I am up against an interesting problem here at work. They don’t allow access to instant messaging services, Web email, social networking sites, or gaming sites. It makes hard for me to take a mental break every once in awhile, and I have felt very disconnected from my online friends and previous co-workers.

I’ve explored ways to get around the network limitations. I purchased a new phone, the Verizon xv6900 (known elsewhere as the HTC Touch) to handle email. I can also sign onto AIM for instant messaging, but the lack of a hardware keyboard makes IMing kind of a pain in the ass.

There is an “unauthorized” open 802.11 wireless access point here at work. There are a few problems with using this full-time, however. One is that it is, well open. I trust in SSL to encrypt my traffic, but not everywhere I visit is behind the HTTPS protocol. The other drawback is that if I am on the open network I can’t get my work-related email, or be logged into our work-specific instant messaging system. I want to multi-home, and this isn’t possible with my current hardware setup.

There was also the option of using the phone as a wireless modem via Verizon’s high speed EVDO network. After fucking around with the phone and my work laptop off and on for a week, I finally got it working today.

Here are my speed and latency results.
Read the rest of this entry »

I called Verizon yesterday to see if something wonky had happened with my FIOS account. I was hoping that they’d put me down to the middle-speed account level by accident. It would have been the easy solution to my slow upload and download speeds. Unfortunately, my account was configured correctly. My call with tech support didn’t raise any immediate issues. The tech walked me through a TCP/IP optimization program (which didn’t do much, as I expected, but I was willing to give it a shot), and after that asked the dreaded, “are you sure it isn’t your router?” question.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was uploading and downloading some data last week and noticed that my upload speed was lower than it should be — like 1000+ kbps low. I tested my up/down speeds at Broadstar, only to find that I was getting, at best, 50% of the speeds I am paying for. I checked my bill online to see if I had been throttled down to the middle level FIOS service after my promotional month was up, but I’m still being charged for the 30Mbps/5Mbps line.

Fawk. Guess I’m going to have to call support on Wednesday to see what’s up. I hope it isn’t poor performance on the part of my Linksys router — the one that Verizon gave me would drop its connection every 30 - 50 minutes.

My days seem kinda boring after ordering FIOS; I don’t have to check the online availability page every twenty minutes like I used to. Luckily, Verizon has made up another fun mini-game for me to play, which is cleverly entitled “Document how frequently your FIOS connection drops.” Since I started keeping track on April 12, I’ve had nine outages. This is a big deal to me, since I work from home and also have a VOIP telephone used for work-related gibber jabber. I am waiting until I drop out of a WebEx I am hosting because my connection takes a dump.

The good news is the outages last for four minutes or less. The bad news is that there is no other apparently pattern to the outages. They have taken place at any time from 5:00AM all through the day and back around to 12:38AM. When I called Verizon to report the problem, I actually had an outage while I was waiting on hold with Verizon.

I have been holding off canceling my cable modem until the outages level off. Verizon has yet to provide me with an answer as to why my service sucks. The gentleman in the support center, of course, swore up and down that I was the only person he’d ever heard of with so many outages. I think what may actually be happening is that I’m one of the only customers who sit at their computers for 14 hours a day to notice :)

While Verizon is installing FIOS, I wanted to throw this up in preparation for my body fat caliper measurements tomorrow.

Wish me luck, both with the install and the pinching!

:post LJ-migration note:
This post originally contained a LiveJournal poll, which did not survive the transition to WordPress.

After over nine months of waiting in Virginia, and probably over a year on top of that in Rockville, I was giddy to see that FIOS was finally available at our address! I have compulsively checked the online availability page at least once day. That’s a lot of inquiries :)

My install date is Monday, April 10th. The wait will be worth it: I opted for 30Mbps down, 5Mbps up package for $54.99 a month. I chose the one-year commitment, so there is no installation fee (normally $70 if you go month-to-month). I am also saving $60 a year with the contract.

At last, beeyatches!

While was working her double today, I called Verizon to see if FIOS was going to be available any time soon. They finished construction on our street some time ago, and I called in to see what the deal was. It turns out that Verizon has yet to light the fiber, even while work in our development is complete. The lady on the phone said it would be another month or two before the strands were lit and I could schedule an install.

Two months? I wonder if we’ll still even be here by then!!

The FIOS crew completely finished the work in our yard late yesterday evening, and have moved on to our next door neighbor’s house. You can hardly notice that anyone was even here. Partly because we didn’t have a lot of grass to begin with (oak trees), and partly because they did a good job. I’m not sure how long it will be before they light the fiber. I reckon they will need to complete the entire street before service is available. I still check the FIOS availability page every day, although at this point I am sure it will be behind the service curve.

Our doorbell rang at 8AM this morning, which is intolerably early given that we don’t go to sleep in this house until 3AM at the earliest. I hobbled out of bed and went downstairs to see a gentleman in a hard hat and reflective vest standing on our porch. It was the FIOS installation crew!

The gentleman informed me that they’d be digging in our yard today. I thanked him for his time, relocked the front door, and went back to sleep. Apparently they were making lots of noise with their Ditch Witch and other machinery, but after slaying dwarves and night elves all evening I was too tired to care.

This little guy barely fit past our cars and my motorcycle in my driveway. I’m glad that it did, because otherwise the construction crew would have had to dig the trench for the fiber by hand. That would have taken longer, and any more time that I have to wait for FTTP goodness is more time spent in wretched anticipation.

Happiness is a spool of fiber

I’m not sure how long they’ll be doing work in our yard. The crew is already in our neighbor’s yard, so perhaps they’re just about finished with ours. They’ve already been at it for five and a half hours, although accounting for lunch and Construction Worker Time™ that’s only about 45 minutes of actual work.

I received a text message last Friday while I was in Maryland playing games over at The Captain’s house. It was from Lady Jaye. Since she is my sweetheart, I expected the message to say that she missed me or that she loved me, or some combination thereof. I was wrong. The message rang out loudly in my mind:

FIOS IS COMING!

Holy shit! I rang her on the way home, and she read me a flyer left on our doorknob Friday afternoon:

“Dear Homeowner (that’s us):

There will be buried utility placing operations in this community very soon. This project is to provide enhancement offerings and service improvements to customers of Verizon Communications.”

There was more, but who cares about the contractor doing a safe/good job? Shit, fool, just run the cable along the ground and plug it right into the back of my skull, thank you very much.

A folded letter from Verizon accompanied the flyer, stating that construction would commence in a few days. I will take some snaps of the workers once they begin work on my street, and will try to get a completion date out of them.

Woot!