Remember my computer?

 

 

It just got a new friend!

 

 

I signed up for Verizon FIOS 5-down/2-up service. They raised the price on my DSL, probably as an incentive to switch over; DSL had gone to $37.95, and the first-year price for upgrading to FIOS is $29.95 with free installation and a free router. Who knows what they'll do to me after the year runs out? :roll:

 

Yesterday I installed a mounting panel in the basement with an electrical outlet and pulled Cat 5 cable from there to my workroom, and this afternoon the Verizon tech installed my service. The big box on the left is commonly installed on the outside of the house, but I thought that where I live, a conspicuous thing like that on the side of the house would be too intriguing to ne'er-do-well neighborhood punks with time on their hands and a couple beers under their belt.

 

A speed test showed 5037 kbps down and 1847 kbps up. That's about three times what I typically experienced with my DSL; I think I'm about at the outer limit of distance from the switching station for DSL.

 

It's noticeably faster when browsing web sites; even the ones where I often have to wait are quicker; I may have to wait for the site's server to respond, but when it does I get the data in bigger chunks and the page loads a lot more quickly. I'll be interested to see how much difference FIOS makes when uploading web pages to my host; with DSL that was sometimes an arduous process.

Your uploads should cruse now.  My d/l is supposed to be 4mb and upload 365k  :(

 

You seem to have the perfect setup now.  :)

I thought uploading was a lot faster than downloading? I only get up to 500-600kb/s download with Roadrunner. Are fiber optics available in Cincinnati?

I thought uploading was a lot faster than downloading? I only get up to 500-600kb/s download with Roadrunner. Are fiber optics available in Cincinnati?

 

Hmmm! Maybe I've missed something, but I always thought that on virtually all residential service, downloads are much faster than uploads. To make sure we're using the same terms, downloading involves transfer of information from the host to your computer; you click a link, and the photo thread or whatever is downloaded to your system. Uploading involves sending information from your computer to a host, like sending an email or posting a reply on a forum.

 

If FIOS is available in your area, you probably would have heard about it. After Verizon had everything in place, I received at least one mailing per week promoting it. I think they advertised heavily to every household, and they offered $5 monthly discounts and free installation and router for customers who already have DSL. If Verizon is your local phone provider, just Google Verizon FIOS and you'll find a page that lets you enter your phone number to see if the service is available where you live.