Review by elefante72  - Location: East Amherst,Erie,NY
- Cost: $106 per month
- Install: about 14 days
Good "Almost everything. 25/25 means 25/25, all the time"
Bad "STB are NOT energy efficient. 15W minimum. Billing, oh my god"
Overall "Compared to TWC there is none"
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Update: 1/24/2012. Time Warner is amping up the competition. $20/month for Internet ( I wouldnt consider cable -- pic is horrible at neighbors house). They dont mention speed, but prob 10/1. I have 25/25 now, so probably not.
I have had FIOS 3Play for almost a year, and 25/25. Had an issue w/ CallerID which lasted about 3 weeks. I called asking to remove phone, and a knowledgeable USA, English speaking tech got on, updated the ONT firmware and 5 minutes later it was fixed. They credited me the whole month for the inconvenience. Now I call that customer service.
I had TWC for 11 years prior (it was really Adelphia), and of course since this was their home market the product was great. Service @ Adelphia was great. Once TWC took over, it sucked. Now these are the same people and equipment mind you (people spoke to were in buffalo and rochester), so it could only be the poisonous piss poor corporate culture causing this. That and my fees would go from $40 to almost $60 for 15/2 (and I use VPN so the (2) sucks). The speed was 15/2 however. As my neighbors kept leaving TWC for FIOS, I absolutely had the freeway to myself. Well I was calling to ask about possible getting TV from them (I just had internet), then the lady looks at my account, and tells me I am not paying enough for my internet, and they are going to jack up my rate $6/month. Well, goodbye Mr Tom. So I was the last holdout on my block, and EVERYONE went to FIOS, and there is a reason why: Price and Customer Service. I mean TWC wanted $160/mo where VZW wanted $99, and TWC was still some half analog Frankenstein. They must be dropping customers like flies in Buffalo, because in the last month they are actually under $100 for triple play (I mean in my area) because there is competition. I am sure if there wasnt, it would be $200/month with the same substandard service. Anyways enough of TWC, they are in my top 5 of worst companies ever, which is sad because their product is a B (not A+ like FIOS), but they should at least be priced as such.
Verizon install: Received a number of emails updating me on install progress. Day before a human calls to remind me and confirms. The day of the tech calls and makes sure I am available (oh BTW, they told me they would call so I didnt need to wait around my house all day), and 20 min later he shows up. He is a real verizon employee (I ask before I let him in), and first thing he does is out on medical slippers (duh. so he doesn't wreck my nice hardwood floors.) Two pluses there. I've worked in the optical field for 15 years, so we have a great time during install (which takes 6 hours--OMG), however he ran the cables where I wanted them, lit up the GIG (not Moca), and cleaned up everything professionally. 3 plusses. TWC would always send out some contractor on the first call, which would ultimately need a TWC employee to come out to fix the issue. The diagnostic equipment for the contractor was like an old HP calculator, compared to the $5k piece of high tech the TWC employee had, so I dont blame the sub. You get what you pay for.
Cons:
Well the #1 by far downside is the Motorola STBs--the power vampires. I guess energy star is not in their vocab, which the govt should mandate. I heard STB are like the #1 power user in a house, I believe it. Mine is my hottub, but hey... My DVR hovered around 25W, and each HD STB 15W, and we are talking 24/7/365. No turning these things off. For the STB, reboot is a few minutes so forgetabout the power plan there. I'm anal about power consumption, so this is inexcusable when my roku does it in 3W. Chalk it up to proprietary encryption schemes costing Americans billions and wasted barrels of fuel. In any case, I could take it no longer, so I turned in all my devices (saving on STB inflated costs BTW), and swapped it for a single cablecard ($4/mo) and HDHRP which records 3 shows at a pop, and uses 5W total. I swapped STB with used xboxes (70-100$ each--ROI 1 year and portable), and turn them on only when needed (boot in about 40 seconds -- reasonable). They suck on power too (75W), but they are only on when needed. My kids don't watch TV, so it's not an issue (netflix baby - 3W). My W7MC sits in the basement as a VM, so it is sharing infrastructure with my work stuff, so additional power is 6W (two GREEN hard drives added). Got to love VMware, and my drives are mirrored. So VZ now will have an Xbox app, even better. Keep the innovation coming. The whole house DVR over Moca worked tho, so props to that. They started adding too many widgets in 1.9. Way too confusing. I hate commercials, so recorded shows will suffice. I cant remember what blue, green, yellow does so those are a waste.
So Verizon: Think about putting the screws to Motorola, you could decrypt on an mcard in the DVR and save the CC from the STB. These STB 5 Watts or you are wasting your time. If you think about it a DVR is a joke too. This is one app that belongs in the cloud. I want a little roku cube, 3 watts, and all IP. You can have your precious shows in the cloud and the broadcasters can be happy knowing I'm not pirating shows. I have no interest in such. I just want to push the button, and watch what I payed for, when I want it, and where I want it, like my ipad--thank you. We are all not criminals, so stop making me pay for it, put in in the cloud.
Unbundling pricing:
Verizon really likes you to have their phone (I can see why, who really needs it), so they price their packages so that if you nix the phone, it will cost you. I dont like that because I don't like the landline porting process (not seamless like wireless--duh because the govt lets them get away with it). So this brings me to the f#2 downside, billing. If you EVER change anything on your account be very afraid. I had 10 semesters of calculus and have a hard time figuring out the billing statement. I'm sure there is an accounting reason for it (shuffling revenue around), but there is no way to actually figure out how the costs are intertwined in the 3play package. When I turned in my STB I was worried, but those were line item charges, so I didnt get bit. Package changes, nightmares I have heard from neighbors. So my recommendation it dont ever change the package if you can, and if you do copiously document everything because you will be spending time on it.
They gave me 1 year free DVR (I just turned it in to save on the $20), and 2 years locked in price for under $100. Taxes bring it to $106/month (this is NY). So if they try to jack up my rates in a year, then I talk to TWC, because I really don't want to change Verizon, so don't get greedy. I will drop phone and cable in a second.
It's a shame they are stopping their FIOS for LTE, but it makes sense in urban areas. It would take 20 years to wire Manhattan with fibre. The only way FTTH is going to happen, is to shut down the USF and spend it on wiring every home. Imagine the jobs claim the government could make on building that  It's beyond retarted that I have twisted pair, coax (3 of em), and fibre coming into my prem. A properly buried fiber will last over 100 years, then let the companies compete. It's almost too easy.
BTW - The Verizon guys are union, and they rock and do their job, so don't bash unions it's the CORPORATE CULTURE -- plain and simple. They talk about putting 30 years in... Imagine that. I switch jobs every 6 months..
member for 2.8 years, 400 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 1.6 years ago
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