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Verizon / Cablevision MSG HD FCC fight continues...


PeteyNice

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I just got a door hanger saying our neighborhood now has FIOS. I am incredibly tempted.

The money looks almost the same if not a little more expensive though.

It is the sh!t! I highly recommend it. I save $40 a month over what I paid Comcast, but it depends on your current situation on whether it is worth it for you. Keep in mind that each TV needs a box or you just get local channels.

On the Internet side, the speed is consistent; it doesn't fluctuate like cable tends to.

The install is a pain and if you lose power you have a limited amount of time before you lose your phone too. There are trade offs like anything else.

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Yeah if you just have analog cable (no box) then it might be more expensive. I need HD stuff so I got a more expensive package from Comcast while the HD stuff is included in the base package with Verizon. No choice is right for everyone. Each provider has its own pros and cons. The stable Internet feed and the availability of future channels is what pushed me towards Verizon. Whenever people complained that Comcast did not add an HD channel they always claimed they did not have the bandwidth to add it. Verizon doesn't have that problem.

Did they include a channel list? I know you are in one of those tweener areas between NY and Philly how did they handle that?

Edited by PeteyNice
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  • 1 month later...

OK this is a rant against Comcast and a warning for everyone. Comcast has basically sealed the deal that I will *never* go back to them. I don't care if the alternative is rabbit ears and dialup.

I got FiOS on Jan 28. On Feb 1, confident that FiOS was working, I canceled my Comcast service and returned their boxes. They gave me a receipt and said someone would be by soon to officially disconnect my service. They were having problems with their computer system at the time so they couldn't give me an exact date but promised it was just academic anyway since I would not be billed again.

I have been billed again! Twice!

Since I have not been officially disconnected (each time I call they give me a different day that they are going to come and they never come) they keep billing me. Even billing me for digital cable and DVR even though I returned their boxes so I cannot possibly get that service. I have been able to argue them off the bill both times but it is very annoying. They are now scheduled to come March 20., If they miss this time I am escalating, This has to be illegal.

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Oh yah, good luck with getting anything straightened out with Comcast.

It took me 6 months to get my $600+ back that they took because they thought I didn't return two digital boxes but I did and their computer system even acknowledged it. The jackasses auto-debited my account (that's how I had it setup when I had their service) and then had the nerve to report me to the collection agency for non-payment, uhh WTF over? At first I was told oh yah we messed up and we'll expedite it. Yah right. Toward the very end of the struggle they had the fvcking nerve to ask me to produce a canceled check. Hello!? Morons! I didn't send you a damn check because I didn't owe you anything! Then they said to show a bank statement of the withdrawl. Why didn't they ask me that six months prior when I could just print it from my computer? Oh no, now it was archived by my bank and I had to go in to a branch and have them print it. Then I had to go to the Comcast branch (luckily I was in NJ at the time since there is no Comcast or Sovereign Banks in Texas) and submit this info...but alas they had to FedEx the check a week later.

:doh1:

:rant:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just to throw my two cents in, I love FIOS! When I was living in Little ferry I switched from stolen shared cable to FIOS and I had it for a solid month and change before moving to Weehawken. Both the HD and the SD looked much better on FIOS than it did on cable...truer colors, deeper blacks and a much better menu system.

Since FIOS has yet to come to Weehawken, and anything dish related is sketchy at best in my neck of the woods, I'm currently with Cablevision, which isn't terrible but is nowhere near FIOS.

Can't wait for it to come to Weehawken!

Edited by Bulletproof
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Jimmy, I called today and told cablevision I had FIOS installed and want to end their service. Their rep got into a shouting match with me about the damn prices that FIOS charges. I couldn't believe it.

I don't have any HD Tvs so I could care less about HD. I am sure Dolan will relent eventually.

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I got Fios in May I got the complete deal (TV internet phone)plus my family cell phones are Verizon. It's a little more when I had CableVision, but to me it's money well spent since Dolan doesn't get it anymore. I thought the same about HDTV since I didn't have any. I then got one, and still really didn't see many games until the free Center-Ice preview last week. They have at least one HD game a night. I had no problem seeing the puck in a black and white TV in the '70's so HDTV didn't make a difference to me for that. However, the clarity on the players and action actually makes a big difference!

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  • 3 months later...

reviving this thread because I'm moving to an area where I can choose Cablevision or Fios for TV service. I'm leaning toward fios because all my sources say the picture quality is better, the internet service faster plus the thought of paying the Dolans over $100 each month sickens me (I guess if they sold the MSG properties it wouldn't be as big of a deal). Of course, I'm not too thrilled about going back to watching the Devils in SD after having HD for a couple years.

