I see I said "2 Mbps up." I meant down.
If I wanted 3 Mbps, it would cost twice as much, and that would be just the introductory price. That weird pricing is a reason to stick with 2 Mbps. It's 3 times faster than I had with DSL.
My bad typo. Shoulda bin $137.00. Like you said.
HB
Dammit I went through and deleted all the spaces and they're STILL there!!
HB
When I first got DSL about 10 years ago - we've had Verizon phone for 18 - it was about $30 and slower, don't remember what speed but still blazing compared to dial up. Over the years, Verizon bumped the speed a couple of times at no cost and without me asking. A few months ago they increased the cost by $3.00.
I had had their "triple play" with DirecTV for about 8 years. The cost of the DirecTV portion had become ridiculous so I dumped it in favor of Roku. When I dumped DirecTV, Verizon gave me their "double play" phone + inet for $49.95/month, regularly $59.95. Plus the assorted taxes and fees. That is in central Florida.
I really have no complaints about Verizon. On the rare occasions there has been a problem, they have always been responsive. The thing I DO dislike is their web site...they are so determined that you MUST have a package that it is nigh onto impossible to get info about a single service, much easier to just call them, even with the menus.
snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com...
h for internet plus $10/month for optional phone. Or is it worth looking a t one of the satellite services?
f continuous poor service. Lately I have been "demanding" refunds hoping t hat will get their attention and get the problem fixed. Now they are pushi ng FIOS at $45/month ($85 after all the fees & taxes), but I'm not willing to spend the time switching over and then have to deal with more Verizon pr oblems.
f other fees The offer at $79 added up to ~ $237. I used them for TV for too damn many years. TERRIBLE tech/customer service.
s I watch out of their 500 or so. So I got a dirt-cheap Costco antenna, hun g it in the window, and boom -- I had the PBS channels I wanted, plus one o r two others slightly watchable. The rest were a sea of Asian channels, sh opping channels, and religious nuts. Only downside is not being able to re cord. I can live w/that.
for life but we all know they don't do such things and full service with p remium
and subchannels once and it was well over 50. At least that many more in every language you can think of.
But even that is slow and so you might as well look it up online. I check
Chuck the cable box and get a Tivo DVR. It has the best channel guide and search capabilities out there. They aren't cheap, but I'm saving $10 a month in what the cable rental for a DVR would be, plus another $3 savings for using a cablecard with the Tivo, instead of renting the box. So, $13 a month saved and in a few years it will pay for itself. Plus you have the best DVR that can easily record what you're interested in. You can put in autorecords based on actor's names, subjects, etc. For example "John Wayne" or "antiques", will record any programs that match those.
FIOS is part of the old telephone company that had the only business in town and it was take it or leave it and customer service was terrible. I found it with Verizon with old copper lines. The line would be buzzing and I already checked the box as their standard reply was that if we come out there and it is in your house we will charge you. Then in spite of knowing problem was outside house they would insist on you being home and probably not come out for a week. These are people I will not work with.
When they brought the optical cable to the house, it was a joke. They missed the entry point by a house and a half length and guys that had to install stuff in the house called them back to restring it.
$237 sounds high but not outrageous as if you get all service available including all paid channels like HBO you will probably pay over $200.
Phone, TV, internet 2 year locked in rate.
2 HD set top boxes, 1 HD DVR (3 TVs, can watch DVR on all 3). Internet 75/35 (soon to become 75/75 at no extra charge). HBO and Showtime are no extra cost part of package.Total bill including taxes 177/mo.
Doesn't every internet data feed bundle data into packets? Not that you're wrong, but maybe there's a better way to describe what satellites do.
I have similar deal, maybe $20 less, with Comcast but wife has to renegotiate every year. If you let it ride it could get up to ~$180.
Neither Verizon or Comcast will tell you what costs will be. All they give is the introductory package costs and as HB points out these do not include full packages.
How does copper deteriorate?
the copper itself doesn't, but the insulation on the wire does. I've been experiencing this for the last couple of years. I'm in Verizon territory, but have ATT for my business line. FIOS in the house, but copper for my business line. Every time it rains I start getting a hum on the line, sometimes after a few days it will clear up, but I just called in a repair ticket this morning because after the rain we had last week, it has just gotten worse. They have gone as far as running a new cable from the pedestal to the D-mark, but when the old copper in the pedestal is crap it doesn't help much. The copper techs are few and far between these days and every time they come out it's an older guy and not a youngin. I've stood and talked and watched as he tries to find another pair to hook me to. The insulstion just falls off. Verizon, ATT, et al are not mantaining the copper anymore because it's just not profitable
Usually problems were at the junction box. The wire itself could deteriorate if exposed. I had a junction in the kitchen that broke and I figured installer had left too much wire and vibrations of kitchen floor over the years eventually led to failure. I had a Verizon tech tell me once that the company was neglecting up-keep of copper lines. Utilities in my neighborhood are all underground but they never laid new lines when I had connection problems. Once told connection had broken in the box.
I did have Comcast run a new cable to my house when their junction repairs did not work and a year later they redid the whole street. Figure cable buried for over 25 years could have had intrusions from roots or something. I remember planting a tree when I first moved in and hitting the electrical cable. FIOS cable that crosses my front lawn is only about 6 inches deep. It was laid in such a haphazard fashion that I'd be afraid to try to plant anything new there.
TWC suits me fine @ $15 a month
marc
Comcast trying to buy them out. There is some "poor folks" mandated internet that they offer ;)
Sure the copper can. It is not odd to have it oxidixe to that pretty green. Granted, it doesn't do so when the insulation is intact but there isn't insulation at contacts, right? And not just at your house, anywhere between yo and the TelCo.
The POTS phone lines were run decades ago, are typically strung along poles out in the open, exposed to the weather. Like any wiring, over time the insulation degrades, moisture can get to the wire, the wire is repaired with splices due to tree limbs breaking it during storms, etc. Over 50+ years, that adds up. It doesn't affect 4Khz voice much, but try to shove bits down a few miles of it at 2Mbit/sec and it may not work. And that's what they try to do with DSL, use the existing, old infrastructure. It made sense 20 years ago, when cable internet wasn't available. But even then, it never gained wide acceptance, partly because with problems like the above, it was a PIA for many customers and for the phone company. Today it's largely relegated to areas that don't have cable, wireless, etc options.
Thanks for the answers.
My last 500 feet are underground and only 35 years old. Isn't that too young for the insulation to be crumbling?
So has using glass fiber also meant that there are no relay contacts anymore?
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted for all of us...
And I know how to SNIP
Not my experience but I do believe you!
Because they can. It's like whom you vote for in an election. Worse or worser. It all depends on where you are at.
I think the only two departments they have are marketing and billing. All others are run by the three lawyers... The Comcast and Time Warner merger will only result in worse outcomes.
I am a firm believer in bigger is never better.
RobertMacy posted for all of us...
And I know how to SNIP
Satellite is good for people that the hi speed services will not deign to serve. Many problems, ask my brother...
Dan Espen posted for all of us...
And I know how to SNIP
Dan, read the following post of yours from bob haller. But from people at work and business' I know that have it, FIOS is bad. I am happy you have a better experience!
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