Switching from Comcast to Verizon - make sense?

[jlmdxtv]

I've been with Comcast for almost 20 years. They normally offered some discounts to keep me with them but those have about stopped.

They are willing to offer a deal with Triple Play or free Showtime for some period at a discount - but I already use Google Voice and Showtime doesn't interest me.

My only complaints with Comcast are:
- the QAM channel positions seem to move around every few months
- I can't get my cost under $125 for cable (no premiums) and Internet. I'm not renting any modems or STBs and the cable card is provided at no added cost.

Does it make any sense to switch to Verizon?

1) Does anyone have experience with the DRM flags with their cable cards? (I'm using an HDHomeRun and an HDHomeRun Prime)
2) Do they switch their QAM channels around often?
3) Are they actually cheaper than Comcast after the initial offer expires?
4) Anything else that should keep me with Comcast?

Thanks, john

[NEOSG]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

I've been with Comcast for almost 20 years. They normally offered some discounts to keep me with them but those have about stopped.

They are willing to offer a deal with Triple Play or free Showtime for some period at a discount - but I already use Google Voice and Showtime doesn't interest me.

My only complaints with Comcast are:
- the QAM channel positions seem to move around every few months
- I can't get my cost under $125 for cable (no premiums) and Internet. I'm not renting any modems or STBs and the cable card is provided at no added cost.

Does it make any sense to switch to Verizon?

1) Does anyone have experience with the DRM flags with their cable cards? (I'm using an HDHomeRun and an HDHomeRun Prime)
2) Do they switch their QAM channels around often?
3) Are they actually cheaper than Comcast after the initial offer expires?
4) Anything else that should keep me with Comcast?

Thanks, john

I have the same setup for fios with 1 cable card. I pay around 105 a month NET for 75MB internet with Prime HD and the sports tier. Only been with them a month so I cant comment on if they move stuff around but only HBO and Cinemax have been flagged as copy once.

[jlmdxtv]

NEOSG,

Are you using an HdHomeRun to record the locals in HD? Or are you using the Prime for everything?

Is your cable card an "M" type (multiple recordings)? Any issues with getting it activated?

thanks, john

[NEOSG]

I use the original HDHomeruns for the locals from FIOS using QAM . I use the Prime for everything else. I believe its an M card and I have been able to record 3 shows at one time with no issues. Channel changing is really quick too. I was not able to activate it via the website but was able to pretty easily by calling in. Last weekend my sage server died. The rebuild on a new server was the quickest and easiest I have ever done.

[ckewinjones]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

I've been with Comcast for almost 20 years. They normally offered some discounts to keep me with them but those have about stopped.

They are willing to offer a deal with Triple Play or free Showtime for some period at a discount - but I already use Google Voice and Showtime doesn't interest me.

My only complaints with Comcast are:
- the QAM channel positions seem to move around every few months
- I can't get my cost under $125 for cable (no premiums) and Internet. I'm not renting any modems or STBs and the cable card is provided at no added cost.

Does it make any sense to switch to Verizon?

1) Does anyone have experience with the DRM flags with their cable cards? (I'm using an HDHomeRun and an HDHomeRun Prime)
2) Do they switch their QAM channels around often?
3) Are they actually cheaper than Comcast after the initial offer expires?
4) Anything else that should keep me with Comcast?

Thanks, john

We were with Comcast for about ten years. We didn't have any major complaints other than price. When we had to order TV service for our summer cottage, we tried Verizon and liked it, so when Verizon gave us a good deal to switch at our main house we made the switch. We have been very pleased.

Does anyone have experience with the DRM flags with their cable cards?

I'm using the Ceton InfiniTV3 with an M CableCard. As far as I can tell, all the channels are marked Copy Freely. Verizon did send out a letter in June or July saying that the premium content providers were requiring them to start marking the premium channels as protected (I don't know whether that means Copy Once or Copy Never, but either one makes the channel unavailable to SageTV). Despite the letter, I haven't seen any channels that are actually copy-protected. Now, we actually rarely watch any of the premium channels, and I haven't specifically checked all the channels. But in the year or so that we have had Verizon, I have never been prevented from watching or recording any content due to DRM.

This is quite different from our experience with Comcast, BTW. When we had Comcast I had the same Ceton/CableCARD setup, and there were many channels that we could not watch because of DRM. As it happened, they weren't channels that any of us cared about, but still, a lot of content was unavailable.

Do they switch their QAM channels around often?

I haven't run into this. To be fair, I didn't run into it with Comcast either.

Are they actually cheaper than Comcast after the initial offer expires?

Yes. In our case the "initial offer" wasn't a temporary discount on the rates. We paid full freight from the get-go, but got a significant cash refund after being with Verizon for six months. We got essentially the same package with Verizon that had had with Comcast (the deluxe TV package with just about every channel they have, broadband Internet, and land-line telephone). The Verizon price for that package beats what we were paying Comcast by about $70.00 / month.

Anything else that should keep me with Comcast?

Not as far as I am concerned. As I said, we were reasonably satisfied with Comcast, but we are very satisfied with Verizon. A couple of pluses about Verizon that weren't covered by your questions: (1) their customer service and tech support are excellent. Very responsive and knowledgeable, which is more than I can say for Comcast. And (2) the broadband Internet service from Verizon is superior to that from Comcast, both with respect to speed and to reliability.

All in all, we have been very satisfied with Verizon.

[mistergq]

I am running HD Homerun for QAM for the local channels.

I am using 1 HD Homerun Prime for cable card.

I am using 2 HDPVR with STBs as well.

I do not recall the QAM moving. I have had FIOS since 2008.

The only channels that are flagged as copy once are HBO and Cinemax.

The only thing that increased in price were premium channel discounts. Otherwise, everything stayed the same price. In fact, you can usually call and get a better deal in the future, but that requires adding a service.

I can't stand comcast. I am self employed. They made an unbelievable deal to me to switch my business to Comcast Business and would have saved me over a $100 a month than FIOS Business. I stayed with FIOS. The internet is pure and crisp. You won't notice it with standard web page viewing. But when you do VOIP or VPN or remote desktop to your business, than you notice the purity of signal. At my office, I am able to use VOIP with FIOS.

[jlmdxtv]

I appreciate all the positive feedback about FIOS. It looks like it's time for a change.

Thanks all, john