Forum
« Alternatives to Con Ed and Keyspan: Worth It? mason recommendation »
April 18, 2008
Availability of FIOS in Brownstone Brooklyn
Someone on a local PLG list posted a Verizon press release which listed many brownstone neighborhoods that have supposedly already been wired for FIOS. they are:
Clinton Hill
Crown Heights North
Brooklyn Heights - Cobble Hill
Williamsburg
Fort Greene
DUMBO-Vinegar Hill-Downtown Brooklyn-Boerum Hill
Crown Heights South
Bedford
Prospect Heights
The poster was quite upset that PLG seemed to have been skipped over, but distrustful person that I am, I wonder if FIOS is ACTUALLY available in these neighborhoods. I'm especially skeptical because of the difficulty of running fiber optics in historic districts--front telephone poles like Verizon used in parts of southern Bklyn wouldn't be acceptable in HDs (would they?)
So--does anyone in the brownstone neighborhoods listed actually have FIOS or know that it's currently available?
Comments
Most of the fios available in these nabes' are for new construction. it is much easier to place the fiber and service a 60 unit building in one shot than to run individual fiber to twenty brownstones.
Posted by: guest at April 18, 2008 6:46 PM
Yeah, FIOS sounds great, but, let's face it, is it gonna be any less frustrating dealing with Verizon than with Time Warner (or Comcast or whatever). Every single communications company, in my experience, is pathetic when it comes to customer service. I say nationalize all the bastards. Sure the service won't be any better but at least we won't be contributing to the multi-million salaries and stock options of CEO's who do sweet FA.
Posted by: johnife at April 18, 2008 8:40 PM
how very british of you, ife.
Posted by: guest at April 18, 2008 10:32 PM
I've got FIOS out here in Jersey and love it. Compared to my former NJ cable company (Cablevision) or to Time Warner in NY, it's spectacular. Nothing ever seems to go wrong; much sharper TV picture; consistently fast Internet. And it's cheaper, too.
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 10:25 AM
We have FIOS and CABLE on the telephone pole BEHIND our house, AND we have them under our sidewalk - which has been riped up twice in the last two years, once by verizon and once by Time Warner, but we do NOT have either.
Apparently not enough of the houses in our row want them, so they won't wire one of them!
It is absurd!
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 11:22 AM
We have FIOS and CABLE on the telephone pole BEHIND our house, AND we have them under our sidewalk - which has been riped up twice in the last two years, once by verizon and once by Time Warner, but we do NOT have either.
Apparently not enough of the houses in our row want them, so they won't wire one of them!
It is absurd!
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 11:22 AM
I just went to the FIOS website and checked to see if our Fort Greene home was eligible. Nope.
Of course, they are very misleading in the wording of their results:
---
Great News!
Verizon High Speed Internet is available.
Verizon FiOS Internet service is NOT(*) available for your home. However we wanted to let you know that you qualify for Verizon High Speed Internet. Enjoy the benefits of a high-speed connection, plus get all the great features Verizon Online offers.
---
(*) Emphasis mine.
I guess we will keep on waiting for it. I am very much looking forward to getting rid of the crappy picture quality of cable.
It is also worthwhile noting that Verizon is currently suing Time Warner for misleading advertising in TW's 'All about the fiber' commercial. Of course TW 'uses' fiber, but they don't provide fiber to the home. Which is a huge difference. I was happy to hear that Verizon sued over this, because most consumers probably don't understand the difference.
But at the same time, it is disappointing to see that Verizon is just as misleading on their web page. It is not 'Great News!' to tell me that FIOS is not available. I already know that DSL is available, but that is not what I was searching for. So to tell me that 'Verizon High Speed' is available is probably very misleading.
End of rant :)
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 1:17 PM
I am so not surprised to hear Time Warner lied through their teeth in ads about using fibers, and that Verizon is suing them.
Time Warner is the worst corporation on the planet. They seem to do everything badly, wrong and dishonestly. With horrific customer service to boot.
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 2:31 PM
On note of caution re FIOS -- my understanding is that (when it does become available) switching over will mean losing the existing phone wiring and that the new FIOS system for telephones is dependent upon a separate electrical system. The blackout in 03 served as a reminder to me how great the basic phone system is given that it does not require any separate electrical source.
I am not a FIOS subscriber, so this information should be double-checked, but I think it is certainly worth noting.
Posted by: guest at April 23, 2008 10:53 AM
Just out of curiosity, but why on earth would FIOS have a sharper picture than any other digital cable service? Digital = the signal either gets there or it doesn't, there is no in-between. So yeah, high def (720p, 1080p) signals will look better than normal TV, but there should be no way of distinguishing between 1080p signals if the signal is getting through. It's sort of like the monster cable debate for HDMI. Honestly, all of these telecom companies should be ashamed of themselves - the US has fallen so far behind in broadband internet access that it's embarrassing. We need either more competition or more regulation to get them to make some progress.
Posted by: guest at May 21, 2008 2:14 PM
This is pure conjecture on my part, but FIOS could have a sharper digital picture if the vastly increased bandwidth means they need to compress it less during transmission. Yes, both FIOS and Time Warner cable boxes will output a 720p (or whatever resolution) signal, but the cable box input might have a lot more picture detail on FIOS, thereby producing a much better 720p output.
I've really not been impressed with the HD cable I've seen thus far. Even our standard definition digital cable has obvious compression artifacts (jaggies, delays, weird color squiggles when the signal degrades, etc.) If FIOS can send an uncompressed high-def signal through, or a much less compressed signal, I'd expect a very noticeable increase in picture quality over the competition at all resolutions.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 3:00 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.