[chefwong]

Just curious. Out of contract. Been out of contract for a good while. I'm happy with the current setup already...HR24's .

Just doing the annual yearly review on Fios Vs DTV, price points, etc...
On a initial looks, Fios will be at least $35 less per month when comparing similar setup

Have been using Fios voice and internet for a couple years already

 

[thomas_d92]

I traveled from California to the Philadelphia area last week for my Mother's funeral and stayed at my brother's house. He has Fios and I can say the picture quality was as good as DTV and the internet service was very good. If I had the option here and I could get a price lower that DTV and my internet service combined I would not hesitate to switch.

 

[bobcamp1]

I didn't stick with D*. I just switched to FIOS. I'm saving $70/month the first year, and at least $50/month the second year (depends on how much D* raises prices. FIOS price is locked). It includes multi-room DVR service and a few more channels than D*.

The only problem is I'm stuck with the QIP6416, which has a limited HD size, is a little slow (between HR24 and HR20 in speed) and does not support eSATA. New customers are supposed to get the QIP7232, 500 GB + eSATA , but they are on backorder. Note that FIOS combines both hard drives, instead of disabling the internal drive like D* does.

The quality of the SD channels on FIOS is amazing. HD picture quality is slight better with FIOS, though most people won't even notice the difference. FIOS has much more VOD.

If switching, simply suspend your D* account for six months. FIOS has a 30-day window where you can cancel the contract no questions asked.

 

[Drucifer]

Been waiting for FiOS for almost four years now. I am completely surrounded by it. Years ago, I would have switch in an instant. Now I would get FiOS just for the Internet and keep DirecTV now that I have their HMC HR34.

 

[ShapeGSX]

No option for Fios here. But if I got the chance, I'd think about switching.

My HR24 is just bog slow at browsing the guide and the recorded program list. I've had to wait 5 seconds for the UI to update when I'm scrolling in some circumstances. There's no excuse for that. :nono2:

 

[jjaromin]

A little history. I was a long time DTV user (~1998 - 2011). I had Triple Play Fios installed about 1 year ago when DTV would not swap out a 3 year old noisy receiver that was in the master bedroom. Prior to this I had Fios Internet installed for ~5 years but never found a compelling reason to switch to the triple play package.

One day I decided to take the plunge. I ordered Fios triple play online using my Verizon account. It looked like I was going to save around $30 dollars a month.

First issue.. WAF! She and my daughters hate the Fios DVRs. They gave it about 10 months and finally said we need to go back to DTV. I would have to agree. I have the newest (black, I forget the model number, 500GB DVR) and they are crap. They are slow, IR remote (not RF), multi room has terrible lag, season passes are difficult. The channels are separated SD (Channel 0 to 499) and HD (channel 500 and up, you basically add 500 to the SD channel number), so I usually don't even look at SD channel land when looking for shows. The internal HD is not upgradeable and I don't want to add an external SATA drive to the DVR, so storage gets to be a problem on our main TV. Its always running around 95% full.

Second issue.. Price. When everything was setup, 30 days had gone by, I got my first bill. WTF! Called Verizon, asked what was going on. They informed me that since I was an existing internet user, I did not get any new customer discounts.. (I can accept this, other than the fact I signed up for the package with my internet verizon account). So for the cost, without discounts, its a wash or I am paying just a little more with Fios. Their DVR fees are $15 or $20 per receiver so that adds up fast with 3 DVRs!!

For me, I regret going with Fios. I'm waiting for one of the Returning Customer discounts from Directv to show up in my mail box and I will make the switch back and just keep Fios Internet (its awesome!!).

 

[spartanstew]

For me it's mainly because:

1. Fios does not have discreet IR codes
2. I have lifetime DVR with D*
3. I don't have a home phone, so no triple pay advantage

In the end, with the number of receivers I need (and such), FIOS has always been more expensive. Additionally, having viewed FIOS many, many times (everyone else around me has FIOS - we were just about the first in the US to get it), I see no discernible difference in picture quality.

 

[billsharpe]

I didn't stick with D*. I just switched to FIOS. I'm saving $70/month the first year, and at least $50/month the second year (depends on how much D* raises prices. FIOS price is locked). It includes multi-room DVR service and a few more channels than D*.

The only problem is I'm stuck with the QIP6416, which has a limited HD size, is a little slow (between HR24 and HR20 in speed) and does not support eSATA. New customers are supposed to get the QIP7232, 500 GB + eSATA , but they are on backorder. Note that FIOS combines both hard drives, instead of disabling the internal drive like D* does.

