I had DSL then Fios now have cable. I had a terrible time with both DSL and Fios but I blame it on poor Verizon service. We also have our phone lines above ground from poles.

Had a lot of problems with DSL (losing internet and slow speed), Verizon convinced us Fios would be much better. Had the wiring done and they installed the box in our garage. We were promised a battery back-up if power went. Three days later, lightening struck the fios box in the garage, blowing it up. Needless to say, we had no phone service, no internet. It took one month for them to restore phones. We demanded DSL back because Fios involved our phones and it there was no backup.

We got DSL back, and it was a nightmare. Never worked right and we switched to cable. Haven't had a problem since. We still have our phones on regular copper.

When Fios worked, I did not detect any difference in speed from DSL. I would have kept DSL if Verizon would have repaired their lines.

Jane

Thanks Jane - you confirmed my suspicions - I have 4 lines all on old copper wires and Verizon is very unreliable which is a problem because both of us work at home. The only way we can upgrade to fiber for the phones is to get a pkg, so I was scaring myself that I was starting to consider FIOS internet if it was alot faster, but wanted to get an opinion of the service. My neighbors are getting FIOS TV, internet, phones pkg - but they are people who never had high def TV before - so ofcourse they think it is great. I hate Verizon and their dreadful nonexistent customer service and poor response time for repairs. We are in the Northeast, so lots of heat & lightening. I will stick with cable. again, thanks for sharing your nightmare!

You have no idea what they put us through. I only touched on it in my post. I work out of the house also and my DH is a doctor. We lost our phones (cell phones don't work here because of hills), the hospital had to call our neighbors in case of emergency so they could reach him. Battery back-up blew out with the Fios box. Took them a month to rewire to get our phones working and we had to threaten going to court to get them to do it. They wanted us back on Fios because they put the lines in. It was a nightmare!

Cable costs more, (Optimum), but we have not had one day of a problem. Our phones are back on the old phone lines, but tv's and computers on cable. I would NEVER recommend dealing with Verizon.

I'm sure your neighbors loved the midnight emergency calls for your DH!
In the state of Maryland, Verizon is "on the hot seat" with the Public Works Commission because of many cases like yours- not necessarily fiber since it is new here. The issue mainly repair time & people w/out phone service for weeks & months. I think it is just a political show. Sad that they have a product which would be so beneficial to the consumer & we can't use it because the company is so horrible. We don't dislike Comcast - the internet seems to be slow - we pay more for business service & faster speeds, but they don't guarantee the speeds. I know how upsetting & crazy it is to deal with Verizon - You have convinced me to keep cable. Thank you!

I have FIOS internet and have found it much more reliable than when I had Comcast. Never crashes, stays the same speed all the time, even when all the neighbors log on. I have TV and Phone FIOS as well and recommend them all very highly. Better picture quality on the TV's also.

We just went from Comcast to Fios and like it alot. One of the things I especially like is the dedicated line for the Internet (not sharing with neighbors like you do w/ Comcast). Verizon also provides a battery backup in case power goes out, you can still use the Internet. We also have the TV and phone service. I highly recommend Verizon as well.

In the 5 weeks we've had it, we've had no issues at all. Overall, we're paying the same w/ Verizon for all 3 services as we did with Comcast but we're getting so much more.

Battery back-up doesn't work when lightening strikes. Glad it works well for you, but when you have a problem - good luck dealing with them.

Jane

I think the FIOS experience varies greatly from geographic area to geographic area. I am in the N. Texas area and we get excellent service. I've had FIOS over a year and any time there was a problem , they were here within the day, really, and went beyond the normal to get everything working well.

I get very personalized support with verizon here in the Tampa Bay area. Sometimes tech support person will be in a nearby gulf coastal state rather than local. Always just like talking to an old friend. How's the weather.

Only once have I ever really needed to wait for support since around 1995. They couldnt instantly come out ... week or so for a truck roll to verify bum and replace a lightning damaged modem.
Verizon Guy came on a Saturday afternoon, he was working overtime not knowing what to expect.. gave me his truck modem as a loaner until Supply could mail me a new one.
Imagine that meant he got himself a new one come monday.. and as he never came back to pick up his old one, I had a spare for the next lightning stroke. Which I needed too!

My cable bill is going up another $5 a month. Fios has more of the channels I want, but I have so many problems with my Verizon phone service, I'm afraid the hassles will outweigh the benefits.