jammmin
join:2000-12-14
Upper Marlboro, MD
| FIOS increased prices 3 times in the past 18 months
Verizon Plans Q2 Rate Hike For FiOS
No Details On Price Increase For ‘Certain Products and Bundles’
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/30/2008 11:35:00 AM
Verizon Communications will raise prices on certain FiOS services sometime this quarter—its third such increase within the last 18 months—but the telco isn't yet providing specifics.
“We anticipate increasing prices once again in certain [FiOS] products and bundles in the second quarter this year,” Verizon chief financial officer Doreen Toben said on Monday's earnings call.
A Verizon spokeswoman said the company was providing no additional details about the rate increases at this point.
Verizon just increased the price of the primary FiOS TV programming package for new subscribers, as of Jan. 20. The 200-channel FiOS TV Premier package now costs $47.99 per month for new customers, compared with $42.99 for customers who signed up last year.
And a year before that, it upped the rates for the Premier package from $39.95 to $42.99 for new customers as of Jan. 8, 2007.
In the past Verizon has told the Federal Communications Commission and other regulators that competitive video providers would drive rates down.
In a July 2006 filing with the FCC, Verizon cited a study by Bank of America that said cable companies offered “significant price decreases” on services in response to the telco's entry in Keller, Texas; Herndon, Va.; and Temple Terrace, Fla. Verizon executives said deals offered by incumbent cable operators in those markets were as much as 50% lower than their regular prices.
Verizon now counts 1.2 million subscribers, making it the 11th-largest video service operator in the United States, including cable and satellite providers.
For the first quarter, Toben said the average revenue per FiOS subscriber was about $129 per month—more than double the telco’s overall consumer retail ARPU (average revenue per unit), she pointed out, adding that “since not everyone has all three services, the triple-play ARPU is even higher.”
FiOS TV is now available to 6.5 million households in parts of 13 states. Verizon added 263,000 new FiOS TV customers in the first quarter, a rate of 4,100 per day. The company expects to have at least 4 million FiOS TV customers by 2010, which would be a market penetration of at least 25%. |
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darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR | »Verizon Raising FiOS Prices Again Soon from the home page three days ago so it's more or less old news. Nice try though ;p |
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MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ
| reply to jammmin
Besides the fact that you have Comcast and this doesn't affect you, this article seems slanted. It does state that where VZ rolled out service in Texas, prices dropped significantly. What were Verizon's prices in comparison? If they matched, isn't that a victory for consumers?
Also, all other video providers have been raising rates too, so to single them out is not being intellectually honest IMHO.
For the price increases, what additions have occurred? Here, Comcast raised prices while offering fewer basic channels, for at least a few years in a row. So in effect, their real cost is going up faster than what you see on the bill. |
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MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ
| reply to darcilicious
Comcast's speeds are slower than fios, maybe it took longer to get the news  |
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jammmin
join:2000-12-14
Upper Marlboro, MD
edit:
May 1st, @12:59PM
| reply to jammmin
FIOS triple play in my area costs $115 a month. Comcast triple play is still $99 a month in my area.
FIOS HD DVR is $15.99 a month.
Conmcast HD DVR is $13.95 a month
Comcast has more HD than FIOS(right now)
Now whose is cheaper. |
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darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| said by jammmin  : FIOS triple play in my area costs $115 a month. Comcast triple play is still $99 a month in my area. Now whose is cheaper. And Comcast dropped three channels in their expanded basic lineup in my areas so I guess you get what you pay for |
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darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
| reply to jammmin
said by jammmin :Now whose [sic] is cheaper. FiOS gives me 15/15. Now who is faster? |
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Rattler
join:2001-04-13
Havertown, PA
edit:
May 1st, @01:11PM
| reply to jammmin
Urgh!...
Feed not the trolls. Let them float away with the water under the bridge...
