Worth it?

[Chiangtao]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking about switching to FIOS. I just got a new computer (yeah!) and don't expect there to be any slow downs due to my hardware. So, I was wondering if it would be worth it to get the "enhanced" high speed internet?

standard: .5 - 1 Mbps
enhanced: 1.1 - 15 Mbps

Any word on the reality here? That is a large enhanced range. It comes with its own router, so that shouldn't bottleneck me either.

[Saulus]

Depends what you do, and you're right, that is a huge range... it's almost criminal actually.

Contractually it sounds like they only have to give you 0.1 megabits higher than your current speed?

If it's anything like most tiered service though, depending on if its DSL/Cable, I would expect somewhere around 10 megabits.

If you stream a lot or deal with large downloads, it's always worth it. If you have a number of internet capable devices hooked up to that connection, it's also worth it.

[Chiangtao]

I've got my gaming computer, my TV, and my wife's laptop. We don't do a whole lot of movie stuff, but occasionally stream through the TV's built-in Netflix app. Mostly I'm concerned about the bandwidth with implications toward gaming, and I wouldn't stream while gaming simultaneously.

[Thief Of Navarre]

Wow, that is a big range! How can they justify that?
The upside is enhanced (fibre optic) internet tends to bottleneck less at peak times and with higher download usage. Even though I barely get above standerd DSL in terms of download speed (sitting at 34mb/s at the moment) the fact that there is no 'rush hour' means I dont have to think before I log on ~ I can just do it without worrying about going down to a few kb/s download speed.