Verizon's Outdated "FiOS Internet vs. Cable" Comparison
Looks like Verizon needs to revise its competitive-marketing materials comparing FiOS Internet with cable’s broadband services.
The “FiOS vs. Cable” page on its site shows estimated download and upload times for various activities for the FiOS 50-Mbps tier and 10-Mbps cable connection — e.g., slurp down a 6-GB movie file in 16 minutes with FiOS vs. 20 minutes with cable.
“Cable — eat our dust,” the telco gloats. You can almost hear the FiOS guy from the Verizon ads exhaling hot breath onto his fingernails.
But there’s a footnote: *Cable speed comparison based on national average of maximum download speeds across providers as of November 4, 2008.
Since then, cable operators have rolled out higher-speed services based on DOCSIS 3.0 to millions of homes, and more are coming fast.
Comcast on its Q1 earnings call said it has deployed DOCSIS 3.0 to 35% of its footprint, or north of 17 million households, offering up to 50 Mbps (and with 100 Mbps on tap). It plans to cover all 50 million homes passed by the end of next year with the next-gen cable modem technology (see Comcast’s Hot Wheels).
Cablevision is two weeks away from starting to offer 101-Mbps downstream broadband to some 5 million homes (see Cablevision To Blast Out 101-Mbps Internet Service) and Time Warner Cable is prepping “D3″ for NYC this year (see Time Warner Cable Queues Up DOCSIS 3.0 In NYC).
A related data point: The industry will be at 99% coverage with DOCSIS 3.0 by 2013, according to a report from Pike & Fisher this week.
So while Verizon has accused Cablevision of pulling off nothing more than a “parlor trick,” the fact is, Cablevision is offering far more bandwidth for less money.
To me it looks like Cablevision is giving FiOS a taste of its own (now outdated) marketing medicine.
duh commented:
fios is fastest.!
Old Man Arthur commented:
I don't know where you people are located... But I am in Portland, Oregon, and I have Clear WiMax. I just did a quick test and it is running at 7.6 Mb/s download. (only 0.5 Mb/s upload)
I can watch TV and movies as fast as they will stream them.
[All that crap that ALL the companies say about downloading a 6GB movie is 16 minutes is a LIE. Yeah?.. Your connection might handle it, but the provider won't get it through all the other servers to you that fast. You can only receive as fast as they send it. So ALL those claims are BS. At 7 Mb/s I should be able to download a song in less than a second! But it still usually takes 5 or 10.]
Anyway... If you are in Portland, or Boise, Las Vegas, Bellingham, Chicage, Atlanta, or other cities coming soon... You should look into this.
You can get a USB card for your laptop and go anywhere. (I don't go roaming with my laptop) I have a home receiver box that also runs my computer and unlimited Long Distance. Canada and Europe included.
It is spendy... But phone and internet for me is alittle less that $80/mo with a 2yr contract.
No wires. If I wanna move, I just pack-up my computer and phone and modem... and Move. (so long as I stay in the service area.)
I rent my modem for $5 a month, or you can buy it for $150. Why buy it. I rent, if it breaks they give me another one. And if I want to go roaming, the card for my laptop would be another $10/mo.
Just thought I would share that. Clear WiMax is in it's infancy, but I am satisfied. And they didn't pay me to tell y'all this.
Later...
JD commented:
FYI: For anyone who currently has FIOS but is thinking about changing to a cheaper basic Verizon internet plan.
I just bought a house that had FIOS already installed in it. But I don't want to pay the high $$ for it. So i called Verizon wanting to just get basic 1.5mbps installed and verizon told me once the FIOS line is ran to the house nothing else can be installed at the same residence. The cable is different and the company won't run new cable. So basically it's FIOS or bust and I say that's BS!!!
Wow commented:
You all fail to realize that your customer complaints have nothing to do with the service in general
Big Al commented:
Never mind all this techno mumbo jumbo. As a regular user, not some one writing programs and hacking the web needing NASA speed on a computer, Comcast BRoadband more then handles what an average household needs. I have a wireless network and 5 computers hooked up (3 laptops and 2 desktops) and all work great. I had DSL and had nothing but trouble with accounts and streaming. I run a live feed radio out of my house and can't even tell. Verizon wouldn't let me they disabled the ability to use that port. I'll be sticking with my cable. It works, is reliable, and I've never had an outage.