There's no timeline for Fios getting MSG HD. Does anyone know if any of our games were on the Center Ice HD channel or NHL Network HD channel last year (and not blacked out)? That would help.

Anyone have recent experiences with Fios vs. cablevision?

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I know a lot about FiOS as I researched the technology and stuff before getting it, but the basic review for me is... well to be honest it's hard to put in words..

FiOS is like a whole new world of TV and Internet.. The picture and sound quality on TV is unreal.. You think HD is good with your current provider and then you watch FiOS in HD and it blows you away.. I remember my picture on Comcast used to have shadows and blocks, but FiOS is just smooth viewing.. Even fast paced sports looked superb.. The surround sound quality is also far superior in my book and I recommend getting a 5.1 system...

Internet is just FAST.. I mean I remember getting cable internet and thinking it just couldn't get faster, but with FiOS it can.. FiOS is also higher bandwidth so multiple people can be on the Internet while watching TV and you won't have a single problem..

The installation is also a very cool process too and the installer guys are generally very friendly from what I hear.. My guy rewired all my stuff for free because he wanted to make it look nice.. He kept talking tech specs with me about FiOS and conveyed a sense of enthusiasm I just never saw with Comcast..

In general, FiOS is 100% worth it.. Cable companies keep trying to pump more data through the very old technology of cable wiring, but FiOS (bringing the fiber optic cable straight into your home rather than just using it for long distance networking as was its previous use) is just better.. People even say that Verizon has barely tapped into their fiber lines' potential so it can only get better..

Yes, it sucks not watching the Devils in HD, but honestly the standard def picture is so much clearer and more colorful than with cable (yes, even standard def on FiOS is superior) that I think it's a small loss when you look at all the other pluses it has

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Just to tack on to what Colin wrote, the difference between cable SD and FIOS SD is remarkable. The HD difference is also noticable, especially on large screens, but the SD is unreal...none of the "blocking" or pixelation you get with cable. I imagine if you have a home theater amp that upconverts video sources to 1080i, the FIOS SD would be more than good enough to watch MSG and MSG +.

The only thing I've noticed with FIOS is that it's a pain to hook up TIVO to. Since FIOS requires you to have a cable box, you need to get a cable card for it work, which, from what I've read, is tough to get from Verizon...they want you pay $15 a month for their DVR!

On top of that, if you want the ability to do two things at once with your TIVO (record a show and watch another live), you're going to need a dual tuner TIVO with two cable cards, and even then you have to be careful as older TIVOs don't accept purely digital signals. Series 2 TIVO's have two tuners, but, for some odd reason, one accepts analog only and one accepts digital.

So if you have a TIVO and you use all the extra stuff TIVO does (Recommendations, streaming from PC's, Amazon On-Demand, etc), you may want to think twice before going with FIOS. Most companies charge you for the cable cards (typically $3 a month), you still have the TIVO subscription on top of that and you really need a brand new TIVO (Series 3) for everything to work properly. Then again, if you just use TIVO as a DVR, I would switch to FIOS and just get their DVR. While it's not as slick as the TIVO and doesn't have as much space, it's fine for the casual DVR user, and the cost works out to be the same.

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They haven't set Clark up for FIOS yet but we are seriously considering switching once they do. Comcast is horrible on so many levels.

And add to that the guilt that we are supporting Pennsylvania's economy with Comcast. Makes me sick.

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Just to tack on to what Colin wrote, the difference between cable SD and FIOS SD is remarkable. The HD difference is also noticable, especially on large screens, but the SD is unreal...none of the "blocking" or pixelation you get with cable. I imagine if you have a home theater amp that upconverts video sources to 1080i, the FIOS SD would be more than good enough to watch MSG and MSG +.

The only thing I've noticed with FIOS is that it's a pain to hook up TIVO to. Since FIOS requires you to have a cable box, you need to get a cable card for it work, which, from what I've read, is tough to get from Verizon...they want you pay $15 a month for their DVR!

On top of that, if you want the ability to do two things at once with your TIVO (record a show and watch another live), you're going to need a dual tuner TIVO with two cable cards, and even then you have to be careful as older TIVOs don't accept purely digital signals. Series 2 TIVO's have two tuners, but, for some odd reason, one accepts analog only and one accepts digital.

So if you have a TIVO and you use all the extra stuff TIVO does (Recommendations, streaming from PC's, Amazon On-Demand, etc), you may want to think twice before going with FIOS. Most companies charge you for the cable cards (typically $3 a month), you still have the TIVO subscription on top of that and you really need a brand new TIVO (Series 3) for everything to work properly. Then again, if you just use TIVO as a DVR, I would switch to FIOS and just get their DVR. While it's not as slick as the TIVO and doesn't have as much space, it's fine for the casual DVR user, and the cost works out to be the same.

