Verizon Fios (Fiber-to-the-Premises) Internet (Cheap??)

Mark Musone mmusone at shatterit.com
Wed Jul 28 09:30:29 EDT 2004


Well, keep in mind that the bandwidth providers can -and will- tell you
basically whatever they want as far as their bandwidth speeds. One of
the most important things is getting a CIR (Committed Information Rate).
That is the Minimum speed at which a provider will guarantee you. They
basically program the CIR into the router, so that any else's packets
that are above their CIR will de dropped so that you meet your CIR.
That's one of the nice things about Verizon DSL. With DSL you get a CIR.
Cable on the other hand wont (and cant really) provide a CIR. 

The biggest thing I tell people is that the difference between the two
is that DSL is a slower but more consistant speed. Cable is faster, but
CAN be VERY slow. So you need to make a choice whether to have
inconsistent speed that may sometimes be very very fast, or consistant
middle-ground speed.

For most home use, I tell people it's a toss up, and whatever is
cheaper. For home-business use (i.e. I need to always be able to
citrix/rdp in, vpn..etc.. I'd go with DSL for the stability.

Also don't forget that it doesn't matter what speed you have to your
door. If the provider only has a 56k dial-up to the internet...guess
what internet speed your getting? :)

Although I'm a big fan of verizon DSL, as soon as my LNP request goes
through to have my home phone number ported to a VOIP provider, I'll be
moving to cable modem, since verizon is still arrogant about trying to
force me to keep dialtone if I want DSL.

-Mark


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nflug at nflug.org [mailto:owner-nflug at nflug.org] On Behalf Of
Advent Systems
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 6:33 PM
To: nflug at nflug.org
Subject: Re: Verizon Fios (Fiber-to-the-Premises) Internet (Cheap??)

Hi Tim,
Are there different "levels" of service available from Adelphia, and how

would we measure the actual performance of the service being delivered 
to our computers by the different vendors?   I tried adelphia for 12-16 
months using there "standard offer" (about $70/mo.) and the dsl from 
verzion I have now seems twice as fast.  I know  saying "twice" as fast 
is meaningless,  it's just that overall when trying to get stuff done it

seems with verizon dsl I'm done in half the time.(not to mention 
$35.00/mo). 

Bob Randal
adventsystems at verizon.net
Timothy J. Finucane wrote:

>DSL is available to me, and I have tried it from several companies,
>including Verizon. Unfortunately it does not even come close to the
>3mbps speed I get from Adelphia.
>
>Tim
>
>On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 18:13, Advent Systems wrote:
>  
>
>>Timothy J. Finucane wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Good points, but I think the average user's needs are growing at a
very
>>>fast pace. There is obviously a hug market for delivery of music, and
I
>>>don't just mean kazza theft. I mean things like iTunes, which has
>>>exploded right out of the gate. Unless there are some tremendous
>>>developments in compression technology, these downloads are likely to
>>>remain fairly large. And music is something that is of interest to
the
>>>average user. And the streaming video from the parts of the internet
we
>>>need not mention already pushes the limits of the current bandwidth.
>>>
>>>Also, I still can't quite classify Verizon's new offering as
"Overkill"
>>>because the $35 package (the one most people will buy) is only 2-5
mbps.
>>>I currently get 3mbps on my Adelphia cable modem. That sounds pretty
>>>close to the same service. And the average user of broadband services
is
>>>on cable, not DSL. Though I'm sure that is only because of the 3 mile
>>>technical limit with DSL.
>>>
>>>In addition, they are starting the roll out in Texas, and expecting
more
>>>expansion after that. they are predicting 1 million homes tied to
fiber
>>>by the end of the year. That's a small number compared to the number
of
>>>homes in the US. By the time they get here, things could have clearly
>>>changed that will require larger bandwidth.
>>>
>>>Tim
>>>
>>>On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 12:48, Ronald Maggio wrote:
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>In response to the following, you are correct about
>>>>progress/innovation, but my comment was about the average end user,
>>>>student and home/small business. Do we really need it? It is fine
for
>>>>those that truly have a need of such resources. Now think a minute,
>>>>regardless of your computing skills or needs do you really think
that
>>>>the average end user which is the gross marketed target really needs
>>>>all this and more.
>>>>
>>>>Your speaking from where you see it, as your needs as a computer
>>>>professional might surpass the current available resources available
>>>>to you. The industry will produce progress/innovation to be
marketed,
>>>>yet does anyone really think it is for the consumers, or is it
>>>>for corporate industry. People will always want the latest and the
>>>>greatest as long as they have money to burn, and corporations are
>>>>ready willing and able to exploit their egos. We all know that the
>>>>vast computers sold are targeted for end users to email, web browse,
>>>>gaming, and let us not forget the parts on the web that make the
most
>>>>money! I need not mention.
>>>>
>>>>So in conclusion, my comment "fast enough & Overkill" are valid
points
>>>>as long as the technology used as of now by end users can keep up
>>>>with the Internet, but as trends make todays technology out of date
>>>>the market will always have a guaranty of more revenue through the
>>>>pocketbooks of the consumers. 
>>>>
>>>>Ron Maggio
>>>>
>>>>       "Fast Enough" will always be relative to current needs. As
>>>>       more, and
>>>>       higher quality, content feeds come online more bandwidth will
>>>>       be needed.
>>>>       I can still remember people telling me that 56k was all you
>>>>       would ever
>>>>       need. Then came streaming video, and to get a good quality
>>>>       feed you
>>>>       really needed to get broadband. "Fast Enough" assumes that
>>>>       there will
>>>>       not be any progress/innovation in multimedia formats or
>>>>       content
>>>>       distribution. 
>>>>       
>>>>       So, for the long term outlook it is hardly overkill. Is it
>>>>       overkill to
>>>>       have a 200GB hard drive? Maybe it is today, but in 2-3 more
>>>>       years it
>>>>       won't. We, as a society, are putting more data online
>>>>       everyday, and with
>>>>       that comes more need for bandwidth and storage.
>>>>       
>>>>       Also, Verizon is talking about using the same feed to create
>>>>       its own
>>>>       cable network. This just might break the cable monopolies
that
>>>>       currently
>>>>       exist in! each city. After all, your only choices right now
>>>>       are satellite
>>>>       or cable if you want more content than is on public airwaves.
>>>>       This would
>>>>       also drive the need for bandwidth.
>>>>       
>>>>       The downside to this is that they are talking about making
>>>>       access to the
>>>>       fiber lines closed, unlike the current phone lines. They
argue
>>>>       that this
>>>>       is required because the current cable companies have closed
>>>>       access.
>>>>       Personally, I would prefer it if BOTH the phone company and
>>>>       cable
>>>>       company were required to have open access. This would be
>>>>       better for the
>>>>       consumer in terms of competition and innovation. If the
>>>>       cable/phone
>>>>       companies have closed access they can then regulate what can
>>>>       and what
>>>>       cannot be put on the network, thus killing the end-toend
>>>>       concept that
>>>>       the internet was created on. Innovation would then be
>>>>       regulated by those
>>>>       companies as well. Anyone remember the time when AT&T
>>>>       regulated what
>>>>       could and what could not be attached to their phone lines?
>>>>       
>>>>       Some o! ther alternatives to access may become available as
>>>>       well, like
>>>>       this one:
>>>>
http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2004/07/16/anik040716.html.
>>>>       Granted, it's a bit more expensive, but that may change as
>>>>       more
>>>>       companies put up similar satellites.
>>>>       
>>>>       The more competition and innovation, the better.
>>>>       
>>>>       Tim
>>>>       
>>>>       On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 01:54, Ronald Maggio wrote:
>>>>       > Over kill, unless your running a business big time and
>>>>       really need the
>>>>       > bandwidth and the speed it gives you, or are into
>>>>       interactive gaming
>>>>       > over the Internet in a big way!
>>>>       > 
>>>>       > I have ADSL through Verizon at $34.95 a month, and its fast
>>>>       enough for
>>>>       > the average user. ie: Student, Home to mid size Business,
>>>>       and so on. 
>>>>       > 
>>>>       > Ron
>>>>       > 
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>____________________________________________________________________
__
>>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>>Vote for the stars of Yahoo!'s next ad campaign!
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>Tim,
>>Just to let you know, I have been waiting for broadband access in my 
>>area for years (I'm 5 miles from my central office) but a few months
ago 
>>they installed new equipment where I was able to have dsl installed in

>>my home.   I'm in lancaster and am not sure if It' a town-to-town
thing 
>>but  it may be worth calling verizon up to see if it's now available
in 
>>your area.
>>
>>Bob Randal
>>    
>>
>adventsystems at verizon.net
>  
>





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