Stay with Fios or go back to DTV?

[dlma1]

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Originally Posted by Hemi 6.1

ReD Zone is only on during Football season, so Not quite sure why you would pay E* $49.95 per year. I pay $6 per month for 4 months. After that Football is over . If you would have read what you posted, you would have seen that $49.95 is for the Multi sports pack for the year which includes Red Zone Channel. And as far as Download speed and upload speeds, Its only as good as your equipment.

OK, made a mistake on Red Zone - actually I don't care about it because I still have D* for NFL Sunday Ticket (friends pitch in to pay - otherwise I would drop them!). And as for internet speed, most modern computers can handle speeds faster than my 20/5 so not sure about your comment on that.

[Hemi 6.1]

Originally Posted by dlma1

OK, made a mistake on Red Zone - actually I don't care about it because I still have D* for NFL Sunday Ticket (friends pitch in to pay - otherwise I would drop them!). And as for internet speed, most modern computers can handle speeds faster than my 20/5 so not sure about your comment on that.

See I don't have an issue with Verizons Internet, or channel line up.

What I do have a problem with is their Equipment, Landline service, and customer service. And Myself and 98% of any possible Fios customers , are not going to pay Tivo a monthly fee, as well as Buy all of our own equipment from Tivo. Just to have a better HD line up.

I see about 2-3 people on this entire forum that really stand behind Verizon. Yet none have showed me a Current bill. Your post is the closest thing I got to it, But still doesn't show the whole story. I want a cut a paste bill, From Fios. I want to see how they charge for all their phone call's, The tivo equipment charges.
I've see all that a million times from Dish Network and Directv. But Never Fios!
Location is also a major factor with the verizon service as well. Not an issue with satellite. Verizon has 20 different channel linups. E* and D* have 1.
With Verizon you never know what your going to get. Been that way since day 1 with their phone service.

[dlma1]

I did essentially cut and paste my bill, it was harder to show the detailed information because you need to click for details (and I didn't fill like giving the entire world my home address, phone, and account numbers!). Anyway, what follows is an edited version with pesonal information removed of my real bill:


Verizon



Account # xxxxxxxxxxxx Phone # xxx-xxxx-xxxxx
My Bill for: 11-12-2009

Account Summary


Previous Charges
Amount of last bill $195.79

Payment received on Oct 26 . Thank you. -$195.79

Balance Forward $0.00

New Charges
Verizon Charges $39.21

Verizon Online Charges $40.99

FiOS TV Charges $118.96

Verizon Long Distance Charges $0.00


Total New Charges dueDec 9 $199.16

Total Amount Due $199.16

Do not send payment. You are enrolled in Verizon's
Direct Payment Option. The total due will be charged
to your credit card on Nov 24.



Messages


Online billing customers should always check their bills each month even if they don't receive a notification message
This online bill may not contain all legal, regulatory or marketing messages that are on your paper bill.
Personalized Messages The detail of this message is available at the bottom of entire bill printout.

Important Messages
The detail of this message is available at the bottom of entire bill printout.

How Your Charges are Billed The detail of this message is available at the bottom of entire bill printout.







How to Reach Us



Internet and Phone Numbers

Visit verizon.com 24 hours a day or call 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966)

Enter your ten digit number xxx-xxx-xxxx
Use 065 if asked for the three digits following your account number.

Billing Questions and Bill Balance - say 'Billing' or press '1'
Amount of Payment Due or Payment Arrangements - say 'Payment' or press '1'
24 Hour Repair or Technical Support - say 'Repair and Tech Support ' or press '2'
To Order New Products - say 'New Products' or press '3'
For Pending Orders - say 'Order Status' or press '4'
Preguntas de Pagos verizon.com/movingcenter or 1-800-801-4008

END OF BILL

-- There are no additional charges for long distance. As for customer service, it has improved dramatically - I have no problems with them. In fact, I was able to swap equipment (for a trade up, not a problem) via internet transactions. The new equipment was delivered via UPS in 2 days and the returned equipment was credited to my account 2 days after that.

As for equipment, you have the option of getting TiVo, you aren't forced into it. The Motorola whole house DVR is decent even though it lacks capacity but with on-demand you don't really need to record as much.

Anyway, there you go, I think FiOs is an excellent alternative to both D* and E* and urge folks to give it try if is available.

[vurbano]

Originally Posted by Hemi 6.1

Well I did some verizon Pricing Yesterday. And this is how it Turned out.

$57.99 Gives me the top base package Fios offers. Not Bad!
Thats about 86 HD channels Not including VOD or PPV.
OK then I'm looking at $35 for every Premium Movie channel. Sounds Great yep!!
Not I'm looking at just over 130 HD Channels. Fantastic!

One small Problem starts, NFL Red Zone is $29.99 , I hope thats not Per month??

