Cable or FIOS?

[Skuzzy]

Just FYI.  My neighbor across the street works for Verizon in the FIOS division as an engineer.  They were testing 600Mb/s connections at his house the other day.

They were using an uncompressed HD video stream at 1080p for the test.  Smooth as silk,   He was saying they could go 1Gb/s towards the end of the year.

My only complaint is they force you to use PPPoE.  I really hate that.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Skuzzy


My only complaint is they force you to use PPPoE.  I really hate that.

Wassdat?

and why do you hate it?

[Ghastly]

Think of it as a "VPN" packaging that get's wrapped around your Ethernet packages (except that in this case, it's a protocol that was designed for dial-up networking, and doesn't provide any P).

It's a way to leverage a lot of infrastructure that was originally in place for a different purpose (dial-up) with only minimal changes (requiring the client PC or router to be able to establish a PPPoE session, and tunnel it's outbound IP through that).

What's bad about it is that the terminus point at the service provider is a natural bottleneck for performance issues (unless you really trust the phone company to plan capacity for peak use, rather than somewhat more than average??) as it has to decapsulate all the IP packets for all the connected devices (think of it as a big Router at the telephone company that handles all the traffic for all the users on that "leg".)  Secondly,  the MTU is slightly smaller than Ethernet, which means that many/most Ethernet packets must be broken in 2 and then reassembled (ugh!) before retransmission, which adds more overhead.

All IMHO and YMMV, of course.

[Skuzzy]

I missed the question.  Ghastly is quite right though.  The only advantage PPPoE offers is to the ISP.  It makes it easier to manage user connections.  It is the lazy way to manage user connections.

But the overhead for it, on a large network, is insane.

All it says to me when an ISP requires you to use PPPoE is they do not want to invest in the proper tools and personnel for managing a large network infrastructure.

That is why I do not have FIOS at home.  They could not figure out how to make an Internet connection without using it.

[Halo]

This reminds me of another conversation where I had to confess, "I don't understand a word you said but I've never heard it said better."

I'm guessing bottom line is FIOS is not perfect and needs better thruput throughout its system.  Which apparently can be said about most systems in anything anywhere, right?  Every system somewhere has a component or components not quite the equal of other components, right?

[Ghastly]

I didn't intend to indicate that FIOS was a poor choice - at this point, given a choice between my current Charter connection and FIOS, I'd take FIOS.  

I was merely answering the question as to why anyone who knows technically what it is (like Skuzzy) would be a bit suspicious and certainly less than overjoyed to see a PPPoE requirement.

It doesn't mean it won't work, or that it can't work well - just that there is an increased likelihood that it MIGHT be problematic.

[Halo]

FIOS is getting closer, at least its availability.  That's a BIG cable, orange, about two inches diameter, and takes a crew of about a dozen to bury it through about five yards a day in our neighborhood.  

The Verizon subcontractor did a great job installing the cable and restoring the ground.  Used a torpedo-like thingie to bore under the driveway and through the yard, entering and exiting every 10 feet or so.  

Dug a new route near mid lawn away from the existing phone and cable lines along the sidewalk.  

Looks like at least another month or so before the area will have FIOS activated.  I've read it takes about three guys all day to hook it up to each house inside and outside.  

Haven't decided yet whether to switch internet and TV from cable to FIOS, but it looks like a good possibility.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Halo
FIOS is getting closer, at least its availability.  That's a BIG cable, orange, about two inches diameter, and takes a crew of about a dozen to bury it through about five yards a day in our neighborhood.  

The Verizon subcontractor did a great job installing the cable and restoring the ground.  Used a torpedo-like thingie to bore under the driveway and through the yard, entering and exiting every 10 feet or so.  

Dug a new route near mid lawn away from the existing phone and cable lines along the sidewalk.  

Looks like at least another month or so before the area will have FIOS activated.  I've read it takes about three guys all day to hook it up to each house inside and outside.  

Haven't decided yet whether to switch internet and TV from cable to FIOS, but it looks like a good possibility.

Only took one guy at my house.
ran the wire from the pole to the house. Installed a box on the outside. a Battery back up on the inside. then just tied into my existing cable and phone lines from there.

Took about 4 hours from start to finish

[Halo]

All our utilities are underground, including lines to the house, so maybe that's why I've read about the longer installation times.  

Also curious whether 30-year-old phone wiring inside the house needs updating.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Halo
Also curious whether 30-year-old phone wiring inside the house needs updating.

most likely not  - if it works fine now, it will work fine after. Either way, replacing that wiring is not included in any installation charges they may have quoted you.

If they can't get you up and running in under 4 hours, I'd question the installers ability. What I have seen around here is a grunt, can you say Mexican, does the physical work (trench/attic) and an inhouse verizon guy does the technical.

[Skuzzy]

When they came out to install mine, they ran the Cat 6 cable through the attic and mounted a nice wall plate in the room wheh I could plug in.

During the turn-up is when I was told it was a PPPoE based connection and I terminated the installation immediately.

I never got charged for any of it. Getting ready to drop my DSL from them as well.  They are raising the price, while at the same time advertising 6 months at $12.99 for the service I have at over 50$ a month now.

I guess a satellite connection is next.

[Eagler]

wait until they destroy any and all competition .. it'll be the 1980's ma bell split up all over again once they corner the market .. again

[streakeagle]

Sorry I lost track of this thread... so I didn't see the request.
Here is the requested ping plot:


By streakeagle at 2008-03-07