less than I am paying now for standard cable TV(no premiums), and Comcast high speed internet, and Verizon phone service. After reading all these posts about the problems, I’m thinking I should cancel it asap and stick with what I have now.
I have no idea what static IP and dynamic IP is (I’ll check this out as soon as I am done this post), but you all seem to know a lot, and if the problems caused mean that being on the internet is going to be constantly interrupted and I have to reset things, I will cancel my order. I don’t know enough about this stuff to understand what happens when frequent changing IP addresses occur. Does that cause you to loose your internet connection? How will effect my being online? Thanks for any answers.
forget about fios and there fraudulent “fastest internet service” advertisements… there fastest offering is 30/5 the same as I get with cable… but with cable, when i subscirbe to the 30/5 i AM allowed to host a website, and am given free web hosting (in case i dont want to host from my PC) and free domain name registration. all for less $ then fios..
I received an offer from Verizon
stating that I could get my internet, phone and TV service for $94.99 a month for two years, along with a FREE 19inch LCD HDTV if I signed up by 2/16/08
I called three different numbers and talked with service Reps that didn’t have a clue about the offer that I was reading to them.
One even doubted my statement and ask me to fax it to him because he didn’t believe me. Of course they all had other deals for me for More money per month and NO TV.
This is clearly a bait and switch tactic, or incompetence , I suspect both.
John Eland
Central Florida 01/22/08
Verizon Fios has been more of a pain in the but then it was to save 10 dollars a month. After sitting on the phone on hold for nearly 4 hours today I have to say I a just a bit frustrated and dissapointed in Verizons customer service. The DVR box does not work and I have called 6 or 7 times now and all they have done is reset it. Which did not solve the problem . After speaking with friends seems verizon has some bugs to work out. The dvr box turns itself off when it choses weather you are watching something or not and it also will not record. Can we say severely dissapointed in what is supposed to be state of the art.
the Router quit on my internet – Verizon Fios – 6 hours talking to Mexico, California NY PA – i livein NJ – no one could giv eme the nj office. listened to lots of music waiting 25 minutes – finally told me they are mailing me a router and will talk me through it while i connect it myself – some service. they lost he order finally sent me a technician – he was great to install it. they are so top heavy with escalations presidents office sustomer service, and all these people who give you no information whatsoever – disconnect you and it was anightmare. thank god for the tech. Am writing to corporate to stop saving money on the customers back by not sending techs out to fix their equipment – a nightmare -.
god help you if you need service . I was banging the desk after 6 hours of phone craziness. And I’m usually very calm and very nice. Drove me to distraction. Am writing to corporate calling it RISING CHAOS, nstead of Verizon Fios. Anyone else out there experience this nightmare?
I look at all these comments and laugh. When is the consumer going to realize that with Internet service its not the SPEED or the COST that matters, its the RELIABILITY.
Bah! At least I’m still downloading at 1.3MB a sec
What is this guy a sheep? noob
“forget about fios and there fraudulent “fastest internet service†advertisements… there fastest offering is 30/5 the same as I get with cable… but with cable, when i subscirbe to the 30/5 i AM allowed to host a website, and am given free web hosting (in case i dont want to host from my PC) and free domain name registration. all for less $ then fios..””
WRONG… FIOS offers what I am using now and that is 50/15. I had the 30/5 cable before and it almost NEVER saw those speeds. Cable is so unreliable it is a godsend that FIOS came out!
Cable fanbois will always be around, but comcast may not LOL
FIOS has been wonderful for us here in Dallas, TX. Phone, TV, Internet. Not a single problem with any of them. We’ve had it for about 14 months now.
Cable? Comcast & Time-Warner are completely useless. FIOS speeds are *twice* that of cable, and let’s not even get started on the totally pathetic upload speeds of cable. (512kbps? come ON..)
FIOS = beautiful!
Verizon Fios has worse custome services than Comcast, their support staff are a buch of idots, they can not even find account numbers if you read it to them off your bill. I will be canceling my service with them even though it was good.
