>It is delicate, careful work, dude! It can't just be slapped in there.
Uh, fiber cable is not that delicate. If you have ever seen someone pull fiber (I watched the FIOS installs in the area where I live both in the ground and on poles) there is nothing delicate about it. They (cheap labor you get at the local gas station) dig a hole in two locations, bore (by hand) between them and pull the cable.
BTW, the only thing that keeps a Verizon install neat is the fact the install a box on the side of the house first to hide what they do. Let's pop open some of those boxes and see what's inside instead of comparing apples to oranges.
> Actually, many of the Verizon installs are done by NON-union > workers and subcontractors.
And I'm pretty sure they are THE SAME GUYS who install the traditional cable services. (How many cherry-picker trucks and installers does the average town have available to subcontract to?)
> These CWA pictures are not FIOS installs...these are > broadband cable installs (these may have nothing to do with Verizon, > but a previous cable provider)...I don't see any Optical Network > Terminal boxes in these pictures. So know what you are talking about.
I hate to break it to you, but the previous article had even more pictures of FIOS installs which looked somewhat worse overall -- this is what the other poster was alluding to.
OK but hang on. My understanding from spending many hours with (a vendor involved) is the VZ FIOS **TV** is nothing more than regular cable, it splits out of the ONT on the side of the house and links into the house's coax wiring. And people gave VZ lots of credit for that because they chose not to reinvent the wheel and get stuck with a lot of proprietary expensive equipment and s/w when the tried and true commodity set up works fine. So when you have Verizon for TV, you CAN compare it to your cable, because it is the same. Except for the bugs in the software to deliver the program guide, and the errors therein.
In other words, they'll end up sending a truck and a technician.
re: "If your internet goes down, you must troubleshoot on a ladder or go into a crawl space...if you can find it! Now...standing on an aluminum ladder...playing with an ungrounded install, trying to power cycle the router and check the lights."
absolutely! Hey did you hear about the installers who were putting routers in the false ceilings and attics of people's homes? If your internet goes down, you must troubleshoot on a ladder or go into a crawl space...if you can find it! Now...standing on an aluminum ladder...playing with an ungrounded install, trying to power cycle the router and check the lights. What great customer service!
Actually, many of the Verizon installs are done by NON-union workers and subcontractors. The cost of a Verizon FIOS install far exceeds what is charged to a customer, from the placement of the pedestal in a community to actually running the fiber (and repairing it/maintaining it) to the ONT on the side of the house. Verizon is laying a FIBER OPTIC cable, not just running coax to a house! It is delicate, careful work, dude! It can't just be slapped in there. The investment is being made now to adopt a new technology and bring services directly to customers than were never possible before. Honestly, most customers are not really technologically saavy enough to have a FIOS network in their home and keep comparing it to broadband/coax "cable". My issue doing tech support for these customers is the install methods and crappy wire used in previous cable installs INSIDE the homes! These CWA pictures are not FIOS installs...these are broadband cable installs (these may have nothing to do with Verizon, but a previous cable provider)...I don't see any Optical Network Terminal boxes in these pictures. So know what you are talking about. I'd like to see inside the home pics...like drilling holes directly through walls, pushing coax through the hole, and leaving the customer with a compromised cable and wall damage to repair. Whatever happened to wall terminal (outlet) connections and keeping wiring in the wall? There are universal standards for installation and they need to be enforced to establish reliable networks from the provider to the customer's equipment, regardless of the provider they choose to do business with. That is part of what CWA is trying to address!
Ok... in most installs, grounding protects the viability of the phone signal (see protect the Battery Back Up unit) in FIOS/Verizon; it also helps protectthe equipment inside the home, including the customer's. Yes, shielded coax is a very good conductor for high enough voltages to knock someone across a room in unusual conditions, e.g. lightning strikes. Florida is the "Lightning Captial of the World" for a reason; unpredictable, ground to cloud lightning in clear skies frequently occur. Grounding IS important. Poor grounding practices can lead to cable nicks, which result in loss/attenuation of signal. Poor wiring practices cost companies money and tick off customers who have to stay at home and wait for a tech to reinstall cabling! It makes tech support difficult, and all around, sloppy installations are just a bad business practice. I wouldn't want my home to look like this!
On a side note, hats off to the CWA guys for doing the same work that cable & satellite install guys do but getting union wages and pension and benefits for it. Though that helps explain why VZ's price per FIOS install #s are so high.
but seven you are right for everyday normal use there is no real danger. it is when a circumstances outside of the norm occurs, one that happens a lot is a bad neutral inside of a home that will cause a house to use the plant as a ground if there is no common local ground.
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