Verizon just installed fiber optic lines in my area & I have begun receiving letters promoting their internet services for $34.95 a month. While I'm happy with Comcast cable internet, I'd switch to something cheaper & faster in a second.
As this is somewhat new, has anyone had, or know anyone who uses their fiber optic line??
an intern at my office was just talking about this the other day. He said that Verizon was also going to be doing cable TV through the fiber optic stuff. No idea if there is truth to that.
Quote from: Beermonkey on May 17, 2006, 02:46:19 PM
Verizon just installed fiber optic lines in my area & I have begun receiving letters promoting their internet services for $34.95 a month. While I'm happy with Comcast cable internet, I'd switch to something cheaper & faster in a second.
As this is somewhat new, has anyone had, or know anyone who uses their fiber optic line??
a friend of mine in bucks country is/was part of the pilot program for fiber optic internet.
if you can get it...get it. it's faster than cable...by far.
its true murp its called Fios TV. Fios TV (http://www22.verizon.com/FiOSForHome/channels/FiOSTV/FiosTVHome.aspx) Im switching in a heart beat when it comes out. Having your phone/internet/tv/cellphones in one bill will make life easier. Fios Tv will allow you to get more HD as it can hold more bandwith.
The Fios internet is supposedly faster than Comcast and harder to slow up at peak times like comcast. Fios Internet (http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome/channels/Fios/HighSpeedInternetForHome.asp)
Also check out A forum about Fios (http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php%20&daysprune=-1&f=77)
He said that Verizon was also going to be doing cable TV through the fiber optic stuff. No idea if there is truth to that.
dont know if its thru a fiber optic johnson...whatever fiber optic is....but verizon just started offering cable tv in virginia
is Fios TV going to have Comcast Sportsnet? probably not, right?
thanks for the links Seabiscuit36. im looking through the prices and they have an upgrade for an 24/7 WWE channel.
QuoteWWE
$7.95/month
The best classic and current wrestling all day with over 40 hours of professional wrestling
Classic matches
Superstars of WWE, NWA, WCW, ECW and more
Rare and never before seen in-ring action
New, original specials and shows
:-D
Quote from: Sun_Mo on May 17, 2006, 02:59:52 PM
is Fios TV going to have Comcast Sportsnet? probably not, right?
dont see it on the channel lineup. http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome/Channels/FiosTV/channel.aspx
i remember reading that they were in negotians with Comcast regarding it. i see no way that Comcast would give it up. it's the only reason that I don't have satellite right now.
you get showtime for free with it...their movie package is nice...dont see anything about sports packages tho
Being a Verizon employee, I can tell you all the FiOS is the best thing available. that is incredibly accurate.
All joking aside, it is sick. If you play online games or are a fiend for HD programming, cable pales in comparison. Actually, from what I have seen and heard, the cable companies are shteinting their pants over it.
Well, I now have stand-alone cable modem, so I'd switch and try out FiOS as long as installation was free and I could run Vonage off of it... but I wouldn't switch to it for TV until Sunday Ticket is offered on it.
That said, Verizon isn't big down here... BellSouth is the main local phone company. So FiOS is probably long way away.
Quote from: MURP on May 17, 2006, 03:02:26 PM
thanks for the links Seabiscuit36. im looking through the prices and they have an upgrade for an 24/7 WWE channel.
QuoteWWE
$7.95/month
The best classic and current wrestling all day with over 40 hours of professional wrestling
Classic matches
Superstars of WWE, NWA, WCW, ECW and more
Rare and never before seen in-ring action
New, original specials and shows
:-D
They better start running their lines into trailer parks then if they want any subscribers to that channel.
Supposedly Comcast will have to give up Sportsnet because Verizon is not satellite. Comcast has been operating thru a loophole in laws that avoided satellite companys from broadcasting Comcast Sportsnet Philly because of the old PRISM system everything was orginally setup on. But with another land based company in the mix they have to give up the rights, or at least make it available in certain geographical areas.
I have a neighbor who works for comcast. He said that the Big Dogs at comcast are really schteining they're pants over the thought of real competition. Comcast is really trying to push VOIP to counter Verizon. Im just happy theres another company for competition and hopefully a price war down the road.
well, that's certainly good news.
im already disappointed that Comcast hasn't expanded their HD lineup since I got HD 6 months ago.
good info biscuit. Id jump ship from Comcast in a hot second if CSN was available on another cable company.
On the tech side, fiber currently has no equal. It is immune to weather and EM interference. Insane bandwidth. I've seen pictures of the FIOS box, and your NID (phone box) is replaced with a box which has fiber in, and regular phone, ethernet and coax cable out. No additional cable/DSL modem, etc. needed.