The quality of the SD channels on FIOS is amazing. HD picture quality is slight better with FIOS, though most people won't even notice the difference. FIOS has much more VOD.

If switching, simply suspend your D* account for six months. FIOS has a 30-day window where you can cancel the contract no questions asked.

I switched to FiOS last October primarily for savings of about $40 per month. I agree with the much better SD PQ and the much larger VOD offerings comments. TCM is about the only channel that I watch in SD.

I too had the older 6416 HD DVR installed but I was able to swap it for the 7232 model at a local Verizon store at no charge. Call first to make sure the store has the newer models in stock.

I also suspended my DirecTV account but closed it completely within 30 days.

 

[chefwong]

OT ....but to the receiver running comment.

We go through this whole movement.
CFL, etc, etc, etc.
Sadly , with the advent of HD - HDTV -, etc.....we have receivers that run and eat energy 24.7

 

[tonyd79]

Well. (I am a dual sub.)

1. FIOS DVR sucks.

2. HD contents other than sports is about the same, no matter what anyone tells you but FIOS cannot compete on sports at all.

3. DirecTV HD is as good as and sometimes better than FIOS (side by side comparision).

4. Fios technology is a bit too gum and wire. It is actually pretty skiddish.

5. Fios keeps upping the ante on packages. Routinely take channels out of packages and push to the next level. Their package is a big shell game.

6. Fios customer service sucks.

I have Fios in the house for phone and internet. The TV stuff is a very cheap add on for me as I keep it minimum. My other alternative is a very bad, antiquated Comcast system.

 

[chefwong]

What I found interesting per the rep is their VOD content (assuming it's true). I was advised that their is alot of current channels that are VOD....so for example, a show showed at 8PM wed, would be available current via VOD

However, a brief look here:

https://www22.verizon.com/OnDemand/unprotected/FTVOnline.aspx

Seems to contradict that

 

[Jimmy 440]

Anyone know off hand if Fios has NHL CI & MLB EI in HD & if they offer dual feeds (all games or just some) ??

I am actually exploring it becuase I am anticipating moving to a place where I would be unable to get D in the next 12-16 mos.

 

[sangs]

Anyone know off hand if Fios has NHL CI & MLB EI in HD & if they offer dual feeds (all games or just some) ??

I am actually exploring it becuase I am anticipating moving to a place where I would be unable to get D in the next 12-16 mos.

You just hit on one of the reasons I'm back with D* for TV (will not give up my FIOS Internet and Digital Voice though). I'm actually a dual sub through May, when my FIOS contract is up.

Yes, FIOS has NHL CI and MLB EI in HD - but only TWO channels worth. So if your team isn't playing on one of those channels, no HD for you. I missed the hell out of that the last two years. (Same holds for NBA and other sports if you're into those.)

I hadn't planned to come back to D*, but the offer was just too good - especially with the HR34 included. The FIOS DVRs - unfortunately - are still buggy Motorola's and even though I had two of the newest ones with the largest hard drives, they still suffered in comparison to what I was used to with D*.

The HD PQ is very similar. I've been comparing the two side-by-side for the last week or so and I see no noticeable difference in HD feeds, except for AMC which looks better to me on D* than FIOS. SD however, FIOS wins hands down, but I don't want much SD at all.

FIOS internet is outstanding and really makes the D* Cinema downloads fly. So much faster than when I had D* before and Comcast was my internet provider.

 

[profbobo]

I looked into it once and decided not to for the following reasons. Of course, your mileage may vary.

1. I second what sangs said. I'm a NHL CI subscriber and love getting home and away feeds of all the games in both SD and HD. As far as I can tell, DirecTV just turns on the sports feeds for the games since I can tune to those. When I looked into it, I think FiOS received their sports packages from a company called onDemand. OnDemand wasn't able to provide every game in HD every night. They only had 2 channels for HD. It was luck if the game you wanted to watch was on one of the HD channels. I think this is the same for NBA and MLB. Someone please correct this if it's wrong or no longer this way.

2. When I looked into it, the DVRs were absolutely unacceptable compared to DirecTV. I had two DirecTV receivers in the same room on different remote channels. Couldn't do this with FiOS. Smaller hard drives didn't help. I would have done TiVOs with cable cards and that would have cost more. The receiver pricing structure for FiOS was also more expensive for my needs. Each DVR was $15 I think instead of how DirecTV charges for their equipment.

