For those of you considering Fios installation:

After a 9 hour "installation", Verizon left, unable to install fios to email, and:
I had no garage door operation,
no wi-fi (which meant Philip's computer was knocked out),
no outgoing email, and
no main telephone line.

There is no Fios service, no protocol, no expertise, and it will be at least 12 days before the phone is reinstalled to normal Verizon service. My brilliant Liftmaster service (They actually put out a white paper on this situation) and a trip to the internet, revealed that Fios uses a battery unit that lacks an integrated radio shield (Fios says they are "working on it") that can cause havoc. They also have no ability to connect to other than outlook express and verizon.net email programs. The technology is way ahead of this company.

1. It took more 20 telephone calls over a period of more than 4 months, plus an online attempt, all between January and May of 2008, before Verizon came out to do an installation of “triple play”. Several times, appointments were made, then canceled. Other times they simply didn’t show up (March 21st comes to mind). Sometimes, they canceled and rescheduled without contacting me, then canceled again, again without contacting me (I found this out only through later phone call trying to confirm what should have been a future appointment). Once, they even showed up when there was no appointment (I know because that time they did contact me by phone and I had to tell the to leave as nobody was home to receive them).

2. When they finally kept an appointment they made, their installation was, in a word, awful. Why?
a. They failed to procure my current phone number, which I considered essential as I’ve had it for years
b. They wanted to install another phone number. I refused as I had no use for it, so they didn’t, but charged me for that phone service that was never installed nor activated.
c. They didn’t use their own wiring but instead, expropriated the existing Comcast lines, disabling me from subscribing to both.

3. Because of the poor quality of the wireless internet router, the substandard on-demand TV service and the absence of phone service for which I was being charged, I canceled everything within the 15 day period before Verizon obligates a customer to a full year of their incorrigible service. I was told, repeatedly during my 20 some-odd phone calls that I would be charged nothing if I canceled within that 15 days. Nonetheless, I get a $71 bill for 6 [six] total days of service, including an “activation” fee for the phone service that was never activated. Faced with obstinate, rude, billing clerks on the phone, who most common attribute is disconnecting me, I paid the bill knowing that Verizon won’t hesitate to damage a customer’s credit profile by reporting a “delinquent” account to the credit agencies. They did it to me a year ago after I pulled the plug on their copper wire phone service and they failed to send me a “final” bill (I didn’t know how much to pay). For $52, I’d now have trouble refinancing my home.

4. Finally, to add insult to injury, I’ve just received the bill that broke this camel’s back and motivated me to write this letter. They want another $111 claiming I never returned the junk internet router mentioned in (3), above. This is nonsense and I have proof in the receipt I made sure they gave me, then scanned into my computer, then printed a copy and put it in a safe.

From the initial phone order, the wait time for customer service is totally unacceptable. It took several calls and about 3 hours on HOLD to get the service initiated. Half the time I received the wrong information and would have to call back repeatedly. Each call was at least 30 minutes on hold. Recently, I discovered that I had been charged for a premium channel that I didn’t have or order. The monthly charges dated back to my installation date. I tried numerous times to call customer service. When the wait was over 20 minutes, I would hang up... after all I do have a life. Today I tried again and was on hold 46 minutes before I gave up. I tried again and was on hold for 48 minutes before I finally got the error corrected. I am willing to bet it will still be on my next bill. If I could get out of the contract...I WOULD! TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

Everytime I try to open my inbox just after I've opened my Yahoo mail, these stupid flares cover the mail access area and have to be stopped before I can try to open my mail again. It is very frustrating and time consuming. I am ready to get rid of both my Verizon and Yahoo service if this does not stop.

Verizon said they would move my installation on a Wednesday. They called a few days before to confirm the move, and disconnect all services on Wednesday. I asked them to change the move to Thursday. The same day, Monday, they disconnected all our services. I called late at night, was put on hold for 17 minutes, called back to escape the hold, and was told that their appropriate office had closed and nothing could be done. The next day I called and found that the order had not been correctly entered.

This is one of many problems I've had with Verizon FiOS.