Overview
Many of you may already know this, but I've been having FiOS speed issues since March 2013. The initial problem was a NYC regional issue with one of Verizon's main routers which was affecting download speeds (uploads were unaffected), but after that problem was fixed, my upload speeds went from ~35Mbps to ~24Mbps.
After numerous complaints (and over 20 hours in tech calls and visits), rebuilding the circuit twice, and going through the "Have you tried downloading the Verizon Optimizer " call script numerous times, Verizon still couldn't find the problem. I finally had Verizon replace my Alcatel SoHo O-821M-E ONT (I once needed multiple phone lines, but no longer needed them) to an Alcatel desktop I-211M-K ONT. I'm not sure what that re-provisioning entails, but after the switch, I'm happy to report that the speed issue is now resolved :). I wanted to share my performance experience between the two ONTs.
For background reference, this install was for my apartment in NYC. I am on the 75/35 plan with TV service, and am connecting to an Actiontec Rev. I router using MoCA.
ONT Model Numbers
Desktop ONT
ONT Model: Alcatel I-211M-K (1 GE, 2 POTS, 1 MoCA)
Power/UPS: CyberPower MI36A12V3
Battery: (1) GS GT12080-HG
SoHo ONT
ONT Model: Alcatel O-821M-E (2 GE, 8 POTS, 1 MoCA)
Power/UPS: Alpha FlexNet FMPS-150W
Battery: (4) GS GT12080-HG
Results
Performance
Initially I thought the SoHo ONT would deliver better performance due to its more robust design and circuitry, but to my surprise found that the desktop ONT gave slightly better performance. Speeds were more consistent, upload speeds were back to 34Mbps, and the pings were slightly better (I took over 100 before and after speed tests) although this may be due to other factors. My external IP address and first hop to Verizon remained unchanged.
Desktop ONT results:
[att=1]
SoHo ONT results:
[att=2]
Again, to reiterate, the SoHo ONT gave the same upload speeds prior to the March incident, and given the consistent download speeds between ONTs, I'm guessing the issue was on Verizon's end rather than the ONT malfunctioning.
Power Consumption
Power usage between the ONTs were also notable. I used a power meter to monitor usage. Understandably, the SoHo ONT used twice the power, but also had a MUCH LARGER (pictures below) battery backup, which probably accounts for much of the difference. Given that I no longer needed the features of the SoHo ONT, and the slightly better performance of the desktop ONT, this was all upside to me. The results below are the average continuous power consumption measured from my power meter connected to each ONT vis-a-vis the respective battery backup:
Desktop ONT:
Amps: 0.14
Watts: 10-11
SoHo ONT:
Amps: 0.21
Watts: 23-24
Less than half the power consumption with no speed degradation. Happy camper.
Conclusion
I'm happy to say that my speeds are now back to normal, but it still took Verizon too long to acknowledge and then fix the problem to begin with. Furthermore, the fix came after I requested Verizon switch out my ONT. Regardless, now I have a much smaller ONT in my apt, and a smaller power bill to boot.
Pictures of the ONTs are below, for those who are interested. Enjoy :)
All photos below were taken with a 3rd generation Ipad.
↧
Results from swapping ONTs: Alcatel O-821M-E to I-211M-K
↧
Any good info on the desktop ONTs?
My install is this week and I'm trying to prep my apartment a bit to make the installation a bit less painful. I requested a desktop ONT on the order notes because I definitely don't have room for one of those massive ONTs in my closet. However, I haven't been able to find any really good info and/or photos of these smaller ONTs. Does anyone know....
* Is the battery backup included in the desktop ONT or is a separate unit?
* If the BBU is separate can it be plugged into a surge protector?
* If it can't be plugged into a surge protector... would they allow me to use a A/C outlet on an already existing APC BBU instead? I'm maxed out on outlets and if they need a dedicated A/C wall outlet for the BBU I may have an issue.
* Anyone know which one (Alcatel or Motorola) is used in NYC. I'm serviced via the Bridge St WC (Brooklyn).
Anyone have any good photos they can share of a desktop ONT?
