Verizon FiOS
9/2/2008:
You can order FiOS now in Hoboken!
I checked the Verizon site this weekend, and it appears that it’s now available in Hoboken (uptown, at least).
To find out cost, ease of ordering, and other fine print, I went through most of the steps on the FiOS website, but didn’t place an order at that time (more on that later…)
FiOS Internet and TV
Internet options
What I saw on the website, you can pick three speeds of internet service: Fast (10 Mbps down/2 Mbps up), faster (20/5) and fastest (20/20). They seem to also offer a 50/20 package, but didn’t see it displayed. Costs for each is $47.99, $59.99 and $69.99 per month respectively. I chose the fastest option for price comparison, because why switch to the slowest option, when that’s what we get already with Cablevision?
TV options
You have a few more choices with the TV options. Everything from just local channels, to almost all channels. The “Basic” package (most regular channels) starts at $47.99 per month. You can add movie channels, sports or spanish channels. It was odd that they separated Cinemax & HBO only. For pricing comparison I chose the “HBO, Cinemax & Movies Combo” to try and replicate what I am currently receiving from DirecTV. The “sports package” offered nothing I was interested in, but those who love lots of golf and college action might think otherwise.
See a channel lineup here.
Competitive cost, but should you switch?
For $158.97 per month (plus god knows what hidden fees, taxes and other surcharges), my monthly TV and internet bill would almost be the same as I’m currently paying (+/- $10). Note that the first 12 months would cost only $143.
The one benefit would be the now supposedly much faster internet access speeds. I’ve also heard that the picture quality is supposed to be fantastic, but would have to say bye-bye to the NFL Sunday Ticket.
Caveats
Reading one of the contracts listed, I took note of a few items you might want to consider in your decision making process:
- You have a $30 activation charge for the internet service. Doesn’t seem to be a way out (but you might be able to if you order via phone).
- As always, Verizon imprisons you in their service by having “early termination fees” for both the one and two-year plans ($99 and $149 respectively). If you don’t want to get locked in, you’d have to pay $80 installation charge to enjoy month-to-month services. Either way, they “stick it to ya!”
- Verizon “reminds” you to download legally (why include that, can they monitor or disrupt your service?)
- Speed and uninterrupted service isn’t guaranteed, and “Premium” technical support was $15 per month! (what?)
And what bugged me the most was the “CAT5 or higher or existing RG59 cable required.” My bet is, that if you don’t have some or all of the in-home wiring, they’ll hit you with extra installation charges.
Would you change?
For one, I don’t see an “immediate” need to switch both my TV and Internet providers over. In order for me to really make the switch, I’d have to really hear some long-term feedback once it’s been in Hoboken for a while. Like any technical or billing issues, performance and actual quality of the non HD TV content.
At the very least, I could try and negotiate lower rates from my existing providers.
Has anyone placed an order yet?
See other website screenshots after the jump.
6/26/2008 Update:
Spoke with one Verizon technician the other day as he was installing fiber optic wire for the much-anticipated FiOS high-speed communication network.
He told me all of the “basic” wiring in Hoboken is done, and now they’re slowly completing the individual junction boxes around town. This particular install (pictured) would cover the blocks of 11th Street, between Hudson and Bloomfield.
When I mentioned my dislike for Verizon in general (DSL is crap, their phone services are over-priced, hidden fees, etc.) he said the FiOS service is a technicians dream come true (i.e., “light years ahead”). He did mention one “complaint” coming from new customers of the FiOS service, and how Verizon bills you in advance for services you haven’t received yet. Customers sign up for the $99/month package only to receive a $250 bill the first month… and that it’s not explained clearly to them.
He also said that these homes could essentially get the service today, but Verizon is most likely waiting to “pull the switch” once all (or most) of the wiring city-wide is complete. When I sarcastically suggested that it’ll probably be in 2009, he corrected me and and strongly believed we will be able to enjoy this service sometime in 2008. In other words, sooner rather than later.
Will you sign up for FiOS? Or will you wait and see how your neighbors or friends like the service? What about DirecTV’s NFL Ticket? Will that stop some of you from getting this service? Or just Internet only?
