“With great power comes great responsibility” —Uncle Ben to Peter Parker. Spider Man
Verizon FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) is another example of a “growing power”. Everybody is talking about it, everybody wants it, BUT don’t rush yourself to get it just yet… Before you do, be aware of “THE CATCH”…
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If you want to get an e-mail account, you go to GMAIL, and sign up – no tricks, no catches, you get exactly what you want.
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If you need a domain name, you go to GoDaddy, get yourself a domain, and get exactly what you want
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If you need to keep/store you pictures online, you go to Flickr, upload pictures, and get exactly what you want.
If you want “Fiber Optical” ISP, you go to Verizon, pay the premium, and along with a great speed (can’t take that from them) you may get NOT what you want.
Here is what many, not necessarily very technical, people were tricked/entrapped by:
- Be aware – very cruel thing that Verizon FiOS does is it blocks outgoing (80 – http) and incoming (25 – smtp) ports! Now you cannot host your website/blog/contact page/etc or a mail server from home. (They offer 1G of personal web space/online storage, but common – you get 2-3Gb with a single GMAIL account for free…)
Same as with DSL you have to have a router from Verizon – and not from NewEgg…
One more thing – after you ‘trade in’ your copper wires for FiOS (yes, they remove them), during a power outage, you now lose your phone line too. (— pointed out by Roscoe – thank you!)
“Be aware of Evil”, plus if you host from home “think twice” before switching..
The problem here is not only with blocking ports, router, etc.. but with how much more does Verizon cover up? How many more “surprises” will be introduced in the future?
They are big, they are powerful, they are the only huge “fiber optic” player out there – how will they use this power? There is no “power middle” – there is either “power good” or “power bad”… where will “power verizon” on this scale be?
The dilemma remains to be.. “To get or not to get?” – Should “I” Get the Good stuff from the Evil company?
Should “I”?