Cable/Internet: Cox v. Verizon? (Fairfax, Falls Church: rental, month to, houses)

[New Hampshire]

Whew Saganista!

Must you contract for land phone, TV, and internet if you sign up with Verizon FiOS?

Can you have FiOS for internet and other providers for TV and land phone and keep the copper wiring for the telephone?

[gnu]

Originally Posted by New Hampshire

Whew Saganista!

Must you contract for land phone, TV, and internet if you sign up with Verizon FiOS?

Can you have FiOS for internet and other providers for TV and land phone and keep the copper wiring for the telephone?

I think it might be different depending on where you live. I only bought Verizon Internet. We have always had Verizon as our phone provider, so I don't know if we have to keep them or not, and we don't have TV from them.

I think Verizon disconnects the copper wiring leading from the street to your house.

I think the battery backup is only really there to power the phones in case you need to dial 911 or during emergencies.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by New Hampshire

Must you contract for land phone, TV, and internet if you sign up with Verizon FiOS? Can you have FiOS for internet and other providers for TV and land phone and keep the copper wiring for the telephone?

No, you can get the services a la carte as well, but the cost advantages of bundling all three are signficant, and as most people do want all three from somebody, getting them all from one place with one bill is a way that a lot of people decide to go. In my area, essentially the same deal has been on the table from Cox Communications for a number of years now. I've got their fiber optic TV and Internet service alright, but I've kept the good old Ma Bell landline for phone service throughout. The telemarketers seem to be happy with it...

[New Hampshire]

Originally Posted by saganista

and as most people do want all three from somebody

I gave up my land phone when I moved about five years ago and have never looked back. TracPhone Prepaid cell phone meets my needs just fine. They are automated - online or using a land line - so you rarely need customer service. On the rare occasions when you need customer service, customer service is courteous and professional and knowledgeable - and located in Canada and a Spanish-language country (I never bothered to ask what country, just recognize accent.)

The highest level internet service is, however, important to me. Hi def TV with an indoor antenna is a possibility for me in the future.

I dislike being captive to monopolies.

[normie]

I'll tell you one thing, the blizzards his winter convinced me I will never get a satellite dish. Cable seems to do better when it comes to storms.

[ibecowtippin]

Wow, this one was dug up from a while ago

Just got a letter from Verizon on the door that FIOS will be available in a few months where I live in Woodbridge. I have been using comcast for TV and Internet for 4 years now, bill runs about 189, but we have every channel, DVR, 15/3 internet, and I have been generally happy with the service, but was curious about the FIOS.

After reading online about FIOS installs and seeing the equipment that would have to be installed (a box outside that requires electricity, then a couple of boxes inside, battery backup, etc), I decided I will stick with Comcast. I don't see how they can possibly install all that stuff to work how we have our place laid out (two computers one level 2 and 3 of the townhome). Then the modem/wireless router they use would be a downgrade from my equipment.

I wanted to switch but after seeing how the install looks, all the equipment, the fact it takes 4 to 8 hours for a typical install, forget about it. I can't visualize how they would get everything to run without cables running along the baseboards in my home or along the crown molding.

Now if I was having a home built, I would have ethernet ran throughout the house where I could have a server closet, then I would certainly choose FIOS as my provider since I know what is required for the service. But that won't happen anytime soon.

[CaliTerp07]

We just moved from a Comcast neighborhood to a cox/fios neighborhood.

Verizon had the RUDEST customer service people I have ever dealt with. We called them to ask about price quote and availability, and the first thing they asked for was a social security number. I refused to give that up front (we weren't even sure we were getting the service yet!) and the guy hung up on me.

Called back, and asked if they were running any specials (I used to be able to get free stuff from Comcast all the time, just for asking). The representative said something along the lines of, "If you aren't willing to pay full price, go away" (in a slightly nicer way, of course, but that was the gist of it).

I'm a frugal person, so I wasn't willing to pay $120/month for the same thing we were getting from Comcast for $80/month. I ended up going to Cox for internet, and TV from dishnetwork.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

We just moved from a Comcast neighborhood to a cox/fios neighborhood.

Verizon had the RUDEST customer service people I have ever dealt with. We called them to ask about price quote and availability, and the first thing they asked for was a social security number. I refused to give that up front (we weren't even sure we were getting the service yet!) and the guy hung up on me.

I totally agree. I can't stand the hard sell we're getting from Verizon. We refuse to get FIOS and have told them openly that the reason is the salesmen are too pushy and too rude.

[oneasterisk]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I totally agree. I can't stand the hard sell we're getting from Verizon. We refuse to get FIOS and have told them openly that the reason is the salesmen are too pushy and too rude.

Yeah we had the same issue with their sales person. Fiber was installed in the neighborhood and this kid came by to see if we wanted to switch. I answered the door and told him I wasn't interested at the time. He came back a day or two later and tried the same sell with me. I told him that I wasn't ready to make a decision on it. That my brother and I share the house together and I'd have to discuss with him. Sales guy insinuated that I couldn't make the decision on my own. He came back again and this time my brother answered and he suggested that I had said we were interested and he was back to schedule an install date. I was in the living room within earshot. I went up to the front door and called the dude a liar to his face and told him we weren't interested and to not come back. We're still with Comcast and I'm not sure if we'll switch or not after that experience.

[bornindc]

Originally Posted by New Hampshire

Whew Saganista!

Must you contract for land phone, TV, and internet if you sign up with Verizon FiOS?

Can you have FiOS for internet and other providers for TV and land phone and keep the copper wiring for the telephone?

When Verizon installs FIOS, they tear out the copper wiring. So then you're stuck.

I know this as I moved in to a house a couple of years ago that already had FIOS installed. I tried to get them to re-wire the copper but they just refused to. You can't get DSL, you can't get another internet service provider other than Verizon or cable, because Verizon controls the FIOS cable. So once you have FIOS you are stuck (which I'm sure is part of the plan in installing it - everyone that moves into that house after you is stuck with no copper phone wiring).

I do have FIOS internet now (no phone, no TV with them though). Their wifi router is useless, it doesn't even provide a strong connection to a laptop standing two feet from the router. As a result, I had to hard-wire all the way up through the house to use the internet on my computers.

Their customer service is the worst I've ever experienced in my life. Ever. When I moved in to the house they messed everything up, didn't activate the internet service when requested, and billed me even though I had no service. I spent over SIX HOURS talking to them (and mostly on hold) to sort this out. No one person can handle anything, they have to transfer you everywhere, and it takes 1/2 an hour to wait for the next person. I even had one service rep wait with me while I was transferred as I'd complained about the wait times and finally they just gave up (after 20 minutes) and said they were very sorry, that they would have to contact that person directly through their system. Of course, the person that told me this DIDN'T do what they were supposed to - so another hour on the phone with them. They came out 2x to fix the worthless wifi (which still doesn't work). They found that the internet was slower than it should've been because they had set up their servers incorrectly for my account. I've been through 3 routers and they were after me for months to pay for the router that their service guy picked up when he replaced it with another.

The ONLY positive is that the internet is usually up when I need to use it. So at least the service itself is solid, just overpriced with awful customer service.

I'm fed up with Verizon though now that they've raised their most basic internet service up to almost $60/month (without even providing notice, just increased the bill). I'm getting Cox cable installed this month, I've hesitated as I've heard bad things about Cox too, but it can't possibly be worse than what Verizon has going on.