↧
↧
Wake-on-LAN Actiontec M1424WR Rev I
I have seen a number of thread on this, regarding various Revisions of this router, but none seem to work.
Here's all that I tried - I would be grateful for any advice.
1) To eliminate any NIC issues from the equation I'm using the Depicus Wake On Lan Monitor to detect any incoming magic packets.
http://www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/wake-on-lan-monitor.aspx
2) From within the LAN I can send a magic packet to the PC IP, or to the broadcast IP (192.168.1.255) and they are nicely received by the target PC.
3) From the Internet, I can send a magic packet that makes it to the PC, if the router port forwarding is set to forward UDP9 to the specific IP of the one PC I want to wake up. This doesn't seem to be a good solution as
i) ARP table entries can time out
ii) Only one PC on the LAN can be targeted (less of a problem for me)
4) I telnetted into the router and made the fake ARP entry for IP 192.168.1.254 with the broadcast MAC (FFx6) but the packages never make it to the targetted PC.
5) I also read that the I Revision of this router apparently allows direct port forwarding to the broadcast address (192.168.1.255 in this case), but this also fails to get any magic packets to the target PC.
Any ideas on what is going wrong?
Thanks!
Nikos
↧
[Northeast] Just upgraded to 50/25 ....wireless speeds are terri
Just upgraded to FIOS Quantum 50/25 from 15/5. Connected via wireless and the speeds are like half of what it should be. Via speedtests, I get 20 up/ 18 down and I barely notice the differences. Connected by ethernet, I get 57/33. Is there anyway I can get that same speed over wifi? The firmware on my router (Actiontec MI424 WR Rev 4) is up to date. Is there any settings I can tweak?
↧
is fios site working bad for anyone else?
I am trying to log in into myverizon and wow something is not right.
can't log into my fios or nothing.
website times out after putting online log-in info.
Anyone else with same issue? as of 7-1-13
↧
↧
[Northeast] Outage in NJ?
Around 5:30am, my connection failed over to my backup ISP. Is anyone else in NJ down? Recording at VZ says "there is an outage in your area. Expected restore time is 1:30pm." I am on hold waiting to talk to someone. My CO is Somerville.
↧
VID indicator on desktop ONT
My FiOS installation is complete and i'm quite impressed. Not as many HD channels as TWC in my area but I'm not missing any HD channels that I really watched so no big deal.
I got a desktop (small) ONT and BBU and the tech set up my internet to come via ethernet (instead of coax) at my request so I can use my own router. I don't have any Verizon STBs (all CableCards) and I'm on a Triple Play promo.
One thing I noticed is the VID light on my ONT is red.... I'm not seeing any issues with my TiVos but just curious why the light is red (since Verizon always says that red is a sign of a problem). Also, the LINK/CARRIER light blinks orange. I can't find any info on this ONT on Verizon's support page and it didn't come with an owners manual.
My ONT model number is Motorola ONT1000GI4
Any have any ideas why the VID light is red? LINK light orange? Anyone have a link to an owners manual?
↧
[Northeast] Fios in Purcellville, VA
So I'm building a new house in Purcellville, VA and was getting to the point of just accepting that I wouldn't be able to get Fios because they aren't in Purcellville, but are in Leesburg which is 10 miles away. Purcellville is all Comcast. Well out visiting the new construction to check on things last night and there are a ton of workers trenching and pulling some type of cable through the ground. I ask one of them what is going on and what they are laying and he says fiber for Fios. Wow, as far as I know no other area in Purcellville has Fios but they are putting it in our new subdivision on the outside of town. Yeah for me.
↧
Thinking of giving up fios
I am tired of the speeds that happen daily for hours at a time. This is my fastest speedtest tonight.