3. At the end of the day, I put it all in a spreadsheet over the lifetime of the contract and FiOS would have been more expensive for me since I have lifetime DVR from the old TiVo days. Also, I would have wanted TiVos over the FiOS DVRs.

In my area, Verizon eventually sold their FiOS business to a company called Frontier. Frontier doesn't have the negotiation power and ended up pricing themselves out of FiOS TV. Now, they push new customers to Dish for TV. I still have their Internet and that is awesome.

 

[CCarncross]

FIOS has junk dvrs, even if their prgramming packages may be more attractive price-wise, no sale here. Oh, and I cant get it here....

 

[kirthew]

I worked for Verizon and now for Frontier Communications working with the FIOS product.

I dislike our video product, I don't think that we offer the sports packages that Directv offers. NHL, NBA, MLB almost all of their games are in HD on Directv. On FIOS they have 1 or 2 max in HD. In an HD world, this is where they are missing a huge market. With the bandwidth that the fiber provides, there is no reason that Verizon / Frontier cannot offer these channels in HD, they just choose not to pay for them, at least that is what it seems like to me.

The DVRs and STBs are not the greatest in the world, having troubleshooted them for the past 5 years, I have seen it all, and I think the boxes that Directv offers far surpasses the Motorola boxes that Verizon / Frontier offer.

All your DVRs talk to one another. I love this feature, I have two DVRs and they talk to one another on Directv. With FIOS, you have two DVRs, at least with Frontier and prior to switching over Verizon, the DVRs did not talk to one another, and you could only have one as the Home Media DVR.

Ordering something in the Directv world is much easier than ordering something in the FIOS world. Having fielded a number of calls dealing with PPV ordering of fights and events, things just seem to fly in the Directv world. My impression of Verizon, is that they are a phone company that tried to add video.

Now the FIOS Data, is second to none, and would recommend to anyone under the sun. I could not live with out my 25/25, but the video portion, give me Directv any day.

 

[Justin85]

I'd love to even have the option of FiOS

 

[thomas_d92]

Why does everybody complain about the Fios DVR when you can get a Tivo to do the job.

 

[adkinsjm]

Why does everybody complain about the Fios DVR when you can get a Tivo to do the job.

Some people like On Demand and PPV, plus TiVo costs more.

 

[TBlazer07]

I worked for Verizon and now for Frontier Communications working with the FIOS product.

I dislike our video product, I don't think that we offer the sports packages that Directv offers. NHL, NBA, MLB almost all of their games are in HD on Directv. On FIOS they have 1 or 2 max in HD. In an HD world, this is where they are missing a huge market. With the bandwidth that the fiber provides, there is no reason that Verizon / Frontier cannot offer these channels in HD, they just choose not to pay for them, at least that is what it seems like to me.

The DVRs and STBs are not the greatest in the world, having troubleshooted them for the past 5 years, I have seen it all, and I think the boxes that Directv offers far surpasses the Motorola boxes that Verizon / Frontier offer.

All your DVRs talk to one another. I love this feature, I have two DVRs and they talk to one another on Directv. With FIOS, you have two DVRs, at least with Frontier and prior to switching over Verizon, the DVRs did not talk to one another, and you could only have one as the Home Media DVR.

Ordering something in the Directv world is much easier than ordering something in the FIOS world. Having fielded a number of calls dealing with PPV ordering of fights and events, things just seem to fly in the Directv world. My impression of Verizon, is that they are a phone company that tried to add video.

Now the FIOS Data, is second to none, and would recommend to anyone under the sun. I could not live with out my 25/25, but the video portion, give me Directv any day.

Fios DVR's talk to each other just fine under the current software. I don't have it but my daughter does. She has 2 DVR's (500GB each) and an HD receiver. A multi-room DVR is the same as a regular DVR it just has MR activated (like DirecTV does). If you have more than 1 DVR they are both "automatically" M.R. just like DirecTV. They all talk to each other and you can set & manage recordings on each from each unlike DirecTV. I'm not crazy about the interface but, like with DirecTV, once set it's pretty much forgotten. Also it is mostly what you are used to.

As for all the sports, many folks don't give a hoot. As for price, the deal has been a M.R. DVR for free for life so that removes part of the cost.

I have Fios internet and it can't be beat. Been thinking about switching to triple play but DirecTV to me is like a Gynecologist is to a woman. You just don't want to try out a new one if you can avoid it. Too much trepidation involved making the change.