[CALUG] Linux & FIOS

[Eldon Ziegler]

I've had FIOS since July 2006 and couldn't be happier. I have the
Internet only business service which includes 5 static IP's, "20" Mb
download and "2" mB upload for $99/mo. Speakeasy measures the download
at 16 Mb and about 1.7 up.

There were several snafu's with installation but once it was working I
haven't had a problem. I run a combination of Fedora and Windows with a
older Fedora server handling the routing, firewall, DHCP and local DNS.
Also, there are a couple of database/data collection/web site servers in
my basement for a small energy monitoring business. I turned off the
Verizon box so I could use dnsmasq. Their router is needed to get the
channel schedule listings on the TV but you don't seem to have to use it
for anything else.

One problem I ran into early on was that I couldn't find anyone at
Verizon that understood DNS. An account with BulkRegister took care of
that.

This is a 1993 built home so I have only cat3 cabling but haven't had a
problem with 100Mb. I'd recommend you install cat5+.

Fortunately, we've had few power outages that lasted beyond the span of
the UPS. The Verizon interface came back up as soon as power came on.

I ordered FIOS shortly after it became available so the ordering and
installation snafu's might have been worked through since then.
Originally, I had the Internet-phone-TV service and had been told I
could get a static IP with that. It turned out that wasn't the case so I
switched to the business service. Verizon, apparently, hadn't figured
out how to bill for both the business Internet and TV service so the TV
service went and we stayed with DirectTV. Our phone service is over the
same FIOS but billed separately. A kludge, but it works.


On Sat, 2007-12-29 at 19:45 -0500, 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?  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.  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. 
> 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.  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.
>           ml hart
> 
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