The wait for Fios TV is frustrating (Brookhaven, Oyster Bay: house, contractors)

[Johninwestbury]

I keep hearing about more communities getting Fios TV (mainly rich ones) like East Hills, Oyster Bay Cove, Head of the Harbor yet there is still no Fios TV here in the Village of Westbury.
I called Verizon to set it up because someone at the Broadway Mall said Fios TV was in Westbury, and was looking forward to finally dumping Cablevision.
However when the lady put my address in she said only the internet and phone was available, and that I'd have to either get an 18 month Direct TV contract bundle (cant put up a dish anyway) or use Cable for my TV which would cost more.
She could give me any details on the contract in my town. So then I called the Village of Westbury, where the lady said "it has been discussed but we haven't done anyt---" and then she stopped herself and said she didn't know anything about it. Obviously the Village of Westbury is sitting on the contract, meanwhile because of their narrowminded-ness I have to continue to fork over $150 a month for these lousy Cablevision services, where I get pixelation on TV at least once a week, where it takes 2 minutes to load a weather radar loop (it took 1-2 seconds on the Fios stand at the mall), where I have outages on a monthly basis and the list goes on.. (like a lousy TV lineup with no BBC America,WGN...). The funny thing is the woman that I spoke with at the village has Fios TV but she doesn't LIVE here. Shows you who's working in the town, they dont have to deal with garbage they create because they don't live here and dont have to face the consequences.
I'm annoyed at both my village and Verizon, after all, why is it always the poor that have to pay more? C-Town is so expensive compared to other supermarkets like Stop and Shop!
I know there are other folks (mainly in the town of Brookhaven) getting the same run-around. these governments are in the pocket of Cablevision.
I am wondering if I should go to the next village hall meeting and state all the reason why if I could, I would move out of Westbury, this being the latest one...
I'm hoping with enough negative publicity the village will do something to make it a more desirable place to live.

[Kbinspections]

Well, can't blame Verizon. Town of Smithtown put in the contract that Verizon only had 12 months to wire the entire town so all residents had access. I thought no way. Sure enough, as soon as Verizon got approval, hired subs and busted the whole town out, even the underground service! Amazing how quick they did it.

Start nagging you village board.

[ncc1701]

Agreed, Call the Mayor's office and demand they negotiate the franchise agreement with Verizon just like so many other LI communities.

Lovin FiOS here in New Hyde Park!

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Johninwestbury

I keep hearing about more communities getting Fios TV (mainly rich ones) like East Hills, Oyster Bay Cove, Head of the Harbor yet there is still no Fios TV here in the Village of Westbury.

I'm annoyed at both my village and Verizon, after all, why is it always the poor that have to pay more? C-Town is so expensive compared to other supermarkets like Stop and Shop!

We have FIOS TV in the Village of Valley Stream and we ain't rich

I personally prefer Cablevision for all (TV, phone, internet) because the service doesn't give me problems. Maybe the problems you are having has something to do with the wiring in your building and the wiring needs to be updated or maybe someone is tapping into your cable with a splitter. You should have it checked out.

I used to have Verizon for home telephone and had a fire and needed them desperately and their service department has contracts to do the service for several other telcos (Sprint, etc.) who don't have their own service department and I ended up waiting a week. Then the people they sent were mostly goofball "independent contractors" and I had to have them back twice. I was lucky on the 3rd time as the IC I got was an old timer and he had been with Verizon as an employee before and he really knew what he was doing. In contrast, if I need changes made to my Cablevision service, or need something new installed, the Cablevision reps can either help me over the phone (not cheapo offshore either, American people I can understand) or they will send a competent repair person in a REASONABLE amount of time without giving me the runaround like Verizon did.

[OhBeeHave]

I am stuck with Cablevision for now, and loathe paying anything to the evil Dolan empire. They nickel and dime you for everything.

We have FIOS in Stony Brook but I have yet to connect. I have too many large trees to get the Dish.

Like JohninWestbury, I find that I have frequent pixelation issues and despite having numerous Cable techs to the house, all of the wiring brought up to speed and all connections addressed. One of my boxes (a newer one) has been more trouble than it's worth. I've had enough trips to the Cable Store to swap it out only to get another one. Now they are stripping channels from the TVs which do not have boxes -- forcing us to get more. UGH

[suzook]

it is not vz's fault. the towns and villages make it difficult for tv franchise. Alot of the towns and villages are "paid off" by cv to delay the agreement. A perfect example is the town of brookhaven. I work for vz. You would be suprised at how quicly we can complete a town. Fiber is easier to run and splice than copper. Much easier. Call your town or village councilpeople and complain.

[villager-li]

There is finally going to be a public hearing on FIOS in the Village of Lake Grove next Thursday, so hopefully FIOS TV service follows soon after. My understanding is that most of the village is already wired up for it, it's just not turned on yet since the contract is not finalized between Verizon and the village (heard this second hand, so it may not be totally accurate...). Still, I am not sure if I will make the switch yet, since the HD lineup provided by FIOS is not as extensive as Cablevision - but, I have read there are plans to add about 27 new HD channels to FIOS over the summer, so maybe then I will switch. Frankly I am tired of the constant problems I have with the Optimum Voice service - hopefully I can get a FIOS package with better phone service and a monthly bill that is the same or lower than Cablevision - time will tell.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

We have FIOS TV in the Village of Valley Stream and we ain't rich

I think all of south shore Nassau has FiOS, but like you said I haven't heard too many positives about it. Most people I know who got it have switched back to Cablevision. Personally, I'd never switch because Verizon knocks on my door every couple of weeks and it's pretty annoying.

[GCGuy]

I switched and moved back to Cablevision after 2 months. While the TV was better, VOIP the same, there are issues with the VZ routers that made my internet VERY erradic. It was not worth it. Hope it's better for everyone else. Got good deals with both to switch, though!

[max7418]

That guy with the scruff who is on my tv every ten seconds is enough to make me want to switch forever. Fios will be installed at my house this week and I cant wait to test it vs optimum boost service. I will run both next to each other and do continuous pings and tracerouts to the sites I mostly use. Internet quality and most importantly speed is very important to many Long Islanders so cablevision better get their act together and quit running bs commercials all day long.