Mine won't go up until Feb 2010... |
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jcpsu86
join:2007-10-24
Glenshaw, PA
| reply to jammmin
The $99 triple play for Comcrap includes a basic (and I mean BASIC) digital package with about 75-80 channels(Digital Classic, I believe)with one standard STB. I recently left Comcrap and to get a TV package that compares to what FIOS offers, one would have to pay upwards of $85-90 per month just for the TV service for the full digital offering, and that is with no premiums. The comparable triple play, with shared pipe HSI and the crappy phone service, is closer to about $140-$150 per month.
Of course, after a short teaser period, the rates go back up and you are left with a package still that falls well short of what FIOS offers. Also, the chances of your channel lineup being the same six months from now is remote, given Comcast's notorious movement of channels to higher priced digital tiers. I have close to 400 channels (actual channels, not like the VOD that Comcast likes to call "channels". There is no comparison.
I left Comcast in October, after the latest back-door price increase when I reluctantly signed up for the sports pack so I could have the NFL Network (which I don't have to pay extra for now). Last summer, I moved from one Comcast area to another, and in the process I lost half of my HD lineup and had fewer channels overall. I was paying $105 per month for Digital Plus and HBO, plus one HD_DVR. My combined phone, internet, and cable bill was $180 per month. It is now $150, and I added the movie package which I didn't have with Comcast. I also have far more channels than I had before, that I don't have to pay extra for. I also have a multi-room DVR that Comcast didn't. If I didn't have the movie package, my monthly savings would be closer to about $45, or $540 a year.
In my area, Comcast offers 12-15 HD channels, most of which are garbage upconverted signals. I currently have 28, if you count the premiums. In the near future, we will have closer to 60 HD's while Comcast still offers 15. Who knows when they will upgrade their capacity beyond the 550mhz joke they have right now.
Read the fine print and make sure you are comparing apples to apples, not apples to firetrucks. Try and get the full digital package from Comcast for $99. Not going to happen. |
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harley3k
join:2007-04-10
Flower Mound, TX |
Maybe the rate hike will come with more HD CHANNELS?
I would welcome that.
Raising prices along with providing more content is more than acceptable. Raising them while not fulfilling your promises -- notsomuch. |
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JohnA
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Pittsburgh, PA | reply to jammmin
They want to make sure that everyone that opts for the 6 month Comcast deal has to recalculate everything every 6 months, to see how much they saved, and what it cost them to not take that 2 year contract instead. |
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Telcoguru
Premium
join:2005-08-22
Fresh Meadows, NY | reply to jammmin
I suppose that you will be locking the tread soon like you usually do. DO US A FAVOR AND GO TO YOU FORUM AND STAY THERE FOR GOOD! |
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Technogeez
Misanthropic curmudgeon
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to jammmin
You made your bed, now watch your Comcast cable TV in it.
Better picture quality, more bandwidth per subscriber, POTS over fiber (instead of VOIP)...all for the Triple Freedom at $99/mo on a one-year commitment. That's good enough for me.
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
| reply to jcpsu86
Absolutely! I went to Comcast's website to check out this great $99 deal. That's for the digital starter package. To get close to the number of channels I currently get with FiOS, I'd have to go with the Comcast Preferred Plus Triple play which starts at $129/month. And that's the promo price. After 12 months it goes up to $188.10/month! Granted, my triple play is a 2-year contract, which I can then continue to extend as long as I want to pay a lower rate.
Right now I get everything for under $150/month - that includes more channels than I care to count, a multi-room HD DVR, a second standard STB, and their movie pack. Call me skeptical, but I'm failing to see the great incentive to move over to Comcast... |
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GoComcrap
@verizon.net
| said by JPL :Absolutely! I went to Comcast's website to check out this great $99 deal. That's for the digital starter package. To get close to the number of channels I currently get with FiOS, I'd have to go with the Comcast Preferred Plus Triple play which starts at $129/month. And that's the promo price. After 12 months it goes up to $188.10/month! Granted, my triple play is a 2-year contract, which I can then continue to extend as long as I want to pay a lower rate. Right now I get everything for under $150/month - that includes more channels than I care to count, a multi-room HD DVR, a second standard STB, and their movie pack. Call me skeptical, but I'm failing to see the great incentive to move over to Comcast... EXACTLY!! - Not to mention it's superior picture quality compared to Comcast. Their only advantage is the greater number of HD channels. But why would someone switch now when the major addition to FIOS's HD lineup is probably only two months away for many of us. Jammmin knows this. Let's all go muck up the Comcrap forums like this idiot has been doing to ours. |
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kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
 ·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Rattler
said by Rattler :Mine won't go up until Feb 2010... Then it will skyrocket since they will probably increase the rate 4-5 more times between now and then.
