|
|
Post by chenrikson on Jan 15, 2011 16:23:56 GMT -5
The loyalty discount was years ago when I switched from DTV to TW Cable. It USED to be $40/month discount. Then one year they just whacked it down to $20. I'm not sure what "level" of cable I have since they're constantly changing the package names, etc. I have standard+basic and one Premium (SHO because of the $5/month special). I just detest DTV is all. My sister just signed up like 3 months ago with DTV. Then over Black Friday they got an HDTV (they had standard before). DTV charged them $270 to upgrade the receiver to an HD model. Nothing she could do since it's a 2-year contract with them. I'm not a big TW fan either. I am curious as to Verizon's pricing as well. TW is really strange. I had the $20 loyalty discount as well, and before I got my Tivo HD I asked 3 separate CSR's if getting the Tivo would cause me to lose my discount. They all said there would be no problem. As soon as I got the Tivo TW killed my discount because "you are using a cable card." Never mind that the Cisco boxes they are using now all use a cable card! The CSR's tried to be helpful -- but idiocy seems to prevail at higher levels and I am looking to see what VZ has to offer -- or perhaps just rely on internet TV + locasl. |
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 15, 2011 23:32:18 GMT -5
Thanks Chris. What's weird, is that the FIOS website does not list digital voice as being available in my area, and their support forums stated that it's no longer offered in NY period. I was told by an online Sales Agent and also from Joe Ambeault, the Director of Product Management for FiOS TV (via his Twitter account) that Digital Voice would be offered. I did see some posts on DSLReports that indicated that ordered FDV can be problematic in some locations. The availability could change when they start up FiOS TV here. As far as I can tell, Bethlehem will be the first service area to go up on FiOS TV in this area code. |
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 15, 2011 23:41:11 GMT -5
I see that Bethlehem has signed up with VZ for Fios TV (!!!!) Do we have any information about how using a TIVO will effect our bill in that we aren't paying for VZ's DVR. It will be very similar to how it works with TWC. You get a non-DVR STB as part of the subscription and you would be paying $3.99 a month for a M-Card. If you have any Series 2 based TiVos, they will be pretty much useless with FiOS TV (I don't count IR blasters as a real choice). FiOS Tv is 100% digital, TWC carries both analog and digital. I currently have 2 Series 2 TiVos and a TiVO HD. If I switch to FiOS TV, I'll get an M-Card for the HD and retire the Series 2 boxes. For less than what I pay TiVo for both of the Series 2, I can get the multi-room DVR and some STB's from FiOS. |
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 16, 2011 11:15:40 GMT -5
I'll try to remember to call the Town of Colonie on Tuesday to see what's going on. IF one can believe the TU article, it was "approved" sometime in Nov. of 2010, but I can't dig up any info on it other than that article.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 16, 2011 12:01:00 GMT -5
I'll try to remember to call the Town of Colonie on Tuesday to see what's going on. IF one can believe the TU article, it was "approved" sometime in Nov. of 2010, but I can't dig up any info on it other than that article. If they approved it, they didn't record that vote in their town board minutes. And it wasn't listed under their notices of public hearings. Scotia approved a cable franchise agreement with Verizon, but it hasn't been deployed yet. I think Bethlehem will be the first town around here to get FiOS TV. |
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 17, 2011 11:25:31 GMT -5
I guess the TU was wrong again, as usual:
"The Village of Colonie has negotiated a deal with Verizon for a cable TV franchise.
A public hearing is going to be held next month."
This was in October of 2010.
|
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 17, 2011 11:32:10 GMT -5
You know, this is like the 3rd or 4th time Larry Rulison has either just made stuff up or been plain wrong. How this guy keeps his job at the TU is beyond me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skaggs on Jan 17, 2011 12:37:36 GMT -5
The "Village" of Colonie and the "Town" of Colonie are two different municipalities.
The Village has the deal with Verizon.
The Town doesn't. (yet)
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 17, 2011 14:06:20 GMT -5
That is insane, why would Verizon go through the process of negotiating at the village level, instead of at the town? Then again, it's Colonie, a two with two separate school districts.
|
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 18, 2011 19:02:13 GMT -5
I got an answer about this: The Village of Colonie is a separate municipality from the Town of Colonie, so their meetings would be entirely separate from the Town of Colonie meetings. To reach the Village of Colonie, please logon to: www.colonievillage.org/ or contact them at: Village Hall / 2 Thunder Road / Albany, New York 12205 / 518-869-7562 The only meetings the Town has conducted on this issue have been those of our attorney's office to discuss negotiating a contract with Verizon to bring FIOS to the Town (which again is separate from the Village of Colonie). For any questions regarding a tentative Verizon contract with the Town of Colonie, please contact Attorney Allegra Edelman at 518-783-2704. Thank you very much and please do not hesitate to contact us again with any further questions. |
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 18, 2011 19:59:19 GMT -5
Which the above is kinda odd, because if you go to the Village website, their "links" have the TOWN of Colonie.
This is one weird area of the country with all these villages/hamlets, etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 18, 2011 20:26:43 GMT -5
Once the first town goes live with FiOS TV, my guess is that Verizon will focus it's energies on getting other town signed on. Guilderland will probably be one of the next ones to announce an agreement.
Once of the factors that pushed the Bethlehem/Verizon deal was that the Verizon representative, Sam Caldwell, is a local resident who really wanted to have FiOS TV service.
|
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 19, 2011 19:54:03 GMT -5
Lucky you guys. Looks like I'll be stuck with TW for another 1-2 years.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Miller on Jan 21, 2011 16:27:23 GMT -5
I still don't know if I would switch from TWC to Verizon for TV service. I have a neighbor down the street that switched back to RoadRunner from FiOS. He had all sorts of performance problems due to a botched fiber run to his house. Customer service was so bad, he just bagged it and went back to TWC. I have had zero problems with FiOS Internet, but I would still hate to have to call their customer service.
If I do try FiOS, I will make sure that they do not do anything to the existing cabling that TWC has put in the house.
|
|
|
|
Post by hurnik on Jan 22, 2011 16:13:53 GMT -5
Yes, Verizon "customer" service is terrible. Only available from like 8-5 M-F. Fortunately I've never had a problem with the FIOS service, although I had problems with an account upgrade that took me 4 months to resolve with repeated phone calls.
|
|
