[CALUG] Linux & FIOS

[Jim Sansing]

mhartwx wrote:
> I remember some CALUG discussion a year or so ago when Verizon started wiring 
> this part of Maryland for FIOS.  Have any CALUG members switched over to FIOS & 
> how do they like it, now that it's been here for a while?
I have had FIOS for about a year.  Because I live in an older house,
my phone and cable TV cables had deteriorated to the point of
uselessness.  After I got past the install problems, I have been happy
with it.  I expect that you would be less likely to see install problems,
because the techs had been working with it for less than 6 mos. when
I got it, so they will be much higher on the learning curve.

It was pointed out in that earlier discussion that Verizon's contract
terms are pretty strict, but I have not run into any issues.  And we
have a teenager with a laptop, plus we have downloaded quite a few
ISO images and run big updates after new distro installs.

I got the 3-pack (phone, TV, and internet), and save a little because
the phone is a fixed fee including long distance.  But we didn't make
many long distance calls, so you might save more.  TV and internet
cost about the same as Comcast, altho' I have more movie channels
because the packaging is different.  You have to lease TV set-top boxes,
and I got 2 standard ones for about $8/mo. total.  I think HD is at least
twice as much.
> Did they rip out your copper phone lines & how has their battery system
> worked when the power went out?  That's been a big sticking point with me.
They cut our phone line because we got phone service, but they didn't
pull it back to the pole, so I guess it wouldn't be hard to reinstall.  But
in my case, that would mean going back to those useless cables.

Our power is pretty flaky too, and we get a lot of 1-2 sec. outages.  Our
computers are on UPS and I have had downloads complete even when
this has happened.  For longer outages (ie. over an hour), the batteries
lose charge, but recover when power is restored.
> I'd like to dump my dial-up & am not a fan of COMCAST (& the dual TV-Internet
> Verizon packages look pretty good).  Are there any snags involved in using Linux 
> with FIOS?  I'm using Mandriva 2007 (I got acquainted with Mandrake when I lived 
> in OH - the LUG there were Mandrake fans) but could switch to Ubuntu or something
> else if necessary.
They really wanted a MS computer at install to set up our account and
the wifi, so we used my daughter's XP laptop.  Setting up the account
was just a matter of logging into a web site, so unless you get a total
moron, you could use Linux.  But you might have a battle over setting
up the wifi with Linux.  Beyond that, they seem to be OS agnostic.  We
have used Fedora, Suse, and Ubuntu since the switch with no issues.

Comcast, on the other hand, changed their DNS to a DHCP-like solution
which is MS only, a few months before we switched.  I found some DNS
addresses that I could access, but they sent me a lot of emails telling me
to login and download the client software.
> I don't own a router & was thinking about using Verizon's - is there a different 
> router I should consider?   Can the same router be bought somewhere else?  I 
> plan to to some talking with Verizon before I order but it may be hard to get 
> past the sales people to their techies for the real info.
If you get TV service, you have to use Verizon's router with the software
for managing the TV listings--which does take longer to load than Comcast
after a long power outage, but we're talking minutes, not hours.  Otherwise,
I have heard that you can use any router.

However, when I got the service, the router was free and includes both RJ45
connections and a wifi access point.  That may have changed by now, but
if not, then why pay extra?  I have not received any junk snail- or
e-mail that
I can trace to Verizon collecting data on my internet or TV usage, so I
don't
think there are any out-of-the-ordinary privacy concerns.

But if you do decide to get your own router, you should be able to
Google for
all you need to know about it.  I found a lot of discussions about FIOS even
a year ago.
> One other thing I've been wondering about - my circa 1990 house has the standard
> phone & cable TV wiring, so is it worthwhile to install something like cat-5?  I'm
> looking toward the future which is always difficult where technology is concerned.
>   
I used the existing cables in my circa 1970 house for the TVs and phones,
without any problems.  I had already run CAT5 for Comcast internet but
if you can use wifi, you won't have to do that.  Speaking of wifi, I'm no
expert, but I had to set a password for the access point, and I believe
that it
is using the most current standard (WEP?) for protecting your access point.
>           ml hart
>   
Later . . .   Jim