tipex

does anyone use the verizon fios?
i am looking at the 15/5 bundle with digital tv,think its $85 a month without contract.Does it work as good as they say, so i would get very close to those speeds or would it be like sky in the UK where you pay for 20 and only get 5mb at a push.
We have 3 computers only but with sky one of us mostly cant get connected.
i know fios is fibre optic unlike your sky so should be better.
Be grateful to here you views or if you use brighthouse lightning internet what you think of that.
thanks all

yellowroom

I've got exactly that bundle, and it's absolutely fine. Great picture on the tv and the advertised speeds on the internet. I pay $108 per month - lots of extras add up over the headline price, eg you have to rent the DVR, then I have HD so it's extra, if you want extra channels (like BBC America) you pay more......

You will find that the provided DVR and its software are not as sophisticated as a Sky+ box, but you'll manage. The only issue I do have is that every couple of days my iMac stops talking to the wi-fi router, but all my other gadgets are ok.

tipex

how many other wifi items are running of the broadband then? cause thats why i can't seem to get all 3 computers logged on at the same time

yellowroom

I've got work laptop, ipad, two iphones, appleTV and a Wii, but not all on at the same time!

Mine's a well known issue of compatability of the OS and a couple of routers. Plenty about it if you look at various Mac forums, and it's usually solved for me by turning wifi off and on again - two clicks and 5 seconds, so I'm not overly stressed by it. I could install a new one if I wanted.

Jerseygirl

We have a Fios bundle and are very pleased with it. We have had no problems using multiple devices. Downloads a 1 hr UK TV program in a few of minutes.

GeoffM

There's a recent thread which mentioned Fios: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...highlight=fios

I use it and have no problems.

Really? Comparing Sky+ to the Fios STB is like comparing a ZX Spectrum with an Ipad.

tipex

hey, zx spectrum was a quality machine


















in its day

kimilseung

It seems odd that you can not get them to log on. Can you explain why you think they are not logging on, what error message or what circumstances occur.

yellowroom

Really? back at you.

The UI is appalling and clunky, too many button presses. Separating out recorded programs from schedule makes no sense to me. It regularly refuses to record programs where it perceives there may be a clash (because the poxy channels schedule a program to finish at 10.01pm instead of 10pm, even though it actually finished at 9.59pm), whereas Sky+ would record up to the point of the clash. It can't cope with schedule changes at all (Sky+ will). FF and reverse are appalling. And the disk capacity is miniscule - I currently have 4 HD films on there and it's 50% full.

I will grant that the On Demand service is good and better than Sky Anytime, but it has to be because of the number of missed recordings I have had. But again, the complex navigation to get to the program I want is very cumbersome.

GeoffM

Exactly - Sky's EPG looks ancient!

Yeah, it's more complicated, I grant you that, and usually takes more button presses than on Sky - because Sky's is so simple and limited in what it can do. Never had a problem with FF/rewind, seems to work pretty well for me, and the skip 30 second buttons are great for commercials - but somebody here said they don't have those buttons so maybe there is a difference in standard between Fios systems?

Being able to watch stuff from one STB that was recorded on another one is great. Lost the remote? Use your phone! (You could browse and record in advance on Sky but not manipulate the TV/box from your phone like you can with Fios). Search is so much better than Sky's (search by any part of the title, compared to Sky which is scroll through masses of listings beginning with chosen letter).

I think my old Sky+ box was a 60gig box. You could record about 60 half hour programmes or, bizarrely, 60 one minute programs. It seemed to have a huge allocation size for each recording. Looking at my model number, I think my Fios box has 500gig - and I've got two, so if one is full, I can send it to the other box instead.

Sky Anytime was ok if you happened to like what they chose to record for you. Fios on demand is massively better.

I'll take your word for schedule changes, though Sky+ didn't always cope too well either.

yellowroom

I'll grant you Search too, that is better in Fios

Your Sky+ must have been non-HD - My Sky+ disc was 500 gig too, and it was HD, so directly comparable with the Fios one.

I will take simple and limited but robust and reliable over complex and unreliable every time.

GeoffM

Yes, Sky+, not Sky+HD.

Sometimes simple is good but I'd much rather keep Fios than have Sky, if there was such a choice. There's so much you can do with it so naturally the interface is going to be more complex. Don't you have kids to program it for you?

tonrob

You lot clearly watch too much TV.

GeoffM

Personally, probably a lot less than 10 hours a week. There's so much crap to wade through that I usually end up bored and watching that Pawn show or Storage Hunters. I've got a load of movies recorded but don't seem to find the time to watch a whole one in one sitting. I really ought to get some channels saved to favourites like Discovery/NatGeo/Travel which is mostly what I watched in the UK.

tipex

tbh don't know, all i can say is it happens quite often if two or three of us are on at the same time.
the message she kept getting the other day was cannot connect to the internet, 4 times she swithched her computer and the router off before it would work again, she was sitting less than five foot from the router as well.