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HOA's are discriminated against as wellVerizon would only install FIOS in our HOA IF the HOA would have everyone sign up for FIOS and the HOA did the billing. Fat chance of that ever happening. FIOS is elsewhere in the suburb I live in. |
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Oh_NoTrogglus normalus join:2011-05-21 Chicago, IL |
Oh_No
Member
2011-Sep-27 7:13 pm
said by mathfaster:Verizon would only install FIOS in our HOA IF the HOA would have everyone sign up for FIOS and the HOA did the billing. Fat chance of that ever happening. FIOS is elsewhere in the suburb I live in. That is what you get for being in an HOA. Many HOAs resell cable/internet so they can make money off the top. They will force all residents to pay for the cable/internet in their HOA fees every month. This way they get one large commercial account for the whole HOA and pocket the difference of the discount. I can tell you that you have HOA rules governing that everyone must sign up to get Verizon. Those are not Verizons rules, they would gladly move in it weren't for your crappy HOA trying to make money off the top. Dont let your HOA lie to you and blame verizon. |
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BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT |
to mathfaster
A) That should be illegal to bundle and limit consumer choice, but also, the HOA is so stupid. Verizon FIOS is far superior to cable. |
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openbox9 Premium Member join:2004-01-26 71144 |
to mathfaster
No problem with my HOA here. VZ FiOS has been treating me well for a year now. |
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elray join:2000-12-16 Santa Monica, CA |
to BiggA
said by BiggA:A) That should be illegal to bundle and limit consumer choice, but also, the HOA is so stupid. Verizon FIOS is far superior to cable. Absolutely not. People should remain free to agree to group purchasing arrangements, as one might do for an exclusive MDU installation for an apartment building or condo. In many cases, it is the only way you're going to get FTTH, and you typically achieve a 50% discount over retail pay-tv prices. If you don't want to subject to the restrictions of an HOA, or the apartment management's chosen broadband service, don't buy or rent in those buildings. |
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BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT ·Frontier FiberOp.. Asus RT-AC68
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BiggA
Premium Member
2011-Sep-28 9:53 am
I suppose the "don't buy or rent" argument is somewhat valid, although you can argue that the cable or internet service is not usually a deciding factor, when there are many others. The HOA shouldn't be able to bargain with one company, as that effectively limits other companies from providing programming to those residents. It gets a little more fuzzy when you start talking about retirement communities, college dorms, and the like, since they are unified, managed facilities. |
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mathfaster |
to Oh_No
said by Oh_No:said by mathfaster:Verizon would only install FIOS in our HOA IF the HOA would have everyone sign up for FIOS and the HOA did the billing. Fat chance of that ever happening. FIOS is elsewhere in the suburb I live in. That is what you get for being in an HOA. Many HOAs resell cable/internet so they can make money off the top. They will force all residents to pay for the cable/internet in their HOA fees every month. This way they get one large commercial account for the whole HOA and pocket the difference of the discount. I can tell you that you have HOA rules governing that everyone must sign up to get Verizon. Those are not Verizons rules, they would gladly move in it weren't for your crappy HOA trying to make money off the top. Dont let your HOA lie to you and blame verizon. I used to be on the board of my HOA. There are no rules requiring anyone to have to signup for any cable, FIOS, etc. Yes, this was Verizon telling our HOA to shove it unless they got what they wanted. This HOA has been in existence for over 20 years. This is a single family home HOA not a condo or townhouse HOA. |
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Oh_NoTrogglus normalus join:2011-05-21 Chicago, IL
1 recommendation |
Oh_No
Member
2011-Sep-28 1:18 pm
said by mathfaster:said by Oh_No:said by mathfaster:Verizon would only install FIOS in our HOA IF the HOA would have everyone sign up for FIOS and the HOA did the billing. Fat chance of that ever happening. FIOS is elsewhere in the suburb I live in. That is what you get for being in an HOA. Many HOAs resell cable/internet so they can make money off the top. They will force all residents to pay for the cable/internet in their HOA fees every month. This way they get one large commercial account for the whole HOA and pocket the difference of the discount. I can tell you that you have HOA rules governing that everyone must sign up to get Verizon. Those are not Verizons rules, they would gladly move in it weren't for your crappy HOA trying to make money off the top. Dont let your HOA lie to you and blame verizon. I used to be on the board of my HOA. There are no rules requiring anyone to have to signup for any cable, FIOS, etc. Yes, this was Verizon telling our HOA to shove it unless they got what they wanted. This HOA has been in existence for over 20 years. This is a single family home HOA not a condo or townhouse HOA. That is a lie. Verizon will wire HOA subdivisions the same as any other subdivision unless the HOA has rules that requires customers buy cable/internet through the HOA. There are HOAs without crazy rules and those are treated like non HOA properties. Verizon does not force HOAs to get a commercial account, they do not force HOAs to handle the billing as that means less money for Verizon as the HOA cuts into their profit margins. The only time verizon would force stipulations is for apartment complexes/condos that are not wired correctly thus are very expensive to hook up. Bundling and forcing the residents to buy cable/internet is for the benefit of the HOA and the HOA board probably get free cable and internet out of the deal. Recently looking for housing, there are a lot of bad HOAs out there that force you to buy cable/internet in your monthly HOA fees. There are a lot of HOAs that are very weak with no dues, those are the best as they are created just to ensure people mow their lawns and the houses meet certain style requirements when built. They are silent unless someone is letting their house fall apart. Those HOAs do not force you to buy cable/internet through them. |
