CB Fioptics customers in Mason and elsewhere (Columbus, Cincinnati: how much, house)

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

That costs too much for non moving parts, except for spinning hard drives. My take is since the whole area is not covered by FIOS. They are sticking it to the first new customers. Once their base get to around 50,000 maybe 100,000 then maybe prices will drop.. Im quit disappointed in CB. Why Mason before Silverton? The density is much greater around here.

Pretty simple, Silverton will not pay the price. You go where the easy pickings are and unfortunately Mason fits that scenario.

[unusualfire]

Kjbrill. Many many people here can afford it. Many people here pay $200 or more for Time Warner. I just don;t mean Silverton. But the immediate area. Silverton, Deer Park, Madeira, Kenwood, Sycamore Twp etc.

But it's ok if they don't want our business. lol

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

Kjbrill. Many many people here can afford it. Many people here pay $200 or more for Time Warner. I just don;t mean Silverton. But the immediate area. Silverton, Deer Park, Madeira, Kenwood, Sycamore Twp etc.

But it's ok if they don't want our business. lol

You don't need to preach to me. We paid exhorbitant fees for TWC here in Mason for many years. Which is why I am not getting too terribly upset with the iincreases CB has presented me. I just wish I would have been advised of them upfront. Our old TWC fees for just TV and internet were welll above what our current CB fees for TV, Internet, and phone will be. I simply want to be dealt with squarely up front and I do not believe CB did that.

[unusualfire]

I had switch to Direct Tv. Only $23 a month right now for Choice +. Then I have the Cincinnati Bell 10 mbps dsl for $29 a month the first year. Then I have my netflex using my trusty ROKU at $7.99 a month. Between them i can find just about any show i want. 1080p as well.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

I had switch to Direct Tv. Only $23 a month right now for Choice +. Then I have the Cincinnati Bell 10 mbps dsl for $29 a month the first year. Then I have my netflex using my trusty ROKU at $7.99 a month. Between them i can find just about any show i want. 1080p as well.

The only thing I disagree with you on is the CB 10 mbps dsl. Dsl has never seen the day it could deliver that speed. Maybe 1/10 but no better. So I am curious how you are getting 10 mbps out of a dsl connection. Do they have some super duper telephone lines in your neighborhood?

[unusualfire]

Honestly I don't know. I had dsl about 10 years ago. It might be the fiber optic, but not FIOS if that makes any sense. I have the westell modem.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

Honestly I don't know. I had dsl about 10 years ago. It might be the fiber optic, but not FIOS if that makes any sense. I have the westell modem.

Far as I can tell, Westell are DSL modems. It is difficult to be positive, because there are so many models. Who is your actual provider CB, Verizon, who?

Far as I can tell, FIOS is a trademark of Verizon and they have not begun installation in Cincinnati. CB calls their equivalent Fioptics, but they may actually be contracting through Verizon. Today it is very difficult to determine what is actually going on.

[kjbrill]

More on my saga with CB.

Since we got our new bill on Monday, increasing our monthly bundled rate from $107 to $183 a month, I have been a busy boy. As I have stated, finding a telephone number to actually contact seems to be something CB is incapable of, and also TWC.

I am an firm believer in email contacts. First of all, I don't have to hang on some telephone line for the next available contact, which is frustrating as Hell. Second of all, I can actually keep a record of the email contacts.

Finally, I identify an email contact for CB. It was not intended for the purpose I wanted, but I thought I would try it anyway, nothing to lose. I explained our frustration at the new billing and feeling we were not adequately advised by their sales representative as to the conditions. Surprisingly I do get an email response stating they had reviwed the account and (1) we had been sent a receipt advising us it was a promotional rate, and (2) on 5/31/2012 we had been contacted to advise us the two HD boxes we desired had been ordered.

I reacted in my own undeniable fashion - BS. We never received a receipt identifying the promotional rate status of our account. The contention we had been advised on 5/31/2012 to acknowledge the order of 2 HD boxes was also BS. We have had the HD boxes from day one of the installation in 2011. Someone is trying to cover their tracks.

So yesterday I actually get a phone call from CB. Someone who says they are a customer service supervisor. Nice conversation. This much I will guarantee, they already had the request to switch my phone number to TWC so they knew I was serious. During the conversation, I was assured the excess billing would be credited and the original billing rate would be extended for one year. Again, ask after one year and it is a him-haw.

This much I recognize, the installation of CB's Fioptrics system right along side of TWC cost some serious bucks. The physical materials plus the labor did not come cheap. I have seen figures like $1,500 per house. So if I cancel after one year they are losers. The only explanation I can give for why if you raise a big enough ***** they will capitulate. TWC has already recouped their investment here, having been over 20 years. But if they do nothing CB will take the business away with a superior product. If TWC permits their customer base here to deteriorate below a certain threshold the maintenance costs will rise so it is a negative income.

[kjbrill]

I was waiting for the day when TWC would have some serious competition in our neighborhood. CB has provided that. So now I can play one against the other. I am not sure why CB was granted the ability to compete. I can only assume the original exclusive deals for cable providers have expired.

The satellite TV outfits have been around for TV. But far as I know they have little to provide for internet. They can also deliver internet via their signal, quite fast, but cannot receive a response. To my knowledge they still require a telephone connection to respond to them. To me this is a hokey setup and has multiple points of failure.

Oh well, I guess I am good for another year and then I can address the whole scenario over again. Life should not be this complicated.

[Ohioan58]

About the satellite - Rural Broadband Internet - Get Internet via Satellite | HughesNet

This says "free up your phone line". They have had the ability to transmit from a consumer location for years.

The big problem with satellite internet is "ping times". The round trip from your dish to the satellite, down to the terrestrial internet, back UP to the satellite, and back down to earth to your own dish, is ~100,000 miles, which adds over 1/2 second of propagation delay to every interaction between you and the internet. That delay path doesn't exist even with dial up. Web pages today are so interactive - every time you type a character, the screen updates - that it would make using the web a pain.