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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - Verizon Fios comes to our house today!

I sit here, waiting for the Verizon Fios techs to get here. I'm singing the "anticipa-a-tion" song in my head.

I'm pretty excited about it. I am so sick of all the problems we've had with Comcast -- picture pixelating, sound dropping in and out. Wireless connectivity spotty at best. So I really have my hopes pinned on Fios being a better product, though I really do realize that it is a "your-mileage-may-vary" product and service.

One very funny thing happened when the sales guy came to our door. He was young -- under 30, I'd say. He was extoling the virtues of the Verizon Triple Play - TV, internet and phone. My husband, Joseph, had some questions about the phone service, which the sales guy only sort-of answered. For those of you who know Joseph, he can get pretty intense in his questioning.

So Joseph's question was basically: why get Fios phone service when our old fashioned phone service works great?

The salesman's answer - The battery backup gives you peace of mind. If the power goes out, you will still have phone service for around 8 hours.

Joseph said we have better than that now. We have phone service for as long as power is out.

The sales guy said but this is better because you have a battery backup.

Well, needless to say, this went on for a ridiculously long time, with each of them getting more and more frustrated. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I explained to this youngun that the old-fashioned phones, the ones you plug straight into the outlet with no power cord needed, worked whether or not there is power. He was amazed.

Talk about a generation gap! Sometimes less technology is better.

UPDATED 11/7/07

Well, it's installed and, so far, it's terrific! Internet speeds are great, the TV picture is sharper (we don't have Hi Def) and I'm happy. It'll take a while to get used to the new remote and menus, but that's normal. So far, so good! --Susan

(C) Susan Pruden.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - RE: Verizon Fios comes to our house today!

Posted by Ardy
I think Joseph would have been surprised if the tech had said something like "Well, Verizon wants you to cut the copper lines because they are then cutting the need to lease those lines to other companies.  The FCC has changed its competition rules so that Verizon will be the sole owner of the new fiber lines and can make lots of money."  By the way, let me know how the new FIOS is!
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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - RE: Verizon Fios comes to our house today!

Posted by Susan Pruden

Ardy, I don't think this particular salesman had much of a clue about that stuff. He knew the line Verizon had taught him and couldn't stray from it if his life depended on it.

I'll let you know how we like it - I know you were happy with yours last time we spoke about it. --Susan

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Informal observations about Prince George's County Real Estate and happenings around our local area. I'm Susan Pruden, in Cheverly Maryland and I welcome your comments and participation.

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