I was on the phone with verizon for hours, spoke to 15 different people, because as they would transfer me they would drop my calls. IDOTS, all around there. I did speak to one person who was able to run the test on my account, but their billing department changed my account number randomly so they did not update the PMTs. Why would a company randomly change an account number. We pay everything electronically and it goes out at the same time every month. They SUCK, SUCK SUCK. God forbid if you ever have a problem
We have FIOS and long distance and cell phone through verizon. Since getting this FIOS often when we make home phone calls our phone will suddenly either go to dead air or a busy signal… right in the middle of our call! Our internet goes down at the same time. Unplugging my phone and removing the battery does nothing to bring back a normal phone tone (still get dead air or busy signal). We play around with shutting off our Verizon box and such too. Never know what will bring the internet and phone back to normal and sometimes we are without both for hours. To make matters worse, cell phone reception in and around our home (and my work place) is very poor. So if we had an emergency at the time our home phone and computer go down, we’d be SOL. When we call Verizon to get help, we are on the phone for the longest time, sometimes hours. They basically tell us our phone system (which is a very good system) interfers with our verizon set up. It never did before when we were with Verizon but didn’t have FIOS. So I assume it is more likely a FIOS problem. We are moving next month. We will NOT be going with Verizon.
Overall FIOS sucks… certain features are nice but the penalties & drawbacks are starting to outweigh the advantages for me.
I signed up months ago & am still being overcharged & waiting for credits to post for installation & activation. Also, taxes & fees appear to be much higher than with my old satellite TV. Internet speed is great for file downloads, but other types of surfing don’t appear to be any quicker.
Also my HD-DVR is dying (hard drive) and I have to wait at home for them to send a tech out to fix it. Dish always just sent me a new one. Nice… overall, it’s been 10x the headache of my old DSL & Satellite TV. The operators are nice, but nothing ever gets fixed. You’ve been warned!
someone clarify this for me. if i switch to fios, will i be able to run my ftp server? ports are already set in my linksys router. (port forwarding, etc…)
if not, is there any way around this? i need to run my ftp server. i also use irc. i like to dcc send/receive through irc. will i also be able to do this? i also use no-ip so i don’t care how many times the ip address changes, as long as it does when i manuaully disconnect/reconnect.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED WITH CABLE. BUT NO, YOU’RE ONE OF THESE WHINEY PUNKS WHO WANTS SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. CRYING FOR CREDIT BECAUSE YOU WERE INCONVIENCED. STAY WITH CABLE, CONTINUED TO BE OVER CHARGED FOR SUB STANDARD SERVICE. OTHER THAN THAT, GET OVER YOURSELF. I SEE WHY YOU DONT HAVE A SPOUSE, YOU CAN STAND BE WITH YOURSELF, I CAN SEE WHY NO ONE WANTS TO DEAL WITH YOU. IF I WAS VERIZON, I WOULD DISCONNECT YOUR SERVICE, WAIVE THE EARLY TERMINATION FEES AND REFUSE YOU SERVICE.
greg washington ur an asshole
Its nice that some of you just call the service reps at Verizon idiots. You dont think we are just as frustrated as you? We are managed by people getting commission on what we sell, so getting constant pressure even when customers are clearly not looking to buy.. and then we are somehow supposed to know all the answers when most of us havent even been fully trained. The free TV promo was a mistake from day one, was never fully thought out and the marketing team used one vendor to fulfill the hundreds of thousands of requests. That vendor failed miserably. Now the company took any power of adjustment away from the reps so we CANT take care of people like we would want to or like we used to be able to. To make matters worse, the company hired a plethora of outside vendors who know even less about the product, prices AND who are the biggest slimeballs that say anything to get a sale. The ordering/billing systems are horrendous which just compounds all the problems, but the company big wigs still blame the service reps for everything..just like many of you. WE do feel your pain, maybe you could all remember that the reps are there to help, but often enough are feeling pretty helpless and have little to no support. FiOS is a GREAT product, but its unfortunate that the higher level managers and directors can’t get their heads out of their asses long enough to see the big picture.
Well if you all are looking to set up a webserver, there are work arounds, just use google.
Hints:
* Apache
* http://www.dyndns.org
* forward incoming http request to server through router
I called Verizon FIOS to order phone, internet, and cable prior to my move in. My Consumer Order Summary was dated 3-28-08, and the scheduled installation date was 4-7-08. I reviewed the e-mail and all looked well. I move into my new house and install date comes. They setup an 8 AM-noon window. I already had the Optical Network Terminal unit (ONT) in my house, so I figured this would be cake for them. I am a Sys Admin at an ISP, so the internet stuff I could do myself with ease.
