Why I Switched Totally to FIOS

[dlma1]

Well, D* folks, I wish you all well. I terminated my limited D* service today (I kept the low level Family package around for a year after terminating a "real" service). Why? Here are my reasons:

1. I grew tired of waiting on premium improvements - why they refuse to show ALL of the premiums is still beyond me.
2. I've lost interest in sports. I know that this is heresy to most of you, but that is how I feel. I was keeping D* around just for NFL Sunday Ticket, but I have found last year that I cared little who won or lost. And my FIOS package has the red zone channel, should I change my mind about football.
3. I like the the idea of having only one bill for internet, phone, and TV. D* can never offer that.
4. I compared the D* Premiere service to FIOS Ulitmate HD and found very little difference. FIOS meets or beats most channel selections. See attached spreadsheet for details.
5. Easy on demand - no waiting for downloads or streaming via network.
6. No outages caused by weather - despite D*'s claims, rain fade and loss does occur and I have NEVER had a TV service outage from FIOS.
7. I replaced the D* slot on receiver with a Panasonic DVD recorder with a Digital Tuner, and it's OTA reception was much better than my D* receiver which couldn't tune many of my local channels (I am using it now as an extra recorder when DVR is busy recording other channels).


Well, there you have it...just thought I'd share this.

 

[Jimbo]

Well, D* folks, I wish you all well. I terminated my limited D* service today (I kept the low level Family package around for a year after terminating a "real" service). Why? Here are my reasons:

1. I grew tired of waiting on premium improvements - why they refuse to show ALL of the premiums is still beyond me.
2. I've lost interest in sports. I know that this is heresy to most of you, but that is how I feel. I was keeping D* around just for NFL Sunday Ticket, but I have found last year that I cared little who won or lost. And my FIOS package has the red zone channel, should I change my mind about football.
3. I like the the idea of having only one bill for internet, phone, and TV. D* can never offer that.
4. I compared the D* Premiere service to FIOS Ulitmate HD and found very little difference. FIOS meets or beats most channel selections. See attached spreadsheet for details.
5. Easy on demand - no waiting for downloads or streaming via network.
6. No outages caused by weather - despite D*'s claims, rain fade and loss does occur and I have NEVER had a TV service outage from FIOS.
7. I replaced the D* slot on receiver with a Panasonic DVD recorder with a Digital Tuner, and it's OTA reception was much better than my D* receiver which couldn't tune many of my local channels (I am using it now as an extra recorder when DVR is busy recording other channels).


Well, there you have it...just thought I'd share this.

Have fun !

btw, how long ago did you get the Fios ?
If the RZC does it for you for Sports, thats GREAT.

Most of us have D* because we want our Sports, if I was not a sports fan, I probably wouldn't care what service I have, however, it's real nice to be able to have D* when camping,regardless of where I am, can't say that about Cable or Fios.

You never said where you are, so I can't realistically answer the one about having everything on one bill.
That said, many places have it so you CAN do D* on one bill with your others, I know for a fact I could if I wanted, I have Verizon for phone and internet and could easily set up one bill for all three.

With the invent of Online bill paying, I don't know why it's a problem anyways.

No outages due to weather ? I lose about 10 minutes a year, I think thats acceptable.
What happens when the VRAD box down the street goes down during the bad weather ?
Or your drop comes down from the pole during the last storm or when the tree comes down and takes it out ?

 

[DodgerKing]

I too would get FiOs if I was able to take it with me when I travel and if their EI package was at least half as good as Direct.

 

[dlma1]

I have FIOS for about 2 years now and I am very happy with it. I had full dual services for a while comparing HBO to HBO, etc. And PQ was equal or maybe slightly better on FIOS. I then downgraded last year to the ridiculous Family package just to keep NFL Sunday Ticket. Then today, after comparing packages, and thinking about whether Sunday Ticket was worth it I decided to totally cancel D*.

I live outside of Philly, where D* has never been the best choice for a local sports fan because Comcast refuses to give D* CSN-Philly. So no Flyers, Sixers, or Phillies. But I am a native of Pittsburgh, so I usually only cared about the Penquins and Steelers. Now I really don't care about any team, except maybe for highlights on RZC.

As for one bill, true, electronic billing makes that point a bit weak. But it does mean one less item to verify on my cable bill.

On the outage comment, downed lines can't affect FIOS. FIOS optical cable is buried underground. FIOS has been 100% reliable for me, versus maybe 95% for D*.

I had been a D* customer since 1997, when it was clearly superior to cable and FIOS didn't exist. I am glad that D* exists, it forces the competition to be better.

