Installing FIOS: What to Expect

The last thing you want is to have that awesome Smart TV spend most of its time buffering the movie you’re trying to rent from Amazon.

The key to making sure you have the best home theater system possible is choosing a cable and internet provider that runs on fiber optic cable instead of through existing coax lines. Fiber optic cable can handle heavier user traffic, it sends information faster and service is more reliable (for example, you don’t have to worry about your service getting slower during “peak” hours).

It’s still a relatively new type of service and, in fact, Verizon FIOS is pretty much the only service that is offered domestically. The fiber optic cable/internet isn’t as widespread as other options yet it but it will be soon. Pro tip: around the holidays there are usually great Verizon FIOS promotions being offered.

The other thing you have to expect when you choose FIOS over traditional cable providers, is an extensive installation process. This is because it doesn’t use the existing coax cables that are run through your house. It has its own cabling system and that will need to be installed.

So what happens when you order FIOS?

1. First, someone will come out to your house to check out your location, your closest utility poles, etc.  If a new line needs to be created so that your house can access the municipal lines, they will set one up. You probably won’t even notice that this is happening because the work takes place outside of your house.

2. A few days after that, an installation expert will come to your house. You should plan on the process taking all day. Seriously. Take the whole day off from work. With a FIOS installation you’re looking at having your house basically “re-cabled.” Why?

Because everything is run through a centralized box (or a couple of boxes depending on the size of your house). Once that central box is installed, cables will need to be run from it to every device that you want to be connected to the system.

If your house is big, this could mean running cable through several rooms. You need to be prepared to have holes drilled in your walls. The good news is that these installation experts are really good at keeping the cabling clean and as subtle as possible. You won’t have to worry about lines running across floors or ceilings or up the middle of the wall (unless that is where your television is located).

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This means that you need to do some prep work to get ready for the installation:

1. Clear all of the furniture away from the walls—you want there to be enough space for a grown human to work easily along each wall of your house. Move the furniture to the middle of the room. Moving as the installer goes from room to room will add to your installation time.

2. Ensure that there is easy access to every device that is going to be connected to the system. Don’t make the installer crawl behind a wall unit.

3. Clean as you go. Drilling holes, cutting and splicing wires—this is going to create a trail of debris. Your installer will do his best to clean as he goes, but you can speed up the process by doing the cleaning for him. Plus, this way you’re right there if he has questions about the structure of your house or its electrics.

The good news is that, once you have this system installed, it can stay installed. You don’t have to disconnect it or do anything with the central boxes or cables if you decide to move. Those stay where they are and can be used by the next residents.

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