My FiOS Experience So Far

As you may know, we ordered FiOS as soon as it came into our area, which was the first of the year. Knowing that it's new and that many people may be jumping on board with it, I thought I would provide our experience with it so far.

To summarize, it's a pretty good product and bundle package. We have enjoyed having long distance on our phones again (when they've worked). (Sometimes, the cell phones, just aren't the most reliable.) The internet has been good. The TV has been great! That's definitely my favorite part of it so far. We were paying about $80/month for phone (without long distance) and DSL and no cable or satellite. Now we pay about $20/month more and have unlimited nationwide calling and something like 265 channels. Because of this, it may wind up saving us money once baseball season rolls around. Last season, I went to about half (6) as many Dodger games as I do most seasons (12-15). Now knowing that I can watch as many games as I want to at home (read: as many as the better half will allow me to watch), I won't feel the pressure to try to attend so many games, although watching it on tv and going to the games are completely different. But I digress. I have also enjoyed getting back into the WWE and now the option to order the pay per view events like back in jr high with my friends. However, considering they usually run around $50 for a 3-hour event, and the fact that money is horribly tight right now, I won't be ordering many, if any. But the product (FiOS that is) is a very good thing.

The service we have gotten from Verizon has been, well, let's say, embarrassing. And I don't mean embarrassing for us, I mean embarrassing for Verizon. We placed our order on Jan. 3 and booked our installment for Jan. 6. The tech guy shows up on time and gets to work. He was very personable and we liked him. He explained things very well and took the time to answer our questions and be a great service to us. However, when he hit a problem, we had problem #1. He installed the "brain" as he referred to it, outside our kitchen wall and the battery back up unit inside our back door. He then went to the hub to get the signal to be directed to our house, or however that works with fiber optics. When he got there, there were a few other Verizon tech guys who all had the same problem. Verizon had not routed FiOS to that hub! None of those tech guys (including ours) could finish installation. That sucked! Not his fault, but it still sucked.

After calling about 3 times over the following 3 days to see if they (Verizon) had fixed it, they wound up calling a few days later to setup a completion of the installation. They came out and finished the installation when they said they would. Problem #1 fixed, problem #2 created. When I get home, the phones are not working! I spend a half hour plus on the phone, only to have them not fix the problem. They suggested a couple of things, which I tried, but to no avail. After I hang up, I notice the phone line used for DSL running over to the computer still. It wasn't connected to the computer (FiOS was) but it was still connected to the phone jack with the split for the phone as well. I disconnect that and plug the phone back in, without the split and DSL filter (or whatever it's called). It works! Problem #2 fixed!

Problem #3 happened yesterday, and this is a little weird, with pretty much no logic as I see it. (You'll see.) The phones don't work again! What's going on here?! I spend another half hour on the (cell) phone with a guy telling me to disconnect the batter and reset our whole FiOS system. This would have left us without all services for a few minutes, which didn't sound like a good idea to me...too much risk if I screw something up. After me and the guy going back and forth trying to understand what the other was asking. Ultimately, I request a tech to come out and check it out. And now that the problem has been fixed, I'm glad I did, because the guy on the other end of the phone was nowhere near discovering the problem (and there was no charge...I would have been screaming at them if there was). The problem with the phones is classic...wait for it...they never connected the phone line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the?????????? The only way I can figure that happened was because our installation was split over two different weeks and two different techs. But then how were we able to use the phones for the week and a half we did have FiOS?!?!

I've given up trying to figure out what's going on. As of right now, all is good and if there are no more problems, all will be ok. So, in summary, good product, embarrassing service. And we haven't even gotten our first bill yet, which I have heard from multiple sources is an adventure in itself. Stay tuned as I may need to rant yet again.

PS - I'm still sick...completing week 2 of this cold!

Enough With the Germs!

Here I am, day 7 of this crazy cold I have. I first noticed it hitting me, thanks to some mild aches last Sunday night. Now it's a lot of congestion and fatigue. I couldn't really take much time off from work last week because I had so much to do, not to mention an interview for a new position at work. I took a half day on Tuesday and Wednesday, had the interview Thursday. Fortunately, I had Friday off so that was nice although I still had plenty to do. I went to the dentist after dropping Courtney off at school. Then I went up to church to look over the mailing list we're doing to advertise our Sunday School class. Saturday morning I spent cleaning up after Skyler as she threw up at least 5 or 6 times within a couple of hours. Finally today I've had a day where I can relax and just rest. It's been nice so far. Actually, I should get back to that.