 

[dlma1]

I too would get FiOs if I was able to take it with me when I travel and if their EI package was at least half as good as Direct.

You can take FIOS with you if you have a slingbox (although probably difficult to do in an RV unless you camp near an internet source!). I love my slingbox when I travel on business as most hotels have free internet access. And as for having it in the RV - why not take a break from TV?

Finally,forgive my ignorance, not sure what you mean by "EI" package - what's that?

 

[Jimbo]

You can take FIOS with you if you have a slingbox (although probably difficult to do in an RV unless you camp near an internet source!). I love my slingbox when I travel on business as most hotels have free internet access. And as for having it in the RV - why not take a break from TV?

Finally,forgive my ignorance, not sure what you mean by "EI" package - what's that?

EI is D*'s MLB's Extra Inning baseball package

 

[SpaethCo]

I too would get FiOs if I was able to take it with me when I travel and if their EI package was at least half as good as Direct.

That's the problem with most terrestrial-based networks (U-Verse, FiOS, Cable) -- they all partner with InDemand to get the sports packages, which means for MLB:EI you get ONE HD channel and even that one channels is shared with NHL Center Ice.

I never wanted to leave Dish, but when it comes to HD coverage of any of the out-of-market sports packages DirecTV is just so far out in front of every other provider out there there that it's kind of sad.

 

[sundrop]

Have fun !


What happens when the VRAD box down the street goes down during the bad weather ?
Or your drop comes down from the pole during the last storm or when the tree comes down and takes it out ?

Fios does not use VRAD.

This is but isnt a problem. Yes Verizon did run there cable's and Distribution boxes overhead. [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]The distribution box is connected to the office on basically one set of fibers and then can distribute that service among the houses. From the distribution box there is a single set of fibers as a "home run" available to each house. If a cable to a distribution box is disrupted, they can connect in a cable from somewhere else and restore service. Unlike normal phone lines, the house isn't connected directly to the central office with any break requiring a fix to the original wire. The repair process is also simplified as they can identify an exact break and splice the wire using specialized equipment.

Most smaller Fiber Telco's use OSP's and therefore bury there fiber
[/FONT]

 

[dlma1]

At least in my suburban area aournd Philly all or most FIOS cable is buried. So a break from weather or accident is extremely unlikely. And I have not have any outage in 2 years.

 

[Rey]

i hope it goes well for you :up. if i had fios as an option in my area i would probably go for it too.

 

[Jimbo]

Fios does not use VRAD.

This is but isnt a problem. Yes Verizon did run there cable's and Distribution boxes overhead. [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]The distribution box is connected to the office on basically one set of fibers and then can distribute that service among the houses. From the distribution box there is a single set of fibers as a "home run" available to each house. If a cable to a distribution box is disrupted, they can connect in a cable from somewhere else and restore service. Unlike normal phone lines, the house isn't connected directly to the central office with any break requiring a fix to the original wire. The repair process is also simplified as they can identify an exact break and splice the wire using specialized equipment.

Most smaller Fiber Telco's use OSP's and therefore bury there fiber
[/FONT]

So, if the Verizon lines are aeriel, then they are suseptaple to the weather just like any other phone/cable, electric line. If they are buried they are suseptable to being cut at any time digging is being done in the area.... granted the chance of hitting YOUR line, is slim, feeds get cut all the time buried from other contractors.

I have yet to see a distribution box on a pole .... are they like our phone terminals or larger ?
What a pain they must be to deal with on a pole.
Thanks for the info, in the U-Verse world we don't put distribution boxes on poles, unless your talking about Verizon running service thru existing phone lines, but it doesn't sound like it.

So everything is a ""Home Run" with Fios ?
What is the distance required to have Fios ?

 

[Jimbo]

i hope it goes well for you :up. if i had fios as an option in my area i would probably go for it too.

For me it would depend on price points and what they can and cannot offer.
Hell, I'm in a Verizon area that is abandoning our service all together at the end of the month.
I'm in a suburb, rather high dollar one at that.
I cannot even get internet faster than 3 mg offered.

 

[cybok0]

If I had Fios in my area I would switch, the only reason I have D* is because I don't like Comcast TV and I don't trust E*. I don't have D* because of sports, I get every Steeler, Penguins and most Pirate games anyway, D* is just the lesser of three evils.