jesojr commented:
WELL FOLKS: FROM THE AVERAGE JOE, WITH A 2.6 CPU AND A GIG OF RAM , I HAD CABLE COMASS, NOW FIO,S YOU KNOW WHAT NADA THE SAME, SO WHEN THEY START GIVING A DECENT RATE PACKAGE FOR EITHER SERVICE, THATS WHEN THEY WILL KEEP THE CUSTOMER AND NOT FOR 3,6,12 MONTHS THE WHOLE TERM PRICE COLLEGE EDUCATEWD MORIONS
steve commented:
dont know what all the fios guys here are talking about but im constantly at 70 mbps down and 14 mbps up with docsis 3.0, remember for true docsis 3.0 to work you have to have the modem for it, regular modem users will see 20-30 mbps down and 6-10 mbps up, i see it everyday and test them everyday as a tech and every house is always the same, i was just at a duplex and the neighbor had fios and showed me his speedtest as he hit 14 mbps down and 4 mbps up and boy was i entertained, i told him to go next door and do every bandwith test he could think of I left him my number and asked him to inform me if he found one that that beat us and so far......no ringy dingy.
not new commented:
Hardy Boy - the copper-pulling story is very old - see story from two years ago: seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003782083_verizoncopper10.html
Hardy Boy commented:
Holey Smokes! I just noticed this too on the FIOS Internet page:
"Current Verizon Online High Speed Internet customers who move to FiOS Internet service will have their Verizon Online High Speed Internet permanently disabled after their FiOS conversion."
Ok not that you would WANT to got back to DSL but WTF?
Hardy Boy commented:
@RaoulDuke - no customer actually cares that FTTP has a 'superior architecture'. FIOS also has a disclaimer in case you didn't know --- "Actual download and upload speeds will vary based on numerous factors, such as condition of wiring at your location, computer configuration, Internet and network congestion, and speed of website servers you access, among other factors"
RaoulDuke commented:
You're ignoring the fact the FiOS fiber to the premises technology is vastly superior to DOCSIS 3.0, particularly when it comes to upstream capacity. Ask any cable engineer which technology they would rather deploy if they were starting from scratch. FiOS doesn't have to recompress HD signals, and its internet bandwidth is shared by 32 users compared to 4-500 sharing a typical cable node. Oh, you're forgetting Cablevision's footnote: Speeds may vary and are not guaranteed."
Stew commented:
@David
Wait until they cap you at 20GB usage and tell me hom much you prefer cable. My speed was great with cable, but 2.50/GB for service and 1/GB over 20 was too much for me. I dropped all my services (phone and TV also). Made me so mad I sold my little bit of stock.
David commented:
I would take an old mule with a limp over Verizon anything. I was a Verizon DSL customer (no FIOS in my area) and the service (technical and human) was AWFUL. It eventually led to a complaint with the local BBB, which they completely ignored. The BBB sent me a letter, saying "sorry, there is nothing we can do if the company won't respond - here is a list of resources if you choose to sue them". Great.
I don't necessarily like my cable provider, but will avoid Verizon as much as possible. I just canceled my home Verizon account (Thanks to Ooma) and will cancel my Verizon cell phone when the contract runs out.
Technically speaking, for the same price that I was paying for Verizon 1.5 Mbps DSL (which never saw that), I am getting 15 Mbps cable, which frequently has speed test results in the 15-20 Mbps range (nice!!).
Any, unlike Verizon DSL, my cable internet doesn't drop out for extended periods like the verizon DSL did.
Stew commented:
I would much rather have a slower broadband connection than the usage limits imposed on me be TW cable.
Philly commented:
Patrick42: Are you a FIOS customer? Or a DSL customer?
Patrick42 commented:
After dealing with Verizon for over a year I have come to the conclusion that their service is horrible, the speeds they list are inaccurate, their service techs are uneducated, and the cost per kps is almost triple the cost of cable.
I would advise anyone NOT to switch to Verizon, It took over 2 minutes for this page to load entirely and I’m sure it will take another 5 to post. This is horrible that I’m reduced to posting this all over the internet but as long as my contract is locked in and my internet service lags I’ll keep posting. My service is from zip 10512 & 10594
PC commented:
Its nice that Cablevision is offering 100/15Mbit connection (uncapped!) for less then Comcast and Verizons top tiers, but come on! We are still paying through the nose for much slower speeds then what should be the norm.
100/100Mbit should be the norm already for say $49.99/month, uncapped. My gaming desktop computer from Dell that I bought 2 years ago came with a 1Gbit ethernet port and as someone already stated, 10/100 is very common in all PCs.
Lastly, the standard of internet (for lack of better terms) in the U.S. is still very shady and should be much better.
