Comcast or Verizon? (Pitt newbie)

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by bbrian12

one thing i dont like about comcrap is the bill seems to go up every month, even if a few cents..but its goes up every time. other than that i have no complaints acout comcast.

Yup, pricing was my primary complaint against Concast as well. Other than the laggy DVR interface, I never experienced a service-related issue. Even after Snowmaggedon my cable still worked. But my cable bill creeped higher every month. After 2 years my $99 triple play bundle somehow ended up costing $143 per month. Whatever.

[youngabe]

One of my biggest PROS with Comcast is their customer service. If you live in the Greater Pittsburgh area and call 1-888-COMCAST ... regardless your issue, you will speak with a LIVE human being who is either in their West End or Robinson/North Fayette call centers. So, if I say, "MONROEVILLE" the CSR stands a good chance of knowing where I'm at, versus Verizon where you may get a response in broken English of, "And what state are you in, sir?"

When I had Verizon, ANYTIME I needed the slightest thing, the common response was, "How's next Tuesday?" NO! I'm not waiting 7 days for you idiots to come out to my house. With Comcast, the MOST I've ever waited was a full 24 hours. My small neighborhood went out one evening and at 830 that night, technicians were up at the poles with flashlights looking at things.

[Mugatu]

I just wanted to say I completely take back my recommendation for FiOS. I received my first bill, which was NOT what I was promised by the sales rep and the fun just continued from there. I was promised several deals that were not included in my first bill. Called customer service and was told the sales rep was not authorized to make those offers and the best I could do is have $5/month taken off my bill for the next year. That was NOT acceptable so I escalated the call to a manager, had to wait on hold for 40 minutes before finally getting a disinterested fellow. We went back and forth for awhile, before I finally got him to agree on a set monthly price for 2 years that was closer in the long run to the price I was promised when I was sold the service. But I'll still end up paying a little more than what I was told. That's bait and switch, and a complete joke. I'll give it one more chance just because I had all this crap installed last month and don't feel like switching again, but if I see one single bill come up a penny more than what the manager agreed to, I'll cancel Fios quicker than you can say "Verizon customer service sucks".

So yeah...think twice before switching to Fios. Unless you like arguing over your bill every month and getting lied to by sales reps. Thank goodness they no longer require 2 year contracts, so I can get out of this nonsense at any time.

This is pushing me very close to just canceling tv service all together and getting a Hulu Plus subscription to go with my Netflix subscription for all my entertainment needs. All these cable companies are a joke. Screw 'em.

[greg42]

Hulu Plus and Netflix should be a pretty good combination. I have a Hulu Plus invite now, but I haven't pulled the trigger on actually paying for it yet. And I have Netflix. With these and whatever the channels give us on their own sites/apps, there may be little need for traditional TV service.

[youngabe]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

I just wanted to say I completely take back my recommendation for FiOS. I received my first bill, which was NOT what I was promised by the sales rep and the fun just continued from there. I was promised several deals that were not included in my first bill. Called customer service and was told the sales rep was not authorized to make those offers and the best I could do is have $5/month taken off my bill for the next year. That was NOT acceptable so I escalated the call to a manager, had to wait on hold for 40 minutes before finally getting a disinterested fellow. We went back and forth for awhile, before I finally got him to agree on a set monthly price for 2 years that was closer in the long run to the price I was promised when I was sold the service. But I'll still end up paying a little more than what I was told. That's bait and switch, and a complete joke. I'll give it one more chance just because I had all this crap installed last month and don't feel like switching again, but if I see one single bill come up a penny more than what the manager agreed to, I'll cancel Fios quicker than you can say "Verizon customer service sucks".

So yeah...think twice before switching to Fios. Unless you like arguing over your bill every month and getting lied to by sales reps. Thank goodness they no longer require 2 year contracts, so I can get out of this nonsense at any time.

This is pushing me very close to just canceling tv service all together and getting a Hulu Plus subscription to go with my Netflix subscription for all my entertainment needs. All these cable companies are a joke. Screw 'em.

I'm sorry for your experience Mugatu, sounds EXACTLY what my significant other went through. He has already switched back to Comcast. I'm truly amazed at the amount of people who are happy with their Verizon service because I've heard a good bit of these situations playing out with them.

[summerlady]

We just moved here and I called to get Verizon Fios. I was sent the equipment for internet set up, and that was easy...but the day it was suppose to get turned on, I got excuse after excuse, after excuse! By the end of the day, I'd spoken to 8 different Verizon reps, only to find out that they didn't test our phone lines prior to telling me service would be connected on a certain date. They had "assumed" the previous owner had Verizon service, so they would send someone out the next day between 8-5 to fix it!
I called Comcast & they had someone come out the very next day to install internet & phone service.
I'll never use Verizion AGAIN!

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by greg42

Hulu Plus and Netflix should be a pretty good combination. I have a Hulu Plus invite now, but I haven't pulled the trigger on actually paying for it yet. And I have Netflix. With these and whatever the channels give us on their own sites/apps, there may be little need for traditional TV service.

If I had Hulu Plus, would I be able to download episodes of cable TV shows (White Collar, Mad Men, Rubicon, Secret Life)?

[lde]

I tried to look up several addresses at the Verizon website to see if FIOS service is available. I choose, yes, this is my address, and all I get is an endless loop of Is this your address? Not encouraging.

Does anyone know a way to actually find out if FIOS is available?