FiOS Fone

Steve #1

Member
Howdy everyone. I'm a long time lurker, but this is my first post.

I have nothing as far as HA equipment goes. My interest has been peeked after reading the forums here while researching home security systems. I'm planing to get an ELK (no exactly sure which one yet) and some basic HA stuff (I'm guessing everyone here started out to just do a few basic things :) ). I'm not planing on doing anything until fall. This will give me time to decide what I want to get, get it, and not have to be in a Texas attic in summer.

So now that I've introduced myself, on to my original topic.

I had seen a few little bits of informationon the FiOS Fone recently. Last weekend I participated in a survey from a third party for Verizon and the FiOS Fone. The features that were alluded to really peeked my interest and I have since found some other information on gizmodo. There is also some information on Open Peak's website.

And while there is no information on pricing, the survey I took alluded to $199 and $230 for one that was integrated with FiOS TV (which I also have) for 6 months.

Now I'm curious what y'all think about it, or what more do you know about it. Would it work well with a HA system? Are there other things out there now that would work better to do the same things?
 
Cool Idea. I can't see rushing out to replace all my phones at a few hundred a pop. Looks real nice and actually that price doesn't seem to bad for what is implied to be in it.

I like the fiber concept and was going to see about trying it when it was available. The one thing I have heard: The phone service is not quite there. I didn't get specifics, as this was through a friend of a friend, but it was noted to 'not quite be there'. The person who tried it implements VOIP for corporate networks.

This was a little while back, and I would assume if there is in fact an issue they will work through it (they are after all 'the phone company').

The underlying concept is right if they can implement it without going broke. Just like cable trumps dsl (for the most part), fiber trumps cable.
 
Cablevision (here on Long Island) is falling behind fast with Verizon pulling fiber right into the house. I dont know if cable can do that with their infrastructure or not.

I pay about $165 for Cable TV, Broadband Internet, and VOIP. Thats a bit much if Verizon comes out with faster speed and more selection of channels etc for about the same price.
 
FIOS does sound cool but in my area it starts at $40/month for 5MBps and tops out at $200 for 30MBps. These are residential rates. By contrast, I get 6MBps from Comast (not counting the "burst" speeds to 12MBps) for $33. Unfortunately doesn't seem to be a compelling enough reason to switch over yet.
 
Thanks for the feedback, however, I'm not overly concerned with switching my phone service to fiber. I already use FiOS for internet and TV but did stick to standard copper phone lines due to the issues electrical outages could cause with the phone service but i have gotten past that.

My question is more about the FiOS Fone phone / internet device than the FiOS phone service.
 
The concept is cool, however, I don't see where it gives them an edge. If it is proprietary then if it is a hit, others can create an open standard version and remove the advantage (unless they are heavily subsidizing the costs). If it is not, then it provides advantages to all players.

Personally I think it is a cool toy. I am curious to the market reaction to it. People are not used to thinking about $200 phones for home use (although some are conditioned on the cell side). Capturing the 'cocooner' market does not win the war...
 
Digger said:
Cablevision (here on Long Island) is falling behind fast with Verizon pulling fiber right into the house. I dont know if cable can do that with their infrastructure or not.

I pay about $165 for Cable TV, Broadband Internet, and VOIP. Thats a bit much if Verizon comes out with faster speed and more selection of channels etc for about the same price.
I pay $85/month for 8 mB Internet, digital cable and phone though Time Warner Cable.
 
jeffx said:
I pay $85/month for 8 mB Internet, digital cable and phone though Time Warner Cable.
That has to be a teaser rate right?? (Meaning you are paying less than the standard rates).

If not, that is a great price. I am currently paying about $80 (total with taxes, fees, etc) for internet and digital phone from Charter - I'm on a teaser rate for the phone, and it doesn't include digital cable.
 
I've been on "teaser" rates for almost 3 years. Every time the rate is about to expire, I just re-negotiate for another year :)
 
acheslow said:
FIOS does sound cool but in my area it starts at $40/month for 5MBps and tops out at $200 for 30MBps. These are residential rates. By contrast, I get 6MBps from Comast (not counting the "burst" speeds to 12MBps) for $33. Unfortunately doesn't seem to be a compelling enough reason to switch over yet.
Here we pay 55 just for cable internet (6MBps service) but I was told that cable is SHAREd BANDWITH you and 49 of your closest neighbors share that 6 MBps pipe. and fios was described as dedicated bandwidth to your connection.... no worrys about little johnny or janey next door streaming videos and music chewing up your connection also...


But FIOS is not here yet I still need to confirm this once they say it is here....
 
For anyone that was interested in this back when I originaly posted, there is more information out on it now, and I'm still tempted.

They changed the name to the "Verizon Hub" and may be avalable sometime next month.

Some info here and here

FWIW Verizon is also releasing a new interface for FiOS TV. I'm thinking of putting my HTPC project I was about to start working on on hold. If they could get video to play from a PC via the STB, I'd be set..... call me a dreamer ;)
 
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