The FIOS adventure begins

Well, I finally took the plunge and ordered Verizon FIOS.

I currently use Comcast for Internet and TV, with Vonage for phone service. The Verizon bundled service for all three will be a little more expensive, but it will eliminate my concerns about shaky phone service, iffy 911 response and the viability of Vonage itself.

I just got tired of losing phone service for no apparent reason and having to reset a router, modem and wireless access point (AP) in a certain order to regain connectivity.

I also worried about 911. Sure, Vonage said it would work and the emergency response people would have my address if I called, but I was too chicken to place a test call and find out. I've heard that 911 dispatchers sometimes don't take kindly to calls that arent' really emergencies. We also have two cell phones as backup, but they take time to start up and have connection/battery problems themselves. With two small children in the house, we need something more reliable.

Then, of course, there are the more mundane concerns about TV channel options and Internet download/upload speed. Verizon FIOS was named the best broadband ISP in an exclusive Computerworld survey, so I'm hoping for the best.

I am a little concerned about how I will network the PCs in the house. I currently have a broadband modem feeding a Vonage router. The Vonage router, besides connecting to the phones, feeds via Ethernet a nearby Windows 98 machine and a wireless AP that provides connectivity to a Windows XP machine (with a USB wireless adapter) in the basement. I also connect my work laptop to the network wirelessly and can transfer files among all three PCs, more or less.

Verizon says FIOS doesn't support Windows 98 so I suppose the tech will connect to the XP machine in the basement and I will have to somehow connect that PC to the Win 98 PC. Hopefully I can connect the AP to Verizon's router or modem or whatever they use and connect the wireless adapter to the Win 98 via USB and get full network connectivity.

I've done a tiny bit of research and read something about FIOS installations coming with a wireless router. If that's the case, maybe that router will connect to the Win 98 machine via the wireless adapter and I can do away with the AP altogether.

It sounds simple enough but I've never tested the Win 98 machine with the wireless adapter and over the years I've learned that NOTHING I ever do with a computer installation of any kind is simple. I always end up reinstalling everything (including operating systems) four or five times until it just finally works, for some reason, many hours after I started.

I guess my other options would be to run an Ethernet cable to the Win 98 machine. Or upgrade to XP on that old box (I have no interest whatsoever in Vista). I'd just rather not do that since the old clunker works fine for what it's used for: Internet browsing, burning CDs/DVDs and word processing. I never really needed to upgrade so I never did.

So, anybody with relevant experience with this kind of a setup, please weigh in with any tips, observations or questions. If I have to upgrade the Win 98 dinosaur to get network connectivity, I should do it before the installation tech comes. So please let me know what you think.

This is sure to be a disaster, judging from past experience, so I'll keep you posted!