High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource - View Single Post - Verizon incompetent and unfair (new upgrade!?)

JPL · 10-17-2008, 02:36 PM

Yeah, this stuff is confusing, and Verizon didn't do a great job in communicating it. From what I understand, ESPN News HD is not one of the channels available to grandfathered customers in the Premier package. Exactly what is granfathered in, I think, may vary by market. But I'm pretty sure that the last 15 HD channels (those that are rolling out in phase 2 of the HD rollout) will NOT be included in the Premier package for grandfathered customers.

There's a list of what those channels are, but overall it includes the Fox HD channels (FNC HD, Fox Business HD, and F/X HD), as well as the ABC family of HD channels (ABC Family, Disney, Toon Disney, ESPN News HD), and a handful of others (e.g. QVC HD, Bio HD, Travel HD, and a couple more). So, I think, at the very least, if you want any of those 15 channels you HAVE to upgrade to Extreme. Included in that are at least 2 SD channels - RFD and Current. Again, if you're a premier customer and you want those two channels, you need the Extreme pack - they're not even included in the Essentials pack.

As for the rest of the HD channels... well I'm not sure how long you get grandfathered in. I'm guessing until your contract runs out, but I'm not sure. At the end of the day, it's clear that Premier is gone, and only Essentials and Extreme will be available. If you want to see which channels are included with each pack, go to Verizon's website, under the Channel listings. Put in your zip code and you'll see the list - they recently upgraded their website, and the changes they made make it easy to see which package contains which channel.

Oh, and as another change - the Sports pack is history. Those channels are now also rolled into the Extreme pack.

As for pricing, I think they're offering nice bundles. I was paying $105/month with Premier and 10/2 internet service, and freedom essentials phone. I just rebundled with Extreme, and I'm not getting the HD Extreme TV pack (which includes all those HD channels plus the sports pack channels), 20/5 internet, and the same phone pack, for $110/month. I spend an extra $5/month, but I more than doubled my internet speed (checked the other night - 20.7M down!), and I got a bunch more channels.

10-17-2008, 02:36 PM	#9
JPL High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 1,427	Yeah, this stuff is confusing, and Verizon didn't do a great job in communicating it. From what I understand, ESPN News HD is not one of the channels available to grandfathered customers in the Premier package. Exactly what is granfathered in, I think, may vary by market. But I'm pretty sure that the last 15 HD channels (those that are rolling out in phase 2 of the HD rollout) will NOT be included in the Premier package for grandfathered customers. There's a list of what those channels are, but overall it includes the Fox HD channels (FNC HD, Fox Business HD, and F/X HD), as well as the ABC family of HD channels (ABC Family, Disney, Toon Disney, ESPN News HD), and a handful of others (e.g. QVC HD, Bio HD, Travel HD, and a couple more). So, I think, at the very least, if you want any of those 15 channels you HAVE to upgrade to Extreme. Included in that are at least 2 SD channels - RFD and Current. Again, if you're a premier customer and you want those two channels, you need the Extreme pack - they're not even included in the Essentials pack. As for the rest of the HD channels... well I'm not sure how long you get grandfathered in. I'm guessing until your contract runs out, but I'm not sure. At the end of the day, it's clear that Premier is gone, and only Essentials and Extreme will be available. If you want to see which channels are included with each pack, go to Verizon's website, under the Channel listings. Put in your zip code and you'll see the list - they recently upgraded their website, and the changes they made make it easy to see which package contains which channel. Oh, and as another change - the Sports pack is history. Those channels are now also rolled into the Extreme pack. As for pricing, I think they're offering nice bundles. I was paying $105/month with Premier and 10/2 internet service, and freedom essentials phone. I just rebundled with Extreme, and I'm not getting the HD Extreme TV pack (which includes all those HD channels plus the sports pack channels), 20/5 internet, and the same phone pack, for $110/month. I spend an extra $5/month, but I more than doubled my internet speed (checked the other night - 20.7M down!), and I got a bunch more channels.