Skittish! (moved to proper forum)

[Bender]

So I see a few horror stories on here but they are the only ones I have seen anywhere on the internet! But nonetheless they have me a bit nervous about my upcoming install (4/15)

Obviously at I am not going to call and cancel!  Let me describe my situation.

I live in a duplex (a house where my landlord lives upstairs and I live downstairs).  Currently my section has some old copper as well as some dead coax.  I have live coax (with comcast TV on it) coming downstairs from her portion of the house.  Her coax (and the cable my TV is on as it is one in the same) and copper cannot be disturbed.

How will my install work?  Will they put the new box right next to the old one and just run cat5 up to me? Will the use the dead coax? Do they need access to the basement or will they just punch straight through?

Thanks for the info!

[Justin]

Before I try to answer your questions, I need to make a comment about the negative things you may see in various forums. Remember, most folks don't even know these forums exist, and those that do generally only get motivated to post when something bad happens. So the great majority of posts are probably going to be negative; but for every negative post, there are thousands of satisfied users, be it FiOS or any other service.

Now, I am just a user, but I have had FiOS internet and TV for over one and a half years, and I am overall very, very satisfied. Not that there aren't occasional problem, there are, but compared to my previous provider (a cable company), my experience is incredibly better.

One last thing, my install was done a long time ago, and some things have changed since them, so I may give you some out of date info. If I do, sorry...

Verizon needs to get the fiber to the outside of your house, buried or aerial. On or in the house itself they will mount a large box called the Optical Network Terminal (ONT). The ONT needs electrical power, so they need to mount a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) and connect to a 120V outlet. Generally they like to mount the ONT, which is quite large by the way, on the outside of the house so they can get to it to service it, etc, without someone being home. However there are plenty of installations where the ONT has been installed inside, frequently in the garage or basement. So the choce of where the ONT and BBU are placed may very well be up to you, depending on how you deal with the installers. From what I have heard and seen, they will work with you to put it where you want, within reason.

With the new ONT and router they are now using, you will get coax only (or coax and cat 5 if you really want and ask nicely). Internet and TV can now use the coax only, which saves installation time and effort. Depending on the type of coax you have, and where it is connected, they will either try to use that or install new RG6. Based on your description, I think you will need to make sure they simply install new RG6 (and Cat 5 if you want) from the ONT to the router, wherever you have them install that.

Assuming you are using Plain Old Telephone service (POTS) today, they will generaly disable the copper wire OUTSIDE the house, but they will just hook the existing INSIDE wiring to the ONT.

I hope I have answered at least some of your questions, and set your mind at ease at least a little bit. If you are as lucky as me, and get good installers who are willing to work with you, you wil be very happy with FiOS. Good luck!