DISH TurboHD vs Verizon FIOS

[jame_g]

Anyone here have recent experience with both Verizon FIOS and Dish TurboHD? How does the quality compare?

Verizon is raising their rates again. Verizon started out very reasonable, but the increases since the initial install are now getting painful, and the charges for their HD receivers and DVRs are outrageous. I can get the TurboHD package and DISH HD receivers for less than what I am paying Verizon.

Does anyone know what HD receiver and DVR and the standard models for new Dish accounts?

I am a little hesitant. I had Dish for years and liked it. Then I moved to a different state 4 years ago and the installer was no show 5 times. I gave up on DISH and went with Voom (loved it), then Comcast (hated it), then Verizon FIOS (love the HD quality, hate the add-on prices.)

 

[lern4483]

Dish, has some very good promotions. Im not sure what they are running at the moment though. You will have to call.

Dish uses the 722 HD DVR. In my opinnion the best dvr on the market. It is in a league by its own.
Im sure you will agree when you have it.

I see you had Voom. I still have Dish network soley for their DVR its that good.
They have converted many of their HD programming to MPEG 4 last week.
The HD picture is fantastic.

Customer service wise, my opinnion, they rank near the bottom.

Im also big Voom supporter. When they took all 15 Voom stations down in one shot, I lost all respect for dish. I have since downgraded my service.

Be aware that they pull programming off the air if they have any sort of contract dispute.

The only reason I still have dish is the stellar Dvr. The HD is truely fantastic.

See what kind of deal they will offer you.

I have always supported dish. Still have them. However, i dispise the way they treat loyal top tier customers.

Again, this has been my experience.

 

[jame_g]

Yeah, I had almost everything they offered prior to my move. The exception was Cinemax, which at that time was only 2 or 3 channels, and I never saw anything listed in the guide that interested me. They even had the nerve to give me a number that didn't go anywhere one time. No one ever answered this number, went right into hold music and stayed there, no message, no nothing. Not something you do to a loyal customer that is being very reasonable despite being treated very poorly.

Thanks for your input. Hope to hear more from others here.

 

[nlk10010]

Anyone here have recent experience with both Verizon FIOS and Dish TurboHD? How does the quality compare?

Verizon is raising their rates again. Verizon started out very reasonable, but the increases since the initial install are now getting painful, and the charges for their HD receivers and DVRs are outrageous. I can get the TurboHD package and DISH HD receivers for less than what I am paying Verizon.

Does anyone know what HD receiver and DVR and the standard models for new Dish accounts?

I am a little hesitant. I had Dish for years and liked it. Then I moved to a different state 4 years ago and the installer was no show 5 times. I gave up on DISH and went with Voom (loved it), then Comcast (hated it), then Verizon FIOS (love the HD quality, hate the add-on prices.)

I agree with the other poster that the DVR (I have the 622) is fantastic. Picture quality I can't speak to, but a lot depends on how interested you are in Local and especially National HD. Right now (at least in my area, don't know about yours) Verizon FIOS has considerably more national HD than Dish and you should base your decision on what channels the providers have now, as it is impossible to predict what they will add. IOW, there is no way to tell ahead of time if either Dish or Verizon FIOS will add new National HD. There is also the issue of rain/snow fade, which Dish suffers from to one degree or another and FIOS doesn't, although both services have their problems.

Good Luck with your decision, at least you have the choice. I won't have FIOS available to me until next Spring, at which time I will re-evaluate my decision to stick with Dish (I'm out of contract).

Edit: sorry, just realized you wanted to hear from people who have experience with both. I don't (although I arranged to have VZW install FIOS in my condo development) but thought I'd mention my opinion of the DVR and the channel lineups.

 

[jame_g]

Verizon has recently added a lot of national HD channels. The problem is that when they did this they added a new programming tier, so in order to get many of the new channels that interest me I will have to pay them even more. This is one reason the TurboHD is a nice option. Fortunately DISH has the big 4 OTA networks in HD in this area. (Direct does not.)

Personally, I think all the providers need to reduce or eliminate the extra charges for HD programming and receivers as we are probably to the point where we will start seeing a transition to gradually eliminate SD feeds altogether. But I guess they're all out to rake in as much as they can for the time being.

 

[navychop]

I have Dish, a good friend has Fios. The ViP722 HD DVR for Dish is great, the one for Fios is miserable.