8/1/2007:
I’m sure many of you have seen commercials for the new FiOS high-speed internet/TV/phone service Verizon has been advertising on TV.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of Verizon for a couple reasons (I know, their cell reception is fabulous.. that’s a given). But a few years after I moved here, I was one of the first apartments to have that crappy DSL service installed in Hoboken. The biggest headache and nightmare ever. Never worked properly, and I still dislike DSL across the board. Bad technology.
Additionally, I think that because they’re such a big “player” in the telecom world, I don’t believe they treat their customers very well. From over-priced service, to tons of ridiculous fees (I’ve had their landline and cell before), it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe things have changed now, but I’m not buying it. Yet.
However, this new FiOS service may give them a chance to redeem themselves (IF it works great). They’ve been SLOWLY been installing various components required for the FiOS infrastructure in Hoboken. Our cramped City is part of the reason why we’ll probably be last to get it.
Here’s what the City of Hoboken’s Information Technology head Patrick Ricciardi told me yesterday about FiOS:
“We do not have much info on the Verizon rollout of their FiOS service as of yet.
They have started to install some fiber lines on some streets. They have not officially contacted the City to inform us of their roll out timeline, nor disclose a project start date, or discuss the state franchise agreement they must sign with the city in order to offer Cable service to our residents.
I did get a call last week from one of their representatives asking question about the city’s channel 78. It seems like in order to make their offer more appealing to current Cablevision subscribers they are trying to work out a deal with Cablevision to carry the Channel78 broadcast to the Verizon channel lineup. I have been making calls to Verizon to try to find out what’s up! I’m still waiting to hear back from them so they can supply me with more details about the new services they are going to be offering Hoboken residents.”
Anyone want to guess the month/year when it will be available in Hoboken?? Do you know anyone that has the full-blown FiOS service?
Hoboken NJ
236 Responses to ** Verizon FiOS **
January 17th, 2010 |
I have fios and have no complaints, but lately something weird happens. On channel 2 at exactly 7pm ,2 out 3 days, it switches to the spanish station univision. It happened today during the jet game WTF??
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January 17th, 2010 |
That used to happen to me too, it was a different station and time, I would watch Nat Geo and all the time it would change to some religious show. For weeks this would happen. I then figured out that my neighbor was a nun and her remote changed my tv. She caught me outside one day to tell me if I can fix her tv, she would watch religious shows and porn would come on, that’s when i knew what the issue was. Sorry sister Marie
In response to escaped68 who said:
I have fios and have no complaints, but lately something weird happens. On channel 2 at exactly 7pm ,2 out 3 days, it switches to the spanish station univision. It happened today during the jet game WTF??
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January 24th, 2010 |
MSG in HD will be on FiOS soon thanks to the FCC.
thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/t...-companies-to-share-sports-coverage
In response to ahalpern who said:
That used to happen to me too, it was a different station and time, I would watch Nat Geo and all the time it would change to some religious show. For weeks this would happen. I then figured out that my neighbor was a nun and her remote changed my tv. She caught me outside one day to tell me if I can fix her tv, she would watch religious shows and porn would come on, that’s when i knew what the issue was. Sorry sister Marie
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January 25th, 2010 |
before you do order fios,give some tought to later on..I had verizon and because i am 1500 yards from the relay station near Persing Field bla bla bla..I asked that they move the relay station closer..being sarscastic..thats bull..optimum is fine.
They all rope you in with the tri pkg deal untill they raise it a year later…They are compeating and don’t care either way..
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January 26th, 2010 |
wiskeytango –
our packages are 2 year deals, so you are given a clear picture of what year 2 will be after any promos that may apply to your plan.
that said, even after the 2 years is over, all you would need to do is call customer service and get the bundled rate again, signing a 1 or 2 year contract. Unlike Cablevision, Bundled packages are always available whether you are a new, or existing customer.
If anyone pulls a “bait and switch” its the cable companies… the business plan is built on the fact that 80% of the people who have their rates raised after the first year will never call in to complain. Only 20% will call up, complain, and ask for a new deal.
