After ten years of hearing about "the last mile" and "fiber to the curb," Verizon arrived at our new house today to install FiOS high-speed internet. Now we have an optical fiber (1) coming off the telephone pole on our street directly to the side of our house into an Optical Network Terminal (ONT, picture 2) to bring us 15 megabit download speed. The ONT also processes our voice calls. Not even running under optimal conditions, I can now pull down a 10 megabyte file in 1 minute! The tech also installed a Battery Backup Unit (3) and Power Supply Unit (4) inside the house in the basement. Unlike standard phone service, which is self-powered, FiOS requires AC to power the ONT, and if the power goes out, the Battery will keep phone service up for another 8 hours. A standatd CAT5 cable comes in from the ONT through another hole in the wall to our office terminating in an ethernet jack (5). Then a patch cord goes from there to a D-Link router (6), which has a hub to connect to our desktop and laptop computers. Now I have to figure out how to make use of our wireless router or upgrade to Verizon's wireless D-Link. We may achieve nirvana later this year when Verizon begins to offer cable TV through this system to compete with Comcast. Then Comcast will get a big f-you from us as we cancel the service we don't even have yet after three botched appointments.

- mike lee - wheaton, md