On install day, no one showed, no one called. I had my mobile with me at ALL times. So around 1:30 PM I called Verizon to see what was going on. If something came up, I had a week off to move in and if they needed to come by in a day or two, I was totally cool with that. After about an hour on hold I got in touch with a “state level†dispatcher. That said that there were “no facilities available for my order†and I was called. Nope, I wasn’t called; they did have my cell (which I had with me all of the time) in their records. I wanted them to come out later in the week if possible since I was home. They said that their next available time for me was 4-12-08, which was a day where I was going to a wedding. The next available time after that was at the end of the month, on a work day for me.
Basically because they did not show up, or even notify me with a reason, they put me at the back of the line. I was trying to escalate my request and the support only gave me unreasonable dates and that “no facilities available for my order†BS. I later wanted to get my copper line put back so I could at least get phone service, and after a long wait in hold they gave me the end of the month as a date. Basically I was being run around in circles and being shoved to the end of the line because Verizon screwed up my installation.
The same day, I called a local cable company who installed my phone, internet, and cable the next day. They showed up on time and did the normal pre and post appointment verification. I unplugged the ONT in my house and let the battery go out. Verizon gave me such a lousy customer experience I swore I would never do business with them, and be sure to let other people know about their awful customer service and commitments they setup and do not honor. My money is going to a competitor, and Verizon won’t see if because they have abysmal customer service. I am certainly interested in fiber optic lines connected to my house, but so long as Verizon is the only provider, I will happily do without.
James
Herndon, VA
I faced the same problem like James Herdon, VA,, the customer service and the Installation of verizon really sucks. They charged me for the days where i havent got my connection, i was scheduled for 2nd but they turned up to give connection on 10th, but verizon bill came on 15th for the charges that included from 2nd, this really sucks, I called verizon custmer service ( works in the business hours) and it took atleast 30 mins to reach the correct region and the response is also very bad.,
I am having Vonage connection and when ever i get a call my internet goes down, this is really wiered, im looking out in the internet to find out there is any way to solve this.
VJ Raghav, NJ
Verizon Bundle – Fios Tampa Florida Internet/Tv/Phone $109.00 p/mo includes free 19″ Sharp LCD TV
Installation the first week of
January 2008
1) Installation:
Installation went wihout a hitch, the box installed outside and inside the house for the internet and tv was fine unfortunately there would be a $70.00 charge to install a phone jack because there was none in the house. Today (May 19, 2008) I still have no telephone. The fios cable was run across my neighbors dirt driveway, out to the street, down the dirt sidewalk the length of the house then across the street to their junction box. the cable is under 1″ to 2″ of dirt, exposed in some areas and when my neighbor drives over the cable I get interference on my internet connection, slow speeds or disconnect. Complaints were to no avail.
2) Setup:
Setup went fine as long as the installer was there. He hooked up my Toshiba notebook computer to the internet and exchanged volumes of information with Verizon which he needed to do to complete the installation and changed my Internet Explorer setup, homepage and preferences which by the time I realized what he was doing it was too late to stop. After he left, the first welcome I got from Verizon Online was the offer for the free antivirus/spam/spyware software recommended by them to protect me online. Halfway through the installation procces I got the ‘blue screen’ of death something I had not seen since my old 286 pc. After spending $120.00 and installing the new hard drive myself I asked Verizon to reimburse me for it to no avail. Nevermind the thousands of pictures and documents and information (2 years worth) stored on the old hard drive now sitting in a box.
3) Customer Service:
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4) Billing:
The offer I responded to and the offer I am being billed for are two totally different animals. Original offer was for the whole bundle, tv/internet/phone for $109.00 p/mo and the billing is for $163.00 p/mo. Even if tax was added it is still a far cry from $163.00 p/mo.
5) Free Sharp 19″ LCD TV.
