Bob

So we finally switched from Comcast, after having them for years to Verizon FIOS.

So far, so good...kinda. Shaky start, they should have sorted us out last Monday, but after I ordered the service online I get a call apologising saying the slot that we booked was a cancelled spot that the person had changed mind and selected to have it whilst I was okaying our package. Bit miffed, but whatever.

They came today. 8am-5pm window, expected to take 4-6 hours if from scratch, had to have someone there. The chap came a little after lunch, was here for just over an hour as the place is already hooked up for FIOS.

Had to dig out the phone sockets as the phone uses those rather than a phone black box that Comcast use.

The chap doing the installing was really nice, but then saying that, so were the few Comcast chaps we'd had over the years.

Telephone set up in minutes. Didn't show us how to get the voice mail set up though, so that'll be a hassle to figure out...and when we were setting up the bundle, there were so many options that cost extra, hard to see what actually was included "free"...international rates to the UK were cheap, not even a couple of pennies a minute. Free local, long distance and Canada, possibly even Mexico too. Oh and the phone has a 8 hour back up battery on the FIOS do-do-ju-ju box (technical term, tm) in the basement.

TV set up pretty quickly, just pulled the comcast box out and stuck theirs in place. Same for the internet. They give you a meh modem and wireless in one unit, which is nice and it appears to have individual customer user name and passport printed on the side that you can change, rather than manufacture default, they won't change this for you, but the default also had WEP protection.

Changing the wireless SSID and stuff caused the thing to crash and had to be reset and done over again, so a little faff.....also the wireless isn't n compliant, so it's a little slow for the network...but so far, testing through out the afternoon and evening, the 15/5 service ranged from 13.5-22 down and a rock solid 5mb up, compared to Comcast, paying for the same service, never got above 8/2 and it was usually 8/1.5. No throttling observed so far.

Bit of a faff getting WD TV Live box to work with it, needed to be reset to factory settings and reset up for some reason, but it finally worked. uTorrent is a little slow, but it now seems to be working okay..ish.

The TV, well the HD does seem better and the DVR seems to have about x3 more capacity than Comcast's.

What's shit...well the remote can only deal with the cable and TV, Comcast could control a third device, it's small, but annoying. Also, the AV input button, it works, but then there's no way to scroll, so you can't actually change the input, so a bit pointless.

The TV guide, it's poo....if you are in a none HD channel, with Comcast, hit info and you can select the HD version. In DirectTV, they group the SD and HD channels together so you can easily see. FIOS, you've got to go to info, scroll all the way down to extra info, see when else the show is being shown and scroll through to see if one is HD and select to watch that now.

FIOS, like Comcast, they can't remember where you've scrolled to when watching on demand, so really annoying when watching trailers, you've got to faff all the way back to the trailers and then scroll through from the beginning again. Meh. Seriously people, learn some GUI basics.

The basic TV package doesn't include Sprout PBS TV, major bugger, when I asked about that they said it was, no mention that we would have to get the next TV bundle package, WTF. The PBS is also missing one. Comcast gave us NH/RI and MA...we've only got two of them now.

Really liking the groupings of tele on demand though, especially the kids shows. Not liking how you don't find out you have that channel till you've clicked on the program. Going back to the guide, and Comcast were the same, no way to grey out or delete all the channels you didn't get in your package...simple GUI people, FFS.

Biggest kicker, being charged $15 a month for a HD DVR Step top box....because I really want to have the HD TV bundle, but not be able to watch any of it. Cocks. The SD step top box was only a couple of bucks...but seriously? Arseholes....even Comcast didn't charge you that much....it was just $10 extra to get HD channels.

Comcast did nickle and dime you though, when we started using them, it was just under $2 a month to rent the cable modem, it's now around $8 a month, sod that, when Verizon just give you the box.

All in, for pretty much the same package, it's $85 a month cheaper.

Comcast did try the hard sell when we rang to cancel the service, and customer service on the phone and the billing department are up there as some of the shittest. Local office on the other hand couldn't give a shit when I showed up to return the equipment, which was nice.

Anyway, so far, FIOS for the win.

Anyone else changed service for a big difference?

Jerseygirl

We changed from Comcast to FIOS over a year ago. Got a lot more channels for a lot less money per month. Great speeds for downloads.

Bob

I hope the service doesn't drop out as much as Comcast would

Jerseygirl

We've not had any problems so far.

jemima55

And here, I`m going to retell my story about a Verizon FIOS saleswoman telling me that "one day maybe you`ll get it in the UK", and I replied "We already did, 15 years ago". At my house..........in Yorkshire!

fatbrit

I hate you.

Bob

It took a while.

Where we lived in the last town, FIOS stopped next door, so close, yet so far and we weren't going to pay extra to get it installed.

Then at our last gaff, there was FIOS, but they weren't able to offer the tele through the cable so had it partnered with Direct or Dish, either way, it was shit. So we stayed with Comcast, for so long.

And now we're free....at long last

Peter525839

We switched from comcast ( tv and internet) to FIOS 2 weeks ago. Our phone was already Verizon but would cut out in rainy weather. Thought about bundling Comcast but they said phone uses same lines ( problem is at a box a couple of streets away) Anyway Verizon said they are all fiber optic We shall see.
Main reason price Comcast was $205 ! + Verizon $80 My bundled FIOS price quoted was $135 Of course just recd the first bill and its closer to $155 but I called them up and they took off charges for 2 small set top boxes we added so its back close to $135 + all the taxes ( $15) again
I have the Fox soccer package + main dvr + two semi dvr boxes thats why its $140 ish
Its ok but there are several things we do not like
The on screen guide sucks Its very difficult to read for old farts like us
We have my daughter living with us They ahve the main dvr box we have two other boxs in bedrooms but yiou cannot pause live tv on those boxes
Verizon said we would have to pay $19 each for main dvr boxes in those rooms
Its $155 for the secodn year and after that I think internet TV will be so improved that I'll be able to drop everything hopefully

Things I like are Fox soccer in HD Comcast dont have this
I just took all tyhe boxes back to Comcats after installation No one said anything No hard sell or even why are you leaving Strange
Be suer you take everythng back though or they will charge you even for remotes

hobbes79

We changed from Comcast to Fios about 3-years back. The picture quality and internet speeds are superb. I think pricing ends up about the same after the initial super dooper offers to get you started.

Which box did you get, Cisco or Motorola? If Motorola, they're due for a software upgrade at some point shortly (Mass is one of the last areas in the country to not get it yet) that allows you to hook up an external drive using the esata slot.

The Cisco boxes come with the latest already I believe.

And still using the wireless adapter ok on that WD Live?

Bob

They put the hard sell in when we called them up to cancel, especially when we said we would be getting better internet speed, were told we were getting the same speed package...totally not getting the fact that advertised has been no where near reality. The folks in local office were good though.

We've a receipt for the DVR/remote, phone box and modem...we'll see how this turns out, but it did say what the pro-rated bill was...meh...what are they going to do, cut us off? Well, they can get that after Christmas.

Bob

We've got the Cisco box...not liking the remote that much, but it does light up which is nice.

And yeah, the WD is working great wireless after being reset. One annoying bug though, have to restart it if you go from network share to usb drive if you want to go find the network share again, but oh well