Fiosguy commented:
@ Dubber the computer tech: Sorry dude but I am thinking you have lost your credibility, not trying to start a flame war... but a 20/5 connection is a piece of cake for almost every computer in production and within the last 10 years. The broadband pipe delivers it just as fast to every computer, and unless they have a slow lan card they would get all the 20 speed (most cards are 10/100). You are saying you never see computers that can handle 20 meg downloads? Wow, what company do you work for lol I need to steer clear...
Ralphtech commented:
Sorry Todd, its the cable marketing thats completely outdated and shady. The cable companies constantly compare themselves to DSL , not FIOS to confuse consumers.
"Shared" BS commented:
Spanky, that is marketing BS that is regurgitated by the non-technical crowd. FiOS has many points that are shared and ALL of these are oversubscribed. The same issue exists.
Marketing vs Data commented:
Comparison of all VZ vz Comcast -www.dslreports.com/archive?f=g&dnsdom=comcast.net&dnsdom1=verizon.net&domsum=Graph+it
more detail Comcast vs FiOS
Comcast: -www.dslreports.com/archive?cid=60
FiOS: -www.dslreports.com/archive?zip=&dnsdom=fios.verizon.net&start=Search
Cablevision: -www.dslreports.com/archive?cid=2
ownage commented:
FIOS FTW!!!!!!!!!! Cable sucks!!!
nomocable commented:
I have had Verizon FiOS for the last 1 1/2 years after switching from Charter. FiOS is a far superior tv picture (no tiling on my HDTV-great for fast action sports), no outages, a fast internet that always works, and a fantastic land line that provides excellent voice quality. All for a price that I once paid Charter for TV and Internet service. Cable TV is ancient history. No more Third World Cable TV.
Avgbowler commented:
Dubber, you must work on some really outdated computers. The slowest computer at my house maxes out my 20/5 beautiful fios connection. The bottom line is CABLE SUCKS!!!! people are tired of terrible customer service, and the lack of caring for the customer. Does your cable provider give you the NFL network? Mine ( TW ) stopped. Comcast gave it to me, and I had no choice in the matter because Comcast moved out of So Cal. I will never go back to cable. I have more channels, NO and I do mean no outages. I am telling everyone in my area to get on the FIOS band wagon. Just remember, in Texas, people haver the choice between cable, fios, and uverse, and people are choising FIOS hands down because you get more for the money.
mastervirus commented:
Why are you acting like its a pissing match FIOS arent going to ever get to the same amount of people i.e. footprint as cable is or will simply because of cost, so calm down with the cable shill comments and realize cable for the speed and price and avalibilty is far superior DUH!!
Todd Spangler commented:
Also, remember that DSL was supposedly superior “architecturally” to cable modems for the same reason — switched vs. shared to the home. The telcos may still make this assertion but the distinction doesn’t matter, given that cable-modem speeds blow past DSL.
Todd Spangler commented:
All access networks have bottlenecks. FTTH has bottlenecks in the network; they’re just higher upstream than in an HFC network. So what? Customers don’t care about that — they’re not buying an “architecture.” Real customers do not care, unless a service provider isn’t delivering on its SLAs because it hasn’t managed network capacity properly. P.S. “frakin”? please.
Fuzzy Math commented:
If Verizon needs to do anything, they should work on their math. Not sure how they figured a 10Mbps connection of any type could download a 6GB file in 20 minutes. Unless...does the internet have a "downhill"?
Dubber commented:
As a computer tech, I rarely if ever see a computer that can handle the speeds of cable or even some dsl. Fios will be great for a business, or a heavy user, but a waste of bandwidth for the average user.
Ralph commented:
Not only cable bandwidth is shared between all the house in the neighborhood and slows to a crawl during peek time its also unstable and you get constant Internet down times for hours at a time. Thats why I switched to the slower but stable and reliable DSL. I'm a former cable broadband subscriber and I went through 2 years of horrible cable broadband service with Comcast.
Spanky commented:
FTTH (not specifically Vz) will always be better then cable.. period..
unless cable changes drastically one/two bandwidth hogs on a cable node will slow everyone down..FIOS, every person on the node could max out their alloted bandwidth and will not effect the other user. sure cable/docsis3 is cool. and have a "fiber backbone"... but by the time the signal hits a end users house.. it's still copper and can't provide the bandwidth like fiber to the home.. so your argument is moot.. anyone that knows anything, knows cable just does not compete with a true all fiber network...frakin cable shill - todd