Now an even bigger problem.
I have 6 rooms of service with E*, But I really only use 5 so, I priced 3 HD DVRs and 2 SD DVRS. and BAM! BAM BAM!
$19.99 PER MONTH for 1 Media HD DVR Thats 20 hours pethedic HD hours and 80 SD. WOW what a steal.
It gets worse. Now I have to pay $9.99 per month Each for 2 more HD receivers,and $5.99 per month Each for 2 SD receivers.So I have to share one 20 hour DVR with 5 Rooms?
Lets Just say If I went with Tivo's What the monthly fee's then?

So that comes to a total price of
$174.93.
So My question is what is included besides 15/5 internet. Free phone service as well?

Help me Understand "Riff"
I need a break down. We all need to see one of these Fios Bills

My bill with FIOS getting everything they have is 164 a month. This includes ALL premiums, and the sheer number of them puts all other services to shame. But I own 2 tivoHD units and lifetime service on each. YES unlimited local and long distance. Another factor is that all the channels are unencrypted. The programming comes into my home and it is MINE to do with as I please. The service has also been 100% rock solid. During the recent tropical storm here D* would have been out for 3 days straight. IMO, after experiencing FIOS, D* and E* pizza pan services are not real TV providers, just expensive time consuming hobbies. Say how many years has D* been beta testing that loser HD DVR series they have?

[scoop8]

I agree with you about FIOS TV if you're primarily a preimum movie fan and probably most of the other nat'l HD channels available.

If you're primarily a sports fan, different story, imo. DTV leads the pack, no VS notwithstanding. They just have more overall sports offerings than the other services.

It all depends on your primary interests. As others have mentioned here, no service provides the best of all categories of programming.

I have FIOS phone and 'net svc. No complaints and my 'net 20/5 svc is great, far better than the DSL that I had previously. I can add FIOS TV down the road if things change with DTV but for now, I'm too much of a sports fan to go with another provider.

[Happy Camper]

We have both FIOS and DirecTV in an attempt to compare them and decide whether to dump DirecTV. DirecTV has much better HD DVRs, with better remotes (can be coded-not so on FIOS), greater hard disk capacity (and can be hacked for more) and better (more) sports.

FIOS is much better at everything else: price, picture, sound, does not quit in thunderstorms (a problem in North Texas), needs fewer wires (we have older HR 21s and a 5 LNB dish), networking media, etc. And, even though the FIOS DVRs suck, they are much faster on channel changes and mode switching. FIOS never compresses their HD signal, either. When FIOS says you are getting HD, you get HD, 1920 by 1080, not HD Lite by DirecTV.

All things considered, the advice you already have is good: for sports, particularly for national pro subscriptions and exotic locals, and if the DVR comparison is a big deal for you, go DirecTV. Otherwise, FIOS is a clear winner.

The other things we like about FIOS are that they have no fee for insuring boxes which do not work, and they do not have deceptive "service commitments" for hooking up new boxes. FIOS does have commitments for locking in packages, but if you get a new box it does not extend you, and you do not have to pay for replacements. Oh, and that stupid "HD plus" that D* makes you pay for, with HD NET movies and MGM, etc.? No fee from FIOS, and no special fee for HD.

Although I like the D* DVRs better, I find I seldom use the longer buffers and increased disk capacity anyway. For most people, FIOS is better. Oh, and FIOS HAS VERSUS.

Lastly, we have a FIOS "Triple Play" package, which gives us an enormous price advantage for combining phone, internet and TV. They told me I'd get 20/15 internet speeds. In fact we are getting 25/20. The terrific FIOS internet is something we already had, and could have with DirecTV, but with the FIOS combination packages, the internet is virtually "free," a good plus. We have four DVRS and also streaming Netflix and Slingboxes-we've never had a bandwidth problem.

[riffjim4069]

To summarize what everyone has mentioned:

Picture - FiOS
Price - FiOS
Reliability - FiOS
Service - FiOS
HD - FiOS
Movies - FiOS
Sports - D*
HD DVR - D* (however, if you get a TivoHD or MoxiHD then FiOS)

Compared to E*:

Picture - FiOS
Price - FiOS
Reliability - FiOS
Service - FiOS
HD - FiOS
Movies - FiOS
Sports - Tie
HD DVR - E*

[Hemi 6.1]

Originally Posted by riffjim4069

To summarize what everyone has mentioned:

Picture - FiOS
Price - FiOS
Reliability - FiOS
Service - FiOS
HD - FiOS
Movies - FiOS
Sports - D*
HD DVR - D* (however, if you get a TivoHD or MoxiHD then FiOS)

Compared to E*:

Picture - FiOS
Price - FiOS
Reliability - FiOS
Service - FiOS
HD - FiOS
Movies - FiOS
Sports - Tie
HD DVR - E*

Availablity in all 50 states - Directv and Dish Network

[harshness]

Originally Posted by lern4483

I think DTV will bend over backwards to keep your business.
They use to do this.

Those days are gone.

[harshness]

Note that in some cases, FIOS <> Verizon. Recently Verizon traded off Portland, Seattle and Ft. Wayne to Frontier Communications. This may be a game changer in terms of service and programming availability.