You knew this was coming. After waiting the 6 to 10 weeks like an idiot I tried to call customer service (see #3) anyway after a few weeks of calling I got a call center rep to promise to put my order in as a new installation again to generate the form letters welcoming me as a new customer and then eventually generating a new letter with the application to file online for my free tv as originally promised in the first promise. (note: lots of promises here)
Today is May 19 2008, four and one half months after installation, I got the letter directing me to go online and register for my free tv which should arrive in 6 to 10 weeks. I got a call today from a Verizon rep asking me how my service was. After a one sided exchange of a few choice words about how I felt about Verizon and the reasons I felt she was making this call only because the government was making them do it and that I had as much confidence in what she was doing as I get when I hear the words, ‘the check is in the mail’ I’m from the govenrment and I’m here to help’ and ‘I won’t cum in your mouth’, I hung up.
Sorry for the vulgarity but now you know why they do not give out the address of the call centers for these corporations and another reason why a lot of them are moving to India and the Phillipines. I really don’t give a flying f*ck about Verizon and think the government should shut them down. At the minimum Verizon should have a managerial enima and flush their system out.
Sincerely,
John D Malcolm
Tampa Florida
We got FiOS TV, Internet and phone service on the 23rd. The service has been great to be honest. The TV image quality is clear and has no artifacts except for a half a second of large pixelation when you change the channel. All of the VOD channels are in one spot, just click the star on your remote. Comparing it to digital cable via Time Warner is negligible to be honest. The image quality is virtually the same when it comes to premium channels and certain other channels, but hands down FiOS TV is exceptional on every channel. I also have to mention that on demand channels are accessed VERY quickly. With TWC VOD programs can take up to two minutes or more to be accessed; needless to say it was unreliable. On certain days/times of day VOD programming could not be accessed. It was also inconvenient that every VOD programming was on different channels.
FiOS internet is very fast. Currently I’m getting 20875 kb/s down and 4597 kb/s up [speakeasy.net]. When I had Earthlink via TWC I was getting 9959 kb/s down and 491 kb/s up [+/- 100-200 on the download, +/- 10-50 on the upload]. Checking my modem status page, my modem has been up and running for 44hrs, 56mins. During that time my IP has not changed. I would notice it since my Internet Security Suite prompts me to configure for public/private access every time a new IP is assigned. I felt I should say something about that since people seem to be having problems with the dynamic IP.
As for the phone service, well… it works, so good enough.
I have Verizon Fios now for little over month. Initially my vonage was working ok. I have 10/2 speed with Fios. Slowly i started to notice the other party on the vonage phone hear choppy voice. After buch of calls with vonage, we figure that our internet FIOS is having terrible QoS and Jitter delays. I test these thing using the tool from http://www.voipreview.org. I have now ticket open with verizon for more than 1 week, no status yet. They said, my ticket is esculated to their network support team (offline). My previous provider was Comcast, I had no issues with them using Vanage.
My firm is investigating certain illegal practices by Verizon involving their Verizon FiOS and Triple Play products. Specifically, we are investigating the improper early termination fees included in the contracts. If you are a California resident who has been charged an early termination fee to get out of your Verizon FiOS or Triple Play contracts, please contact Devon to discuss it at 562-216-7382.
Am having Verizon Fios installed on the 17th of Sept…wish me luck! I plan on hovering over the top of the installer like stink on…wel you know what I mean!
I have tried to reach the billing department re: fios internet service. I am still on hold and have been for 44:31. This is absolutely absurd. If business is that good more employees should be hired.
I have so many grips about verizon I don’t know where to start. First off let me say that FIOS tv and internet are awesome.. and that’s where it ends. After 6 months of having Verizon, I have yet to get a bill correct, or a problem that they say they will fix to actually be fixed. Add to it they have removed channels I used to have and now tell me I need to upgrade packages and pay more to have what I used to have. How is that part of a 1 year contract? F them and F their contract. At this point I”m about ready to just quit paying the bill and let them fight me through collections, and go back to comcast, even with thier subpar internet and HDTV.
I plan on bringing action against Verizon for breach of contract and misrepresentation. 1 hr 45 mins for them to tell me the pay per view channel I wanted had technical problems and was not available. Unbelievable.
I was planing on getting Verizon FIOS this month because lately I am not very happy with the bandwidth and reliability of TimeWarer Low (I mean High) Speed Internet. After reading majority of the comments on Verizon and FIOS service, I am going to stick to my cable for now though they seem to have oversubscribed on my area and refusing to address the bandwidth issue. FIOS is fast because off the technology, however it is pretty clear that verizon seem to have some bonehead policies in place for numerous things that are important to me like constantly changing IP (yeah, you can get use dyndns,zoneedit etc which is not an option to me), blocking inbound ports including 80, 25 and outbound 25 etc.
Wow thats all surprising. I have Verizon FIOS and I live in NY ive been trying to switch my IP but have had the same one since the guys installed it.
I just had FiOS internet and phone service installed yesterday, although I still have my Optimum Online service while I try the FiOS.
What really gets my goat is that they have touted for months that their FiOS is 10x FASTER than cable with download speeds of 10mbps. 1)I’ve asked 2 different reps BEFORE I decided to get the service and wanted them to clarify if that was Mega BITS or Mega BYTES – BIG difference! – they said Mega BYTES. I even asked the installation tech and he said the same thing – WRONG!!!!!!!! It’s 10 Mega BITS per second which works out to 1.25 Mega BYTES of download speed while my Cable is anywhere from 1.8 to 2 Mega BYTES per second.
What does that mean?? FiOS is SLOWER and a SHAM.
So, how do you get 10x faster from all of that? Even IF you were to pay the huge sum of money per month for their 50 MEGA BITS per second speed – which works out to 6.25 Mega Bytes per second that is only 3x faster than the slowest cable speed.
You must divide the speed by 8 to get the MegaBytesPerSecond speed.
FiOS, You are a SHAM!!!
Actually, MegaBITS is correct for data transfer. MegaBYTES is used for data STORAGE.
“Generally – Bits are used to talk about data transfer rates (1 kilobit = 1000 bits), while bytes are used to talk about storage size calculations (1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes). So when your Internet provider offers you a 1Mb connection, it’s MegaBits not MegaBytes. So for a rough guide of how MUCH you can download, divide by eight. i.e. 1Mb speed = 128KB of data.”
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_megabytes_and_megabits
So far, I am happy with my Fios connection. Even is I pay the same as for the cable provider I left, the quality is ten times better. Yeah, i am new to this, but I do not expect the price to be much more than quoted. My only complaint to date is that I received no paperwork for the price and installation etc. But so far what I was told has been right spot on.
Someone ELSE is shamming you…
Gabe (a network engineer NOT affiliated with Verizon)
So I got a letter in the mail saying that FIOS was available in my area. I called tech support @ 1-888-573-5570 for simple questions about having a static IP and if they blocked port 80. They answered after being on hold for 38:12 but I was able to google it by then.
Residential Service:
20/5 for $54.95 with phone
Business Service: (static and opened port 80)
20/5 for $114.95 w/out phone
The rep said it was about $15 more a month which is crap and if I did have a real technical issue I doubt he would have been able to address it. Speeds are kewl with FIOS but my TW cable has been extremely stable for 8 years now… it has stood the test of time and FIOS was just put up 6 months ago. Sucks being stuck @ 10/2 but it doesn’t seem worth the risk for a 1 year commitment with tech support a 40 minute call away. Oh yeah, this message board helped make my decision a little easier too.
It’s been absolutely mind-boggling to read through this thread: I have experienced so many issues that others described almost verbatim! – And, like many said, the service is great (speed; reliability) and the customer service is the worst I have seen *ever*. Especially connecting to a rep that can pull up your account and then help you in a professional fashion: They have some *very serious* issues internally with they’re systems being faulty, and this is what *really* pisses me off:
I took the time to wait for up to an hour to talk to a manager/supervisor, and kept going through the very issues I was calling about: They are unable to pull up my account, even though I have been using FiOS for over two years now!…………..when I finally talk to the supervisor, he admits that there is a serious problem on their end, and promises to handle it personally and call me back the following day between 1-2 my time. I felt GREAT, finally someone with integrity……..but of course he never called!
Since this seems to be the place to vent: Yeah, they really have a problem with customer support. During wait times up to half an hour and more they play tapes advertizing their *caring* for the customers, which is all “plastic” bullshit!
Well, it felt good to vent and to hear that there are alternatives. The reason I haven’t switched providers is the speed and reliability.