HOWEVER, if all you have in your experience is a cableco DVR, then you won't know what you're missing, and the Fios DVR will be fine. Rumors abound about an improved, whole house Fios DVR in the future. I'd wait until it actually has user reviews before believing it.

I'm spoiled, I wouldn't want to be without my ViP722 STBs. And I've had pretty good luck with their CSRs.

 

[jame_g]

They've had a FIOS whole house DVR available here for several months. I don't subscribe to it. It appears to be available just by enabling a feature on my existing DVR that they will then charge me more for. Maybe they actually have plans for new equipment with new features. The DVR is okay, but could use some work. The Verison ON-Demand functionality sucks IMO.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I am with Dish but have been looking at FIOS.

I would only do it by buying the DVR from TIVO and using the 'cable cards'. I don't care about the on demand stuff and would like to do the 'lifetime' subscription to ditch the monthly DVR fees. It would cost a lot up front, but I would eventually get my money back.

 

[riffjim4069]

Just my humble opinion...

Dish Network has a superior HD DVR (622/722) and guide, but just about every other aspect about FiOS TV is superior to DishHD: better value (especially if you bundle Internet, phone and wireless), far superior HD and SD picture quality (no one has a better picture), FiOS TV has the most HD channels (102 at last count with another 15 more coming), TV always works (although I had few outages with Dish), customer service reps speak english and are very friendly (FiOS and U-Verse customer service was rated ahead of D*, E*, and cable).

I still miss using our 622s, but the advantages of FiOS far outweigh the negatives...especially if you bundle your services. Additionally, I was on a two year contract, but I was permitted to upgrade just 7 months into my contract in order to receive all the new HD channels along with faster (20/5 Internet) - all for the same price...and I even got a free HD DVR and HBO/Cinemax free for 3-months, and the new contracts are only 1-year long (shaved 5 months off my current contract). All I did was call and ask to be upgraded. No fuss, no muss. Plus, not one of my channels ever got yanked off of FiOS without warning (unlike with Dish Network).

The choice is yours. I cannot fault you for staying with E* as they provided me with a pretty value while I was with them, but after 2-years of DishHD-Lite it was time for me to move on since I value quality over quantity. With FiOS TV, I get quality, quantity, and the best value IMO. Warning: their ordering and billing systems was outdated when I ordered earlier this year. It took 4-months to square away my billing issues. Hopefully they have upgraded their systems.

 

[pfan1981]

i recently switched to TurboHD Gold and love it. The price of $62/mo is amazing for the number of channels you receive. The DVR is the best around. They can only add channels to your line up as more and more switch to HD (for the most part).

pfan

 

[navychop]

I am with Dish but have been looking at FIOS.

I would only do it by buying the DVR from TIVO and using the 'cable cards'. I don't care about the on demand stuff and would like to do the 'lifetime' subscription to ditch the monthly DVR fees. It would cost a lot up front, but I would eventually get my money back.

Only if TIVO stays in business. They have never turned a profit. They may undergo reorganization during this downturn, and all those "lifetime" subs might go away. Or they might cease ops entirely, selling their software to someone else. I don't think they can stagger on too much longer as they are today.

 

[jdmacor]

Only if TIVO stays in business. They have never turned a profit. They may undergo reorganization during this downturn, and all those "lifetime" subs might go away. Or they might cease ops entirely, selling their software to someone else. I don't think they can stagger on too much longer as they are today.

I thought I heard Tivo was getting into bed with Direct again. Am I wrong?

 

[M Sparks]

Can't you use the new TIVOs wth FIOS?

That's what I was planning to get if I move to a FIOS area.

EDIT- Never mind, that's what you were talking about.

 

[navychop]

I thought I heard Tivo was getting into bed with Direct again. Am I wrong?

Might be a day late and a dollar short.

 

[mrlaugh]

Dish Network has a superior HD DVR (622/722) and guide, but just about every other aspect about FiOS TV is superior to DishHD: better value (especially if you bundle Internet, phone and wireless), far superior HD and SD picture quality (no one has a better picture), FiOS TV has the most HD channels (102 at last count with another 15 more coming), TV always works (although I had few outages with Dish), customer service reps speak english and are very friendly (FiOS and U-Verse customer service was rated ahead of D*, E*, and cable).