That is not really true. They have MultiStream (M-Stream) cable cards which can translate two streams on one card. Of course you still won't get on demand or pay per view but you will get all of the Tivo features.

Also, unless you are happy with just getting analog, you would need cable cards to take full advantage of a Tivo HD whether you went with cable or Verizon. I don't think Series 2 Tivos are even worth discussing since they aren't HD.

Cablevision vs Verizon is a much more difficult choice than Comcast vs Verizon. FIOS is awesome but Cablevision isn't bad either. I would price them out and see which comes out to be less. Remember that there is a special place in hell reserved for Verizon's billing department.

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I called Cablevision telling them I was switching to FIOS ( I wasn't)

They credited me $70 and lowered my monthly about $23

Yeah we did the same thing to Comcast and they lowered our bill 50$ per month. It's still expensive because we have 1 DVR HD box, 2 HD boxes, and 2 Digital boxes along with internet and phone.

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That is not really true. They have MultiStream (M-Stream) cable cards which can translate two streams on one card. Of course you still won't get on demand or pay per view but you will get all of the Tivo features.

Also, unless you are happy with just getting analog, you would need cable cards to take full advantage of a Tivo HD whether you went with cable or Verizon. I don't think Series 2 Tivos are even worth discussing since they aren't HD.

Cablevision vs Verizon is a much more difficult choice than Comcast vs Verizon. FIOS is awesome but Cablevision isn't bad either. I would price them out and see which comes out to be less. Remember that there is a special place in hell reserved for Verizon's billing department.

Thanks for the clarification, Petey. In actuality, I've just started researching TIVO recently as my mom has an ancient TIVO and just switched to FIOS. She is as low tech as it gets...regular TV, no HD, etc, etc. Her TIVO is a hand me down Series 1 which, with the FIOS, works as a glorifed VCR...you can't change channels while it's recording, etc, etc. I've been trying to find the cheapest TIVO option for her as she doesn't need HD, yet would like to watch live TV and record at the same time. Any advise would be appreciated!

Also, Petey's right on the Cablevision vs FIOS issue. I have Cablevision and it's not that bad, especially since MSG and MSG + come in HD. I had FIOS for about 2 months when I lived in Little Ferry, but the other option there was Time Warner, which stunk, so my options may be too biased on that.

By the way, section, if you go with the FIOS equipment, it works seemlessly. No problems at all!

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Thanks for the clarification, Petey. In actuality, I've just started researching TIVO recently as my mom has an ancient TIVO and just switched to FIOS. She is as low tech as it gets...regular TV, no HD, etc, etc. Her TIVO is a hand me down Series 1 which, with the FIOS, works as a glorifed VCR...you can't change channels while it's recording, etc, etc. I've been trying to find the cheapest TIVO option for her as she doesn't need HD, yet would like to watch live TV and record at the same time. Any advise would be appreciated!

Also, Petey's right on the Cablevision vs FIOS issue. I have Cablevision and it's not that bad, especially since MSG and MSG + come in HD. I had FIOS for about 2 months when I lived in Little Ferry, but the other option there was Time Warner, which stunk, so my options may be too biased on that.

By the way, section, if you go with the FIOS equipment, it works seemlessly. No problems at all!

I think the FIOS DVR is your best option. Tivo service is expensive plus you have the upfront costs to buy the Tivo AND you lose On Demand and PPV which may or may not be a deal breaker for you.

Really, these are your options:

- A series 2, dual tuner Tivo

- Series 2 Tivos are dirt cheap. However, you still have to pay for Tivo service and to use the dual tuner capability you need to rent TWO boxes from Verizon.

- A Tivo HD w/cable card

- When I had FIOS (~ two years ago) they charged me $2 a month for the M-Stream card. It was a pain in the ass to get but I chalk that up to it being new as much as anything else. Assuming Verizon has not upped the price substantially the monthly cost difference between the FIOS DVR and Tivo Service + Cable Card is not crazy.

- Tivo HDs are not cheap at $200 for a refurb up front

- As with either Tivo option you won't get On Demand and PPV

- Tivo HD is obviously HD ready when your mom is

- Verizon's DVR

- Not as slick as Tivo. No Netflix, etc

- One box that does everything - no worrying about getting the right card or having to re-seat it etc

- Provides access to On Demand and PPV

- Forthcoming Tivo

- If you can wait Tivo is said to be releasing a version with True2Way (which supports on demand and ppv) soon

- Price is unknown, but here is a hint it won't be cheap

If you don't have to have Tivo then I would go with FIOS DVR. If you need Tivo and not having On Demand is OK then I would spring for a refurb Tivo HD and a cable card.

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