Seriously, though, all this talk about quality and bang for your buck is great comparing the two, but spending a little time perusing this forum I noticed that the guide for Verizon is terribly inaccurate at times. That's a show stopper for people like me who record MOST of the programming they watch. My wife would have a fit and I'd be pretty annoyed if we were missing shows now and then. My Comcast box hasn't missed a recording in as long as I can remember, and maybe once or twice ever. Wish Verizon would upgrade their guide data provider. |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
| Clearly Verizon has issues that they need to address... all of these providers do. The main point of my post was that you really need to compare apples to apples. To tell me that you can get the same service with Comcast for $99/month is silly. It's not true. Now you could make the criticism that Verizon doesn't have tiered programming. That if you want their TV service, you HAVE to get Premier, whereas Comcast has multiple levels where you can get a more basic service for less money. Ok, I'll buy that (although I prefer not having those tiers, personally - I just find them confusing as hell - I had a real hard time figuring out what each Comcast package offered, e.g.), but to say that you're getting a better deal with Comcast... which was inherent in one of the postings, is just wrong.
It's like when people come on here and tell me that Comcast gives you lots of great free movies on demand. Free? No, they're not free. Oh, they're included in the price you pay, but make no mistake, you still pay for them.
It's like saying that HD is free with Verizon. It's not free - it's just that the price is wrapped up in the cost of their service, so you don't pay separately for it. |
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ONLYinHD
join:2006-04-02
Rowlett, TX
| reply to jcpsu86
Wow a whole lot of channels. You should check out the D* picture quality and price if you're serious about getting the most value out of your hard earned money.
I just switched to D* and the picture quality is far better than I had with your favorite tv company. And I pay about half what I was paying (comparing similar 2 year contract prices).
You may enjoy paying more for inferior picture quality. I personally do not. That's just me... |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
| said by ONLYinHD :Wow a whole lot of channels. You should check out the D* picture quality and price if you're serious about getting the most value out of your hard earned money. I just switched to D* and the picture quality is far better than I had with your favorite tv company. And I pay about half what I was paying (comparing similar 2 year contract prices). You may enjoy paying more for inferior picture quality. I personally do not. That's just me... As for the PQ, I'm not sure what could have been wrong with your fios setup, but I came from DirecTV. I never had HD with them, and I understand that their new mpeg4 channels are pretty nice, but to say that their SD is nicer than fios? I'm sorry, but that's not even close. I get zero compression artifacts on my SD channels - I get a much sharper, more vibrant picture than I ever got with DirecTV, and I really liked my DirecTV service. I hate having to wait for the additional HD channels, but they'll come. As it is, DirecTV announced that they can handle up to 140 HD channels when they light up their new satellite. Verizon has already talked about having room for 150 by end of this year.
Plus I get more channels overall than I got with DirecTV.
One more thing - price. That really depends on your set-up. I'm saving about $30/month over what I spent with DirecTV, when you include the triple-play discount (and when I had DirecTV, I already had fios internet, and their freedom essentials phone package - the only thing that changed for me was the TV service). Plus I get alot more channels for that money - if I were to add all the channels from the movie pack into my old DirecTV setup, I'd be spending probably $70 more per month than what I'm spending now.
Glad it's working out for you - I agree that competition is a great thing - but realize that many folks on this forum are former DirecTV customers themselves. |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | OnlyinHD-
I agree with you. My SD quality via DirecTV is actually better than FIOS was (and Comcast is now).
But then again, that's one of the reasons I left.
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"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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