I moved this past July to a new house that previously had FIOS installed. I was pretty thrilled with the prospect of getting off of Comcast and moving to Verizon FIOS.
It’s been almost 4 months now since first switching to FIOS for my internet and TV, and as much as it pains me to say it….I would switch back to Comcast if I could.
First off, let me say this: Comcast’s broadband internet service is unstable, has a very poor Quality of Service (QOS) level – so poor that it makes 3rd-party VOIP services, like T-Mobile@Home, more trouble than it’s worth. But, and this is a big BUT, the TV services, while not great and filled with its own set of issues, is so much better than FIOS’s TV service that I’d switch back in a heartbeat.
TV Video Quality
The video quality is probably a bit better with FIOS. Of course, there’s NO WAY anyone can really compare that with any real measure unless they subscribed to both services at the same time and had two different televisions side-by-side. FIOS seems to have more HD channels and an overall nicer picture. Some things are clearly superior, like HBO. On Comcast, I had 11 channels of HBO, and only one came in in HD. The rest was SD. On FIOS, all 11 channels are in HD.
User Interface/Menu System
The biggest problem with FIOS is the TERRIBLE user interface/menu system. I can’t say enough just how horrible it is. Comcast’s was WAY better. From the goofy categorizations of channels that FIOS has, to the slow response of the box, it is just horrible compared to Comcast. And let’s face it, the user interface is a big part of the service. My wife still hasn’t figured out how to use the damn thing, but she has trouble working the toaster too…
Remote Control
The Comcast remotes suck. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse….Verizon outdoes them with the suckiest remote of all time! The remote is very ‘mushy’ in feel and the box is just slow to respond. It’s just flat-out annoying. And that along with the horrible menu system makes it just annoying at best.
Example: a couple of weeks ago I was on the internet when I got word that the remake of The Prisoner was finally coming on TV. So I go to my TV and make sure to schedule the series to record (more on the shitty DVR later). Problem is, there’s no way that I can find to jump from day to day, to record a future show. You have to manually keep pushing the right-arrow button on the remote and go through every half-hour increment between the present time and when the first instance of the show starts. It’s horrible! On Comcast’s remote there were DAY+ and DAY- buttons, so if a show was 7 days away I just had to hit it 7 times and bam, I’m there. Comcastic! : )
DVR
The DVR has, at best, only half of the capacity that the Comcast one had. Before, we’d never run out of space. Now, we have to clean it out fairly often. Other than that, the DVR works for the most part.
Customer Service
Yeah, this is what I hated most about Comcast. I am definitely not ‘Comcastic!’ about their customer service. And, like the remote controls, just when I thought customer service couldn’t get worse, Verizon gives Comcast a run for the money! Analyzing/discussing the quality level between Comcast and Verizon’s customer service is like debating morality amongst prostitutes, so I’ll leave it at that. They both suck. Of course, I had some extra holes in my basement walls from the moron that FIOS sent out to install the service and run the cables. They at least eventually made it somewhat right and patched it. They had to come back multiple times to get it done, and I’ll have to touch-up paint it. Morons.
Cost
They both charge way too much.
Internet
The Comcast internet service is laggy at times, which is a big problem if you play Battlefield Heroes like me, the QOS is bad, which is a big problem if you have a 3rd-party VOIP service like I have, and the speed is not what they claim it to be. Verizon FIOS kicks ass in the internet department. I’ve not had a single outage, have not had to reboot a router once, have never experienced any lag, and my Tmobile@Home service has been rock-solid and not a single issue since I moved to FIOS.
Summary
Both of these companies suck ass and treat their customers like garbage. Because my wife/kids watch a lot of TV I’d probably switch back to Comcast if I could (I’m in a 2-year deal with Verizon). But I’d hate to give up the internet service.
5 Comments
We switched to FIOS in July and now we’re sucking it up and switching back to Comcast. The Fios picture onthe TV is Awesome but their Customer Service Reps, tend to lie constantly! Every time we would call we would get another story! We left Comcast because the internet was so unstable. They say they have fixed it…we’ll find out Friday when they re-install. The DVR issue we had is that Fios doesn’t let you download onto a DVR, so you can’t clear it and watch later. Friday, Comcast will be here to install and we’re will to pay the penalty to leave Verizon.
Stone -
What exactly do you mean by ‘The DVR issue we had is that Fios doesn’t let you download onto a DVR, so you can’t clear it and watch later.’?
I have had Verizon FIOS for three years now. Two year ago I switched back to Comcast for TV service due to frustration after many the issues already noted on the comments in this site and the fact that the ACTIONtec routers kept failing.
I kept the internet service in Verizon FIOS with VoIP with a 3rd party provider after Verizon allowed me to connect a general commercial router to the network and not use the ACTIONtec box.
After all of this I can say without any reservation that Verizon customer services is the most incompetent in the industry
Recently I was informed by Verizon that my internet connection will go up by 25% in December. I am looking for alternatives to Verizon. Any suggestions? I in the Northern Virginia are of Washington, DC.
I would seriously stab someone if it meant I could get fiber optic internet to my door. Comcast lobbyists are strangling our local fiber company to death and I’m visiting your website while my video buffers, yes I watch all my tv and movies online. Online entertainment is the future and slow moving monopolies will do everything possible to slow the movement down including give you “high speed” internet at the blazing speed on 56k wooohsh.
UPDATE:
After a LONG year of hearing my wife complain about the house we purchased (not so much the house, but the location), I sold it. That also meant cancelling my FIOS service, only 11 months into the 2 year contract. Verizon charged me $179 early termination fee, which sucks but I’m an adult and I signed the contract so it is what it is. I don’t hold any grudges in that regard.
The menu system and FIOS tv in general was never great to me. The picture quality was a little better but not enough to overcome their horrible menu system and dvr. And the tic-tac charges that kept getting added on without me being told….every time I’d call Verizon tech support (I had LOTS of hardware issues – had to send back and get a replacement box at least 3 times over the 11 month period), they would secretely tack on a ‘free Showtime for 3 months’ or some crap like that without telling me. Or when I called to enable the alleged ‘multi-room dvr’ they failed to inform me that that also costs extra when you enable that service!
Of course, Comcast is just as bad in this regard, so it’s a pick-your-poison situation. I’ll be moving into a new house later this month, so in the coming week I’m going to be evaluating the deals offered currently by these two bastard companies and deciding which poison to take next : (
If it wasn’t for the awesome FIOS internet I would go with Comcast for sure, but I love the quality of the FIOS internet…