[att=1]
I pay for 75/25 service and this is what I get . I cant even stream video from most websites. I have been battling this issue for months I have called support 30 times and as long as there speedtest app gives good speeds they dont give a crap. I tried the verizon direct forum and never got an answer. And from my trace
traceroute to pool-71-118-x-x.lsanca.fios.verizon.net (71.118.x.x), 30 hops max, 46 byte packets
1 ip-66-33-206-3 (66.33.206.3) 0.276 ms ip-66-33-206-2 (66.33.206.2) 0.224 ms ip-66-33-206-3 (66.33.206.3) 1.489 ms
2 ip-69-163-188-129 (69.163.188.129) 0.340 ms ip-69-163-188-133 (69.163.188.133) 3.168 ms ip-69-163-188-129 (69.163.188.129) 0.247 ms
3 vl204.mag01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com (38.122.20.217) 0.399 ms 0.413 ms 0.481 ms
4 te0-0-0-6.ccr21.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.28.141) 0.685 ms 0.608 ms 0.701 ms
5 be2023.ccr21.lax05.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.30.186) 0.952 ms 1.306 ms 1.130 ms
6 uunet.lax05.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.13.86) 39.979 ms 40.502 ms *
7 * * *
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
we can see everything falls apart with cogentco and verizon. My only other option is to go with charter but as of now anything will be better then this.
↧
↧
New firmware version for REV I router: 40.20.7
I have the REV I router. Just pressed the Check Now button under the firmware upgrade section of the router's admin page and got a message that said a new version is available.
Before I press the force upgrade button, does anybody know what are the changes? Does it fixes any problems?
↧
Question about Router Replacement.
I didn't know where to post this, so I figured that the Verizon Fiber Optics forum should be the right location due to this being part of the internet. Feel free to move this topic if needed.
I called up Verizon support since our old router has been acting up. The agent set me for a replacement router, the package came the next day. However I was surprised to see that the router in the box was beat up. The plastic glass on the front had scratches all over it, and the overall plastic was all dinged up. Neither did it come with the little stand.
I was wondering if instead of supplying us with a new working router, did Verizon just send any old router to us? Since this router looks completely used and abused.
EDIT: Ewww, there is also a sticky stain on the back. Will I be able to send back the router that they just sent us, seeing as how the performance is the same regardless of which one is plugged in?
↧
CableCard Question
We moved in about two years ago and haven't touched the FiOS set-top boxes since then. About a year ago we added a CableCard to the mix so now I know what they look like.
We are moving out and I happened to notice that inside the QIP 7100 is what looks like the exact same CableCard we're using.
So if the Cards are the same (Occam's razor, they appear the same... my gut tells me they are the same) then how come as per the Verizon web page "Without a Set-Top Box, you do not have access to On Demand programming, the FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide, or other advanced features of the FiOS TV service."?
Just curious...
Matt
↧
Anyone seeing issues in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area?
I know there are currently Cognet\Verizon problems (and Cognet\EveryoneElse problems, for that matter), but I'm pretty sure this is unrelated.
Last night at about 1:30-2:00AM, my FiOS connection dropped out for ~5 min., came back for ~1 min., and went back out for ~10 min. The second time I got up and checked the ONT; red and many amber LEDs were lit up. By the time I closer to examine the labels next to the LEDs, it reset and the connection came back. Ever since, I'm living with great download speeds (43Mbps+) but terrible upload speeds (less than 0.5Mbps) on my 35/35 connection. I've restarted the router (a pfSense machine) and I've reset the ONT; still nothing. Can't do anything that is even slightly upload intensive with the connection.
This same exact thing happened late May as well. FiOS connection crashed and came back really, really slow. Called tech support, and after two techs came out to the house to check things, gave us a new router (which we don't even use; pfSense FTW), install a new ONT, they narrowed down the problem to a failed "LM Card" on their end (that is what the tech told me, at least). The whole process took over two weeks. I'm not excited to go though the same process again......
Something else to note: Just like last time I had this issue, my latency everywhere is fine. 20ms or less to everything I've pinged on the east-coast. Trace-routes show nothing out of the ordinary.
Speedtests wont even complete right now...
(I'm also still suck with PPPoE, but that is another problem...)
↧
↧
has everybody been bought off?
