OptimumOnline → Move to FIOS

After reading that Cablevision costs approx 20% higher than FIOS on a per household basis, I'm considering a switch to FIOS. I have the Optimum Gold TV/Ultra 101/Optimum Voice package. I use one Cablecard in my Tivo.

Curious as to what those of you who may have recently switched to FIOS (and switched back) have to say about this...

What you read is that a subscriber on average pays 20% more than a person on average with FIOS. That isn't the same as "service costs 20% more for the same thing". You should check prices for comparable service, find out the approximate taxes/fees for service, assume a one-time install fee.

You know your current level of service from an operational and support standpoint. That's important too, but obviously you decide how important.

I'd say that's a silly reason to switch.

I had FiOS for 2 years and switched back to CV last year. Paying significantly less than I would've been paying with FiOS for similar service (actually, slower download speed on FiOS).

As frdizzt said, the story about CV having higher ARPU than FiOS is largely irrelevant to the cost of any one user. For many users, Cablevision will be cheaper than FiOS (if you compare promo to promo or regular to regular pricing. Promo to regular comparisons aren't quite fair).

If you're unhappy with what you're paying, build an equivalent package at verizon.com. If it's less than what you pay now, call CV and ask them to match it. They might. If not, switch. Simple as that.

Remember that CableCARDs are ridiculously priced at $5.99 (still 4.99 in some areas) on FiOS, so add that plus some overhead for taxes/fees onto the price you see online.

I'm still on Optimum promotion and Fios would still be $75/month more for the same services

I love my fios and the price I'm paying is good, but the prices they offer currently aren't that great and I'm sure I'll get screwed once my contract is up. I'll be staying because of the upload speed, but make sure you compare the prices.

I work for vz in fios but where I live I have cv. Having had fios at my old place and now having cv, fios blows cv away with features and speeds. Fios Is a way better product. I would kill to gave my fios again.

how exactly does fios "blows cv away"?
both services provide you advertised speed for a given tier.
yes fios can offer higher speed, but at $130+/month for internet alone you gotta have more money than brains.
what "features"? I want my cable box to tune channels fast and have accurate channel guide. I don't need anything else.

You've been drinking corporate koolaid a bit too much.

Doctor Who on Cablevision is a pixelated mess. Anytime there's significant movement or even explosions, you can see a bunch of blocky pixels. I've heard that doesn't happen with Fios. And then, of course, there's the DVR. Heh.

meh. DVR is irrelevant when you have internet.

And the Netflix prime time streaming is still far better on CV. I would stay with CV just for that since Netflix is my primary Pay TV service.

A $2 cablecard that serves up DVR on three televisions (Roamio/2 Minis) and not having to worry about Netflix peering issues keep me quite satisfied with Cablevision.

I switched to FiOS from Cablevision 2 months ago, and I would say that I am very happy with FiOS.

Like has been said, everyone's situation is different, so what may be good for one person is not as good for the next.

In my case, I had/have the triple play with 15/15 (was 15/5 at the time I ordered, but everyone got a free upgrade) Internet and the Preferred package, which is roughly equivalent to the Preferred package on Cablevision (missing some channels, adding others), since I am in the NY/NJ region, FiOS is cheaper and adds additional channels that other regions do not get (they are competing more heavily with Cablevision).

The main reason I switched was price, I had been on renewed promotions for several years on Cablevision and this time around they were unwilling to negotiate a price that I was willing to pay, so I looked elsewhere, and FiOS was offering a package that was about $40 cheaper per month than Cablevision (which was about $20/month cheaper than what I was already paying them for the previous promotion I was on). Note that these differences in price include all taxes/fees/equipment charges for both providers.

Also note that I use Windows Media Center as a DVR (with HDHR Prime CableCard device), and don't really care about premium channels (movies).

Benefits of FiOS over Cablevision:
• Many of the channels have a much higher bitrate, so they just look better.
• $40/month cheaper than what I was paying Cablevision.
• Price locked in for 2 years (on a contract), although they can still play games with the fees/surcharges/etc.
• Got the "Fully Loaded" package free for 90 days (includes all the premium movie channels)
• You can watch a lot of your subscribed channels/content on your portable devices while away from home using their mobile app (watch Showtime live or On-Demand while you are waiting in your dentists office). Cablevision seems to mainly offer this while you are connected to your own home network, but not when you are out of the house.
• Once you switch to FiOS (and get all the equipment/fiber installed) it is easier in the future to switch back and forth between the two providers. If you are a "FiOS-ready" household, you will get a much better deal when you switch back to FiOS.
• FiOS does not copy protect (CableCard) any channels except for the HBO and Cinemax channels. Cablevision has many channels (even non-premium) copy protected, which can mean that any recording from these channels can be lost if you have hardware/software issues with your DVR (in my case WMC).
• FiOS adds "fluff" to your Internet if you also have video service. This fluff is about 10 mbps more than what you would normally get. For instance I have 15/15 service, but my actual speeds are 25/14 (yes, upload is low for some reason, not sure why), so you get 10 mbps "free". Cablevision also has some "fluff" but I believe it is only about 3 mbps. The reason for the "fluff" on FiOS is that the On-demand service uses IP over the broadband connection, so they give you extra bandwidth for that. Cablevision does not use IP for On-demand content.

