OK maybe it is and maybe it isn’t, but two weeks ago I had really fast internet installed.  The background is, when I bought my home, the only negative aspect besides not having a garage was the lack of true high-speed internet.  I’ve been suffering for more than two years with one-way cable.  For those who don’t know, that means I had about a 2 megabits per second (Mbps) download speeds (download rates of about 200 kb/s) and a dial-up modem for my uploads.  Yes, a dial-up modem to send emails, attachments, upload content to FTP servers, etc.  Not only was it archaically slow, it was hardly reliable.  There was no other option because the cable run through the house was 35 years old and wouldn’t handle cable internet and I live about one half mile too far out to get DSL service, which would require a phone line anyway.

For the last 2 years or so my community has been trying to rally Verizon to bring in DSL, gaining over 50 signatures and sending them in, they seemed to have cared less.  A few of us even talked with a local interent service provider about bringing in one really fast commercial connection and sharing it but the cost to build the infrastructure was insane, as were the monthly costs.  All of this changed at the end of April.

I came home from a typical day of work and noticed spray painted lines in my front yard, my neighbors had them too, and some had white and blue as well.  While walking my dog I asked my one retired neighbor what was up, he said we were getting new internet and pointed to a small trailer with what appeared to be orange stuff wrapped around it down the street.  I walked down; sure as shit it was fiber!  Over the next nearly 3 months, workers came and went, running fiber optic cable underground and then up to each of our houses.  A notice on my door from Verizon said they were installing FiOS, and they would follow up when service was available.  I naively thought it would take 4-6 weeks to do; it was closer to three and a half months till the service was available.

About three weeks ago while walking Bella before work I ran into a neighbor who said Fios internet was finally available and they were coming to install it at his house in 30 minutes.  By the time I got home from work, he was hooked up with one of the fastest packages they offered and loving life.  I called to subscribe to one of the lower cost packages offering 10/2, that is 10Mbps down and 2Mbps up and had them come the following Saturday morning.  Install was about four hours long and everything is neatly tucked away in my utility closet.  When installation was done, they setup the wireless router that comes with the service for free, this took less than 5 minutes and I was online.

Real world speed tests indicate that I have blazingly fast internet.  How fast?  This week I’ve been watching 480p HD TV shows on Hulu.com while downloading music and shows via bittorrent and have yet to see a single show skip or buffer.  I also downloaded a 1.7gb file in just less than 25 minutes.  But what about numbers?  Check out the speed test I did last night to confirm just how fast my internet is.

I checked several servers and all showed speeds faster than 10Mbps and about the same upload, so I’m getting everything I’m paying for.  Now that I finally have a real internet connection, I’m looking into the Netflix Roku and / or building a computer / buying a Mac mini to hook up to my Plasma to stream TV, act as a DVR and be a multimedia center.  I’m also kicking around the idea of putting a network video camera in my home so I can watch my dog while I’m at work or away.

Dollar for dollar I’m actually saving about $10 / month with FiOS as I don’t need or use my home telephone line anymore and the craptastic one-way cable has also been canceled.  If and when Verizon installs FiOS in your area, I’d hop on it.  For those who do serious downloading, they offer a 50/20 connection [at least in my area] that can be had for around $150 / month.  That’s 34 times faster than a commercial grade T1!

Similar articles that might also interest you:

Comments