I was already 99% sure that both the politicians and the agencies that are supposed to insure service quality to the American consumer (ex PSC) have been bought off by the corporations, but when we have Verizon pulling this kind of thing,
http://stopthecap.com/tag/verizon-communications/
and the UNION doesn't even feel the need to mention it to the workers or the public, then you've got to assume that the union maybe has been bought off also. I don't see a thing about this on CWA 1101, 1104, 1108, 1109 website, etc.... Verizon is very quietly doing away with the regulations that protect this country's communication network and you can't even find a news story about it and I don't see the union trying to inform the public or even the workers about it. It's a disgrace.
↧
Using a different router for wireless
I've had FiOS for a long time but I just moved to a new house that is pre-wired throughout with CAT-5E. The FiOS ONT is in my garage and is connected via Ethernet to a rev. I Actiontec which is sitting in a central wiring panel in my basement. I'm only going to be using a couple of wired drops so those are connected directly to the LAN ports on the Actiontec. I don't have a problem using the Actiontec as my primary router (we have FiOS phone and TV so I'd like the guide data on the STBs and caller ID info) but unfortunately, it's not a good option for my wireless devices because 1) it's located in the basement and 2) it doesn't have a 5GHz radio. I have an Asus RT-N66U router that I'd like to use for wireless. I realize that I'll need to disable wireless on the Actiontec and connect the Asus router to an Ethernet drop. Can anybody tell me what else I'd need to do to the Asus router if I just want to use it for wireless connections? Thanks very much!
↧
[Northeast] FIOS Periodic DNS Failures
I have had FIOS working fine for a few years. For the last few months about once every few hours no computer on the internal network can find a web site for 30 to 60 seconds and then (after doing nothing but wait) everything is fine. Various operating systems (Win 7, Win XP, Android, PSP) and various browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Seamonkey, IE 11, Android ICS browser, PSP browser). Both wired and wireless. All have the same behavior and have the problem at the same time. To my knowledge nothing changed on the internal network side when the problem started.
The direct symptom is that browsers just come back stating site not found. Wait a bit, hit reload, and then the sites just load. This failure is for all new sites tried until the problem clears up. The problem is not restricted to specific web sites and includes big/common sites like google.com or yahoo.com and small/obscure ones.
Interestingly enough, if there is internet radio playing it continuous playing through the 30 seconds or so of the "outage"/inability to get to a new web page. Also, my boy's games on internet servers continue working through the "outage". Lastly, connections from computers to the in house NAS server continue to work. From this I conclude that connection from the computers through the network to the router and to the internet continues to work throughout the "outage".
Given these symptoms, the simplest explanation I can come up with is that the DNS server is not responding for the 30 seconds or so of the "outage".
Looking in the Westell 9100EM (FW 2.01.02.00) FIOS router logs I see nothing obvious (at least to me). The router reports DNS server addresses:
71.243.0.12
68.237.161.12
which Whois says are Verizon addresses. Individual PC's have their Default Gateway and their DNS Server addresses set to the router address.
I have tried the simple idea of powering the router down, back up and re-booting the computers but the problem comes back/persists.
Any ideas on what might be going on and/or how to debug further?
Any advice how to get Verizon tech support to help fix this when I can never predict when it will happen nor does it happen long enough to call while it is happening?
gby
↧
FIOS scheduled for Bronx NY yet?
I don't know if it's here yet. I know there's folks reporting it live in some parts of Long Island, so I figured I'd ask.
↧
↧
[northeast] Brooklyn,NY FIOS Deployments
I saw fios work being done in Mill Basin and Bensonhurst. Last time i heard Verizon is suppose to start wiring Dyker Heights then Bay Ridge. So i started this thread so that people in Brooklyn would be informed since other boros have their own. Anyone who sees fios work being done in Brooklyn areas please post.
↧
fiOS with LTE Backup
Is there a way to set up my home internet to operate with FIOS as the primary carrier, but also have a 4G Router connected as a backup. For example, if my burglar alarm was connected through ethernet and a burglar cut the line, it would be good to have 4G LTE connection kick in.
↧
FIOS with CAT 7
Just changed my cat 5 50' cable to a new Cat 7 and the download improved by 50mb !
↧