Fios Vs. Optimum
- Thread starter trader1
- Start date
From my post: "I find it easier just to call up, when the menu comes up enter CANCEL option, speak to the guy/gal, and they lower the rate. "
That's not what you did.
When you did call and went to cancel: " I called to cancel and ONLY then did they say they would match my FiOS price. "
Whether its Newsday, Sirius, Optimum or any other subscription I have I go straight to the CANCEL option.
The only one that it didn't work with was Verizon although within 6 months they were calling, mailing, emailing me with good rates to get me back.
That's not what you did.
When you did call and went to cancel: " I called to cancel and ONLY then did they say they would match my FiOS price. "
Whether its Newsday, Sirius, Optimum or any other subscription I have I go straight to the CANCEL option.
The only one that it didn't work with was Verizon although within 6 months they were calling, mailing, emailing me with good rates to get me back.
Oh I get it. I forgot include I said I was going to cancel to the initial sales rep and they didn't care. I didn't realize I should have asked to cancel right there and I would have been transferred to whatever group tries to stop you from cancelling.
I didn't want them to call my bluff without having an alternative internet provider first.
I didn't want them to call my bluff without having an alternative internet provider first.
Bandwidth throttling isn't a FiOS thing, its probably your router or other hardware that is accumulating bad data, logging file issues through bad coding which is why the full reset is flushing those buffers and clearing logs and restoring your systems health. The advantage to the Fiber Optic is that the "neighbors" internet-traffic can't collide or interfere with your traffic (each house has a variation on the laser beam angle so no collisions, but they can happen but you'd lose the entire information packet).
Optimum Cablevision has nodes in each neighborhood, they have throttling because of the technology used in building their technology infrastructure and the "neighbors" internet-traffic sharing on the nodes; so, you'd notice slow downs in internet speed typically when all your neighbors are home and online around the same time as you. After work and after dinner being the most noticeable time periods for content streaming.
Optimum Cablevision has nodes in each neighborhood, they have throttling because of the technology used in building their technology infrastructure and the "neighbors" internet-traffic sharing on the nodes; so, you'd notice slow downs in internet speed typically when all your neighbors are home and online around the same time as you. After work and after dinner being the most noticeable time periods for content streaming.
I'd recommend in order
For Landline + Internet + TV
For Landline
For Internet
Depends on what you watch or want to watch,
For Landline + Internet + TV
- POTS/FiOS phone ($5/month) + FiOS internet + select TV streaming that fits your needs to be the most cost effective and least troublesome - I made the switch to dropping all traditional paid for TV providers back in 2010 (I had DirecTV) and did the free services (Blue, XMP but you had to be tech savvy to maintain and get it to work) until about 2018 when the technology matured to ala carte Hulu, HBO, Showtime, Prime TV, etc. I went back to adding paid for TV services; but now if I have an issue its either I fix it or have to call one of a multitude of subscriptions to get an answer or fix.
- FYI, some people pay for the FiOS router and Gateways, but this can be haggled down to free. I only recently switched from providing my own routers to the new FiOS ones - for using their equipment I was gifted (I own them now) the Router & Gateway so even if I quit FiOS I own the equipment which I found odd. I had an earlier FiOS router but didn't use it (again it was offered as a rental, I didn't need so they gave it to me for free and used it every once in a while when my router died and I had to replace it as a temp router)
- POTS/FiOS phone + FiOS internet + Satellite (DirecTV) - still the best overall paid TV provider whole bundle option out there; though there internet and phone plans are expensive, slow and horrible.
- POTS/FiOS phone + FiOS internet + FiOS TV - I have only seen it at other peoples houses, I live in the Town of Crookhaven and Verizon won't pay the bribe to them to get the municipal license. So I either see it in action in my friends homes within incorporated villages or in the Town of Islip. The UI seems slow to load and change channels.
- POTS/FiOS phone + FiOS internet + Cablevision- I found between their customer service failures and that my less then stellar tv show quality (when I had them my area in Town of Brookhaven) always had line static corruption and the TV shows were never high quality clear, fought with them for years showing them the at the curb decibel levels were weak.
- AT&T UVerse phone + for bundling costs it probably is worth getting it all as one package; and they have hte advantage of DirecTV to bundle with.
