Back in April we left Verizon FiOS to go back to Brighthouse, whom I/we had for over 5 years. My list of issues with FiOS was long at the time, mostly around customer service, price, and the differences between the two DVR systems.
Now the scales are tipping in favor of FiOS again. My list is quite long for why:
- Our HOA is no longer kicking in $50 for cable services, which was going to Brighthouse and making it cheaper.
- The new DVR software SUCKS!
- No longer able to simply go to a date in the future to record – must scroll hour by hour.
- When you are done with a show and delete it, the DVR exits the list and returns to live TV.
- Countless saved series were lost in the upgrade and we have lost dozens of shows because we don’t know when they come on.
- Many times we set it to record a show on, say TLC 724, and it records something like 1223 and it looks like it’s not recording when you go to the guide (since we always have to double-check now).
- When you enter a recording show’s item, if you hit SEL twice as you would to play a fully-recorded show, that option is to cancel and delete the show recording, which we actually want to watch!
- The DVR doesn’t sort shows into folders to keep the same shows together in a nice list.
- The Internet has been on and off and slower than molasses. I’ve been unable to watch YouTube videos friends are linking to and I’ve given up on watching NetFlix this week.
- TimeWarner/Brighthouse are dropping Fox on January 1st!!
- No Big 10 Network for free.
- Far fewer HD channels.
- Even if the Internet was working right, it’s 5Mbit while the FiOS we’d get is 25Mbit.
- Brighthouse was over-charging us $50/mo, called this month and said they’d credit us over 8 months. Uh, no. Send us a check because I’m cancelling your butt.
- We already have the FiOS gear in the garage. Might as well use it. 🙂
- The price difference is in our favor for 6 months, very close for 6 more months, and just the right amount more thereafter for what we get.
My only regret will be losing our saved recording of the Pitchmen tribute to Billy Mays.
Today is a big day for the Petersen household, as silly as the reason is: getting Brighthouse back. When we bought our townhome last May, I called to get our service moved to the new address, and they told me that the address was marked as a “non-serviceable address” and that we couldn’t get Brighthouse because cable is included in our Homeowners’ Association fees through Century Communication. We were pretty sad, but we made the switch to FiOS to get digital cable and a faster Internet connection than Century offered.
