rai
join:2001-01-09
Bethesda, MD
1 edit | reply to ScottF12345
Re: Montgomery County, Maryland fios tv
Go to the FIOS website and check out the local lineup. You'll be disappointed. Also, there are many discussions in the forum similar to your question. Go search and read if you haven't.
The way I see it, you'd have to get 3~4 FIOS STBs to break even with Comcast cost-wise. But with FIOS, you'd then have many more channels than you'd have with Comcast non-STB.
In my situation, I'm currently paying for limited Comcast at like $16 per month. I want to get Disney and other kid channels, though. The basic FIOS at $13 has fewer channels than Comcast limited, and obviously, no Disney channel, either.
So, to get Disney, with Comcast it's like $55 w/o STBs. For FIOS, it's $44 w/ 1 STB (no bundle discounts considered). FIOS wins. All the other channels are nice, but not part of my trade-off. Reported better pic quality for FIOS is also a nice extra.
Having to use the FIOS remote control & STB is a bit of a drawback, though.
edit - FYI, I noticed in the STB manual that stereo audio is not passed through the RF coax connection. (Yes, it matters for me. I'm still in the TV Stone Age... well, maybe the Bronze Age. My TV does have composite and L/R inputs.) |
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ScottF12345
join:2002-01-17
Silver Spring, MD
| thanks for the quick response. I did a quick search and read a bit and probably am being too lazy...if i am yell at me and tell me just to go search again but..... so even if I purchase the digital channels (not just local), without STB I only get analog chans up to 49? |
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vince99
join:2004-06-01
Bethesda, MD
| said by ScottF12345  :thanks for the quick response. I did a quick search and read a bit and probably am being too lazy...if i am yell at me and tell me just to go search again but..... so even if I purchase the digital channels (not just local), without STB I only get analog chans up to 49? That's correct. The analog channels include, in addition to the local OTA channels, News Channel 8, WGN Superstation (#29), TV Guide (48), a local weather channel (49), and the MoCo govt. channels. |
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Flojomojo
join:2000-11-06
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to foundation00
DEPRESSING FIOS TV INSTALLATION STORY FOLLOWS
Perhaps your experience will be better, but I give up for now. This shouldn't be so difficult, should it?
Monday, Dec 18th morning: I place an order for FIOS TV service online. No installation date is provided. Website ordering is picky about which browser to use, but is easy enough. (15 minutes)
Monday, Dec 18th afternoon: I listen to a message from an installer saying that since no one was home, the order is suspended. I call their home office to see what's going on, they're surprised that anyone acted that fast. I wait on hold while they see if someone can come back while I'm there, but they can't do it. Reschedule for the morning of Dec 30, with the advice that I confirm the appointment on Dec 29th "just to be sure." (90 minutes total)
Thursday, Dec 21 evening: I pick up a phone call from Verizon featuring a recording of James Earl Jones, who tells me to wait for a representative. I wait for a few minutes. This is stupid, my order was placed and everything should be fine. They called me, but no one is there. I hang up. (15 minutes)
Wednesday, Dec 27th evening: Receive another call from J.E.J. asking to call back. (5 minutes)
Thursday, Dec 28th morning: I return Verizon's call, I speak with someone named Shannon. She looks into the situation, calls me back and leaves a message on my cell phone. (15 minutes)
Thursday, Dec 28th afternoon: I return Verizon's call, ask to speak with Shannon, get told by Robert that there are 250 phone reps in the call center and it's difficult to get the same person twice. I tell the story again, this time to Robert. Robert looks further into the situation, calls the dispatch center for an update. While we're on hold, Robert reads Shannon's notes, sends her some text messages, and realizes that Shannon was farther ahead with this case than he is getting.(30 minutes)
Thursday, Dec 28th afternoon: Shannon calls me back from Verizon. She tells me that the initial order for December 30 was never placed, and that the soonest installation date is January 13th, almost a month from the date of my original order. I explain my frustration about the installation coordination experience, and Shannon agrees but is unable to move the date up. (15 minutes)
Thursday, Dec 28th afternoon: I am transferred to Mr. Smith in Verizon billing. I state that after this experience, I am unwilling to wait without any guarantee that anything will get better. I cancel my FIOS TV order. (10 minutes)
Total customer time spent = 3 hours, 15 minutes
Money collected by Verizon = none
Product delivered = none
Annoyance and frustration = high |
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glday2003
@verizon.net
|  reply to foundation00
I just had my FiOS TV installed yesterday(I've been a FiOS Internet subscriber for a year) and I am very pleased with the service so far. I wonder if any other Montgomery County subscribers can help me with...the remote control. At the risk of sounding stupid, how can you access page up/page down functions from the Phillips remote? Most of the documentation and help on the tv/website is for a different remote (which already has separate page up/down buttons) and what documentation there is makes no mention of the feature. I even went so far as to call FiOS tech support, and to my surprise they had no idea how to do it. I *know* the function must exist--they can't expect people to hit the down cursor arrow key 300 times to go through the program guide! Can someone here help a clueless FiOS TV newbie figure this out? I love what I've seen of FiOs so far but this remote is truly horrible. Basic functions should not be opaque to the user!