We Are Go for FiOS

Well, we finally have fully functional FiOS. I have to say that so far I have been pleased with the products (phone, internet and tv). However the installation process has been less than good. First, Verizon sent the signal to the wrong hub for our house/area so when the first guy came for installation two weeks ago, he couldn't complete the installation. They fixed the problem last week and we had a different guy come out yesterday to finish the installation. From what Traci said, it seems like the guy knew how to hook it up, but didn't know much about the functionality or how to use it, or at least not as much as he seemingly should have. After he leaves and I get home, I can't use the phone because all our phones say "line in use" even though all three were not in use. I call tech support and they are of little to no help. He tells me to try a couple of things with the phones and that doesn't work, so he gives me another suggestion to try once we done with our call. Fortunately, he did give us the number to call to get access to our voice mail, which the install dude should have done. He tells me he can't help me with the finish of the internet installation (although we still had access), which the install dude told Traci to finish by following the prompts on the computer. The tech support guy I spoke to gave me a number to call today for help. After being on hold for a half hour, they inform me that this was not the right number to call for internet tech support. I call the right number and fortunately, that guy was really good and fixed what needed to be fixed. We also found out that the internet security suite we ordered has not been included. (I'll have to check the bill to make sure that they aren't going to bill us for it.) So, long story long the product is great so far, but the installation has been a hassle. (I have to admit that watching WWE Raw last night was pretty cool. With access to over 250 channels in our bedroom, I may never sleep again!) Kind of reminds me of a Weird Al song...

I'll Sue Ya

The Birthday Girl

I just wanted to post a few picture of my big little girl who just turned three this past Tuesday. Traci took these pictures of her on her birthday for her 3-year pictures. I'm too proud of a daddy not to share!




And now for a few pictures from her party last Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Can you tell she was excited for her party?

It was a My Little Pony theme.

She got some pretty cool gifts that she is enjoying every day (except for the kitty in her right hand in the second picture, which she has enjoyed daily and slept with nightly for who knows how long)!


Courtney was happy too because she got to spend some time with her best friend, Kate.

But eventually, the party had to end. She is saying goodbye to her friend from church, Madison.

And finally, I had to post this picture as it is one of my new favorites. All three of my girls inside the bouncer. It is now my desktop background at work.

I'm Still Here

I know this has been the longest time I have gone without posting in a long time, but things have been crazy stressful and crazy busy. Just finally have a few minutes to blog again right now. Between the birthday madness that is this time of year, dealing with our financial issues and prepping our Sunday School for a big kick off (and associated marketing, advertising, whatever you want to call it, within the church, which kicks off this Sunday) on February 8, there has been little time to blog. I did manage to post a song on my other blog last week, though. Hopefully I'll have more time soon, especially to post some pictures from Sky's birthday party this past weekend. Stay tuned.

Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaaaah!!

With a new year comes a new look to the blog. No new features or anything really (besides the blog description above), so don't get your panties in a bunch. Just thought I would change things up a little.

Speaking of changing things, I had my first really messy plumbing experience this morning. I called my father-in-law over to see if he could lend me a tool and maybe help fix the bathroom sink clog if he knew how. So he guided me through the process of dismantling the U-shaped trap area under the sink. (I heard on a tv show this is where most of the clogs occur so decided to try that instead of calling a plumber who would charge who knows how much.) This was after I had already taken out the drain plug to discover there was nothing there to clog the sink. Anyway, we get the U-pipe (as I'll refer to it, not being a plumber) off and after emptying it out and discovering the clog was not there either, it was suggested I stick my fingers in the pipe coming out of the wall to see if I could feel anything.

Bingo! I felt something just an inch or so in. After using a couple of small tools to try to get the clog out, we undid a wire hanger and shoved that into the pipe. When I tried to pull it out it got stuck. Needless to say, some force had to be used to remove it, and when I did, it went all over my shirt (and in a little too) and pants in an explosion-like manner. Talk about starting off the new year with a bang!

In hindsight, a picture would have done the incident more justice than this description, but at the same time, may have induced vomiting to some of you. Let's just say it was nasty looking (black, gray and grimy/slimy) and smelled like crazy. And even though I got my Home Depot fix for today, I will be calling a plumber to complete the repair. Things are hooked up, but leaking. My father-in-law didn't want to tighten things anymore for fear of doing damage, and I don't blame him one bit.

So after my second shower of the day, I am feeling cleaner, the bathroom is all cleaned up (from the "explosion") and all are napping except for me. Life is good.