This rant inspired by Verizon.

First, on the one hand I want to say thanks to Verizon and their technician for actually completing my FiOS installation today.  It had been postponed once already and I wasn't thrilled with the possibility that it would get postponed again.  Thankfully the tech did come out today, the install was done today, and I'm on the net flying along with Verizon's high speed FiOS service.

But...  please allow me to rant just a little over Verizon's scheduling of their installation services.  They duly note on their web forms that take your order for service, or on the phone when they call to confirm the order and such, that the installation could take several hours (4 - 6 in many cases).  That does make it a little difficult to schedule around since the block of time isn't one that fits into say a morning or afternoon block of time, but ya know.... it would sure be nice if they'd try.

As an example, I was scheduled for installation today.  As it turns out I was apparently the last installation that the installer made it to.  He spent approx 2 hours here getting things done.  Not bad really.  Living in a mobile home can make some things easy (like having huge crawl space under the house to work in if needed).  Having my own network already in the house also made things easy.  Being incredibly familar with networking in general, the FiOS service (generally speaking also) and the need to configure the modem/router that was installed also helped speed things along.

But, the installation that was scheduled for today could have happened at 8 a.m. (earliest time in the 9 hour window that was blocked out), or... as happened, it could have happened much later in the day.  In my case, I got a call from the installer shortly after 1 p.m. telling me he was going to be busy until approx 3 p.m. and would be at my home around that time.  I completely wasted the morning waiting around to make sure I'd be home in case he came to my house early.

It would have been very nice to know that he was aiming for morning hours, or instead for the afternoon hours as I'd have felt less "trapped" at home waiting for the tech to come.

I do greatly appreciate other providers that have been much better about giving time estimates.  DirecTV is due out later in the month and they did ask for either morning or afternoon.  (I chose afternoon).  At least I won't have to waste a full day for that one.