Nice...

Finally - FINALLY - I was able to get FiOS installed at the house this past week. I was disappointed it wasn't available when we moved last summer, but they started laying the wire this winter and I had been eagerly anticipating it since. This was elevated when Colin and Liz moved into their house and promptly had FiOS installed. Man, was I jealous.

Anyway, aside from the beautiful HD picture that never stutters and the gorgeous on-screed display the internet is blazing fast (sorry all you suckers in Cincinnati stuck with Time Warner) - 20Mbps/5Mbps down/up. I knew those speeds were legit, but I wanted to do some speed tests just so I could drool.

So I headed over to speedtest.net and saw 19.8d/4.8u. Just to bask in it I went to speakeasy.net and saw 19.9d/4.7u. Nice. Then I saw that Verizon offered their own test and tried that - 6.4d/1.6u. What!? I tried all three again and and got similar results. I tried changing the test server locations - same results. Then I look at Verizon's results closer and see a note that says something to the effect of, "Your system has not been optimized for FiOS. Click here to download FiOS optimization tools." Ahhhh... So that's the trick - say my speeds suck, trick me into downloading and installing some crap-ware, then - miraculously! - I'm hitting those previously-promised blazing speeds. Sorry, Verizon, I'm not biting. When multiple other sources repeatedly tell me that I'm getting what's been advertised, I'm not gonna bite for your junk.

Aside from that, I'm loving FiOS. It beats the stuffing out of Cox in every category possible. Even better - it's $20 less per month. You'd have to have brain damage - or live in Cincinnati - not to switch!