FW: fios vs comcast

Jeff Scaparra jeff at scaparra.com
Mon Jul 8 10:44:41 CDT 2013


FIOS has been both good and bad for me.

I have 75 down 35 up and I get those speeds or better which is really nice.
Additionally I pay for a dedicated server out in MI so running servers
isn't an issue ( I used to have a business line and found this to be
cheaper and more reliable). I haven't had problems setting up dynamic dns
and being able to ssh home to connect to computers there. As for IPv6 they
don't have it but I have my own linux router running on an Atom box that
has a Hurricane Electric IPv6 tunnel so I have IPv6 to my house (Its free
so there isn't really a reason not to do this).

Now for the bad parts. Verizon customer service is the worse. The
installers never buried the cable coming from their box in the alley and my
HOA started to complain. I had called once about the cable about 2 weeks
after it was installed and told it would be taken care of in a week. That
never happend and I never really go back there so I didn't care all that
much but when the HOA started to complain I had to get it taken care of.
Short version is 6 weeks, 7 hours on the phone with tech support, 3 visits
from mis-utility later the cable is FINALLY buried. Problem now is the
signal for some of the cable channels is too low to receive them and I need
to get a tech back out to fix the problem. :(

Internet is great, customer service awesome. Don't really care about the TV
but it works just fine on my HDTV with the exception mentioned above.
YMMV,

Jeff


On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 11:31 AM, William Fenn <bfenn at cox.net> wrote:

