Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch?

I just had Verizon Fios installed and I am loving the speed. It is at least 3x faster than Comcast with a direct connect, but for some reason wireless does not give me quite the same boost. My speed comparison is below:

Verizon

Comcast

Down

Up

Down

Up

Wired

13618

1428

4111

356

Wireless

6702

1414

4092

356

Obviously, the real benefit is download speed, but I am clearly losing something through the wireless connection, even though i am using 80211g. Any thoughts?
The real news is the ridiculous cost Verizon is incurring to provide me the service. I benefit, but they are taking it in the shorts. Here is my rough analysis:

Revenue $45/mo $ 540.00

Costs

Physical Installation $ 360.58
Router Hardware $ 50.00
Software Support $ 250.00
$(660.58)

Net Gain/Loss $(120.58)

On the first year without considering Verizon’s capital investment, they are losing money on me assuming I go for their higher 15Mbs service as opposed to the cheaper service.
But what about upselling me? Well if I switch to VOIP (another post coming on this disaster), Verizon will lose another $50/mo when I switch my two Verizon landlines over.
(1) Physical Installation
It took two guys from 10-3 to wire up my house. The equipment they had to install was very significant. They commit to snaking their fiber to my existing router, which can be no small feat in many houses, and certainly was an effort in mine.

What’s the math on those two guys? Figure their salaries are $60K annually and benefits are 20% (probably more for these guys, but we will be generous). I assumed they were costing Verizon $75k/260 working days per year/8 hours per day or roughly $36/hour. I am sure it is costing them more, but I wanted to be fair.
(2) Router installation

Verizon would like you to use their Adaptec router, which seems reasonable until you realize its limitations. I use a feature on the Belkin called Wireless Bridging, which is really cool because it lets me wireless connect access points instead of having to use repeaters or other types of antennas. Adaptec, of course, does not have this feature. And of course, customer service told me in advance when I asked them, that they could easily connect my wireless access point to the Adaptec. Oh well. 5 hours later, I put my Belkin back online. Maybe they will get this right, but who knows.

(3) Cost of the Adaptec router

I don’t know for sure, but it isn’t free.

(4) Capital depreciation

Verizon is spending billions to bring fiber to the home. I don’t see how in this era of declining bandwith prices, they are going to be able to re-coup their infrastructure costs and make a buck with such large upfront costs.

Are others seeing the same thing I am seeing? Short Verizon?

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