themicah

Try getting pricing info from TWC without already being a subscriber.

All three providers (VZ, RCN, TWC) promote "triple play" bundles because their real cost is in getting you as a customer. The incremental services don't cost them much at all to add once they're in your apartment, and then they hope you'll let them keep billing you at full retail once your introductory promo runs out.

I can understand that some folks might not want a landline. But I can't imagine why you wouldn't want Fios internet. It's soooooo much faster than any other home ISP I've ever used and it's not more expensive when bundled with TV.

That said, you can go to verizon.com and price out exactly what you want. It's just that you don't save that much by dropping services (we only wanted phone and internet, but it cost only $5 more per month to get TV too). Right now, for example, you can get triple play for $89 or the same tier of TV-only for $75.

Actually I was wrong and it's $16 for the one-room DVR (not $13).

I just pulled up their site and here is the pricing for the add-ons:

• HD STB $6
• Single-TV DVR $16
• Multi-room DVR $20
• Cablecard $4
• HBO $17
• HBO + Cinemax $25
• Showtime + Starz + EPIX $25
• All premium movie channels $40

dchristiva

I have no dog in this hunt, but I'm pretty sure Verizon has customer service folks available most hours of the day. If I wait more than 5 minutes for a rep, I hang up and try back later.

Analise

Is HD STB the cable box? What is a Cablecard?

Also, are all of the HBOs included in the prices above as well as all of the Showtimes and Cinemax's respectively. Never heard of EPIX so I googled it.

dchristiva

Yes.

themicah

STB = set top box (aka cable box)

If you don't know what a Cablecard is, you probably don't need one. The most common reason to get one is if you own a Tivo (the card lets the Tivo unscramble channels directly without needing a separate STB). For a while there were also some TVs on the market that accepted Cablecards so you could plug the cable in directly without a separate STB, but those TVs are rare. Cablecard never really caught on for anything other than Tivos and some homebrew DVRs because it's a one-way technology. Devices with cablecards can't get the interactive program menus that cable company-issued STBs and DVRs can (Tivos have to get their program guides separately over an internet connection). And cable companies hate Cablecard because it doesn't allow them to sell you pay-per-view.

I'm pretty sure the HBO, Showtime and Cinemax packages include all the various channels. See the second link in post #52 above (which may be a bit outdated, but gives you an idea).

Analise

Thanks.

cestmoi123

Analise, out of curiousity, why WOULDN'T you want to bundle (at least your broadband service, don't know if you have/want a landline) Internet with your TV service? Would likely be much cheaper than buying the two independently, and, while I find FiOS's TV service to be somewhat (but not a lot) better than TWC's, FiOS internet is truly excellent (I have 25Mbps symmetrical, and I really do get those speeds).

cestmoi123

Only if the laws of physics change dramatically.

Analise

Our bay window faces the southwest sky. If there could be a receiver small enough to attach to the ledge just outside the window, why not.

Analise

Maybe I would bundle; I want to know what the costs are to make that choice. The idea of bundling is unattractive because it forces us to be with one carrier for 3 services for a fixed amount of time.

cestmoi123

Verizon no longer requires a contract, neither does TWC, so no fixed amount of time.

cestmoi123

You can just go to verizon.com, and price out your exact install, if you want to know the costs. Taxes will be about another 10%, depends on what you get for video.

cestmoi123

You said "inside the window." Satellite signals are too weak to penetrate glass (for example, the DIRECTV satellite is putting out about as much energy as a 100 watt electric bulb). There needs to be a dish, and it needs to have an unobstructed view of the Southern sky...

Letitride3c

We've DirecTV for our international programming for 15+ years, 5 years here at our own current address - the contracted installer used a smaller dish, looked to be 18" diameter or maybe 24" at most on the roof/side of the house aimed toward the southern sky. We've all seen bigger & apparently older "giant" dishes in use, some even with DirecTV's name/logo on it, 36" or 48" and bigger ones used by the sports bar. The installer said that they can add/use the smaller ones for regualr/standard programming and depending on HD options, etc. - just need to swap the STB inside the house - but I would call & confirm & ask them about the options.

In our surrounding NE Queens neighborhoods, the newer houses, especially condo's sometimes come with the balcony, and there lots of them have satellite dishes - of varying sizes - mounted on the rails - and a short run into the living room for direct hookup to the HDTV, etc. etc. Whether that's permissible will depend on the condo's bylaws and/or rules - if others are doing it, then mostly likely - rest of the tenants (owners & renters) can do it unless there's a grandfathered clause or exclusion provision. A colleague of mine couldn't do it in her co-op in Brooklyn as their bylaws specifically prohibit anything as "permanent" fixture outside the window and/or balcony - not even a regular, compact HDTV antenna.

Last week, TWC dropped their Tri-Play promo plan for new customers to $90 for 12 months (no dice or deals for existing customers in good standing - WTH) and VZ's qualifying online specials for our address is now just $85 for Triple Play with 25/25 speed and a free DVR for life + std. STB, 2 extra HD STB will be $5 ea. x 2 per month. Net cost is just $20 for installing the 2 extra boxes, other fees/charges/wireless router/etc. waived - monthly cost at $95 plus about $10 in taxes/fees/surcharges - or less than $110/mo x 24 months contract, with a prorated ETF to cancel. Looks like I'm going to order this for a early March installation, too good to pass up with the faster speed & saving at least $50 a month & getting a DVR as the bonus.

If we decided to drop 2 extra boxes, we'll save $10 a month later on & won't affect our special rates - this way, they will install everything at at once, test it & set it up so that we can easily move the wirings around as necessary later on. If we need/must add 2 boxes later on, there will be an extra charge & fees for the truck roll to be dispatched - yeah, that's VZ's billing scheme. We could've have taken a $300 prepaid Visa debit card as a rebate instead of the free DVR, but then we will have to pay for EVERY STB. Account is going to be setup as a direct pay/monthly debit from our bank account, same as our TWC arrangement now.

Pricing for VZ's Double Play with TV & broadband, and it turned out to be more expensive, and no Visa rebate or free DVR & STB for free promotion - so it will end up be closer to $120 per month in net total, kind of mad crazy logic in math - so we will just keep the unlimited VOIP digital phone - we are using VZW already but 3G signal inside the house is horrible, so we will get more options on our re-setting up our Google "talks" or even Skype ...

Waiting to get our own electrician to quote us on doing how cat6 wiring update for the 3 story house so that we can run fiber inside via it instead of using coaxial - and to prep the basement area where all the services come inside, next to the circuit breakers & wirings, etc. as we will need to provide them with a powered outlet 6 feet or less from the installed equipment and a solid mounting surface for the BBU and ONT ...

themicah

Not sure what you mean by this. Cat6 is copper, not fiber. And while I'm pretty sure most (if not all) FIOS STBs have RJ45 connections on the back, I was under the impression those jacks were currently disabled and couldn't be used as a substitute for the coax connection (unless something changed recently).

That said, with all the internet connectivity coming to TVs these days, I definitely recommend running Cat6 to each location where you have coax if it's an option (my apartment is wired that way--we run the STB off coax and a Roku off the Cat6 wire).