Fighting through one of our famous Syracuse surprise snowstorms, I drove 30 minutes of a usually only 5 minute trip this morning to a breakfast meeting of the Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. The host of the event was Verizon Business Services, and they were going to be talking about their Fios service.

I'd heard some things about it, and most of them sounded pretty good. For instance, right now their download speed is around 20 MBPS, as opposed to Road Runner, which is presently at 10, supposedly (I've only been able to get to 9.5, but it'll do for now). In our area, they offer a business package of internet and phone for $59.99; if one works out of their house and doesn't have a Yellow Pages business listing, it's only $39.99. And, by the end of the year, they hope to have a competing television package.

What was more interesting, though, is that they talked about what happens if the power goes out. Originally, when the phone calls began, we were being told that if the power went out we wouldn't have our phones. Not that it's a common occurrence, but it does happen in this area, sometimes for hours, and being able to hook in an old dial-up telephone in an emergency seemed to be a nice lifesaver. Now, the word is that there is a battery back up, and it seems that you get the equivalent of at least 4 hours worth of emergency power. If you don't use it, that could last you awhile; after all, how much in phone conversations would you be expecting to have during an emergency anyway? What was also intriguing is that, if you have a wireless connection, you would still be able to be on the internet for a short period of time; that's not depressing at all because, with Road Runner and its digital cable modem, when the power goes out it goes out.

So, not only is this an interesting personal decision, but an interesting business decision to make. I'm one of those people who's really loyal to things that haven't given me trouble. I've been with Road Runner for close to 10 years now, and have loved it. Thinking about changing to a new service isn't an easy decision for me, though it seems like it would be. I would not only save at least $45 up front, but they're saying that within 18 months, the upload speed might be as high as 50 MBPS; wow!

Greedy? Maybe; but that's what great service is all about, and that's what makes many people think about changing services all the time. It's hard competing with new technology sometimes.