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elray join:2000-12-16 Santa Monica, CA |
to BiggA
said by BiggA:I suppose the "don't buy or rent" argument is somewhat valid, although you can argue that the cable or internet service is not usually a deciding factor, when there are many others. The HOA shouldn't be able to bargain with one company, as that effectively limits other companies from providing programming to those residents. It gets a little more fuzzy when you start talking about retirement communities, college dorms, and the like, since they are unified, managed facilities. It might not be a deciding factor, but we seem to read about it here on a daily basis, that someone is unhappy with their rent/purchase commitment they made, expressing post-purchase blues over [lack of] broadband capability. Caveat emptor. If you can't be bothered, when making what is typically your greatest financial commitment, to spend a few minutes of due diligence to verify your telecom/broadband/entertainment/utility/crime/schools/transit issues, then you get what you deserve. Given the choice between living in an HOA community with feeble 1.5M DSL as your sole broadband option, or contracting to bring in 50mbps FTTH for a price that's less, per-unit, than the aforementioned DSL, but requires an exclusive commitment of 5 years, which would you pick? Likewise, would you rather pay $80/month for basic satellite service, or buy it as a group for $40/unit? |
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BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT ·Frontier FiberOp.. Asus RT-AC68
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BiggA
Premium Member
2011-Sep-29 2:23 pm
Well, the counterargument to that is someone may have moved in five or ten years ago, and now they are stuck without good broadband, even though it had what was good braodband then when they moved in. Same argument for rural places that can't get anything other than Wildblue (although most can get AT&T or Verizon 3G now).
They shouldn't be doing exclusive agreements, since that limits the consumer's choice. In this case, there isn't an exclusive agreement, it just sounds like Verizon won't come in since the HOA is already bundling cable with the HOA fees, which would make it nearly impossible for Verizon to get many subs. |
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elray join:2000-12-16 Santa Monica, CA |
elray
Member
2011-Sep-29 4:10 pm
said by BiggA:Well, the counterargument to that is someone may have moved in five or ten years ago, and now they are stuck without good broadband, even though it had what was good braodband then when they moved in. Same argument for rural places that can't get anything other than Wildblue (although most can get AT&T or Verizon 3G now).
They shouldn't be doing exclusive agreements, since that limits the consumer's choice. In this case, there isn't an exclusive agreement, it just sounds like Verizon won't come in since the HOA is already bundling cable with the HOA fees, which would make it nearly impossible for Verizon to get many subs. The problem with your counterargument is you likely would strand those customers with no broadband during those previous five or ten years, and they'd lose their group discount. You can't have it both ways. You can't expect a broadband firm to undertake the capital expense to deploy to your building where no service exists, without some form of commitment to mitigate their risk. The person who moved in 5-10 years ago still has the choice to move, or WAIT for the agreement to expire. (We moved our residence, and our offices, at great tremendous phenomenal expense, years ago, because certain other "deciding factors" mattered most. In fact, we still suffer under a pay-tv monopoly as a result, and our DSL choices would not impress.) |
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BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT ·Frontier FiberOp.. Asus RT-AC68
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BiggA
Premium Member
2011-Oct-1 9:30 am
They would just do it like regular single-family residences, where you can get cable or DSL. The cable and phone lines have been around for a while.
Satellite is the tricky part, since if the HOA owns the outside of the building, you might not be able to mount a dish. Of course, if the customer owns the outside of the building, they are protected by OTARD, which is one of the few laws I've ever read that is actually extremely clear and protects the consumer. |
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elray join:2000-12-16 Santa Monica, CA |
elray
Member
2011-Oct-3 5:46 pm
Sorry, but that's why you buy a single-family residence, hopefully not in an HOA. (One of our local SFR HOAs exists to make sure you tend your garden ... they'll seed, water and mow your lawn if you don't!!)
Those who buy into a condo are deliberately entering into a communal arrangement, subjecting themselves to the governance of the condo board, in order to derive the common benefits; those who rent an apartment entrust the management to oversee certain common facilities.
I'm not a fan of communal / group arrangements, and I hope to exit the planet without ever residing in a condo. But if I did, I would not act surprised when the condo board created significant restrictions "for my benefit". I'd much rather rent - a single landlord is much easier to handle; they want your business, and aim to please. |
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