As TechMan said yesterday, he had Verizon's FIOS Internet service installed this weekend.

Here is a short description of the install.

It started two days ahead of the appointed time when a workman showed up at the house and pulled the fiber optic cable from the poll to the house.

The installer showed up about 8:45 a.m. on the appointed day. First he installed an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) on the outside of the house. (A grounded plug inside within 50 feet of the ONT is required.)

Inside on the wall of the garage he installed a battery backup box. Then he installed a phone connection block. (When they bring fiber into the house for the Net connection, they also use that fiber to bring in your phone signals.)

The battery backup is needed because, unlike a regular telephone line, fiber does not carry its own power. So if your power goes out, the battery backup maintains your phone service. The installer said the battery will last for 3 or 4 years, but it is the customer's responsibility to replace it if it expires.

The installer then ran CAT 5 wire (the kind they use for computer networks) from the fiber connector in the garage to a router that is provided and then connected the router to the computer. He said either CAT 5 wire or coaxial cable can be used for the connection to the fiber.

The router also has WiFi capability, thus the claim that you get a free WiFi router with the installation.

All this took about 4 hours.

In my case, there was a problem. When the installer tested the Internet connection, it was not getting the speeds it was supposed to. Despite more than an hour on the phone with the home office, the problem could not be solved. The installer was running out of time in his day, so he reconnected my cable moden and promised to come back the next day.

At about 9 a.m. the next day, he showed up. He said he was going to shut the whole thing down and start from the beginning.

When he shut the system down and started it up again, it began working at the advertised speed. (Up to 15Mbps download, 2Mbps upload for the middle-priced plan.)

Then the installer helped me set up an account, which gave me an e-mail address, handed over the manuals etc., showed me the FIOS Web site where you can access your email online and perform other operations such as setting up other email accounts (you get up to 9) and then bid me adieu.

If you want a really detailed description of a FIOS install, go to Dan Bricklin's site.

First Published: February 25, 2007, 5:00 a.m.