I no longer have a VCR. I could never stand the lousy quality. I love HD.

I am still on Comcast. I have not had any problems with them other that their rates keep going, but now that there is competition they will lower their rates if you call them and say that you have been considering FiOS.

I use Vonage VOIP for my phone service. Works great. Only 25 bucks unlimited with all the goodies that Verizon charges extra for.

 

I'm commited to Dish Network for the next 18 months but I hope we have some additional options by then. Currently our only option for high speed Internet is Comcast. I finally got so mad about the periodic rate increases I fired them for TV and went with Dish. So now I'm paying more but some things you endure as a matter of principle.

Our electric utility, Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB), is in the process of running fiber optic cable across their entire service area to eventually provide TV, phone, and high speed Internet service to their customer base.

Surprisingly , Comcast, Charter (where applicable), and South Central Bell are filing suit to block this initiative.

 

I am with those who love HD, DVR and Comcast phone.

As I mentioned earlier I'm with Comcast. Do I like the rates. No. Do I like their call center wait times. No. (However, I did find a number that bypasses that. )

HD is really super. Best is the DVR. It is SO easy to use and to set up. I do a week ahead for Speed channel (for example) in just a few minutes to get the stuff I like (SCCA runoffs, etc.) which is really few and far between yet great to watch. And, as for phone service, it was instantly better quality and we can call any where in US any time for no add'l charge (which was lower for the first year than my normal AT&T was). What's not to like.

 

Please tell this old guy about FIOS.

How much does it cost?

I know they won't have here, but maybe when I move to Austin?

Thanks,

Willinathen

 

[QUOTE=willinathen,Jan 23 2008, 07:18 PM] Please tell this old guy about FIOS.

 

I have been telling folks for quite a while that going to HD is like the old days going from B&W to color, but too many of the young folks haven't actually seen a B&W TV.

 

How does fios differ from regular cable and direct tv?

Thanks,

Willinathen

 

I had DirecTV when I lived in Texas. I liked it overall, but the rain fade issue drove me nuts since about all it did was rain there. Is rain fade still a problem with satellite TV these days?

 

In my experience with Dish if there's no signal you probably shouldn't be watching TV anyway. It has to be a very severe storm and even then the longest I remember was about an hour.

 

FIOS is simply a delivery method. FTTH/FTTP or fiber to the home. The bandwidth and loss profile of coax cable is a limiting factor in cable content delivery. The futher away from the "hub" or "hut" that you are the more that your signal will degrade. With digital, you wind up with errors which can be exhitied in a number of ways including macro-blocking or pixelation. This is where you see your picture turn into large annoying blocks before going back to normal.

For TV satellite actually offers more bandwidth and therfore better picture and more channels.

For fiber it is a bit of the compromise. Fiber-to-the-home offers that best "available" bandwidth of the three, but the number of channels that are available is dictated by the method they are using to encode the signal. Verizon is using a stadard CATV "Headend" (transmission equipment) so that for the moment they are limited in the number of stations that are available, based on the a limited bandwidth of that equipment.

On the internet side they have virtually NO limit to the speeds that they offer. The actual bandwidth of the fiber is well into the terahertz range (thta's millions of megabits, or many million million bits per sec.) That is how they can such high internet speeds to the homeowner.

I have had satellite and had a few issues with trees and weather, so it was not the best for me, and Comcast's tech is getting a little long in the tooth (HFC also known as hybrid fiber-coax). So I was quite please with the idea and performance, so far, of FIOS.