Quantum Fiber Questions?
 

Anyone considering switching to Quantum or Centric Fiber but may be hesitating and have questions?

Also, anyone having Quantum or Centric Fiber having issues and need help?

Have had Quantum Fiber for the last 10 months and overall been great. However, over the last month I've notice my UPLOAD speeds, on a handful of days, have dropped to near zero. Downloads have been consistently fine, but uploads are like .001 Mbps, which makes streaming or doing anything near impossible. During those times I power cycled the SmartNid and was able to get a usable upload speed to return (don't know if it was my action or a Quantum fix on their end). Today the issue reared its head again, power cycling the Nid only resulted in a continuous flashing blue light. Called Quantum support and they indicated that they could not reach the Nid on their end and will send a tech out tomorrow.

My question is what can cause such a situation? Looking on line (via 5g on my phone! Ugg!), replies about poor upload speeds always blame the home Wifi. That doesn't seem to be the issue I am having as all indications are its on Quantum's end. Any thoughts? Thx in advance.

The fact that you are getting a flashing Blue light means the SmartNid booted but it can't get an IP address from the Quantum network. This could be anything from a defective SmartNid to something broken in your circuit. I have not seen any SmartNid's go bad but like any other device it's possible. What we have seen is there is a fiber connector in the box outside your home that goes bad and can cause this type of problem. It's a simple fix. If you had to wait for the tech I would suggest opening that box and carefully move around that green fiber connector and see it anything changes. It will be a temporary fix but at least might get you going again.

One other thing you can try while you are waiting for the tech is on the SmartNid near the power connector there is a reset button. Take a paper clip and depress the reset buttone for 20 seconds. This will do a hard reset on the smartNid. You should see the light go red, then green, then flash blue then go solid green if it comes back.

Out of all the Quantum installs I've been involved with, they are very reliable but like anything else, something can always happen.

Please let us know the outcome of this. Thanks

Since my last posting the NID (series C5500XK) must have made a connection as the light is now solid green. But speed testing the unit from the Quantum app shows 960 down and 33 up. Ugg. I then tried your suggestion checking the connection in the box mounted on the side of my house. All connections seem solid and moving the wires a bit didn't make any difference. I would try your reset suggestion, but the fact that I at least have a connection and don't wish for the NID to go back to flashing blue means I'll just wait for the tech to arrive tomorrow. But, thanks much for the suggestions and reply!

Well, the tech just left. Checked signal at NID and stated he didn't like the readings, checked outside box, same. Apparently the signal loss was at "35" and tech was surprised that anything worked with that loss.

He went a couple of houses down to the outside pedestal junction but couldn't find the fiber to my home. Said he'd have to try and look it up. According to the tech, the junction box across the street in the backyards behind me appears to be where my fiber line originates. He stated that obviously Quantum would not be digging up or trenching under a paved road to fix my drop. He then ran a new fiber drop from my outside box to the junction box two houses away. Now have download/upload speeds back (970 dn/587 up) but a thin cable along the side of my house and across two back yards that according to the tech will be 5-10 BUSINESS days before it will be buried 12" down. Fingers crossed neighbors mowing doesn't cut it...

Interesting. I've heard many stories where someones cable was damaged but never fiber. If you don't see the fiber burried in about 5 days, call Quantum to remind them. They have a separate team that buries the cable and they will get to it.

Also, normally, your home is served from a terminal either behind your home or adjacent to your home so I'm not sure why he thought the cable was connected to a terminal across the street. But never the less, the problem was fixed fairly quickly and with a brand new fiber you shouldn't have anymore issues.

Also, I would let my neighbors know about the cable so they can tell the mower guy to be careful.

When checking upload and download speeds, don’t use wifi, you have to connect a computer to the router (hardwired using an Ethernet cable) to get a valid speed. Since all ISPs aren’t responsible for your internal LANs, your wifi network could have issues but your hardwired connection could be just fine.

I have been very happy with Quantum. 100 up and down. While many can match the down speeds, cable can't beat the up speed. I use my own router and Wi-Fi access points behind their ONT. Plus, a price lock for life is nice too.

I had the mowers cut our fiber to the box once, and when the Verizon technician person came, i had already bought several sections of galvanized pipe to route the cable though to protect it from any other mowing incidents, and makes the cable pull easier than digging up the whole yard.

