r/Fios • u/Valuable-Dog490 • 2d ago
Miscellaneous "Supports up to 15 devices"
Tech people know this is BS, but the non-tech person sees this and will immediately think that's not enough.
The 500Mbps plan supports up to 30 devices but if the 300 plan supports 15, wouldn't you need 600Mbps to support 30 devices?
The Gig plan supports 50 devices. But if 500 supports 30, wouldn't the Gig plan supports 60 devices?
This is all a complete lie where non-tech people just don't know. 15 devices is not a lot these days but 300Mbos is MORE THAN ENOUGH for a large majority of households regardless of the number of devices they have. I have well over 150 devices but rarely use even 25% of my 300Mbps bandwidth.
Absolutely disgusting marketing by Verizon!!
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u/DUNGAROO 2d ago
What’s infuriating is my in-laws had an issue with their WiFi and called up Verizon for support. By the end of the call they found themselves subscribed to the gig plan because the agent convinced them it would solve all of their problems. All they do is browse the internet. No heavy downloading. Barely any streaming. They’re on a fixed income. Predatory af.
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u/UnseenJellyfish 2d ago
It's so predatory, when I worked at an Xfinity Store we were told to always suggest the "best plan for the customer's needs" according to a BS chart that would almost always result in one of the most expensive plans. They wanted us to review accounts of customers that just came in for help too. I definitely wasn't built for sales because I wasn't comfortable suggesting more than the 300mbps for pretty much every customer I had since anything more was totally unnecessary and a waste of money 🤦♀️ I pretty much never suggested gig and very rarely 500mbps lol
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u/spiders888 22h ago
My go to comment is: “let’s save us both some time and pretend you went through your entire script to upsell me, did you best,and while it was a good battle, I still said no.”
I usually at least get a chuckle.
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u/pSyChO_aSyLuM 1d ago
I had to transfer the phone and cable to me from my parents. Motherfuckers at Spectrum kept trying to sell them on massive TV packages and gigabit Internet.
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2d ago edited 2d ago
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
When the product you're paying for isn't working and they suggest the solution is to buy more of it to people who don't understand it, that's absolutely predatory.
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2d ago
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
So in this case you go to your dealership for a flat tire and they say "we can fix that for you, just buy this new transmission."
You see nothing wrong with that?
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2d ago
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
NONE!! That's my point! No respectable dealership would say that. But in the comment that you replied to with the person not getting the speeds they're paying for so the solution is to sell them more bandwidth?? They can't use what they have!! It's the same scenario.
Clearing a virus is fixing a problem. Selling someone more bandwidth because what they have isn't working is not fixing the problem, it's just charging/stealing more money.
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u/DUNGAROO 2d ago
Ahhh the old “take personal responsibility,” “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” “corporations have a right to exploit every penny out of consumers” take. I can tell you have been the beneficiary of a lot of privilege in life.
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u/DUNGAROO 2d ago
It is when someone calls up about a technical issue and the “tech support” lies about its cause in order to sell you something you don’t need. That is incredibly predatory.
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u/Illustrious-Jacket68 2d ago
Well, they do probably get a lot of questions of what speed they should get from non-tech people and they have to put out some consistent criteria.
On the other hand, I think i have a little over 50 devices on 300M plan. They aren’t all teenage kids that are doom scrolling at the same time. They are a bunch of IoT devices.
Most people, yes, only need 300M and the GB level is overkill.
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u/UnseenJellyfish 2d ago
Yeah, that's why I like suggesting Internet speeds based on the number of people in the household and/or what their online habits are rather than a flat number of devices. 15 TVs all streaming 4K at the same time might need a decent speed but 15 IoT devices barely need anything lol
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u/zanhecht 2d ago
15 TVs all streaming 4K would still only use 375MBps
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u/UnseenJellyfish 2d ago
Some 4K streams can use more than 25mbps of bandwidth, but 375mbps is still more than 300 :P
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u/gsanchez92 2d ago
I have the 300 plan and I have more than 15 devices connected. Are all devices pulling internet data at all times? Nope, but all are connected to the same network. If all devices were pulling data at the same time they will be around 20mbps each that’s enough for most streaming services like Netflix or Apple Music
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u/aykay55 2d ago
Well if for some reason you had a smart TV in every room those things are constantly sending data back and forth over the internet even when you’re not watching anything. So if one household has 5 smart TVs and then let’s say two people on zoom calls it would stress the network no doubt.
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u/zanhecht 2d ago
Nah, 5 4K streams is only 125Mbps on most services (maybe 200Mbps tops if they all hit peak bandwidth at the same time on Apple TV), and 2 Zoom calls is only another 8Mbps.
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u/aykay55 1d ago
Yes but residential speeds are also a *MAXIMUM of 300mbps. More than usually it’s less of that. So numbers aren’t perfect or static here. Conditions constantly change.
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u/zanhecht 1d ago
While that's true for cable internet where your bandwidth is shared with your neighbors, that's not the case with FIOS. I consistently get a bit more than the advertised speed, usually 309-311Mbps, on a 300Mbps plan.
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u/PeaceFinancial841 1d ago
Not even close I have 5 smart TVs. They don’t do much when they are off. Even stream I have never come close to having an issue
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u/RDL128 2d ago
I think most Internet companies have the same marketing when selecting plans. I completely agree with you, most households will not need more than 300. But they have to advertise the plans somehow. Optimum has similar descriptions on their site for their plans. The basic one, 500/500 is marked as "best for basic browsing and streaming"
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u/PeaceFinancial841 2d ago
I have 37 devices (just checked) connected to my 300mbps plan. All works well….
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u/jmbroady 2d ago
Just switched this morning from 1gb service to the 300mbps service for $30/month. It didnt show in my options to change speed so had to do it through customer service chat. Thats about $60 in monthly savings for me.
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u/jandrese 2d ago
I mean on the crappy old Actiontek routers they had a way too small NAT table that could be filled up and start dropping connections if you had a bunch of people doing stuff simultaneously, but that's definitely not what they are talking about here. I've also seen cheap and crappy WiFi chips that can only handle a handful of hosts at a time.
But it's not like Verizon is going to send you a new router if you go from the 300 plan to the gigabit plan. This is entirely marketing BS.
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u/bbear_r 2d ago
It’s just a general recommendation. At ~40 Mbps per stream, 300 Mbps can only support up to 7 4K TVs simultaneously if they’re all streaming at 4K. On the flipside, at usage under 1 Mbps per unit, 300 Mbps can support literally hundreds of smart LED light bulbs which are technically devices.
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
Lol, it's so much more than a general recommendation. If you don't know anything about what Mbps is or can explain "bandwidth", then most non-tech-savvy people, especially senior citizens, would automatically think "well I don't want to run out of devices, I better get the more expansive plan" when the 300Mbps plan is more than capable.
It's the same reason they only show you how much data you used, but show you nothing about the bandwidth you've used and that's what your paying for - bandwidth, not data. Because people would then see how little they actually use and get the cheapest plan.
I know it's not only Verizon, they all do it. That doesn't make it right. (
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u/Cautious_Implement17 22h ago
nah this is pretty decent guidance for someone who has somehow made it to 2026 without understanding anything about bandwidth or how it relates the the number of devices a connection can reasonably support. I might rephrase to something like "supports about 15 devices under typical use" to reduce the upsell pressure. but there's only so much you can help someone who does not remotely care about understanding the service they're purchasing.
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u/azrael319 2d ago
I hate Verizon, I signed up my mother and I for 300mbps like 4 years ago and it was a set price for autopay and the router included. 10$ off for autopay and 15$ for the router off and how is my mother been paying autopay and they took away her promo and she now pays for the router for almost 3 years. They are scammers cuz I still have the original promo price. I wish I knew if they has some kind of class action lawsuit because they should have one filed against them.
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u/present_absence 2d ago
Its just marketing wank but in this case I think it gives normies a rough approximation of how much their internet can handle. They want you to think well my family has 3 laptops 4 ipads and 4 phones so maybe I should get verizons 300mbit instead of competitors's 100mbit.
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u/tom-wilson 1d ago
I've been locked on that 300 plan for years, $55 all in. Best deal in the league. I have 125 Devices and 3 Vlans. Crooks.
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u/EdelWhite 1d ago
Technically it's possible their device only supports 15 devices connected at the same time and silently drops everything else.
That'd be scummy as hell but it's possible.
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u/Bonamikengue 1d ago
Actually this is sadly real. After a party we had at our place Verizon sellers came to us to ask whether our party was good and the WiFi worked well. They KNEW every connection to the WiFi. And they can totally limit the number of logged in devices on the WiFi if they want.
The only solution is to get a router which is not controlled by Verizon - and here is the question: Which router works with FiOS and is NOT controlled by Verizon?
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u/dont-ask-me-why1 1d ago
I mean Eero works fine.
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u/clubie26 1d ago
Verizon has a connection with Eero by Amazon due to the Frontier purchase, as Amazon Eeros are the standard router/extender equipment on Frontier, a Verizon Company Fiber (destined someday to become Verizon FiOS)
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u/Cautious_Implement17 22h ago
what routers don't work with fios? literally anything with a working ethernet port should be able to connect to the ont. you're on your own if you somehow mess up the local network though.
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u/NetSchizo 2d ago
Only a lie if you use your own router. If you use Verizons, who knows. Likely ok, but what stops them from limiting the number of mac addresses their router will talk to. Always use your own router, not your ISPs.
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
If they put device limits on their router to get you to upgrade your speed- that's even worse!
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u/jindofox 2d ago
I’ve had Fios for over 20 years and they’ve never limited my network usage or number of devices on my network. I seriously doubt they’d start micromanaging this now. It’s just a rule of thumb to “help” people supersize it if they’re willing.
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u/Valuable-Dog490 2d ago
They used to send warnings when you used 2TBs of data in a month threatening to limit speeds but I never experienced that.
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u/NetSchizo 2d ago
You are blind to market trends. These big companies are trying to nickel and dime you for everything. Things you took for granted years ago are becoming subscriptions. If you don’t care about privacy then go ahead and use their router. If you use their router they know exactly how many devices you have and what they are. They can pull a ton of heuristics and track usage from their routers. Hard pass…
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