- Cablevision phone + for bundling costs it probably is worth getting it all as one package; but bear in mind their network infrastructure is far less reliable and far slower than the Verizon & AT&T fiber networks, if you are in area with only DSL then its probably worth it.
For Landline
- POTS/FiOS phone (you don't get the $5 negotiated rate without the Internet)
- Use your cell phone
- Cabelvision VOIP phone service; this has improved quality recently but a lot of my friends and family that had the phone option never used it as the voice quality was hard to hear and the complaints that the router always needed to be restarted to improve the call quality or to "find" the VOIP service as it would forget it existed.
For Internet
- FiOS or AT&T Uverse
- Cablevision or DSL depends on area
- 5G Access Point (basically a Cell Phone Router) - the limit is usually 5 devices before you notice bandwidth connectivity issues, they will claim it can support up to 100 connections but it is not in any way capable of supporting that.
- DirecTV (don't even waste your money)
Depends on what you watch or want to watch,
Just make sure by checking the dates on each bill and then the subsequent bill dates (they changed the dates such that the 8 weeks became less than 8 weeks to reflect the delivery of the Funbooks in effect charging for the Funbooks — and the special editions, i.e., copies of the old Newsday). It was pretty sleazy on ND's part to charge based on changing the dates instead of just adding a $ charge, IMHO.
Also the rates may differ based on geography e.g., I get the Q/N editions which may be priced differently than the S (Suffolk) editions.
Also the rates may differ based on geography e.g., I get the Q/N editions which may be priced differently than the S (Suffolk) editions.
I'm a Manhattan apartment dweller, and beside the usual cable outages and pricey problems had continued service problems as the building was wired from the roof down on the outside of the bldg. to each appt. resulting in interrupted service anytime someone was on the roof.
I have now totally cut the cord. I am a Verizon wireless customer. By virtue of that fact, and that I live in a 5G area, for an additional $25 a mo. I got home phone service and another $25 a month an internet connection (including modem and wired/wireless router). Both are simple boxes that plug into a/c, work over 5G cellular system, save me a fortune, and deliver excellent quality and speed. I don't get any cable tv (except Amazon prime by virtue of that membership) but don't really care, and can get free over air channels and if you need "cable channels" use one of the streaming services (ala Sling). For my tastes and needs this was the best and cheapest solution at home.
For the office, multiple phone lines, faxes, 7 heavy internet/email users, FIOS was not only 1/3 the cost, but provided faster up/down speeds and clear clean phone lines and no speed bumps during heavy traffic periods. They threw in TV.
I have now totally cut the cord. I am a Verizon wireless customer. By virtue of that fact, and that I live in a 5G area, for an additional $25 a mo. I got home phone service and another $25 a month an internet connection (including modem and wired/wireless router). Both are simple boxes that plug into a/c, work over 5G cellular system, save me a fortune, and deliver excellent quality and speed. I don't get any cable tv (except Amazon prime by virtue of that membership) but don't really care, and can get free over air channels and if you need "cable channels" use one of the streaming services (ala Sling). For my tastes and needs this was the best and cheapest solution at home.
For the office, multiple phone lines, faxes, 7 heavy internet/email users, FIOS was not only 1/3 the cost, but provided faster up/down speeds and clear clean phone lines and no speed bumps during heavy traffic periods. They threw in TV.
Would entirely depend on what kind of logs the router has or keeps and if he looks at them.
One of the reasons why I didn't use the Verizon routers is that they didn't allow me access to the logs; making it difficult to track the kids on the who, what, where and how long their spending on the internet... the newer ones give that access finally
One of the reasons why I didn't use the Verizon routers is that they didn't allow me access to the logs; making it difficult to track the kids on the who, what, where and how long their spending on the internet... the newer ones give that access finally
I would say it was a good investment.
However:
IMHO, The problem with statements like that is the looking at the $500 (and the $72/year I can pay to Sirius) in today's terms instead of inflation adjusted value of the money.
A boring investment in S&P Index fund Jan 1 2007 would yield you over $1500 today.
I invested $500 for lifetime membership with Bally's health club in 1993 with fixed $30/year renewal. My membership was bought by LA fitness. I have the right to sell the membership written into the contract at same terms. I picked Bally's as I travelled a lot for business, there was always one of them near the hotel I would be at and the the so called fitness centers in even better hotels were jokes. Plus the, ahem, scenery in the clubs tended to be better than that of the hotels.
