Safety. Satisfaction. Success.

When faced with a challenge, sometimes it’s best to think inside the box.

Our technicians faced a seemingly unsolvable conundrum: How to install Fios inside a customer’s home when entering compromised the safety of the technician and the customer.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

“Because of COVID-19, we’re changing the way we serve our customers,” said David Metague, Services Technician. ”Fios in a box is a solution Verizon came up with to install customer’s Fios service without entering the home.”

Now, in select homes where a dispatcher and service technician determine that fiber can be connected without the technician needing to enter the house, some customers can be helped using a new set-up protocol.

After arriving at a customer’s residence, the service technician works outside, rigging the cable from the nearest pole, using an industry first application of crushable fiber that can be fed through a window or door with the customer’s permission. Performance and speed will not be compromised even if the cable is pinched.

“We can leave the cable in a location like a window where the customer can grab it,” said David. “We leave the box on the doorstep.” After the technician steps a safe distance away, the customer brings the box inside.

The box offers the simplicity of having the essential fios equipment components in one easy to handle kit that supports fios triple play (voice, data, and video), including (as needed): an ONT (Optical Network Terminal), power supply, router, set-top box, remote control, ethernet cord, phone wire, HDMI cord and power strip.

The technician can guide the customer through each step of the install by leveraging innovative virtual technician technology ("see what I see") from outside the home. Once the customer plugs in, they're up and running with triple play.

Customers are happy with the new procedure and thrilled to be getting a vital service like a connection to the internet. “We bought a house not knowing we’d be settling in the midst of a pandemic,” says Samantha, a Verizon customer in New Jersey. “We’re both working from home. The house had no internet previously, so it was a full install. The Verizon technician made sure he stood outside. He answered any questions we had. Overall it was pretty seamless.”

Fios in a box: Another example of Verizon using innovation to continue to move the world forward.

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