Verizon FiOS...Who's Switchin'?

[iMeowbot]

Must be a regional thing 'cause my VZ DSL and FiOS have both been DHCP.

Yep, for Verizon it's generally former GTE territory that uses DHCP, former Bell Atlantic uses PPPoE.

(& it looks like I'll be getting the new stuff Real Soon Now, the phone trucks have been everywhere stringing up the new cables for a few weeks now.)

 

[pianoman]

we have Comcast and every 4 months or so the connection fails and someone has to come out to fix the wires or something. our neighbors have FiOS (got it when it was first available a year or so ago) and have never lost their connection. this has been a problem since we got Comcast's high-speed Internet in 2003. this last time pushed me over the edge.

we'll be switching when i get home from traveling (in about three weeks).

 

[balamw]

Yep, for Verizon it's generally former GTE territory that uses DHCP, former Bell Atlantic uses PPPoE.

Yeah. Same for SBC^H^H^HAT&T, I previously had their DSL and it was PPPoE, but in other regions they had DHCP It's somewhat funny to me that even though Ma Bell has largely reassembled herself, the regions still have the ultimate say due to history. It's just an agglomeration of separate companies.

B

 

[puckhead193]

does anyone have the TV service from them?

 

[pianoman]

the FiOS support site says

Wireless adapters are not supported for Macintosh.

has anyone had problems with wireless and FiOS?

 

[jsw]

the FiOS support site says



has anyone had problems with wireless and FiOS?

I'm posting this connected wirelessly via their router. I don't normally use it, but I turned it on, connected, and am posting via it. This is the router they provide when adding TV service.

I had the TV service for a month. It was fine, but, as of now here, I prefer Comcast (more HD stations, HD on demand, etc.), although I expect them to catch up soon.

 

[pianoman]

i just got an e-mail response from one of the technology reporters at The Washington Post. his response:

That line in the Verizon FAQ sounds like absolute nonsense. And this blog post from a Mac-using Fios customer seems to back up my hunch--you have nothing to worry about:
http://www.reelsmart.com/2006/02/10/verizon-fios-installed-macintosh-compatible-and-fast/

i'm glad it works because that only affirms my decision to switch. but i still don't understand why Verizon would say their service is incompatible with a Mac's wireless card if it works for so many users.

 

[balamw]

don't understand why Verizon would say their service is incompatible with a Mac's wireless card if it works for so many users.

Maybe it's because of the issues early Intel Mac adopters (like myself) had with some revisions of the Verizon supplied Westell 327W DSL router/gateway.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/239062/

B

 

[pianoman]

Maybe it's because of the issues early Intel Mac adopters (like myself) had with some revisions of the Verizon supplied Westell 327W DSL router/gateway.

wouldn't this classify as a problem with the hardware and not the FiOS service? especially since they give you a router (or at least offer one). the fact that some routers work with it and others don't indicates a problem with the routers, not the FiOS service or, most importantly, a Mac's wireless card.

 

[balamw]

wouldn't this classify as a problem with the hardware and not the FiOS service? especially since they give you a router (or at least offer one). the fact that some routers work with it and others don't indicates a problem with the routers, not the FiOS service or, most importantly, a Mac's wireless card.

The service is tied to the supplied router (in the case of DSL, it's your modem and in FiOS it appears they use the MAC address of the supplied router as an access control*).

The 327W was particularly weird since I could get it to work with various PCs and my iBook, but the iMac never ackowledged it's existence, which does seem to point at something being incompatible in some Mac's wireless card/firmware.

B

*Yes you could probably get away with a router that supported MAC address spoofing, but that would rule out many devices like the Apple Airport Extreme.

 

[MonksMac]

FIOS was put in our area in 2006. Around Thanksgiving we had the TV and Internet put in. The TV quality is pretty good, much better than Comcast (well it is Time Warner now)ever was. We previously had the Verizon DSL and it was pretty good never had to mess with PPPoE so I guess we had DHCP. Speed boot was increadible over DSL. We had 768k down per month and we got the 5/2 MB package and I generally get download speeds 1MB+ on my Mac Mini via Wireless. The router isn't too bad, but I had some connection problems with my Mini.
Just for the people who don't know this... If you have the Fiberoptic Internet put in You cannotever switch back to DSL or have POTS because they replace that wiring with the fiber stuff.
Cheers,
MM

 

[thewhitehart]

Hmpf... not available where I live. I live in New York, what the *&%$ is that all about?

 

[SamIchi]

Hmpf... not available where I live. I live in New York, what the *&%$ is that all about?

What part of NY? I live in Albany and it just became available.

 

[balamw]

If you have the Fiberoptic Internet put in You cannotever switch back to DSL or have POTS because they replace that wiring with the fiber stuff.

Not the way they did it for me. The POTS lines and demarc are still there ready to be reconnected in the case of need. They even showed me what wires I'd need to cut and swap to make the switch back.

I did notice that was not the case for my neighbor, whose demarc box was completely removed when they did their install.

B