 

[stonecold]

Well, D* folks, I wish you all well. I terminated my limited D* service today (I kept the low level Family package around for a year after terminating a "real" service). Why? Here are my reasons:

1. I grew tired of waiting on premium improvements - why they refuse to show ALL of the premiums is still beyond me.
2. I've lost interest in sports. I know that this is heresy to most of you, but that is how I feel. I was keeping D* around just for NFL Sunday Ticket, but I have found last year that I cared little who won or lost. And my FIOS package has the red zone channel, should I change my mind about football.
3. I like the the idea of having only one bill for internet, phone, and TV. D* can never offer that.
4. I compared the D* Premiere service to FIOS Ulitmate HD and found very little difference. FIOS meets or beats most channel selections. See attached spreadsheet for details.
5. Easy on demand - no waiting for downloads or streaming via network.
6. No outages caused by weather - despite D*'s claims, rain fade and loss does occur and I have NEVER had a TV service outage from FIOS.
7. I replaced the D* slot on receiver with a Panasonic DVD recorder with a Digital Tuner, and it's OTA reception was much better than my D* receiver which couldn't tune many of my local channels (I am using it now as an extra recorder when DVR is busy recording other channels).


Well, there you have it...just thought I'd share this.

I like to point out that number 3 is dead wrong ..... So it proves how much you looked into it.

Directv has joint billing aka everything on one bill with

Fairpoint
Verizon
ATT
Qwest
and others but those are the big telecos in our system.

We can even bundle with fios internet and phone.

We even have a special billing department just for this very thing just in case something happens between the bill on our side and when it gets converted over to the teleco billing system. They are often not needed but we have them.


I saw some other things on your list but this one was the biggest crock .

Its ok to like fios better, but dont make stuff up about dtv to prove a point.

 

[Fiachra]

Verizon pulled out of NH some time ago. Never going to be an option around here. Fairpoint is a joke so can't see them offering squat for TV. Comcast or Dish is the other option for TV. They can't match DirecTV as I still like sports and as much HD as I can get.

Good luck to you.

 

[dlma1]

I like to point out that number 3 is dead wrong ..... So it proves how much you looked into it.

Directv has joint billing aka everything on one bill with

Fairpoint
Verizon
ATT
Qwest
and others but those are the big telecos in our system.

We can even bundle with fios internet and phone.

We even have a special billing department just for this very thing just in case something happens between the bill on our side and when it gets converted over to the teleco billing system. They are often not needed but we have them.


I saw some other things on your list but this one was the biggest crock .

Its ok to like fios better, but dont make stuff up about dtv to prove a point.

Yes, sorry, what I was really trying to say is that D* can NOT provide Internet and Phone service without the assistance of a telco or cable (yes, I know D* has internet but not at 35 MB download). I admitted earlier that this one was somewhat of a weak point so your level of invective was NOT justified. In addition, I still like the idea of having a SINGLE REAL provider for everything instead of having two. Finally, The bigger point is that D* has ignored its non-sports oriented customers for too long by not including ALL premiums in HD. That is the main reason (along with not having to PAY a premium to upgrade equipment that D* owns!) that I got rid of D*.

 

[SpaethCo]

In addition, I still like the idea of having a SINGLE REAL provider for everything instead of having two.

I can understand pretty much everything else you stated, but this one doesn't entirely make sense to me.
Maybe it's my network background, but I see having provider diversity as a good thing. If your FiOS line gets cut due to tree root growth, landscaping accident, wildlife gnawing, or vehicle hitting distribution box / pole you lose everything in one shot: Internet, Phone, TV. Even worse if the issue is one of those intermittent problems that takes weeks to track down.

 

[dlma1]

I can understand pretty much everything else you stated, but this one doesn't entirely make sense to me.
Maybe it's my network background, but I see having provider diversity as a good thing. If your FiOS line gets cut due to tree root growth, landscaping accident, wildlife gnawing, or vehicle hitting distribution box / pole you lose everything in one shot: Internet, Phone, TV. Even worse if the issue is one of those intermittent problems that takes weeks to track down.

Yes, I will grant you that the above is true, but reliabilty, at least for me has been perfect. If FIOS does go down, I still have cellphone for phone and for entertainment I have tons of movies and shows recorded to watch (and I might even read a book for a change!). Oh, and I have OTA digital tuners for local TV, too. Internet would be a problem - I'd have to go to a wireless hotspot or go into work everyday. But D* messed me up on a few ocassions by going down at inopportune times - like in the middle of a game with friends over who still care about sports.

 

[vurbano]

no outages in my first year. Several a month with D*. Satellite is just unreliable and missing 5 minutes of any football game or show is not tolerable, IMO.

 

[vurbano]

What happens when the VRAD box down the street goes down during the bad weather ?
Or your drop comes down from the pole during the last storm or when the tree comes down and takes it out ?

And when the battery fritz's out on your little space satellite what do you do then? wait 2 years to get another one up?