Broadband in Long Beach

[Rekrab]

I'll be moving into one of the condo buildings on Ocean Blvd about a half mile outside of downtown Long Beach. It looks like my only two options are Verizion FiOS and Charter for broadband.

Does anyone else live in this area and know if FiOS is ACTUALLY available? And does anyone have experience with the two enough to make a recommendation as to which I should go with?

I'm just looking at internet, no TV or phone. Except, of course, I will need a phone line if I get DSL.

[jfwlb]

I have had both. I currently have FiOS because the internet speeds are better and cheaper than charter, plus you don't need a landline, which I don't have.

I live around Anaheim and Cherry, so I am not sure how close you are to me; you didn't say if you are east or west of downtown. I am happy with FiOS, and have had no problems except for having to reboot the modem/router once in almost a year.

I do know that you can go to the Verizon FiOS website and type in your zip and it will tell you if you can get FiOS or not. In my condo, they did have to mount a "11wX"18lX"3.5d box in my computer room but it is not in the way.

[Rekrab]

I'll be pretty close to Cherry and Ocean, so that's a few miles form you. Still, good to hear it's in the area. Which package did you go for and how close are your actual speeds to advertised speeds?

[jfwlb]

Sorry for the late response. I didn't see the notification email.

Anyway, I don't remember the actual package I got, but it was not the fastest available, I think it was the next one down. I just ran a speed test on it and I am getting 30 Mbs download speed, 24 Mbs upload speed, and a ping response time of 12ms.

[Rekrab]

Blah, I called up Verizon and they don't service my address, not even with standard DSL. Looks like I'll be forced to go with Charter.

On the plus side, Charter no longer has an EFT so if FiOS ever does come to my address I'll be good to go.

[jfwlb]

That kind of sucks, not having any choice. Good about the etf though.

[balance]

My Charter experience has been pretty much hassle free. I have had it for a little over a year, and I only recall two maintenance outages. While I am not in the city of LB, I am pretty close. Unless this has changed, Verizon requires that you use only the modem/router of their choosing. While this may decrease or eliminate customer errors in setup and maintenance of their home network, it also gives Verizon sole access to router settings.

[Rekrab]

That's actually one of the great things about Charter, they'll let me use my own modem instead of renting one of theirs.