So Your Thinking About Switching to Verizon FIOS

After many years of satisfied service, we recently switched from the Comcast Triple Play to Verizon FiOS. Since Verizon is aggressively promoting their service with experienced door-to-door sales people, maybe you are contemplating the same. Our decision to switch was based on three tie-breaking advantages for Verizon:

1. Much lower monthly cost with the same or better offerings - by as much as $80 less than Comcast.
2. Multi-Room DVR, not yet available from Comcast (in fact, customer service was caught completely flat footed on this one and were unaware of the emerging technology)
3. Home Media Manager, that enables you to access photos and music from your PC on your main DVR/Set Top Box. This feature is made possible with the fancy Cable Modem/Wireless Router.

On paper it seemed like we were getting the same channels, the same phone service, the same or better broadband service at a much lower price and with some added bells and whistles. Here is my abbreviated summation of my experience, so far:

On Demand, DVR and the Set Top Boxes
Verizon On Demand is horrible – you can’t find anything and there is far less content (especially free movies.) The DVR function is ok but I seem to recall finding content to record was much easier and pleasant with Comcast. The multrioom DVR is quite nice on Verizon. Comcast will have multiroom DVRs but maybe not in Boston for some time. I heard from a friend who works at Comcast that they were testing in two markets. I like the Home Media app, too, to see photos and hear music from your PC on TV (but you need to have Internet service, too, for this to work.) The connections on the Motorola set top box are great - just the right inputs and outputs on the primary box and the two other secondary boxes. Kudos to Motorola for continuing to build a good overall product. Verizon has both MusicChoice and Urge digital music - I like Urge quite a bit and have used this on several occaisions. On the whole I would say that Comcast is more interested in delivering a complete user experience while Verizon is looking to generate increased revenue with pay-for services. Advantage: Comcast

Customer Service
Comcast customer service is significantly tighter, imo. Same for the web experience at Comcast.com and Comcast.net. My blood boils everytime every time I call Verizon. If they tell me one more time "ok, I've got your records" I think I will burst. And the folks on the phone lack empathy and enthusiasm. Comcast customer service people typically have personality and warmth. And the installation people from Comcast are head and shoulders better. Verizon installers are pure technical people who know how to climb a pole and split a cable. Comcast installers seem to know alot more about the product and spend as much time as possible making sure you are set up for a good experience. The Verizon install took one FULL day and the installer was totally burnt to a crisp by the end. Lots more bumps along the setup road with Verizon. Advantage: Comcast

Remote Control
The Verizon remotes are better – you can program a single button to perform multiple functions, for instance, and the on screen user interface is, I think, a little clearer and has icons for each channel – eye candy, I guess. But it’s also missing some key info like actor names, year, etc. Advantage: Verizon

On-Screen UI
The "Menu" function on Verizon is a kluge - it is very slow to respond and you would need to be a computer programmer to navigate the screens. Trying to find anything by Title, Channel or Interest is an all day affair. And for some bizarre reason Verizon decided to change their nicely grouped channel lineup one week after we signed up. Our channel numbers went from 700 to 1800 with many channels marked "46 Moved to channel 1259" Talk about a disaster. Advantage: Comcast

Internet
Internet service maybe faster and more consistent. Hard to say cause there are so many other variables that contribute to speed. I’ll go out on a limb and say end to end fiber is faster and better than Comcasts. But Comcast provided a host of Internet software and security tools for Free. Verizon charges extra for everything. And Comcast.net and Comcast.com are much, much simpler to use. Again, Comcast seems to be more concerned with your overall experience. Advantage: Comcast

Phone service is the same. While I found the online phone access system by Comcast to be pretty neat, I never used it. I'm not sure why this is but we seem to get less useful caller id information on our phone but this could be coincidental. Advantage: tie

I noticed Comcast offering a free Wii for triple play signups – clearly they are loosing a lot of customers and are trying to stem the tide until their new technology and pricing program goes into effect. I am glad that we are saving money and I do like the better multiroom Set top box but I miss the simplicity of Comcast. I actually watch TV less and find less things of interest to watch, now. My experience with Verizon is greatly diminished.

So you might want to take a closer look at Verizon and ask some tough questions before switching from Comcast. Or you might just want to call Comcast and negotiate a lower price until they catch up with some of their services.