Was this a good investment i.e., One of the better moves I ever made? (I go almost daily — even when I was working) Take into account that the cost to the club of just the hot water I use in the shower and shaving there is probably more that of the renewal fee.
Also take into account an S&P invested (not factoring the $30/year) would be worth about $5K today.
However:
IMHO, The problem with statements like that is the looking at the $500 (and the $72/year I can pay to Sirius) in today's terms instead of inflation adjusted value of the money.
A boring investment in S&P Index fund Jan 1 2007 would yield you over $1500 today.
I invested $500 for lifetime membership with Bally's health club in 1993 with fixed $30/year renewal. My membership was bought by LA fitness. I have the right to sell the membership written into the contract at same terms. I picked Bally's as I travelled a lot for business, there was always one of them near the hotel I would be at and the the so called fitness centers in even better hotels were jokes. Plus the, ahem, scenery in the clubs tended to be better than that of the hotels.
Was this a good investment i.e., One of the better moves I ever made? (I go almost daily — even when I was working) Take into account that the cost to the club of just the hot water I use in the shower and shaving there is probably more that of the renewal fee.
Also take into account an S&P invested (not factoring the $30/year) would be worth about $5K today.
Was not trying to get into a pissing match at all.
I'm against long term purchases whether it be Sirius, club memberships, whole life insurance for investment purposes.
For example I always owned a home starting at a relatively young age not so much as an investment but I needed a place to live anyway and why deal with a landlord.
I purchased my gym membership as at the time (1993) many clubs were going bust, I needed a gym anyway (to workout, play racquet ball especially when travelling) and the premium price was small for a lifetime membership over the cost of an annual membership. If the place went bust (they were tittering ) in 2 years I would have still broken even.
When I needed life insurance (to protect my SO and kids when I was the only source of income) I bought term and reduced it (eventually to 0 ) as needs required.
I purchase investments (stocks, bonds) as strictly investments.
I am ruthless when it comes to Optimum, FIOS, Sirius as I try to get the most benefit for least amount of $ and as soon as an alternative comes up I switch.
With Sirius I just got tired with playing the cancel game every year when the promotional rate quadrupled as my enjoyment of it wasn't that much. You solved the problem and I probably would have done the same thing as you did — but not as an investment.
Back to FIOS vs Optimum
The service I say with FIOS was superior to that of Optimum in that the drop out of internet (several times a day with Optimum vs almost never with FIOS), the data rates never (as far as I could tell) varied with FIOS and varied greatly with Optimum sometimes to a crawl. Also my SO likes NEWS12 on Optimum (yeah I know its there now but was not on FIOS until couple years ago and even then I heard there were blackouts due to contract disputes).
I'm against long term purchases whether it be Sirius, club memberships, whole life insurance for investment purposes.
For example I always owned a home starting at a relatively young age not so much as an investment but I needed a place to live anyway and why deal with a landlord.
I purchased my gym membership as at the time (1993) many clubs were going bust, I needed a gym anyway (to workout, play racquet ball especially when travelling) and the premium price was small for a lifetime membership over the cost of an annual membership. If the place went bust (they were tittering ) in 2 years I would have still broken even.
When I needed life insurance (to protect my SO and kids when I was the only source of income) I bought term and reduced it (eventually to 0 ) as needs required.
I purchase investments (stocks, bonds) as strictly investments.
I am ruthless when it comes to Optimum, FIOS, Sirius as I try to get the most benefit for least amount of $ and as soon as an alternative comes up I switch.
With Sirius I just got tired with playing the cancel game every year when the promotional rate quadrupled as my enjoyment of it wasn't that much. You solved the problem and I probably would have done the same thing as you did — but not as an investment.
Back to FIOS vs Optimum
The service I say with FIOS was superior to that of Optimum in that the drop out of internet (several times a day with Optimum vs almost never with FIOS), the data rates never (as far as I could tell) varied with FIOS and varied greatly with Optimum sometimes to a crawl. Also my SO likes NEWS12 on Optimum (yeah I know its there now but was not on FIOS until couple years ago and even then I heard there were blackouts due to contract disputes).