Customer service is one of the largest factors in choosing a phone system provider. There is absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t be able to get in touch with a supervisor especially when there are so many other companies out there that provide this level of service to ensure your business needs are being met. I’d recommend you people shop around. Some good sites to help your search are http://www.voipservice.com or http://www.nextadvisor.com.
Verizon FOIS is billing for vonage calls. Incredible! How can cna they hijack Vonage calls and bill for it?
Verizon has not provided service contracted for, stated that mybundled fios services were not available once I put my service on vacation, and terminated 21 premium channels unalaterly without explaination or price reduction. This is going to loose them at least this customer.
we installed fios in aug 10 and have been getting crazy billing amounts. it is total bullshit. when u call customer service, they have no clue and keep saying pay the bill and it will be adjusted in the next statement. well as for credit, forget about it. they keep increasing the bill. it is a total rip off. talked to customer service 6 times already and they still give the same bullshit.
do not get verizon fios… it will be the biggest mistake.
Verizon FIOS’ customer service is horrible….I was just on the phone with them for the last 40 minutes transferred 5 times to have them hang up on me. Other 800#s “non-working number”, live chat “temporarily unavailable” and the online service advises me to contact the 800#. I STRONGLY dislike Verizon Fios, I usually don’t care and have patience as long as problems are resolved but nothing. I’d like to go on and on to vent my frustration and sway potential customers away…but I believe the above posts justify the shadiness of Verizon FIOS. NEW CUSTOMERS BEWARE!! Stick with whoever you had I strongly believe that they have a much better customer service resolution process.
verizon fios broadband and the cable and satellite provider packages. Would anyone out there feel that traditional cable could potentially be better than Verizon Fios internet? I definilty appears that there is no real comparison between the choices when looking at the direct network speed and funcationality of the setop box for managing your veiwing experience.
My story
I had Fios but needed Static IP – so I had to get business account for home – paid for the top of the line which was 50_20mbps for $259.99 month. Now they are offering pricing of 50_20 without static for $139 and a new 150_35 for $199.99. But you call the Verizon numbers – hold and transfer for 30-45 minutes, get cut off, call back, get operators who say “we do not offer that service…” (you direct them to their own website…). In the end the generally do not offer the service in your neighborhood or they cut you off while switching you to the correct department.
If they could just get out of their own way. I write this as I am on minute 17 of holding again for an operator who said “just a moment…”
Can you hear me now?
The horrible customer service and all the hours I have spent trying to contact anyone at Verizon who can actually get problems solved, after they deleted my FIOS BUSINESS account, is almost more than I can bear.
After more than 30 hours on the phone, so far, and probably 20+ people I have spoken to over several days all to no avail, things are more screwed up than ever.
Last Wednesday I wanted to upgrade my Business FIOS speed from 20/5 to 35/35 MBit service, and wanted to add a phone line, so I contacted Verizon Sales. After hours on the phone with the sales department, the next day I woke up and they had disconnected my service. Instead of upgrading my speed, which they do at the ISP, they had totally disconnected our BUSINESS FIOS Service.
I had an appointment to get the phone service installed on Monday, and in the process of getting the IP Addresses back, they deleted my appointment. After hours of trying to get it re-instated, support assured me that it had not been deleted, and that it was scheduled from 9:00AM – 5:00PM for Monday. On Sunday they sent me three different emails wanting me to confirm another appointment instead of Monday, for Wednesday.
I am in my sixties, which means that I have dealt with lots and lots of companies during my lifetime, I am not just starting out in business, and without a doubt dealing with Verizon Customer Service after all the myriad of screwups, everything that they touch is an absolute disaster, they are the WORST company I have ever dealt with, bar none!
On Thursday, after approximately 14 hours on the phone trying to get the service turned back on, they finally restored our service, but they could not restore the 5 fixed IP Addresses assigned to our business account, they totally lost them which created gigantic problems. This was a disaster…
Eventually after many hours on hold and conversations with multiple supervisors, they assigned us 5 new IP Addresses, which involved having to re-create DNS records (waiting 24-28 hours for the DNS records to propagate), re-programming firewalls, routers, DNS, etc.