Downside is that it is unpowered, so when they install FIOS at your location, they have to install an UPS to keep your phone working in the event of a power outage. Not a big deal.
really weird...i came home yesterday to my neighborood being torn up...then noticed some yard signs advertising fios...looks like ill have it soon
does it offer the sports subscriptions tho??...i didnt see that on the site
Quote from: ice grillin you on May 18, 2006, 10:50:06 AM
reaklly weird...i came home yesterday to fin my neighborood being torn up...then noticed some yard signs advertising fios...looks like ill have it soon
does it offer the sports subscriptions tho??...i didnt see that on the site
forums answers about subscriptions (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15266130~start=0)
thanks sb....looks like ill be waiting a while on verizon
Fight against Comcast Withholding Comcast Sportsnet (http://grassrootscable.com/action/)
QuoteConsumer Watch | Trying to right cable loopholeBy Jeff Gelles
Inquirer Columnist
Like it or not, your past can come back to haunt you. But you can also learn from your mistakes. Just ask Susan Eid why she sees rays of hope for Philadelphia sports fans who, like me, are captive customers of Comcast.
In the early '90s, Eid was a lawyer for Boston's Continental Cablevision. One of her jobs was to fight congressional efforts to rein in a cable industry that many considered out of control after its 1984 deregulation.
By 1991, cable companies were billing their average customers nearly $19 a month for their most popular tier of service. That may not seem like much - in today's dollars, it's about $27. But it had jumped 61 percent in five years, triple the rate of inflation.
The industry argued, then as now, that its product was rising in value as well as price. Though it failed to block a new round of price regulation, Eid helped win a concession on rules requiring cable companies to share channels they owned with competitors.
It was one thing, Eid argued, to insist that a media giant such as Time Warner share big-name channels like Home Box Office or Cinemax. Otherwise, how could anyone compete?
But Continental was about to launch a regional channel, New England Cable News Network. "We said, 'There's no way we're going to make this investment if the next day we have to offer it to our competitors,' " Eid recalls.
Congress listened, and a loophole was born - the rule that allows Comcast to refuse to share its Philadelphia SportsNet, and that Eid now fights as an executive at DirecTV.
A long-lived loophole
The "terrestrial loophole" was named for the line it drew. If a channel was delivered via satellite, a cable company had to offer it to competitors at a fair price. If it was sent terrestrially - say, by fiber-optic cable - the company that owned it didn't have to share.
The loophole has long outlived 1992's reregulation of cable prices. In '96, Congress again put its faith in deregulation.
If you're a cable customer, you know what comes next. In most places, competition has not materialized, and price increases routinely eclipse inflation.
Why? One clear reason is that innovation and open markets alone aren't enough to foster competition against companies with a 30-year head start - especially not in an industry conceived as a natural monopoly and nurtured with exclusive local franchises.
Nor were the established companies lollygagging. The '96 law set off a wave of mergers, and the survivors were aggressive and innovative. Comcast rose to the top in part by pushing innovations such as broadband, phone service, and video-on-demand.
Eid rode that same wave, then went to work for former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell before joining DirecTV. She shares Powell's faith in free markets, and his belief that government should promote competition, not squash it.
Damage to the market
Which brings us back to the terrestrial loophole - and to Eid's hope that the FCC can undo damage she believes Congress never intended to cause.
The FCC has leverage over Comcast and its No. 2 counterpart, Time Warner Cable, because they need something: FCC approval of their plan to divvy up the assets of the bankrupt Adelphia Communications, then swap cable systems to further enlarge their footprints in various markets.
Competitors such as DirecTV and consumer advocates have been urging the FCC to set conditions to keep either company from abusing its market dominance. A key proposal would bar use of the 1992 loophole for withholding regional sports networks.
Congress has joined the fray. In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Sens. Ted Stevens and Byron Dorgan, the chair and a top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, called local sports critical to TV competition because they "cannot be duplicated."
That's the point. Anyone can create a news or entertainment channel. No one can reinvent your home team.
Comcast owns the Flyers and Sixers, and TV rights to the Phillies. But that shouldn't give it the right to turn hometown fans into choice-less customers.
Go ahead and say Eid is a hired gun who has simply switched sides. I give her credit for owning up to her past.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually the Verizon guy is at my house right now & I'll let ya'll now if & what the improvements are.
Quote from: Beermonkey on June 05, 2006, 01:03:11 PM
Actually the Verizon guy is at my house right now & let ya'll now if & what the improvements are.
Free porn?
Quote from: Jerome99RIP on June 05, 2006, 01:09:47 PM
Quote from: Beermonkey on June 05, 2006, 01:03:11 PM
Actually the Verizon guy is at my house right now & let ya'll now if & what the improvements are.
Free porn?
Always. I just performed an All-Big Boobed video stress test & it flew. With the time I save rubbing one out, I can spend more time posting. :yay
While the fiber optic network can support faster speeds, Verizon offers 3 levels of access speed based on price, with the highest being 30mbs. I opted for 15 mbs, which I was told Verizon will bump up to 20mbs soon, due to Comcast doing the same. On my old Comcast system, I was running around 11-12mps. Not a huge difference but very noticeable, especially when I access my work server.
Seabiscuit - i have a solution for your blackout problem. Send me an email.
Seabiscuit - I don't have PM's just yet, send me an email samby4eva@comcast.net
I will later, im at work. No external emails.
ok cool, I live in Elkton Maryland and had the same issue; but now i get all the flyers games. there is a loophole that works in our favor. send me an email and i will explain how