You use an ISP-dependent e-mail address? Yuck. Get your own domain! Or at least a gmail address.
A lot of people in my building have switched over to Fios (a few months ago I dumped cable TV altogether and kept only cable modem service from RCN). Fios pros/cons from what I've heard are:
PROS
- Tons of HD channels with top-notch picture quality.
- Much faster internet speeds (up and down).
- Pricing, for now (it's guaranteed for two years--after that who knows what they'll charge).
CONS
- Installation takes at minimum a few hours. I've heard the installers are quite professional and friendly, but the amount of time you have to dedicate to being home so they can finish the job is significant (you should probably set aside a whole day just in case).
- They need to put a fiber-to-coax converter and battery backup for the phone system somewhere in your apartment. This usually gets mounted in a closet, but they need to be able to get both your existing intra-apartment coax cable and a new fiber optic line from outside your apartment to the converter box, plus it needs to be plugged into a household electrical outlet, so I've heard that some folks have ended up mounting them on a wall in a kitchen or even living room, which can be unsightly and space-wasting. Other folks have gone so far as to hire electricians to install electrical outlets in their closets so they could mount the box there without running an extension cord into the closet.
- If you have existing Verizon landline service, they generally force you to bundle it with your Fios system, so you can't keep your old copper phone line and have Fios for TV and internet unless you have a non-Verizon phone provider. This means your landline will now be dependent on the Fios network and electrical power being up and running (whereas copper phone lines are largely independent from the main power grid). They include a battery backup for the phone as part of the installation package, but it's only rated to last a few hours in a power outage, and I think you are supposed to replace the battery (at your expense) every few years as it degrades over time.
- I've heard the STBs and DVRs available from Fios have a crappier interface than TWC/RCN, and are a little slower to change channels. No personal experience, though.
- If you let them, they'll install a lot of crapware on your computer. Most tech-savvy folks shouldn't need to let a Verizon tech touch their computer, though.
- Some buildings have closed circuit channels on their cable systems that show live feeds from the building lobby, laundry room or other common spaces. I'm not sure if Fios can integrate those channels or not.
All of that said, most of the folks I've talked to who have switched to Fios have been very happy with it. In the Fios thread on my neighborhood messageboard, a bunch of folks report satisfaction with their switch from RCN or TWC. One person canceled installation after Verizon screwed up her installation appointment a couple times, and one other switched back to RCN after a month or two with Fios because she hated the box mounted on her living room wall and found the picture quality worse with Fios (although from her description, it sounded like she has some weird EDTV that may not display HD content correctly).