New FIOS Customer - Former Dish Subscriber

**Remilk** · 10-13-2009 03:45 PM

My wife and I have been very pleased with our Dish Service over the past 12+ years. We did a lot of soul-searching (about a year) before we made up our minds. Our experience with Dish was always very positive, especially when my wife needed to call Dish customer service; she felt they were very professional and helpful.

A week ago, we left Dish (and Clearwire for Wii-Max internet) and joined FIOS. The current FIOS triple-play offer will save us a little bit for about 6 months, then it will be a wash as far as price is concerned.

The install took under 3 hours; the FIOS tech utilized my RG/UG6 cabling for the two TVs and to the router. So far I have not stressed the capabilities of the HD/DVR box, but it works fine. Everything worked on initial set-up; there were no hiccups.

FIOS Advantages to me:
1. Telephone - Our landline telephone now works when it rains and we have a lot of new features, voice mail, caller ID etc. (put the answering machine in the attic)

2. Internet Access; 25/25 as opposed to 1.5/.5 (Clearwire), and I no longer need to fiddle with the Clearwire antenna.

3. TV Stations - a few more, but MLB was good for a week, I could watch the Red Sox (Now I will wait until next year) and will watch the Boston Bruins.

4. Satellite Dish - removed from front yard; wife and neighbors glad to see it go. I do not expect drop outs when there is heavy rains or snow with FIOS.

5. Free Verizon Wifi access at many locations such as airports, hotels, etc.

DISH Advantage:
1. HD/DVR - We had a 612; this is a far superior unit than the FIOS HD/DVR and I might replace it with a TIVO HD unit in a couple of months.

2. Customer Support - We always had great experience with Dish Customer support

3. Station Guide - Very good station guide - the FIOS guide is barely adequate.

This decision to change was no an easy one, and when I move, I may subscribe to Dish again.

Bob

**riffjim4069** · 10-13-2009 11:26 PM

Welcome aboard. There are a growing number of us former Dish Network customers here in the FiOS TV Forum. It has been 20-months and not one hiccup with our FiOS Triple Play - it just always works so enjoy the HD. My only suggestion is to order a Tivo HD box. I'm sure others will agree.

**Remilk** · 10-14-2009 07:04 PM

Thank you for the suggestion. I will be purchasing the TiVo HD and a lifetime subscription; I think this will be the least expensive way to go to get a great HD DVR.

**riffjim4069** · 10-14-2009 11:17 PM

Don't pay full retail price for your Tivo HD. I paid $206 (delivery included) for mine and there are deals to be had out there. Also, I highly recommend getting a 1TB "My DVR" with it. The drive is eSATA and it works 1000x better than Dish Networks USB external storage.

I purchased a 1-year subscription...just didn't feel the lifetime was worth it (long payback).

**Stew** · 10-18-2009 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by Remilk

Thank you for the suggestion. I will be purchasing the TiVo HD and a lifetime subscription; I think this will be the least expensive way to go to get a great HD DVR.

You won't regret your purchase. I was a Dish sub for a number of years until FiOS came along and just like you, became frustrated with their box. I made the switch to TiVo and haven't regretted a minute.

Enjoy!

**503schaka** · 11-04-2009 02:06 AM

i had dish for 10 years without many issues.now i have fios.the fios dvr does not have as much recording time as dish.also fios is charging $15.99-$17.99 a month for an hd dvr and regular dvr. dish is still $5.99 the last i checked.also i was on the phone with fios trying to have charges removed .they were for a free trial movie package.i called before the 30 day period was over to stop being charged.my wife called three time and they still were charging $30.00 a month.for 4 months$120.00. i was on hold for 45 minutes to resolve the issue with the billing dept. i used the number they told me to call they never did answer

save your money go with dish better dvr. also if you have two reciever boxes in a line of site to one another, the remote from one reciever will change channels on the other reciever.i have had several occaisions where i will be watching a movie and have paused a few times over a 2 hour time frame.my son will change the reciever in the dining area and guess what i am now watching cartoons, too late cant switch back to last channel.due to pausing the movie i am not on real time, the movie is over or maybe worse you are at the ending, wrecked the suspence now i saw the ending.

you dont have this problem with dish.some friends stayed over night one time and got 2 of the remotes mixed up, they look alike. it took a while to figure out why i couldnt turn on the tv and other controls with the fios remote

F**K FIOS

**Islandguy43** · 11-04-2009 08:19 AM

The best thing about FIOS being anywhere near your area is the fact; it makes the other providers, Directv, Dish and Cable Companies (TWC in my case), wake up and work on pleasing their existing subs and work even harder on getting new subs.

I doubt it very much, that TWC would have gotten to the 100 HD Channel Range in the Buffalo and Western New York, without the presence and threat of churn by the FIOS forces.