Went out and bought some marker flags and placed them every few feet along the fiber drop. Hoping that the clear indication of a drop will help avoid any issues and for 10 bucks possibly a little insurance.

I understand the protection aspect but how did the pipe make the pull easier?

and makes the cable pull easier than digging up the whole yard.
. . i typed in the wrong tense,

should read

"and will make the next cable replacement easier than digging up the whole yard."

I think galvanized pipe is over-kill but OK. PVC pipe would have done the trick.

I didn't want it floating up in any floods. . but yes, that would work as well. .

I wish we could get fiber tv like we had up in New Jersey. Fios was terrific!

Just an FYI, the "price lock for life" is complete BS. I have Quantum and love it. I was the first to get connected in our neighborhood many years ago and signed up for the 500MB plan with price lock for life.

Fast forward to last year - suddenly my price went up by 50%! I contacted them and was told that the plan I had was no longer available, so the price lock was gone. I switched to another plan that was for 1GB speed and was cheaper than my original 500MB plan, but I had to do it. The new plan again states "price lock for life", but all that means is that the price is locked for as long as they offer that specific plan.

That's correct. The price is locked for as long as they offer that specific plan.

Early on, Quantum had several low speed options all the way up to 1Gbs. They got rid of those low speed options and now have speeds from 500GBs-8Gbs depending where in the Villages you are located. These are all standard speeds that the rest of the industry is offering so, I suspect these services will be around for several years and you won't have to worry about any price increases like you do with cable.

Also, you didn't mention about last December where Quantum actually lowered their pricing. For one month, Quantum let Existing and New customers get the 1Gbs service for $35, price for life, not a promotion. Many who had the 1Gbs for $75 and the 500Mbs for $50 went on-line and in about 10 minutes switched to the 1Gbs for $35 plan. I hope they do this again this year!

No service is perfect but with cable you know for certain aftere 1 or 2 years they will raise your price where with Quantum we don't know but their recent history points to no price increases, at leat for a while.

Not true. They raised prices for many people from $30 to $40 about 6 months ago (or so).

Correct. They did that to get those customers on the "non-standard plans" onto "standard plans" they started offering but no increases after that and it was about a year ago.

To put things in perspective, Quantum was offering too many low speed plans and they decided, right or wrong to standardize their plans with the rest of the industry. So, some that were paying $30 for I think it was 200Mbs were raised to $40 for a faster standard speed. (I don't remember what that speed was.) But most felt even at $40/month what they were getting was well worth the price. Now in contrast, the cable companies give you an initial price for "an" internet service with the knowledge and transparancy that they Will raise your price after that initial period. This is called a promotion. Quantum's prices are not promotions.

After that small increase, Quantum as mentioned, they let Existing and New customers get the $35, 1Gbs plan in December which was a lower price than what we were all paying. And when you read the fine print, they specifically said the service Was Not A Promotion. Tell me of another Internet company that has done that?

Now, I agree we will have to see how Quantum performs as time goes on and see when and if they raise proces and by how much.

No, there wasn’t any non-standard plan they were trying to get us off of. They simply decided to raise the rates and ignore that they told customers it was a “price-for-life”. I still have the same plan. I have had them for 11 years.

I was fortunate to get in on the Quantum $35 "for life" plan and have been VERY happy (other than the recent issue which has been resolved) with the service. I was originally on Comcast with the $55.00 promotional offer which when it expired, after 24 months, JUMPED to $112.00 per month. With Quantum I now have twice the speed at a much cheaper price and even if they don't honor the "price for life" it will no doubt be far less than what Comcast charges.

Well let's see what happens as time moves on since none of us can predict the future.

All I can say is my price never increased with Quantum in the 3 1/2 years i've had the service and last year it went down by almost 50%. They have also been sending out their latest Wi-Fi 7 pods to most of their existing customers, no charge for a better Wi-Fi experience.

Just to close the loop on my fiber issue, contractor came out yesterday and buried the line. A Quantum Fiber rep then came by today to assure everything was completed. Have been quite pleased with everyone I've had to deal with and the overall responsiveness of Quantum.

Very good. Excellent. Thanks for letting us know. :wave: