We’ve never really cared for Comcast, but in our area if you wanted cable and broadband internet, then Comcast was your only choice. So for years we’ve been using them. There are too many complaints to go into here, but to put it nicely, we were less than satisfied with the service. Anyway, Verizon had recently installed their new FiOS lines in our neighborhood. We are actually one of the first neighborhoods in our area to get wired. We were a bit intrigued by it, but I never really did the research on it to find out more. A couple weekends ago, we went down to Lake Kittamaquandi were they were having a little festival. Verizon had a booth and we decided to stop and talk with them about it to find out more. For those unfamiliar, FiOS uses fiber optic lines instead of coaxial cable. It didn’t take long until we were convinced to switch. As of the 20th, our TV and internet has been supplied by Verizon FiOS.

So how do we like it? I like it a lot and I think Laurie feels the same way. We have basically the same setup we had with Comcast, but we are saving about $30 a month. The installers and customer service people have been much friendlier than the respective Comcast counterparts. Installation was free and took about 5 hours. The TV package is basically the same. We did lose a few channels, but they were ones we did not really watch anyway. I suspect Verizon will continue to add channels as more subscribers are picked up. The Verizon DVR box has many more recording and searching options than the Comcast box did. If you don’t have DVR, seriously think about getting it. Also, the picture quality we now see is noticeably better than what we saw with Comcast’s digital cable.

We just got the basic internet package (5 Mbps/2 Mbps), which is similar to the basic Comcast package (6 Mbps/768 Kbps). We never saw 6 Mbps download with Comcast though because you are sharing the line with all the other Comcast customers in the area. At best we got 4 Mbps, but the FiOS has been at 5 Mbps the few times I have checked it. The rumor is that the basic plan will increase to 10 Mbps this summer sometime. The biggest noticeable difference has been the upload speed, which is almost triple what Comcast offered. This is great for me when I am doing web development or when Laurie is uploading pictures and videos. If Verizon is offering FiOS in your area, I’d highly recommend looking into it.

On a side note, anyone still using our Comcast address should switch and use our lsnjd address (lsnjd [at] lsnjd [dot] com). The Comcast address should work for a few days more and we’ll be sending out an email to friends and family soon letting you know to update your address books.