DTV vs FIOS

[njgigman]

This should be a completly seperate topic in here.

However can somebody Seriously post on here the PROS and CONS without being BIAS.

I currently have DTV 6 years now and love it.
3 DVRS one standard 3 LNB dish and powered multiswitch

Im in the process of setting up my first HD room.

FIOS will be available in 2 months and Ihave been debating switching.

SO far my reasons are
1) MUCH cheaper for all three services
2) From what I have seen the picture is just as good

MY Hesitations
1) Not as much HD programing
2) MY wife bugged when she saw that DTV changed there package prices and was offering me only a work around by taking away two movie channel packages to adjust the price to even TRY to come close to FIOS

Currently i have the best package and am a 5 Heart customer and i was expecting them to at least attempt to keep me ON

HELP.....

[njgigman]

Does anybody in here have an opinion on this ?
Any insite?

[deadhead68]

Originally Posted by njgigman

Does anybody in here have an opinion on this ?
Any insite?

I think this line "However can somebody Seriously post on here the PROS and CONS without being BIAS." could be why nobody has posted. Most (not all) people on this board, me included, tend to be biased toward what they currently have. Otherwise, they wouldn't have it. That goes for their provider, TV, receiver etc. Or maybe there aren't many people who have had both and can answer you. Just an observation.

DeadHead68

[redlinetire]

Did you look in the Fios forum? There's already a thread from somebody with the same question:


Debating the switch from DTV...?

[DwnGoesFrazier]

IF you switch just make sure they don't pull out your copper from the pole to your house in case you want revert back.

[JPL]

Originally Posted by njgigman

This should be a completly seperate topic in here.

However can somebody Seriously post on here the PROS and CONS without being BIAS.

I currently have DTV 6 years now and love it.
3 DVRS one standard 3 LNB dish and powered multiswitch

Im in the process of setting up my first HD room.

FIOS will be available in 2 months and Ihave been debating switching.

SO far my reasons are
1) MUCH cheaper for all three services
2) From what I have seen the picture is just as good

MY Hesitations
1) Not as much HD programing
2) MY wife bugged when she saw that DTV changed there package prices and was offering me only a work around by taking away two movie channel packages to adjust the price to even TRY to come close to FIOS

Currently i have the best package and am a 5 Heart customer and i was expecting them to at least attempt to keep me ON

HELP.....

I'll give you my viewpoint. First my background - I was a DirecTV customer for 5 years. I LOVED my service. I was very happy with it. Near the end, I thought they started focusing a little too much on the premium sports packs (NFL ST, e.g.) - I understand that that's their cash-cow, but it left them behind relative to other suppliers when it came to channels offered (both SD and HD). What caused me to switch (just 3 months ago) was HD. I got an HDTV in March, and I wanted HD. I called DirecTV to see if I could get them to come down on the price of their HD DVR (the HR20). They wouldn't budge. It was $300, up front, plus $20 s&h, and that's an up-front lease fee. Also, because DirecTV doesn't carry all my HD locals, and none of my digital subchannels, I would have needed an antenna (an extra $50 - $70 up front). And after all that I would have still had a 2 year commitment.

Shopping around, I came to the same conclusion you did - FiOS just looked like a great deal. As an SD-only customer, for my set-up, DirecTV was actually a couple bucks cheaper. But for HD service, FiOS took the advantage by a few dollars a month. If you're really on the fence, I would recommend doing what I did - sign up for FiOS, and suspend your DirecTV service (you can easily do that for up to 9 months). Verizon gives you 30 days before the commitment period kicks in (note - the commitment is optional, but it saves you $5/month for a year - and this 30-day trial generally doesn't include the triple play - if you get their triple play, generally - depends on your state - the commitment kicks in right away) - just don't sign up for the triple-play right away (you can opt to add it later if it's still offered in your state at that point).

When the installer comes out, just ask that he leave as much of your dish setup alone as possible. I did that, and my installer very much complied - it would take me all of 5 - 10 minutes to rehook everything back up to my dish if I so desired.

Now, as to the comparisons, here's what I see as the pros and cons of each:

DirecTV over FiOS:
- If you're a sports nut - if you like the sports packs - then DirecTV is the only place for you. FiOS is very thin on this front. Their sports package is minimal, and they have zero subscription type packs (e.g. MLB EI).

- They're DEFINITELY adding a lot of HD this fall and into next year. FiOS definitely has the capacity to carry them too, but they're very close to the vest when it comes to channel expansion.