After several hours trying to see our website, I contacted GoDaddy.com, who handles all the DNS, etc. They ran a trace-route and found problems at one of the Verizon Routers, at hop 16, out of 30. I contacted Verizon again and they said I would have to wait till monday to get someone to look into the problem. Customer Service is a JOKE. By the next day (Saturday) this problem had cleared up.
They had also disconnected the email account, and failed to restore that as well. That took me several more hours on the phone to get that re-instated and working.
Today I got a call from some woman with Verizon, whom I couldn’t even understand asking me about the trace-route, although she didn’t say “trace-route”.
This is but a brief summary of the pages of notes. I didn’t bother to mention some other problems of a more serious nature (security issues) that I don’t wat to talk about in public, and that are still ongoing.
Two different supervisors gave me what they said were their direct numbers. I have left several messages, and have received no responses from anybody vaguely interested in resolving the mess they have made.
Roscoe Turner… I’m not sure if you’ll see this posting but if you do could you say what area you’re located in? I’ve been a FiOS residential and business customer for several years now in the Dallas area. The service has been rock solid. I have two ONT units at one of my offices that handle a large number of public facing systems. It is crazy that your account could have been deleted like that… I’ve never come across that type of mess up with VZ and definitely haven’t lost any of my IP blocks. For you to really lose them they would have had to reallocate them back into the free pool and likely issue them to someone else. Our service did get disconnected due to an accounting gaffe a few months ago but I was able to get them to reconnect us within 30-minutes of it happening.
Your DNS records really took over a day to propogate?? That’s extremely odd also… I’ve never had propogation take any longer than thirty minutes on a bad day…
I’m sorry you had these problems… I’m hoping you aren’t in the Texas market since your experience would make me be on the lookout for any crazy issues that may come up.
I can echo pretty much the same experience roscoe turner above is having, only with more simplistic issues. A year ago I wanted FiOS, but I wanted it to work like comcast in the sense that I can change the IP address if needed. However, if I don’t touch it, it tends keep that IP a pretty long time, perhaps months, eventually changing because it’s dymanic. That’s ok. And with comcast I also had the choice to just change my mac address in my linksys router and the comcast modem re-reads that as soon as I reset it. That gives me a new IP, and some privacy, which I’m allowed to have. Also you can call comcast and they will change it, but that is way too slow. I could also simply plug in any computer directly to the comcast modem and get a new IP because each computer has its own unique mac numbers that are used in creation of the new IP address when the modem is reset. If I lose this ability it hurts several things. Also if verizons modem resets the IP over and over too quickly it can destroy data transfers on many applications. Plain and simple, I want to be able to control when I’m issued a new IP. Otherwise it should stay the same for long periods of time.
I tried last year to ask this question to customer service representatives and “technicians” at FiOS. Each time I got someone that I swear they must have hired either from the detention center of a high school, or the monkey pen. Some where very nice, but knew nothing. I went around in circles with this one guy who was nearly impossible to understand (I think he was in another country), and the first time I said IP, he ignored it. I ask again and he repeated me, “Happy address?”. I said, no “IP Address”. Then after all that, he had no clue what I was talking about. Other people there also understood nothing except that maybe I wanted to purchase a different plan. In other words, they did not know what they were talking about other than to attempt to sell me one plan or another. And that was after I got transferred to their higher up people.
So I gave up last year. I just tried again this year, and got the same run around. I googled many times, and came close to what looks like it could be an answer, but no one ever concluded whether or not Verizon’s modem even creates it’s IP addresses based on network cards, mac addresses etc. Or even if by plugging into different equipment (router or computer), if I could then reset and change IP. It just goes around in circles. So at this point, I’m staying with Comcast. Besides, there are more issues beyond that. Gaming, VoIP etc being interrupted, ports blocked. What a nightmare. Only someone who truly knows nothing or just browses the web, would enjoy verizon because they would not know what they were missing.
That sounds like it’s been a serious headache. Even though I work for a competitor—DISH Network—I always hate hearing these horror stories. No one can claim that their company is perfect but it does make me grateful to be part of a company that continually strives to improve their customer service. DISH partners through a few different companies to provide internet service, so I wouldn’t want to say that none of them rotate IP addresses like that, but I am grateful that mine doesn’t.