Thanks,
glday2003 |
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rai
join:2001-01-09
Bethesda, MD | glday2003
I seriously suggest that you start a new post for this. You'll get much more visibility. Also provide more info as to the exact version of remote that you have (or don't have). |
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rosh400
join:2004-01-14
Potomac, MD
1 edit | reply to Flojomojo
said by Flojomojo :DEPRESSING FIOS TV INSTALLATION STORY FOLLOWS Perhaps your experience will be better, but I give up for now. This shouldn't be so difficult, should it? Thursday, Dec 28th afternoon: I am transferred to Mr. Smith in Verizon billing. I state that after this experience, I am unwilling to wait without any guarantee that anything will get better. I cancel my FIOS TV order. (10 minutes) Total customer time spent = 3 hours, 15 minutes Money collected by Verizon = none Product delivered = none Annoyance and frustration = high Perhaps you should be more realistic in your expectations and a little more patient. VZ just got their franchise approved. That have new CSRs and new installers. There are going to be hiccups. You should be grateful that you can even schedule installation. There are many of us that have fiber but won't have TV service available for atleast 3 more months. Many in the county won't get it for a year. Sorry, but many of us are not interested in your whining. I had ordering hiccups to a year ago to get FIOS internet but I'm glad I did not let the problems turn me off to the service because it has been great and totally blows Comcrap away. |
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rosh400
join:2004-01-14
Potomac, MD
2 edits | reply to ScottF12345
said by ScottF12345 :Anyone with FIOSTV can you answer this question for me please? With comcast (WHICH I HATE) I only have one STB. All my other TVs are just connected direct through coax (cable ready). I get most of the channels I want like that. Can I do the same with FIOS? I called the MD # and they say I only get channels 2-50 which does not include ANY cable channels like ESPN or the such. If this is the case the added cost of STBs may not make sense for me as much as I HATE COMCAST! You'd think you could at least get channels 2-99 like with other cable. Am I wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks You need the STB to get anything other than SD locals and PEGs but even adding that cost, you still come out ahead.
Comcast cost me 54.15 for preferred service (nondigital). To get HD channels, I need an HD converter and remote for my 2 high def TVs. That's $64.75. With VZ, I pay $39.95 for the basic service which is digital and includes about 80 more channels than I get now including some with decent programming. I add 27.80 for 2 HD STB's and 2 SD STB's and subtract $5 for FIOS internet discount and that totals $62.75. It's less than Comcast's non-digital service even with the STB's. And for HDTV owners, VZ's HD lineup is far better. We get both WETA and WMPT in high def (Comcast offers only WETA) plus National Geographic High Def, Universal High Def, NFL Hi Def and HDNET Movies. To get comparable service from Comcast, I would have buy their digital service and two more STB's which would add another $35 per month or about $100 per month. From my perspective, FIOS beats Comcast easily. |
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Flojomojo
join:2000-11-06
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to rosh400
said by rosh400 :Perhaps you should be more realistic in your expectations and a little more patient. VZ just got their franchise approved. That have new CSRs and new installers. There are going to be hiccups. You should be grateful that you can even schedule installation. There are many of us that have fiber but won't have TV service available for atleast 3 more months. Many in the county won't get it for a year. Sorry, but many of us are not interested in your whining. I had ordering hiccups to a year ago to get FIOS internet but I'm glad I did not let the problems turn me off to the service because it has been great and totally blows Comcrap away. I think you're missing my point ... you think I should be grateful that this major telco will reschedule me for their missed appointments? That I should be thankful that at least I can waste time in the hopes of getting service? It's not going to blow anything away if they can't get the truck to my house.