Benefits of Cablevision over FiOS:
• No need for ONT equipment on the side of your house or in your garage.
• No need to use a special router supplied by the provider (you need to rent ($5) or buy a special router for FiOS, I bought one on eBay). There is more to this, so do some research if it is important to you.
• Gave me free Showtime/Starz/Encore (for a year) and $10 off/Boost 50 (for 3 months) to try to keep me from canceling, but those things are not worth $40 per month (or even $20 month) to me.
• Extensive, free with service, Wi-Fi network. FiOS's Wi-Fi network is non-existent in comparison. This could be a major benefit if you use a lot of Wi-Fi when you are out and about. I personally never used it, so a non-issue for me.
• Equipment rental prices are generally cheaper than FiOS for STBs/CableCard, although FiOS STB price is not as expensive if you are in NY/NJ area (but still more than Cablevision by about $1). CableCard on Cablevision is $2, on FiOS it is $4.99.
• FiOS charges for their router (which is generally required); Cablevision does not charge for the cable modem (FiOS does not require a cable modem, but does require you to have an ONT on the side of your house/garage/etc., the ONT is free) and gives you a free 802.11ac Wi-Fi router if you want it (you can use your own). The router offered by FiOS is only 802.11n and you have to pay for it (buy or rent), the router is required to establish service, but you may be able to get rid of it afterwards if you are connected to the ONT via cat5 cable rather than using MoCA (but you will lose certain functionality (program guide/on-screen caller ID/On-Demand content) of the STB if you do).
• Has free 411 service on the phone service, FiOS charges about $2.50 for each 411 call (yes, it is a huge rip-off, so don't use it, there are free 411 services available that you can put on speed-dial).

That's all I can think of right now off the top of my head.

Excellent Response spc111 - thanks!

One comment regarding this: "You can watch a lot of your subscribed channels/content on your portable devices while away from home using their mobile app (watch Showtime live or On-Demand while you are waiting in your dentists office). Cablevision seems to mainly offer this while you are connected to your own home network, but not when you are out of the house."

These same apps for HBO/Cinemax/Showtime/Encore/Starz work the same for all participating providers, including Verizon & CV. Both can use all outside the home.

I wasn't talking about the separate apps you can get for each separate network, I was talking about the app that FiOS provides. I actually don't use it much so don't know that much about it, but I did try it out and it let me watch Showtime while I was sitting in a field waiting for the fireworks to start on the 4th of July. This was a live feed of Showtime, not On-Demand.

Just starting up the app now, it says...

130 LIVE networks in the home
Over 50 LIVE networks out of home
60,000 On-Demand titles

I've never used the network specific apps, so can't comment on them.

EDIT:

Oh, I just remembered another advantage of FiOS over Cablevison for CableCard users:

FiOS does not copy protect any channels except for the HBO and Cinemax channels.
Cablevision protects a lot of the channels, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

For me, this is a big deal since if my WMC machine ever has a hardware failure that caused the DRM to think I was using a different PC (because of replacement parts), I would lose all of the copy protected shows that I have recorded.

EDIT 2:
I've updated my above post with the new things I am remembering... Just added info on the "fluff" that FiOS has on the Internet connection.

Great post @spc111 !

I would also add the benefit of Optimum wifi hotspots as a winner over Verizon. They are far more numerous, and very helpful for those of us on capped data plans (or dial-up Sprint data )

You didn't mention News12 ! [/sarcasm]

I don't watch either of them, but from what I hear News 12 is better than Verizon's attempt at a local news station (FiOS1). But personally, this would have no bearing on my decision of which provider to choose, and since I don't watch either of them, I can not add this as a benefit to either side.

No comparison of Netflix so I assume you are not a subscriber. Good post otherwise. Another CV advantage is that it has a local presence that FIOS does not have. The few times that I called FIOS to inquire about the service it sounded like the person was down south or in the midwest.

Why do I seem to be the only person on fios with no netflix issues? I get superHD every time.

What device are you watching on? If I use Apple TV no problem if I use TIVO or Roku not able to maintain HD stream. Same wireless connection so I can't explain it.

both a roku and the web interface. Right now I'm just getting 720p @ 3 mbit but I've hit superhd many times.

Nice post, spc111. Cablevision consistently offers about 15-20 Mbps x 5 Mbps over their top advertised speed tier of 101x35. I get 115-120 x 40 Mbps pretty much all day and night; same with the connection we have at my work. Not sure about the lower tiers, but just wanted to mention it...

Thanks, I was only commenting on stuff of which I was directly aware either through personal experience or through multiple references on the Internet.

One thing I forgot to directly mention is that all of FiOS's Internet speed tiers are now symmetrical. Like I mentioned, when I signed up almost 3 months ago now, the lowest tier available was 15/5, but about a month later it was upgraded to 15/15 (everyone is getting this free upgrade). Currently the lowest tier a new customer can get is 25/25. The triple play package I got 3 months ago was $10/month less than the package they offer now, perhaps due to this speed increase (and perhaps justifies why they did not upgrade all 15/5 users to 25/25 for free).