Verizon Fios New York

I no longer have landline service because of Verizon. For decades, I had good landline service with this provider until Verizon decided to "upgrade" its copper lines to fiber-optic. For the last several years, Verizon has been giving ultimatums to people around the country who have copper landline phone service: either convert to fiber or have your service cut off. Verizon says it's too expensive to maintain copper lines, which have worked well in the U.S. since the earliest days of Ma Bell. Verizon also says that fiber is more durable than copper. But the problem is that in the event of a blackout, fiber service goes dead without a battery backup unit. And the backup unit only lasts eight hours. With copper service, electricity stays in the walls indefinitely when the lights go out. The only way to approximate copper's performance in a blackout is to either stock up on batteries or invest in a portable generator. Inevitably, many people will neglect to do these things or be unable to. People who need 911 service during a blackout are going to die because of this, and Verizon will have blood on its hands. In September 2015, I received a written ultimatum from Verizon. It said that I had to convert to fiber service or have my landline phones disconnected in 45 days. Verizon has a monopoly on landline in Brooklyn, which is where I live. I made three appointments with Verizon in September. Each time, Verizon didn't show up. I filed a complaint with the New York State Public Service Commission. Finally, in October, a Verizon technician installed an ONT device for landline phone service in my apartment. However, I was told that my Earthlink DSL internet service would have to be canceled because it would not work with fiber. I was offered Verizon Fios to take its place. I consented and had a Fios device installed by a technician at the end of October. On November 2, I discovered that my landlines weren't working. Despite numerous phone calls and a certified letter to Verizon headquarters, this problem was never corrected. Almost every time I called someone, I was connected to a different person. Most of them sounded polite and professional, but when it came to action, none was forthcoming. I spoke to about a dozen people in various Verizon departments who assured me that my phone service would be restored within hours or days, but that never happened. One genius tried to sell me cable television service when he knew that my phones hadn't been working for weeks. I politely declined. As for my letter, I never received a response to it. But I did receive a bill for $68.00 for a month's internet service. At the moment, I'm relying entirely on cell service to make calls. While I had it, my Fios internet was okay most of the time, but I was so enraged at Verizon's incompetent, unprofessional and unreliable behavior that I opted for mobile internet from T-Mobile, which is cheaper and I am quite pleased with. In early 2016, I terminated my contract with Verizon. To its credit, Verizon staff waived the early termination penalty and provided me with a $21 refund for unused service. In television ads, Verizon says that it's Number One in customer satisfaction. But that doesn't mean very much if they're the only game in town. I resent this corporate bullying. I have tried unsuccessfully to get the media to pay attention to this issue, but nobody seems to care. I can get by on cell service alone, but I wanted to keep my landline service as a backup. I may also have missed some important calls because I'm job searching. I contacted the New York City Bar Association in an attempt to contact a telecommunications lawyer with whom I hoped I could discuss the possibility of taking Verizon to court on denial of service and other charges. Incredibly, the Bar Association refused to even give me a referral. It is my hope that this post will benefit the unwary consumer. Avoid Verizon like the plague!

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I have a choice of 3 cable companies in my area, I had used 2 of them. I was really pleases because ratings were so high, and I am very happy with it. It is the best thing available.

Good. I have no customer service issues. The installation was very good. I would use them again in the future.

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(See above)

Of all the numerous internet service providers I've used over the years in 4 different cities, Verizon Fios is most definitely far ahead of its competition. The installers are true professionals that care about doing a good job unlike most other installs with other companies where a disgruntled contractor shows up, rushes through the job and leaves the place a complete mess. Service has been close to flawless with only 2 short outages in 2 years. And when there is a problem or a question, their support staff is unparalleled: attentive, personable (not the typical robotic types you get usually) knowledgable and always willing to see the issue through to resolution. My only complaint is that their automated phone system can be a little frustrating and when we had the TV service (which we disconnected) the interface was very clunky and slow.

Perfect...arrived on time, worked speedily and answered all questions and concerns.

The Verizon Fios service never lets me down. It is super fast and the price is very good.
Also when service guys install they are very knowledgeable.

When speaking to the salesperson, I constantly brought up that my computer operating systems were older due to a couple of large proprietary software programs I had that could not be updated. Hence, those computers were running on older operating systems and were networked to other computers. I didn't want any problems with the installation knocking out any of those systems. and ldquo;Not a problem, that won't happenand rdquo; the salesperson said. I reminded him that I did NOT want to change providers if I was going to have to pay my IT guy a lot of money to come in, re-rout and update my networks or repair any other damage the installation might do. I repeated myself several times. Once again Verizon said.. and ldquo;There will be no problem with that at all and ndash; we can assure you!and rdquo; $750.00 later when my IT person repaired all the damage they did to my various systems and networks, I wrote a letter to the president of Verizon reiterating my issues. I was reimbursed for all the headaches it caused me... Having said that, I would still not recommend Verizon FIOS to anyone who has issues/unusual proprietary software/or any other out of the ordinary computer situations or networks. They know only how to plug and play standard issueand hellip; their technicians are not sensitive to atypical situations. Also, did you know that if you have older equipment and they tell you about the blazing speed you will get with your new FIOS internet, they are not telling you the whole story? Be aware that the number of Mbps of "blazing" internet units coming to your computer does not matter if your computer cannot accept them. So they can quote mega Mbps and you will be impressed, but those Mbps only come TO your computer. If your computer can't handle them because of its age or size... there will be no change in speed and your new service will be as slow or bad as your old service. They never tell you that.

Our internet was down in our NY office. Verizon business services actually picked up the phone on second ring (human no less!). A ticket was created and with in less than a minute I had a text confirming the ticket.
The line was tested after reboot of modem. confirmed down (so not us).
I was called by the tech with in 30 minutes and arrangements were made to be on site the next day.
I was sent a second text confirming the arrival of tech on site (I am out of state). The tech did not leave until service was restored.
I got a text confirming the completion.

Two days later service was again interrupted. I called back in, referenced the ticket. The original on site tech called me back with in 30 mins. He went back to the site first thing (even before we opened), figured out what happened, restored the service and notified appropriate people. A different set of techs working for next door company took our service. Sure glad we didn't get those guys!

I really appreciated the way the tech we got handled the entire case with professionalism, speed and follow up.
My workers at the location were happy and pleased with the attitude and service (enough to comment).
The Internet speed is good (FIOS) and a great value. But the service says it all.

In regards to what caused the first interruption, a delivery truck took out the wires, this it the third time this has happened. The driveway of the building is on a slope. We found out Verizon could not raise the wires because electrical wires above it were hanging too low. So we're on a list to get that fixed. Then Verizon can finally do something. I appreciate again that our tech checked it out and got us the real story.

Thing to note when calling in, we have phone service with Verizon as well but that is totally separate group! I made the mistake of not asking specifically asking for the FIOS group first. And the phone people did not answer as quickly. When you call for service make sure you ask for business FIOS issue if Internet issue. Waste of time talking to the phone people. You will end up repeating your information several times for nothing! They will even tell you that you don't have FIOS!

I really like the channel, that came with the package, and the price was also affordable.
The only thing that I really didnt like was the internet, always was slow. I use the internet, more than I watch tv, so I change to Cablevision.
The phone service (or landline) was also good, but.......who uses landlines now in days.....

The service is great, but the package is expensive.

I have nothing against them. The internet is fiber optic so it is fast.

I have recommended them to a lot of my neighbors. They are awesome. We don't have HDTV, and the picture is as good as my brother's HDTV. I have not have any problems with them. The people that come are so professional and friendly.