Want DirecTV & FiOS Internet. Is this viable?

[lovswr]

WOOHOOO, after almost 7 years in the (cable) desert, I'm coming back home to D*. House is in the Tampa Bay suburbs. I want FiOS internet & D* for whole-home HD TV service. Is this going to work right out of the box or am I gonna have to get some custom (read segregated) wiring to get this done. Man it feels good to be back.

 

[raoul5788]

You won't be able to run them on the same lines, but other than that, you should be fine.

 

[mdavej]

May I ask why you prefer DirecTV's inferior picture quality to Fios, especially for SD programming? If I could get Fios, I'd go all in. Plus, with a cable card tuner on Fios, you avoid a ton of charges you'd otherwise pay on DirecTV. In my 5 TV household, using cable card tuners and my own boxes is essentially free. With DirecTV it would cost $25 for the main TV and $7 each for the 4 others, for a total of over $50 in fees alone. And with my own system, I have unlimited storage, unlimited streaming options, unlimited tuners, the list goes on. And Fios has 20 more HD channels than DirecTV. My own cable company has 80 more HD channels than DirecTV. As long as cable card exists, I don't ever see myself going back to satellite.

 

[lovswr]

mdavej, I want the superior equipment. I had Comcast when I lived in Atlanta & have cable cards myself. It was integrated into a fairly robust WIN7 Media system (with 13.5T of network storage). As a nerdy bachelor in a two client apartment (one dedicated Home Theater PC & one XBOX-360) this was not only fine but preferable for some of the reasons that you mention. Going to a 5 client house with decidedly non techy spouse, in-laws, elderly parents I will pay for the, IMHO, ease of use & whole home integration that I think D* provides. I was an active participant in the cutting-edge forums when I had D* before & am looking forward to getting back to that. It has been my experience that the equipment provided the cable companies is inferior to that provided by either DBS provider. This would include over aggressive HDCP profiles to (relatively) small DVR storage space to just unattractive/built to cost, equipment (looking at you, Motorola).

I try not to watch any SD programming so that is really of no concern to me. I will concede that FiOS probably has a superior image capability but that does not always translate in the real world. Most local network feeds nowadays are limited by the local station sending out their streams post sub-channels so it is bit-starved no matter how you get it. I suppose it really comes down to where we each fall on a value/price curve. To each their own.

Raoul thank you for answering my question. My hope is to just get the FiOS internet installed in closet & then go wireless throughout the house. Hopefully I can come to some sort of agreement with the Verizon install tech for this & then use the existing infrastructure for D*.

 

[dishcomm]

WOOHOOO, after almost 7 years in the (cable) desert, I'm coming back home to D*. House is in the Tampa Bay suburbs. I want FiOS internet & D* for whole-home HD TV service. Is this going to work right out of the box or am I gonna have to get some custom (read segregated) wiring to get this done. Man it feels good to be back.

My parents live in the northern burbs of Tampa...They are in an AT&T service area..
In which Tampa area counties is Verizon available?...
BTW, U Verse is NOT available where my parents live. Otherwise I would ( they are elderly) get rid of Dish and have them on U Verse.

 

[mdavej]

@ lovswr
Gotcha. I would still consider keeping Fios for TV and going all Tivo for ease of use if you're tired of HTPC. The Roamio isn't bad and would probably be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Zashel]

If you're planning to have the modem in a room by a receiver, and that cable needs to be replaced, you might be able to convince the tech to run a dual line for you.

 

[lovswr]

My parents live in the northern burbs of Tampa...They are in an AT&T service area..
In which Tampa area counties is Verizon available?...
BTW, U Verse is NOT available where my parents live. Otherwise I would ( they are elderly) get rid of Dish and have them on U Verse.

This is in Riverview so Hillsborough County.

 

[lovswr]

@ lovswr
Gotcha. I would still consider keeping Fios for TV and going all Tivo for ease of use if you're tired of HTPC. The Roamio isn't bad and would probably be cheaper in the long run.

I had not thought of Tivo. May have to give that a look.

 

[wabbleknee]

In your neighborhood, is FIOS copper to your house? Twisted pair or coax? How far to the Fiber source? I can't get FIOS in my zip but a local phone company CL was at the door yesterday wanting to install a "FREE" 30 day trial of their fiber/copper.

 

[raoul5788]

I thought FIOS was FTTP.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

I thought FIOS was FTTP.

Fios is ftth as is comcast metroe

 

[raoul5788]

FTTP and FTTH are the same thing.

 

[navychop]

I love my FTTH. I doubt if the last chunk was copper I'd be so happy. But I'm sticking with Dish and the Hopper. And the terabytes of recordings on EHDs that I have.

 

[lovswr]

In your neighborhood, is FIOS copper to your house? Twisted pair or coax? How far to the Fiber source? I can't get FIOS in my zip but a local phone company CL was at the door yesterday wanting to install a "FREE" 30 day trial of their fiber/copper.

From what I saw when the Verizon tech came, it is fiber right to the ONT on the outside of my garage. Then converted to COAX for distribution inside the house.. I have the basic 25/25 service & it is, indeed, wonderful.

 

[robjlevin]

FiOS is indeed fiber right to the house. If you don't want the TV ask the installer to set it up using cat5 from the ONT to the router and leave the coax for DirecTV. I've had this set up since 2008.

 

[joed32]

I have Directv and Charter internet, they're on separate lines, no problem.