How many people here have had Cable start out at $99 for one year, then go to $160 plus all your equipment and taxes?
Just like Cable’s business plan, 80% of the people who read this, who have had this happen to them, will not reply and will do nothing.
In response to wiskeytango1 who said:
before you do order fios,give some tought to later on..I had verizon and because i am 1500 yards from the relay station near Persing Field bla bla bla..I asked that they move the relay station closer..being sarscastic..thats bull..optimum is fine.
They all rope you in with the tri pkg deal untill they raise it a year later…They are compeating and don’t care either way..
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January 31st, 2010 |
I have rented in Hoboken for 4 years and have had Optimum from the start. We were never happy with the service but didn’t have an alternative. We used to call and someone would come out and go through the motions of fixing stuff and the answer was always that everything was fine but sometimes there were weak signals on certain channels (mainly the handful of channels we watched the most of course). They always said to call and complain when it was particularly bad but that grew tiresome especially since it was very apparent that it would do nothing to resolve it. Eventually we stopped calling all together because it was more frustrating dealing with them than to deal with the problem itself. I wont even get into the internet speeds/connection…other than to say it crawled and for some reason on Wednesday nights between 7:30 and 9:00pm there was no connection AT ALL.
Eventually FIOS came to town but to be honest I wasn’t so eager to try something new especially with a 1y or 2y contract because I was a little leary after the experience we were having with optimum. We continued to struggle through optimum’s “service” more out of fear and laziness than anything else.
We just bought a condo a few blocks away from where we were living before and I finally decided it might be an opportunity for a switch. After reading up on Hoboken411 I contacted Mark Morin via email to get some info. He laid out the costs by month for the first 2 years for a couple of options I had asked about (with and without phone service). Even at the highest cost in months 13-24 it was still something like 10-20 less than my cablevision bill and I could get rid of my Tivo (another 13 a month) and have internet that’s actually 35mb instead of 1-8mb and averaging around 3mb even off peak. The contract isn’t much of an issue for me because i bought a condo…where am I going to go? Also, it couldn’t have been worse than cablevision and the early termination fee I believe is decreased by $15 or something for every month you have it so by the end of year one it’s less of an issue anyway.
Mark was able to wrangle me a Saturday appointment on short notice and the tech (Carmello i believe it was) came and spent over 10 hours installing. I kid you not. It’s new construction and all the wiring inside my unit was setup and ready to go but for some reason when they built it they didn’t exactly make it FIOS ready downstairs. Instead of putting a big hole in the front of my new building he took care and a lot of time to thread it through an existing hole which was barely big enough, wired it through the ceiling of the lobby and into the utility closet by the front door. Brand new construction and everything was neat and orderly so he made sure to keep it that way and it looks great. This is what took 90% of the time. Not to mention it must have been pretty close to the coldest day of the year and he spent a total of about an hour inside. Above and beyond in my opinion…
The service itself is pretty slick. The internet is fast and actually tests out to the 35mb they say it does although the upload is a pokey 27mb last time I checked;) The TV has a few bells and whistles optimum didn’t have or maybe they did but it was too laggy for me to ever use them or even try them out. The guide is better, the remote is better and yes the picture even seems better. I don’t just mean the lack of pixelation but it actually looks crisper. This could certainly be the placebo effect but I’m cognizant and think it’s probably more than that. Best of all, because of the lack of compression that cable uses the info and channel flipping is much faster. My dad’s going to feel right at home flipping through at a channel a second when he comes to visit.
I may have a record for the longest post but my reservations and experience on the topic. I’m clearly satisfied with my switch at this point. The only thing I haven’t been able to do yet is to get my old phone number switched over to this one. I don’t anticipate any issues but if anything goes awry I’ll be sure to share. Full disclosure, the only minor downside I’ve noticed thus far is that on the second tv that is using the HD box and accessing the home media DVR it isn’t possible to pause live TV. If that’s an issue for you then I suppose you could record whatever you’re watching and then pause it or for a more elegant solution I now have a TIVO HD for sale…
Hope the info helps.
