The FiOS Affair: 1 year later, no HD

Exactly one year ago, LI Biz Blog jumped into the cable wars when I decided to switch to Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic television, Internet and phone service and conduct a comprehensive review of the process, and the new product.
But a lot has gone on in the past year, so we feel it’s due time for [...]

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The FiOS Affair: And finally, the television service

Where to start. So much good, so many channels, so much HD, and on-demand too.
First, the HD picture is surely cleaner, and Ken said that’s due to the lack of electric interference picked up by the fiber optic line in its long trek from Verizon to my doorstep. I accept it could also have to [...]

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The FiOS Affair: A quick note on the phone

It works … the phone.
FiOS’s telephone offering was never a big concern of mine, since I initially wanted to phase out my land line in favor of my cell phone, but it works well.
In fact, I found the sound to be much clearer than the Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol phone provided by Cablevision, which runs over the company’s [...]

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The FiOS Affair: This Internet speed is ridiculous

“You will get 20,” Ken said after I asked him for maybe the seventh time if I was guaranteed the 20 Mbps Verizon promised.
Then when he finished configuring the router he launched the new Speakeasy Speed test and tested the connection speed: 21 Mbps down and 4.6 Mbps up, while connected directly to the router [...]

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The FiOS Affair: The installation

Ken arrived at 8:12 a.m., three minutes early, and I was wide awake and waiting for him.
First, Ken checked out the layout. I showed him my two televisions, one large LCD Magnavox in the living room and a small tube television in the bedroom. He nodded and walked outside, where the real work began.
Ken screwed [...]

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The FiOS Affair: It’s only a matter of hours

The next time you hear from me I’ll be a FiOS user. And if the reviews are true, this sly, sarcastic, crass and critical mind might be forever soothed into sweet talk by Verizon’s sterling service.
Maybe.
Here’s a quick update.
Verizon has called to confirm the appointment for tomorrow four times. Also, a crew stopped by my [...]

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The FiOS Affair: Enough! Cablevision, your pitch stinks

Tom Brokaw sent me an e-mail, and he begged me not to switch to FiOS. No lie.
Though the “andy@” part of Brokaw’s Hotmail address makes me think he’s not who he says he is. Instead, I suspect another Cablevision stalwart send me the message, which contained a litany of reasons why Cablevision’s deal outshines Verizon’s.But [...]

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DiMaso brags on FiOS

Talk about fate. The first person I walk into at the Haupauge Industrial Association’s 19th Annual Long Island Business Trade Show & Conference is Anthony DiMaso, vice president of corporate strategy and development for Verizon.
He claims FiOS is adding 2,000 TV subscribers each day and three times that in broadband.
“We have 400,000 TV customers in [...]

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Discounts! And more stations?

So for now my son is going to have to watch most of his kids shows without HD and there is nothing anyone, not even Henry’s vaunted Verizon FiOS, can do about it.
There is no Nickelodeon in HD yet, no Noggin and, gasp, no Kids Thirteen, which leaves my son bummed. After all, what [...]

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The FiOS Affair: Verizon’s promise

Cablevision’s sneak attack broke the rules, we’ve established that, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit Mark’s claim that the FiOS bill will suck me dry scared me. So I called Jennifer at Verizon to get the scoop on what my bill will be, after taxes.
Remember, I’m getting TV, Internet, phone, one regular cable [...]

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The FiOS Affair: Cablevision paid me a visit

He was there, waiting for me on my doorstep when I pulled into my driveway at 5:30 p.m. His name was Mark, and he was a salesman from Cablevision.
Now, I was very clear in my post about the rules of The FiOS Affair that I would not take calls from representatives from either Cablevision or [...]

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The FiOS Affair: So easy to say goodbye

Four more days, it’s time to get prepared.
First, there are all of the programs saved on my Cablevision DVR to contend with, including the season finale of The Office (or, The Best Show on TV, as I call it), a few episodes of Discovery’s Planet Earth series, the Today show from when my mother went [...]

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The FiOS Affair: A glimpse of the future?

It looks like I called Verizon just in time, though I admit this latest bit of news has me worried.
Top blog Engadget HD reported today Verizon will raise prices on the DVR service on orders placed on or after July 13.
From the post:

Verizon is certainly no stranger to cranking up the fees on its number [...]

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The FiOS Affair: My Media? What’s that?

Jennifer called back, she was on vacation Friday. I guess I could have called the main number.
She confirmed what a few of the commenters said, that the phone runs over the fiber optic lines, but the electricity that powers the phone connection comes from my house. If the power goes out, so does the phone. [...]

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The FiOS Affair: My speed pre-FiOS

Right now, I pay Cablevision for an Internet connection, and the cable company says I should be experiencing download speeds up to 15 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps. I just tested it several times using the Speakeasy Speed Test.
Here’s the screenshot of what I found to be the average:

I use a [...]

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The FiOS Affair: What Cablevision had to say

I decided to give Cablevision a chance to say their piece, so I called up their sales hot line and gave Josh, the salesman who took the call, a shot at talking me off of the ledge.
His biggest selling point was this: “It’s all about money.”
I have already conceded Cablevision’s service to be the cheaper [...]

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The FiOS Affair: The order is placed

Jennifer called me back, and I placed my FiOS order.
Verizon straightened out the address problem, and because Jennifer felt pretty bad she had to postpone the order in the first place she got a supervisor to override the eight-business-day waiting period to switch my phone from Cablevision to Verizon.
So, on Saturday, May 26, since I [...]

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The FiOS Affair: So is fiber better?

An anonymous commenter didn’t like Jennifer’s claim that FiOS Internet will work better because you aren’t sharing bandwidth with your entire neighborhood.
From the comment:
… while you may not be “sharing” bandwidth with the rest of your neighborhood (in a non-technical sense) you certainly are sharing the same upstream devices with Verizon so it’s essentially the [...]

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The FiOS Affair: Signed up, almost

It took 45 minutes on the phone with the bubbly and friendly voiced Jennifer, but I signed up to get FiOS … almost. It appears Verizon and 911 have opposing ideas about what my street address is, so it’s going to take up to 48 hours for them to straighten it out. My deal is [...]

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The FiOS Affair: The lists, the plan, the rules

First, let’s break down what I feel are both Cablevison’s and Verizon’s weaknesses.
Cablevision’s cons:

Cable box stinks, freezes often
Internet goes out often, always need to reset modem
Does not have as many HD channels as Verizon
News 12 is fine, but repetitive. Also, its Web site is a cumbersome mess only available for subscribers. I’m tired of the [...]

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The FiOS Affair: Alright, I’m in

I’m getting FiOS.
I moved to Long Island from New Paltz several years ago and one of the first house warming gifts I found on the Island’s welcome mat was a heavy helping of Time Warner withdrawal. This beached suburb was Cablevision’s realm, and little did I know that meant saying goodbye to television service with [...]

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Canvas editor on Caribbean culture

As editor of local magazine Canvas, Ramin Ganeshram, is up to her neck in articles about holistic living and environmental causes. But she’s also a guru when it comes to Caribbean cooking.
The chef and writer is featured today in a New York Times article about the evolution of Caribbean Asian culture, the proliferation of that [...]

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