Advise needed about HD DVR box to replace it with different cheaper option? (Tampa: sales, rent)

[HWTechGuy]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I agree with bentlebee. I cannot envision many scenarios where FIOS is cheaper than BrightHouse. When they were installing in my neighborhood, I was visited almost weekly about a half-dozen times by FIOS door-to-door salesmen to spout lies about BrightHouse. Their quotes for service were anywhere from $500-700 a year more than my current plan with BrightHouse, plus the requirements of signing a contract and having my old infrastructure ripped out from my property.

If you are a TV and internet cutting-edge junkie that needs the ABSOLUTE BEST in everything and are willing to spend two to three thousand dollars a year for it, it might make sense. I'll bet that the incredible bandwidth that FIOS provides is awesome to watch, but I'd rather look at standard HD and a much higher balance in my bank account...

If you are buying Slingboxes, wireless HDMI transmitters and running cellphone apps to try to save a few bucks, then there is no reason you should have any phone service that is not from MagicJack. It's less than $2 a month, not $20-40 a month like from FIOS/BrightHouse when you include the required fees and taxes (even in a bundle).

Just to be clear, I wasn't endorsing trying to save a few bucks via the Slingbox or wireless HDMI route - just giving an example of something that *CAN* be done. You make a good point about the phone service. I dropped BHN's phone service and went with an Ooma. In addition to saving me $15/month, I now have a dedicated fax number, which comes in handy because I work from home. Honestly, if I didn't have my 80-year-old mother living here I wouldn't even have "home" phone service.

Brighthouse does a good job it seems. Someday in the future I may look into dropping DirecTV and go with BHN for tv service. My previous cable tv experience was with Comcast, and they were just awful.

[Sunnydee]

We got the Verizon triple play bundle when we moved here and loved it. It was very affordable initially, $79.99 a month for the first year, but in the second year it ballooned up to $150.00 a month, which is when we decided to pull the plug. I just couldn't justify spending that much money when we don't watch much tv. I researched and found out that with an antenna we were supposed to be able to get about two dozen stations. We bought a $50.00 RCA antenna at Best Buy, mounted it in our attic, and sure enough we now have free tv - all the major networks plus more. We switched to Brighthouse for internet only at $29.99 a month and haven't looked back. I know "free tv" isn't for everyone, but it's working fine for us and saving $120.00 a month is great. It might be an option your relative could consider if the budget is tight.

[bannedontherun]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Thanks both of you for your reply!

They have a HOA meeting scheduled for upcoming Monday to inform what and why and who approved this.

It is a huge increase for a young person or actually for anyone and with Verizon you need two boxes or your tv will go black and no images can be seen unless you watch Netflix only on it.

How would you be able to get the code unless someone gives it to you?

Does anyone have experience with TiVo compared to Bright House HDTV DVR?

I don't know anything about TiVo but I got rid of Brighthouse cable tv for awhile, (it didn't save me much money). I kept the internet and phone land line so I still had a router. If the pin # or password or whatever they call it isn't on the install paperwork you could call their tech support or customer service and they should give it to you. When I dropped BH cable Tv, I got Netflix through my Playstation (as far as I know the software and user interface is already built into the device). At some point in setup menu they'll ask for that pin number and then it'll recognize it and start working.

A lot of the newer electronics (and I suppose it would apply to the store bought DVR's you mention) have stuff like Amazon, Youtube, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and many others built right into them so it needs a password to recognize your network and it'll be wireless. I have BH bundle a run my PC, 2 Ipads, 1 laptop, 2 tablets, TV and they all need that password. Of course, since I'm a little older, I run into trouble, I struggle with it all day until my 15 year old son gets home from school and he fixes it in 5 minutes and then I ask "How did you do that?"...lol.

[chi_tino]

Originally Posted by Sunnydee

We got the Verizon triple play bundle when we moved here and loved it. It was very affordable initially, $79.99 a month for the first year, but in the second year it ballooned up to $150.00 a month, which is when we decided to pull the plug.

That's amazing that you were able to include taxes, fees, equipment charges and RSN fee in that $79.99. I was told that those charges would add another $50 for my situation.

[rezfreak]

Who said fios needs two boxes in order to function? I have one DVR and that's it.

[HWTechGuy]

Originally Posted by rezfreak

Who said fios needs two boxes in order to function? I have one DVR and that's it.

How many televisions do you have?

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by hwtechguy

how many televisions do you have?

1.

[rezfreak]

Why not just get a Roku and internet only?

[bentlebee]

The person I describe has 3 TV's but only needs one DVR and stated she doesn't care if one tv doesn't work and other is also a smart tv and can be used for Netflix only...
But with BHN you can watch basic channels without paying for an additional cable box but with Verizon that is impossible.

[HWTechGuy]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

The person I describe has 3 TV's but only needs one DVR and stated she doesn't care if one tv doesn't work and other is also a smart tv and can be used for Netflix only...
But with BHN you can watch basic channels without paying for an additional cable box but with Verizon that is impossible.

BHN is in the process of changing that. They are switching to an all-digital signal but will provide digital adapters at no charge so you can still get basic channels without paying the rental for a box. Even though I only have internet from them, I get notifications about these changes, etc.

Hopefully your friend will get some good information at the upcoming meeting. It's possible they got a special deal from VZ or something. When I was house shopping I looked at some new construction. The one development had a special deal in place with Brighthouse. It was a complete triple-play bundle that was cheaper than it would have cost the average customer.