>  ** **
>
> “Under the power is the old copper phone lines, then cable coax and now
> fiber optic.”****
>
> ** **
>
> Alex, are you lucky.  FIOS (a.k.a. VERIZON) brought their contractor into
> our neighborhood, complete with appeared to be the Hispanic population that
> resides around the 7 – 11 store in Herndon, and destroyed yards and
> driveways while ignoring the correct right of way.  I went outside while
> they were digging what appeared to be two graves in my front yard and
> showed them the right of way on the builders plat and they basically told
> me to get f - - ked.  They then quickly buried the corpse (in this case
> fiber) and skedaddled.   It appears as though VERIZON inherited the Old
> AT&T gene that produced an 800 pound gorilla.  Oh, I forgot to mention
> neighbors started finding hypodermic needles and other druggie things on
> the ground in the neighborhood while the workers were busily doing their
> thing.  They haven’t found any since the job was done.****
>
> ** **
>
> At least you had telephone poles where we had none.  Let’s hope their wind
> load calculations were correct when it comes to the telephone poles and
> severe weather.  Oh well, maybe that will be PEPCO’s fault.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* tacos-bounces+bfenn=cox.net at amrad.org [mailto:tacos-bounces+bfenn=
> cox.net at amrad.org] *On Behalf Of *Alex Fraser
> *Sent:* Monday, July 08, 2013 10:48 AM
> *To:* AMRAD Reflector
> *Subject:* Re: fios vs comcast****
>
> ** **
>
> Thanks guys, Robert in particular,
>
>     It will take me a while to digest this. I will try to find time to
> read up on it.
> All the wires hung from dead trees all over the hood!  You can almost see
> the poles bending with the weight.  IN front of my house the top wires
> are 19,500 volt, then a couple of feeders to houses, the occasional
> transformer.  Under the power is the old copper phone lines, then cable
> coax and now fiber optic.  The birds are happy as are the squirrels, well I
> guess they are anyway, I've seen no data...
>
> Telcos vs. cable, eminent domain, prices and the technology of course is
> in there somewhere.   Layered on top of this is the programming.  I wonder
> if there is a market place somewhere that people go to buy programs?  The
> line up of channels is the big issue for many, technology is taken for
> granted by most, except when it is noticeably slower.
>
> On 7/7/2013 1:49 PM, Robert Seastrom wrote: ****
>
> ** **
>
> On Jul 6, 2013, at 7:48 PM, Alex Fraser wrote:****
>
> ** **
>
> Fios has arrived in my hood.   They set up a tent in a neighbors yard and have been making their pitch.  They point to prices and say "wow".  We have comcast already and price is not my only concern.  I have a feeling there are technical issues!****
>
> ** **
>
> What specifically are your issues?  There are some congested links from Comcast to other networks, and then there are congestion issues on the edge (which are a pervasive DOCSIS issue, not just a Comcast issue).  If you are not already on one, I recommend buying yourself a DOCSIS 3.0 cablemodem.  Both the Motorola 6141 and the Arris CM820A (ironically now the same company since Arris bought Motorola Home) are highly recommended and will do IPv6 nicely for ya.****
>
> ** **
>
> I not allowed to have a server hooked up under Comcast.  Is  a Fios user allowed to set up a server?****
>
> ** **
>
> What is it exactly that you are trying to do?  Run a web site?  Run your own email server?  Have a file or media server at home?  Something else?****
>
> ** **
>
> In general on residential services (from any provider) you (a) do not have a static address, and (b) have port 25 blocked except to their servers so as to keep you from spamming.  Dealing with dynamic address changes is not something that Comcast (or Verizon, or whoever) wants to handle the support calls for, so it is "not allowed" in their contract.****
>
> ** **
>
> Comcast does not block port 80 or port 443 [*], so running a web server at home is not an issue (see above caveat about dynamic address changes, but those don't happen so often).  Assuming it is not  super popular site causing a lot of bandwidth to run over their network, in practice they don't care.****
>
> ** **
>
> [*] http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/list-of-blocked-ports/****
>
> ** **
>
> FIOS is pretty much the same way for resi.****
>
> ** **
>
> This would be for a regular, not buisness customer.****
>
> Related to the above I asked the sales person if fios used IP6 and of course he didn't know.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Of course, having the provider support it is just the first step ****
>
> ** **
>
> So is IP6 available for me to plug in a wire at my house and have IP6 addresses on each device?****
>
> ** **
>
> On Comcast, probably so assuming you are hung off a Cisco or Arris CMTS *and* have a DOCSIS 3.0 cablemodem (see above).  There are a few residual problems with the Motorola BSR so if you are on one of those your luck may be more variable.  You will have to buy your own if you're not subscribed to the higher tiers of service, but trust me it's worth it from a performance enhancement perspective (I can explain what the deal is but that would be a whole different email).****
>
> ** **
>
> FIOS is getting there, but does not have IPv6 generally available yet so far as I am aware.****
>
> ** **
>
> Is that even possible yet?  What routers would I need?****
>
> ** **
>
> You need a router that supports IPv6 and DHCP6-PD.  I have been fairly happy with the Mikrotiks although their support for PD is only about 80% of the way there.  That's what's at my parents' house.****
>
> ** **
>
> The D-Link software seems to work well - we have a bunch of their (slightly older) wireless routers at work in the customer experience lab.  http://www.dlink.com/us/en/technology/dlink-ipv6-solutions****
>
> ** **
>
> On the TV side how would you compare comcasts HD quality to Verizons?  Is there much difference?****
>
> ** **
>
> I'm not sure if Comcast is doing MPTS (multi program transport stream - multiple channels per QAM) for anything these days.  For like-to-like (same bitrate and encoding) the big difference visibly tends to boil down to encoder settings, subtleties in the encoder manufacturers' implementations, and (most of all) the length of the encoder chain (i.e. number of times the picture has been transcoded or format-changed).****
>
> ** **
>
> If you're interested in how video channels go together for transmission to your house over digital cable (or suffer from insomnia), you may enjoy reading http://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/CM-SP-EQAM-VSI-I01-081107.pdf****
>
> ** **
>
> On a more practical note, if you want super high quality HD the folks to beat are DirecTV.  Word around the campfire is that they have gone way out of their way to get mezzanine feeds ( http://www.root6.com/blog/index.php/2012/04/whats-all-this-talk-about-mezzanine/ ) from the various content owners.  And it shows… but is not universal across all channels and it really accentuates how crummy some channels are.****
>
> ** **
>
> Really they set up a tent, like a carnival!****
>
> ** **
>
> Shoulda done Oktoberfest!  :)****
>
> ** **
>
> -r****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
>
>
>
> ****
>
> -- ****
>
>    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\-----++++*0*++++-----//////////////////****
>
>        No electrons were harmed in the creation of this message****
>
>          --------------------------------------------------------****
>
>  ~~~********************Alex Fraser********************~~~****
>
>          --------------------------------------------------------****
>
> [[[[[[~~^^^#___=>>>```/\/\**O**/\/\```<<<=___#^^^~~]]]]]]****
>
>
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