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February 26th, 2010 |
A FiOS TV question and Phone question:
Just curious about FiOS TV DVR. Since they have a monopoly on the DVR and it only holds about as much as Cablevision’s DVR (which is not much given almost everything is HD now, is there a SATA connection on the FiOS DVR to attach an external hard drive? Has anyone done something like this?
If I currently have a VoiP phone, can I keep this with the FiOS install?
If anyone has the above configurations, please advise. Thanks!
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February 27th, 2010 |
What DVR monopoly. I have Fios and happily use a 1 terabyte Tivo HD DVR. (It uses cablecards)
The Fios DVR is not upgradable.
A VOIP phone will work fine, I had Vonage before switching to Fios and kept it for a few months after the transition. The Fios dedicated phone is not VOIP and really sets the standard for phone quality. Not a big point though as most of us rely more on our cellphones than landlines.
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February 27th, 2010 |
I just had my first fios problem, I lost audio. I contacted someone and got a recording then I went through a series of press when you hear a description of your problem questions. When I heard my problem I was told to “hold while they get more information” Then I heard a click and it was fixed. Total time maybe 4/5 minutes and I never talked to a human.
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March 3rd, 2010 |
So… Cablevision customers… you might lose ABC 7 on Saturday at midnight.
Read Here:
cable.tmcnet.com/topics/cable/artic...-nyc-area-may-be-without-oscars.htm
If the Food Network HGTV incident is any indication of Cablevision’s track record on negotiations… can you deal with that for 3 weeks?
Newest FiOS deal, not available online:
2 year contract:
$89.99 for 2 years.
$200 gift card
Free install.
No Contract:
$99.99 for 1 year.
$200 Gift Card
Free install.
MarkMorin@verizon.net
201-792-3467
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March 3rd, 2010 |
That means I will not able to see the Oscars? Damn, if I not able to see who won Best Editing or Best Foreign Films then my week is ruined.
There is no charge to watch on abc.com.
In response to fiosguy who said:
So… Cablevision customers… you might lose ABC 7 on Saturday at midnight.
Read Here:
cable.tmcnet.com/topics/cable/artic...-nyc-area-may-be-without-oscars.htm
If the Food Network HGTV incident is any indication of Cablevision’s track record on negotiations… can you deal with that for 3 weeks?
Newest FiOS deal, not available online:
2 year contract:
$89.99 for 2 years.
$200 gift card
Free install.
No Contract:
$99.99 for 1 year.
$200 Gift Card
Free install.
MarkMorin@verizon.net
201-792-3467
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March 6th, 2010 |
Mr Drugs:
It means you won’t have ABC at all.
not just the oscars.
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May 8th, 2010 |
New Promo:
If you live in a qualified apartment building….
NO CONTRACT!! and $250 Gift card for signing up!
$89.99 for 2 years for Phone, 15/5Mbps internet, and Extreme HD TV.
$74.99 for 6 months, $84.99 for months 7-24 for 15/5Mbps internet, and Extreme HD TV.
Free installation, Free activation.
Call / email me for info
Mark Morin – 201-792-3467
MarkMorin@verizon.net
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October 13th, 2010 |
Hello:
I currently have Optimum, the triple play that with extras comes up to about $150 a month. I got today a letter from Verizon offering their Fios triple play, without a contract, for $89.99 plus taxes and fees. Adding the extras to it, it should come to about $115 or $120, so, there is a $30 a month difference, about $360 a year.
It might not be too much, but I think it is quite enough.
Anyone who can compare Optimum and Fios can give an opinion on wether this would be a convenient change?
Thanks.
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October 14th, 2010 |
Then you lose out of free movies at the movie theater every Tuesday.
In response to aap who said:
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October 14th, 2010 |
aap,
I had FiOS, then we moved to a building without FiOS. I would gladly pay double the $90/month I pay now to get FiOS back in place of Cablevision.
Television is MUCH MUCH MUCH better. Internet is more reliable. The DVR box (Motorola) from FiOS is also top class.
In response to aap who said:
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