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JPL · 07-13-2007, 12:01 PM

Thanks for the nice responses... actually a couple more DID occur to me

DirecTV over FiOS:

1) PPV. Let me explain this one. FiOS has exactly 1 regular PPV channel. All other PPV type offerings would be ordered through VOD on FiOS. Not a biggie except for one detail that I don't care for - you can't record VOD programming on your DVR. You order it... and you have 24 hours to watch it. You can watch it as many times as you want in that 24 hours. And you can certainly do things like pause,ffwd,rwd... but after that it's gone. For me personally it's not a big deal. With small kids... it very much is. When we first got our DirecTV Tivo I rented and recorded a movie for my kids that stayed on that box until it died. Best $4 I've ever spent on a movie

2) Very minor one for PA, anyway - franchise fee. Since fios is considered cable, there is a franchise fee involved. In this area, it's cheap. My taxes are not much higher than what I paid with DirecTV. In some areas of the country, they can be fairly high. I asked the sales rep at Verizon when I called. He gave me a good estimation - he actually overestimated it, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got my first bill.

FiOS over DirecTV:

1) In a word - CSN Philly. Again, since FiOS is considered cable, it's not beholden to that silly terrestrial loophole that Comcast uses to keep DirecTV from getting this channel. We get it in both SD and HD.

2) Triple play - I touched on this before... FiOS internet is way cool. I had that for over a year before switching to TV service. And the price drop, for me (it varies depending on the package and what service you're looking for) can be substantial.

3) No required commitment - I alluded to this before. You're not required to take the commitment. If you do, it saves you $5/month for a year. It's a one-year commitment (unless you get the triple-play, in which case it's two years), and doesn't start for 30 days (again, except if you take the triple-play, in which case the commitment starts right away).

One last comment. My main concern with going to FiOS for TV service was customer service. When I had some minor issues with pixelation on my VOD service, that concern went away. All the CSRs I dealt with were professional, curteous, and nice as anything. The installers (I had one for internet, one for TV, and another tech come out to help fix that pixelation issue) were outrageously professional and thorough. I had a real concern because Verizon has a reputation of having some pretty crappy service. They're doing fios the right way in my opinion. Unfortunately, they're not fully carrying that across to their other systems. For example, their billing system can be frustrating to deal with. But their fios setup is, from what I've seen, really top notch.

One last last thing - when you switch to fios, everything switches to fiber. If you currently have DSL, e.g., and you decide to get fios for say internet, well, the normal practice is for them to remove the copper lines going to your house. Some folks have a real concern with this. If you want to switch telephone providers, e.g., it can be a problem, since Verizon isn't required to carry other carriers phone service on their fiber. I already had fios internet... and verizon phone service... so I didn't care too much. Some folks request that the installer leave the copper strung to their house.

07-13-2007, 12:01 PM	#11
JPL High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 1,427	Thanks for the nice responses... actually a couple more DID occur to me DirecTV over FiOS: 1) PPV. Let me explain this one. FiOS has exactly 1 regular PPV channel. All other PPV type offerings would be ordered through VOD on FiOS. Not a biggie except for one detail that I don't care for - you can't record VOD programming on your DVR. You order it... and you have 24 hours to watch it. You can watch it as many times as you want in that 24 hours. And you can certainly do things like pause,ffwd,rwd... but after that it's gone. For me personally it's not a big deal. With small kids... it very much is. When we first got our DirecTV Tivo I rented and recorded a movie for my kids that stayed on that box until it died. Best $4 I've ever spent on a movie 2) Very minor one for PA, anyway - franchise fee. Since fios is considered cable, there is a franchise fee involved. In this area, it's cheap. My taxes are not much higher than what I paid with DirecTV. In some areas of the country, they can be fairly high. I asked the sales rep at Verizon when I called. He gave me a good estimation - he actually overestimated it, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got my first bill. FiOS over DirecTV: 1) In a word - CSN Philly. Again, since FiOS is considered cable, it's not beholden to that silly terrestrial loophole that Comcast uses to keep DirecTV from getting this channel. We get it in both SD and HD. 2) Triple play - I touched on this before... FiOS internet is way cool. I had that for over a year before switching to TV service. And the price drop, for me (it varies depending on the package and what service you're looking for) can be substantial. 3) No required commitment - I alluded to this before. You're not required to take the commitment. If you do, it saves you $5/month for a year. It's a one-year commitment (unless you get the triple-play, in which case it's two years), and doesn't start for 30 days (again, except if you take the triple-play, in which case the commitment starts right away). One last comment. My main concern with going to FiOS for TV service was customer service. When I had some minor issues with pixelation on my VOD service, that concern went away. All the CSRs I dealt with were professional, curteous, and nice as anything. The installers (I had one for internet, one for TV, and another tech come out to help fix that pixelation issue) were outrageously professional and thorough. I had a real concern because Verizon has a reputation of having some pretty crappy service. They're doing fios the right way in my opinion. Unfortunately, they're not fully carrying that across to their other systems. For example, their billing system can be frustrating to deal with. But their fios setup is, from what I've seen, really top notch. One last last thing - when you switch to fios, everything switches to fiber. If you currently have DSL, e.g., and you decide to get fios for say internet, well, the normal practice is for them to remove the copper lines going to your house. Some folks have a real concern with this. If you want to switch telephone providers, e.g., it can be a problem, since Verizon isn't required to carry other carriers phone service on their fiber. I already had fios internet... and verizon phone service... so I didn't care too much. Some folks request that the installer leave the copper strung to their house. Last edited by JPL; 07-13-2007 at 12:06 PM.