Comcast Xfinity vs. Verizon FiOS Internet

[SIRmisterD]

Hello,

My family is thinking about moving and the location where we are moving to has both Comcast Xfinity and Verizon FiOS internet available (Not the fiber optic FiOS, I believe it is up to 75mb/s). I only have experience with Comcast and not much at all with Verizon. I would like to know which ISP is the best. Also, the best reliability and the best overall ISP. Just because I only have experience with Comcast, I don't know much about how Verizon sets their internet up. Although, I did hear that Verizon doesn't let you connect your own router, and they have some funky setup compared to Comcast? However, I'm not sure if that is true or not. I have really good hardware and I'd hate for it not be put to good use (Netgear R7000 AC Router and an extender if needed). So overall if anyone could give me their thoughts on my situation, that would be excellent!

In our house, we would stream Netflix/Hulu, Game, Live Stream, stream music (Pandora), multiple iPads web browsing, and many devices connected at the same time. Speed wise, I'm not too worried about because I get 30mb/s down and 12 mb/s up. Majority of the time it would be Netflix/Hulu with gaming at the same time, and then streaming music from one device with multiple devices web browsing.

If there any questions please feel free to ask,
Jason

 

[curiosul]

If the speed is faster than 10Mbps, it's Fios.
Verizon is cheaper at faster speeds
Comcast at slower ones
Verizon usually locks you in a contract (two years)
Comcast usually doesn't
Verizon forces you to use their own modem/router. You can however use it only as modem and use your own router (google it).
Comcast has a monthly download limit.
Verizon doesn't. I heard however that in regions where there's competition, Comcast doesn't have the limit (what a dick move!)
Comcast has the older network - less reliable
Verizon has the newer one.
Comcast got payed by Neflix and their speeds are decent.
Verizon got payed by Netflix and their speeds are still slow (a dick move). Google net neutrality.
Both have something like 30 days money back guarantee. Get both services and cancel one after 2 weeks when you know which one is better for you.

 

[bill001g]

You likely will not see a lot of difference in the internet connection itself most difference are in customer service and it seems both have issues. Most FIOS is deliver on actual fiber so you have little choice but to use their modem since they use a propriety optical connection that is a form of wave division using multiple lasers. This can be only a modem if you wish and you can use any router behind it.

When you look at ISP verizon is in the small group called tier1. They own a lot of the companies that made up the original internet like UUNET. Many large ISP interconnect sites are dominated by verizon. Verizon unlike many other smaller ISP own a huge amount of undersea fiber. In general verizon has better coverage especially if you are going international. Comcast is considered tier3 even though these terms are much more blurry than they used to be. Mostly it is because comcast is most a USA base carrier and even then does not cover the whole country.

This does not mean comcast will be worse it really depends what sites you are going to. If you are lucky and the location you are using has verizon as a carrier you will never leave verizon network. But verizon charges a lot more than most other tier1 ISP for connectivity so many companies choose other smaller yet still tier1 ISP. So if the site you are accessing say uses level3 as their ISP the connection from verizon over to level3 may not be any better or worse than comcast going to level3.

I have not use fios...really wish I had the option. I have only experience with verizon is on commercial internet connections and other than the costs they provide very stable service.

 

[USAFRet]

FiOS, hands down. I've had the service for several years, and it is 100% rock solid.

I have the 50/25 service, and this is typically what I get:

If you also have TV service through them, yes, the Verizon modem/router has to be in the chain. It is the main brain, and talks to the tv settop boxes for their higher functions.
But you can, if desired, use another router behind that one.

 

[USAFRet]

1 caveat on their modems: Apparently some of them limit the WiFi to 20/20. Why? Who knows....

But you can easily plug in a fast Access Point and disable the ActionTec WiFi. I've not done it yet because almost all my stuff is hardwired.