They can't seem to coordinate a simple installation appointment -- not even on their own terms. My FIOS internet installation was flawless. If Verizon can't deliver what they're offering, then perhaps they should let up on the advertising until they can. |
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JohnA
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Pittsburgh, PA
|
An online order with no install date is not an order. From that point, you should have known that things were gummed up in the system. You got the wrong phone message, but no one attempted an install on the same day you put in an internet order with no date.
Might I suggest that the leading, bleeding edge of technology is not a place you're comfortable. |
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Flojomojo
join:2000-11-06
Silver Spring, MD
| said by JohnA :An online order with no install date is not an order. From that point, you should have known that things were gummed up in the system. You got the wrong phone message, but no one attempted an install on the same day you put in an internet order with no date. You are incorrect. An installer came to my house hours after I placed the order. He left two messages on my machine from his cell phone and he marked my order as "no access," which was verified by both the dispatch and business offices.
It's true that I got the wrong message, but the burden should be on the servicing company, not the paying customer.
said by JohnA :Might I suggest that the leading, bleeding edge of technology is not a place you're comfortable. I think it's much more accurate to say that I expect a better level of service than Verizon seems capable of delivering. Secretarial staff have been scheduling appointments for decades. Logging tickets is not the "leading, bleeding edge."
I'm perfectly comfortable with new technology, but it's only as good as the delivery mechanism. In this case, product that is not delivered is the same as not existing at all. There's no need to apologize for the company that can't meet demand and blame the interested consumer. |
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JohnA
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Pittsburgh, PA
| said by Flojomojo :I'm perfectly comfortable with new technology, New technology is not the same as the bleeding edge of technology. FiOS TV in your area involves new people, systems, and these kind of glitches. Unfortunate that it was you, but it happens. If you had been home, you'd be raving about getting installed within hours. |
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Flojomojo
join:2000-11-06
Silver Spring, MD
| said by JohnA :If you had been home, you'd be raving about getting installed within hours. That much is true for sure! Unfortunately, shattering expectations didn't happen this time. |
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HDMontgomery
| reply to glday2003
You don't need a page up and down. If you hold the up/down arrow keys down, the guide will scroll through the line-up at pretty quick speed. I wondered too about the page up/down and then accidentally found that holding the key down does automatic scrolling. |
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rosh400
join:2004-01-14
Potomac, MD
| reply to glday2003
My understanding is that you can also select which channels you want to appear in the guide so for example, if you don't watch home shopping channels, you get deselect them. Under the menu there is probably a setup option. You can narrow down the 3 hundred channels to the 50 to 60 you might watch. You can than use page up and down to jump 5 or 6 stations at a time. It makes it much more manageable. I don't have FIOS yet but from my understanding of the guide software, the way favorites works is much better than Comcast. |
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tender
join:2000-11-01
Rockville, MD
| reply to foundation00
My CO is RKVLMDMR and as of yesterday I can get FIOS Internet, but no TV. Anyone on RKVLMDMR able to get TV? I plan to call verizon to ask about dates for an install.
JT...did you qualify your number for FIOS? Yesterday I was able to get FIOS, but just the day before it said I could not. Some something has changed for the better.
thanks
tender |
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rosh400
join:2004-01-14
Potomac, MD | There are a number of CO's in the county that currently provide FIOS internet but not TV like mine which is the Bradley CO. I am told that I may have to wait up to three months before the install the TV equipment in my CO. |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs:
 ·LINGO
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·surpasshosting
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to tender
said by tender :JT...did you qualify your number for FIOS? I haven't checked recently. I signed up for email notification years ago, and gave my # to one of the deployment crews in December (the one who had "ask me about FiOS" on his bucket truck), but I haven't heard a peep.
 |
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pxc0
join:2005-09-29
Silver Spring, MD
·PHONE POWER
| For what it's worth, I also signed up for e-mail notification, but never received any word of FIOS TV. Once Montgomery County approved the franchise agreement, I tried qualifying my number daily until one day I was able to order. Long story short, I got the TV service installed last week and so far am loving it.
My guess why no notification has been sent out is that Verizon does not yet have enough qualified FIOS TV installation and support personnel to handle the volume of new subscribers that will be signing on once the ad blitz is on. I do know that tech support is working a lot of OT until more trained personnel is brought in. |
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tender
join:2000-11-01
Rockville, MD
| I also signed up for email notifications, but never received any. I called today to inquire about FIOS TV. I was told it is not available today, but I can get FIOS Internet. The phone rep said I could order the internet and that by the time of my install date, the TV should be ready.
I have an install date of the 19th.
Fingers are crossed. |
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