Upgrading FiOS Internet from 50/20 to 150/60 Quantum

I’m been a satisfied Verizon FiOS user since 2007; ever since they offered their fiber-optic services to our neighborhood.   I’ve briefly blogged about my experiences in prior posts:

• Verizon Home Monitoring and Control
• Upgrading FiOS Internet from 35/35 to 50/20
• Upgrading from Cox to Verizon FiOS
• Verizon FiOS Router – Model #: MI424WR
• Verizon FiOS IMG Update Lottery Winner
• Verizon FiOS Multi-Room DVR External Storage Expander

Today is another monumental change upgrade for me.   I upgraded from a whopping 50/20 plan to a blazingly fast 150/60 plan.  

That’s 150 Mbp/sec downstream and 60 Mbp/sec upstream!

Prior 50/20 plan:

Current 150/60 plan:

The upgrade was a bit more eventful that I had hoped.   The last 2-3 upgrades, simply required me to change my internet service plan.  No downtime and no tech visit.  Changing to the new Quantum service was a bit more involved…

1. When I upgrade my plan.   The home office evidently migrated my service information to a new server.   When this change took affect, it broke my internet a few hours later on a Monday evening.
2. A tech was scheduled to come out the following day, Tuesday.  However, due to a database error on Verizon’s end, my order never went through.   I found out the following day after waiting 3-4 hours for the tech to show up.
3. Once the database issue was resolved, the earliest time another tech could come out would be Thursday.  This means I would be down from Monday evening until late Thursday morning.   At this time I found out that there was new hardware involved.
4. Unfortunately, trying to restore my prior 50/20 plan service, would require cancelling the current upgrade order which may take 24 hours.   At this point, I was in a catch-22 situation.

When the tech arrived, there were a few changes I was not expecting.   Most noteworthy:

1. The Quantum plan required a new box outside.   Not a big deal.
2. It also required a new Actiontec MI424WR router.  Fortunately, the new router supports wireless 802.11 b/g/n.   Has two wireless antenna’s.  Also has 4 built-in Gigabit LAN ports.    The only negative I have is that it doesn’t support wireless N.
3. Requires a new Ethernet cable run from the box outside directly to the Actiontec; in addition to the coax that is now strictly used for phone and television.  This is required for STB channel guides, etc.  This was a bit annoying since another cable needed to be run and another hole in my floor.

After about 1.5 hours of replacing existing router, box outside, and running a new Ethernet, I was up and running.

Using Verizon’s internet speed test reveals my true WAN speed:

If you decide to upgrade, make sure you schedule the upgrade at such a time you can tolerate downtime from the moment you place your order until the time the tech arrives.   This was not explained to me and unfortunately caused me lots of grief as I work from home and needed to quickly find alternative internet access.

Until the next big upgrade – hope this helps!

Other posts of interest

• Upgrading FiOS to Asus RT-N66R Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router (19)
• Upgrading FiOS Internet from 35/35 to 50/20 (3)
• Verizon Home Monitoring and Control (2)
• Verizon FIOS Router – Model #: MI424WR (4)
• Verizon FiOS IMG Update Lottery Winner (4)
• Verizon FiOS Multi-Room DVR External Storage Expander (5)
• Upgrade from Cox to Verizon FiOS! (5)
• Filtrete 3M-50 Wi-Fi Thermostat (1)
• Building the Ultimate Hobbyist PC – Part 2 (0)
• HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server (0)