- Functionality of their equipment - while I find the Motorola boxes that Verizon uses capable, functionally they're pretty limited. The way I put it - they do what they do very well... but they're much more pared down than the DirecTV equipment in terms of functionality. The guide s/w I also find a tad lacking - but that's about to change - Verizon is rolling out their new s/w (if you would like a link to the tutorial that they have on it, I'd be more than happy to provide it). While it apparently doesn't add much in the way of functionality, it does make it look a hell of alot nicer, and makes surfing alot faster too. And Verizon is developing that s/w (unlike the current guide s/w), so they'll have more control over future expandability.


That's really it from my perspective... Now, for the other direction:

FiOS over DirecTV:
- Picture quality - this is the number one difference, in my opinion. Directv was good... really good... FiOS is better. The SD is sharper and more realistic looking. I never had HD with DirecTV, but the HD on FiOS is just jaw-dropping. They don't compress the channels nearly to the degree that DirecTV does (this is obvious from their DVR recordings - based on how I calculate things, the FiOS recordings take up 2 - 3 times the space on a DVR than the DirecTV recordings did).

- Locals - I really missed this when I switched from cable to DirecTV 5 years ago. Yeah, I got my locals through DirecTV, which was great. But things like Weatherscan Local weren't there... and only getting the national feed on TWC bugged me too. And also Verizon is currently rolling out many local access channels (PEGs).

- No rain fade. I'll be clear about this. My dish was great. It took a wrath-of-God type storm to cause me to lose signal. But I have to tell you, we've had some nasty storms in this area over the last couple weeks - I would have easily lost my TV picture at least 4 or 5 times in that period. Late spring, early summer is always bad for me in that regard. When we had gale-force winds, and driving rain a couple weeks ago, my FiOS service never even blinked.

- Bang for your buck - this is another biggie in my opinion. One downside with verizon is that you pay more for your equipment month-to-month. For example, with DirecTV, I had 2 DVRs. Total monthly equipment cost to me: $11. $5 for the second receiver fee, and $6 for DVR service, which covers every DVR in the house. With FiOS, I'm paying $25 - I got the multiroom DVR ($20) and a standard STB for my second TV ($5). But even with that, my FiOS service was cheaper. The premier package, e.g., includes HD. In fact, if you have an SDTV, and you get the DVR for that TV, you'll STILL get the HD channels (downrezzed, of course). They only have one model DVR - and it's an HD DVR (one nit with the DVR - the harddrive is way too small for HD programming).

Add to that the triple play discount, and my bill has dropped considerably for what I'm getting. I also signed up for the movie pack, which is one hell of a deal - 45 SD movie channels - Starz, TMC, Showtime, IFC, Sundance, plus 3 of those in HD, plus the VOD offerings of those channels... all for $13/month. Even with that movie pack, I'm STILL paying less than what I was paying with DirecTV when you factor in the triple-play discount.

- VOD - Yeah, DirecTV is working on it... but it'll only be available to those with broadband access, and only those with their HR20 DVR. There are a couple of serious limitations with the Verizon VOD service, currently - no HD VOD until later this year, no free movies, no network series on VOD - but still, limited VOD is still better than no VOD.

That's pretty much the highlights. Good luck with the decision. One thing that helped me in this decision - I did an apples-to-apples comparison (much of which I included, above) and asked myself "if I had no TV provider and it was down to DirecTV or FiOS, which would I pick?" At that point it became obvious to me - FiOS would win out.

[JPL]

I'll make one other point - when looking at the fios channel lists, don't go by the national channel list on their website - bring up the one specific to your area. There are a couple reasons: 1) the national list doesn't include, obviously, your locals. 2) they seem to update the regional lists more frequently than the national list, making it more current. 3) there are some contractural restrictions with some channels in some areas. For example, in northern NJ and parts of NY, MSNBC has an exclusive agreement with Comcast/Cablevision - so no other cable provider is able to carry it. Verizon is working on that... but to date they aren't able to.

[redlinetire]

Good stuff JPL! Thanks for taking the time to let us know your experience.

I think it also goes to show that the best 'deal' is usually the one that gives you the content you want at the price/value you want. For whatever reason, it bugs the crap out of me too that I don't get the 'local' feed of TWC - but I'm a sports nut and I've found that D* works best for me...it's all a compromise

[purplehaze]

Good read JPL...Thanks for the breakdown!

[joed32]

Now that was about as much an unbiased post as you can get. Excellent!

[JPL]

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.