I still miss using our 622s, but the advantages of FiOS far outweigh the negatives...especially if you bundle your services. Additionally, I was on a two year contract, but I was permitted to upgrade just 7 months into my contract in order to receive all the new HD channels along with faster (20/5 Internet) - all for the same price...and I even got a free HD DVR and HBO/Cinemax free for 3-months, and the new contracts are only 1-year long (shaved 5 months off my current contract). All I did was call and ask to be upgraded. No fuss, no muss. Plus, not one of my channels ever got yanked off of FiOS without warning (unlike with Dish Network).

The choice is yours. I cannot fault you for staying with E* as they provided me with a pretty value while I was with them, but after 2-years of DishHD-Lite it was time for me to move on since I value quality over quantity. With FiOS TV, I get quality, quantity, and the best value IMO. Warning: their ordering and billing systems was outdated when I ordered earlier this year. It took 4-months to square away my billing issues. Hopefully they have upgraded their systems.

I'd echo all of this. I have FiOS in DC, Charter was my only option here and E* was a no brainer for me.

Dish will give you a better bare bones package with the turbo HD, but FiOS wins in picture quality, HD VOD, and channel selection. Also, they back in the day ran Showtime + Starz as a movie package for $15/month, which was a fantastic deal. I liked that you didn't pay extra for the HD, although you did pay a fair amount extra for each HD DVR.

 

[jame_g]

Well, I definitely have not been convinced to switch to E*. Thinking of staying with FIOS for now. I do like my picture with them.

 

[riffjim4069]

Well, I definitely have not been convinced to switch to E*. Thinking of staying with FIOS for now. I do like my picture with them.

I signed up with Verizon under a two year contract back in April. I called last month after they released their new HD channels and Verizon offered to upgrade me to HD Extreme and the faster 20/5 Internet...all for the same price we am currently paying for the Triple Play. They even shaved 5-months off my contract since I was am now only under a 1-year contract under the new bundle, they gave me 30-days of free HBO/Cinemax and also waived my HD DVR fee for 3-months. I am not sure what packages you have, but give 'em call and see what they'll do for you. Although I have the Triple Play, I really don't need the landline...but the package was too good was pass up and they didn't offer the "Flex" Blundle (TV and Internet) until recently. I am in the Dallas area so I don't know what the packages, pricing and promotions are like back in Richmond. We just moved from Fredericksburg back in April and "FiOS Availability" was a requirement when we were looking at housing.

Our account is currently under my wife's name. I get the feeling that Verizon will be offering exiting customers who bundle their services the opportunity to renew their bundled services under whatever new customer promotion offers are available at the time. If not, she can always cancel her account and I can sign up as a new customer. I am not sure if this applies to you situation, but I thought I would mention it.

After VOOM shuttled their DBS Server, I was with E* for almost 3-years. We generally enjoyed the service, but 2+ years of DishHD-Lite was more than enough. There is no way I would exchange FiOS HD for DishHD...even moreso since VOOM is no longer on E*.

 

[jame_g]

I signed up with Verizon under a two year contract back in April. I called last month after they released their new HD channels and Verizon offered to upgrade me to HD Extreme and the faster 20/5 Internet...all for the same price we am currently paying for the Triple Play. They even shaved 5-months off my contract since I was am now only under a 1-year contract under the new bundle, they gave me 30-days of free HBO/Cinemax and also waived my HD DVR fee for 3-months. I am not sure what packages you have, but give 'em call and see what they'll do for you. Although I have the Triple Play, I really don't need the landline...but the package was too good was pass up and they didn't offer the "Flex" Blundle (TV and Internet) until recently.

Thanks for the heads up!! They haven't advertised the Flex Bundle, but it looks like it is available here if you do some digging on the website. I've been thinking of dropping my landline anyway. I can upgrade to the extreme HD and higher speed internet and save some money over what I have now. I'm going to call them about this.

Called and Done!

 

[BobMurdoch]

I have Verizon Fios for my phone and internet. The only thing that kept me from switching was E*'s DVRs (I have four right now, and Verizon would make me share one smallish drive among all the sets....)

My teaser rate expires in 2/10, but if I go the triple play route, I could reset the clock at another 2 years, which I might do.... It depends what E* does by then....

 

[cebbigh]

I'm thinking of going to both Fios HD TV with DVR and Turbo Silver with locals. I think it will cost less than what I'm paying DTV now for premium with 2 HD DVRs. That way I can do unlimited recording on Dish (HDD backup) and the excellent PQ of Fios while getting to view a whole lot of national HD channels between the two services.