Getting TV/internet in new apartment

Grundlestiltskin

Do people recommend Comcast or Verizon FioS for my new place? It looks like they're both about the same price for the first year, but the Verizon FioS TV package comes with Starz and Showtime for 4 months. However, I'm a bit concerned about the internet; Comcast cites speeds up to 6mbps, but Verizon claims only ~768kbps down. Is this going to be a serious problem for me? Anyone have experience with this dilemma?

Natsus

Are you talking about verizon fios or their dsl?

FIOS starts at 10Mbps

DSL starts at 768Kbps. If you get DSL, you can get their 3Mbps line

Personally I would go with FIOS if your area has it as I've heard nothing but good things about it.

RUNN1NGMAN

The technology behind FiOS is great, but Verizon is the spawn of Satan. They literally stood me up on service calls three days in a row (Fri, Sat, Sun). And I'm talking the type of deal where they'll be here "sometime between 8 and 4). After that I told them to fuck off, and got them to pay me $100 for robbing me of an entire weekend. Had it for a week, and it never worked.

Comcast looks like the best customer service in the world compared to Verizon.

DeShadowC

If you choose to get comcast, it'll take longer for your install, but a little secret is the comcast.com website tends to have better promos then the call center.

Improvolone

Rmember that for DSL you need an active phone line, which is proabbly another $15 to your bills.

Grundlestiltskin

Improvolone wrote: »

Rmember that for DSL you need an active phone line, which is proabbly another $15 to your bills.

Ah, that would probably be a deal breaker right there. I have no interest in getting a land line.

EggyToast

Comcast is different regionally, but their home service has also been increasing quite drastically. A few years ago in Baltimore, they'd give you a 4 hour window and not show up until after that window passed. And if they sent someone out, they usually had no idea what they were doing.

Within the last year, though, they seem to have shortened their window (to 2 hours), and they state that the tech will call you when they're on their way to your place, so you know when to actually expect them. And, surprise, they've actually called me the last 2 times. And the last time, when I had a technical problem, the guy checked my modem, checked the wiring in my house, found the problem and fixed it. Maybe it was an obvious problem, but I was incredibly pleased that, for free, he fixed my internet connectivity problems (which were due entirely to the previous owner's stupidity).

Verizon here is still horrible, and slow, so it's not equivalent exactly. We only have DSL offered and only at 768, and, as said above, you can't get "naked" DSL so it's not any cheaper than Comcast.

MichaelLC

Comcast the company is pretty shitty, with their P2P packet forging and mysterious limited="unlimited" policies, but we've had no problems with the service in Chicagoland.

Someone cut our coax outside ou building, and when we called Comcast, they were out that day and repaired it. Said he cleaned up the junction box too, after we mentioned the TV was pixelated.

1ddqd

I've had DSL for the past year from Verizon. It was the 3mbps/768k package. I didn't have a phone line, but there was one used just for the DSL. You don't need to have an active phone line, they'll set you up with one at no charge, just tell them you don't have one, but want DSL.

That said, get the FioS 20/20 package - $60 a month for 20mbps down, 20mbps up. If you torrent, that 20mbps up means high ratio!

Grundlestiltskin

I went with Comcast. I was looking for the cheapest combined tv/internet package, and given that the internet portion is slightly more important with me the cable seemed like a safer bet. We'll see how that works out I guess.

Plus FioS on Demand is terrible, from what I recall at my parents' house.

Elrosst

I just got comcast a couple months ago, and have no complaints. If you order on the internet, they will send you the cable modem/etc., so you can do it yourself. If you DO go to the store, look online, as they usually have promotions for the first 6 months or whatever.

I dont really watch the cable, but the internet is as fast as i need (4mb/s or something). No huge outages besides one storm, and that's totally understandable. Nor have i experienced the sneaky torrent-limiting that people have been hearing about. I read up on it a bit, and it seems that if you use ungodly amounts of bandwidth, they will warn you first. And this is only if you live in an area where they monitor downloading.

CooterTKE

If you call comcast ask for the Fios deal. I just got it and i had service already with comcast.

You should get.
HD DVR for free
Preferred Cable Package with Showtime free for one year
Internet
Phone
all for $113 for two years.

Grundlestiltskin

CooterTKE wrote: »

If you call comcast ask for the Fios deal. I just got it and i had service already with comcast.

You should get.
HD DVR for free
Preferred Cable Package with Showtime free for one year
Internet
Phone
all for $113 for two years.

$113 a month? Because I can't afford that =P
The $66 a month I'm going to be paying for basic digital cable and internet is pushing it as it is.

PirateJon

Grundlestiltskin wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

Rmember that for DSL you need an active phone line, which is proabbly another $15 to your bills.

Ah, that would probably be a deal breaker right there. I have no interest in getting a land line.

You absolutly can get naked DSL if you ask. I got it from AT&T, after calling their customer service and getting bounced twice.

And they don't even charge extra to give all my info to the government!

Gdiguy

DeShadowC wrote: »

If you choose to get comcast, it'll take longer for your install, but a little secret is the comcast.com website tends to have better promos then the call center.

The call center will give you those deals if you mention them (I wanted to call to make sure my apt was hooked up right, he just asked me where i'd seen the pricing and gave it to me)

i wouldn't say i love comcast, but the cable has been reasonably good so far for me, and i had a similarly good experience getting it installed (called when they were on the way, were pretty helpful)

Improvolone

PirateJon wrote: »

Grundlestiltskin wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

Rmember that for DSL you need an active phone line, which is proabbly another $15 to your bills.

Ah, that would probably be a deal breaker right there. I have no interest in getting a land line.

You absolutly can get naked DSL if you ask. I got it from AT&T, after calling their customer service and getting bounced twice.

And they don't even charge extra to give all my info to the government!

Son of a bitch.

Organichu

For $69/month with Comcast I got phone and internet for a year... it was supposed to be 6 Mb/down. I had some shitty experiences with the installation, though, and I'm getting 16 Mb/down at no extra charge.

DeShadowC

Gdiguy wrote: »

DeShadowC wrote: »

If you choose to get comcast, it'll take longer for your install, but a little secret is the comcast.com website tends to have better promos then the call center.

The call center will give you those deals if you mention them (I wanted to call to make sure my apt was hooked up right, he just asked me where i'd seen the pricing and gave it to me)

i wouldn't say i love comcast, but the cable has been reasonably good so far for me, and i had a similarly good experience getting it installed (called when they were on the way, were pretty helpful)

Depends on the rep. I'll tell you to order it online and not really care.

Deadfall

I've had Comcast on and off for the past several years, and honestly, I've never had any problems. My cable has always worked well and my internet is fast enough for me.

I'd recommend, though, talking with the apartment management, as they often have personal reps with the cable companies that can get you good deals.