If you recall, we recently picked up a new (old) house and our plate is full of projects – including some relevant to a digital media blog. So, on with the story…
I’ve continued to make progress removing and recycling speaker and aerial antenna wire as I encounter it. There’s no way I’ll extricate it all, and fortunately I’m not quite OCD enough to have to. But it’s no longer an eyesore in various built-ins and closets.
The Verizon FiOS experiment continues, although we had a very slight set back last week when the contract crew missed their 9:30 – 10:30 appointment to bury the fiber. As I had to get into work, the company sent out a manager so I could go over an alternate run through the yard that wouldn’t sever our custom drainage system in three places. After some debate, he relented and marked my route. However, when the crew eventually arrived that afternoon they weren’t satisfied with the electric and copper markings in the neighbor’s yard (where the phone box resides), which put the project on hold over the long Christmas weekend. On Monday, the utilities were (re)marked and the line went in. As far as I can tell, they pretty much followed my path although I’m not sure how they handled the single drainage pipe they’d have to bypass. But cable, electric, and water continue to function – so I’ll call it a success.
While the fiber’s been dropped at the existing Verizon phone box, I’m hoping the installer can run it straight into the house so as to skip the sullying of my new siding (expected next week at the earliest). Worse case scenario, I hope I can convince him (or her) to remove the copper box and put the fiber one in it’s place. And, speaking of that siding, the company was a little put off when we chatted yesterday (regarding their delay) and I requested a few minutes of the project lead’s time before or during the install so I could discuss what I don’t want reattached. Given their initial reaction, I may be the one on the ladder removing the coax run so they’re not liable.
Lastly, in honor of the holidays, we caught Elf via Vudu on our temporary bedroom television. And while the speakers leave a lot to be desired and the set “boots” a tad too slowly, I’m fairly impressed with the 26″ Vizio Internet-connected TV. Netflix streaming and Vudu VOD without the clutter of another box is quite nice and Vizio’s wireless streaming capabilities have been extremely reliable. Although, at the end of the day (or spring), this TV will still most likely move to my basement lab/office.
Click to enlarge:
Dave,
I have to say the posts on the house have been great. Its like a christmas present to ZNF followers.
We gifted the identical TV to a sister-in-law. She never knew netflix-streaming devices existed, and I think once she saw her account connected to the TV and streaming, the TV won present-of-the-year award. I have to say the UI is pretty nice once you type in all your passwords to yahoo, facebook, etc. Thanks for the heads up on that model via costco, would have never found it otherwise.
“While the fiber’s been dropped at the existing Verizon phone box, I’m hoping the installer can run it straight into the house”
You don’t need to wait. Just hold up the end of the fibre to your naked eye, and you can see all of the TV channels simultaneously. It’s pretty cool, if somewhat overwhelming.
As someone once said:
“The thing’s hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God—it’s full of stars!”
Test.
Huh. I had (what I thought to be) a funny comment, but it won’t go through, even though it has no links or swear words. Figured you should be made aware of such things.
Dave stop being nice. It is your house. You tell them how the cable is going to be installed in your house. I would drill through block and run cable inside and seal. Then they have no choice. Remember they want to get done quickly not correctly. You need to force them to do what is correct not just easy.
Chucky, you got caught up in the spam queue (versus ‘moderation’). Not suer if you angered someone somewhere who then flagged you as spam or if it’s just a false positive. Unfortunately, there’s been a few more false positives than normal lately… but I can’t turn the filter off or we’ll be overrun.
SouthPaw, thanks for the encouragement. My brother-in-law has a box both outside and inside so I wasn’t quite sure if I could do it exactly exactly the way I want to. But I intend to be pretty specific with my requests. And, as I consider this an experiment until it’s done and done right, I’ll have no problem pulling the plug if they don’t fall into line. Honestly, I’m most interested in getting the old copper box off than hanging a new fiber one… which is why I might be willing to work a trade. Most folks I know with FiOS were left the old box to rot.
As far as the outdoor Arris Cox box, if the Verizon install is successful, I intend to return it with my CableCARDs and Tuning Adapters. Not sure how or if I can remove or conceal their orange coax though. I’ll probably just tape it off and plant a shrub.
“Unfortunately, there’s been a few more false positives than normal lately… but I can’t turn the filter off or we’ll be overrun.”
I fully appreciate your situation.
My only confusion is trying to figure out just what the spam filer picked up in that particular comment to mark it as a false positive.
Usually, I can grok a faint outline of the basic logic behind spam filters, but not this time. See if the FIOS installers can fix it. If you tell them you’re not happy with the install otherwise, they probably will. (They’d probably clean your bathroom if you ask them. FIOS manages to successfully communicate to its installers that they really want successful installs from the customer’s POV.)
We use Akismet:
http://akismet.com/
Unlike the ‘moderation’ queue which I have set up to contain comments with certain words or too many links, the ‘spam’ queue normally flags names, urls, or IPs that have been blacklisted. I assume there’s some other heuristics at play though, since obviously most of your comments come through. Who knows, it’s a dark art.
Dave I would wind up the coax cable and cover with plastic, seal off then dig a little so you can put in the window well.
My FiOS install went really well, the tech used the hole that the gas utility was already run through to get into the house and fished the coax and power cables through the ceiling of a basement room all the into the middle of our house where the utility room is. I had to assist as it was a 2 person job, but I was more than willing to have a super clean install.
Are you planning to stick with Tivo?
Tom, the plan is to keep my two TiVos and add a Verizon DVR to the mix. Once IMG 1.9 hits we might consider 100% Verizon due to the whole home streaming, any DVR to any DVR. Then again, both my TiVos are sunk costs and collectively only run me $6.95/mo at this point. Just wish they’d iterate faster.
With respect to the FiOS ONT, you can have it installed inside, if you care to and have the room. I’ve had FiOS installed at two houses and both times have had the ONT installed inside.