Anyone move from Dish Network to FIOS?

[HalfFull]

How are you factoring in the costs of the TiVos? Are you paying about $23 per month for the required service or did you buy two lifetime's at what, $300 a piece?

With Triple play, I am saving over $40/mo over Dish and my previous FIOS Double play. Not sure where you get the $23/mo, but it is not even close.

Again, my $40/mo savings is AFTER figuring in the $13.50/mo for each TIVO and cable card combo (fees for first HD TIVO is $120/year, and second TIVO HD $99 per year...cable cards are $3.99/mo for each TIVO.

I own my TIVOs HD XL boxes, and figuring in my $40/mo savings they are paid for after 10 months (I paid $200/ box for the tivos).

Considered Moxi unit, but it was much more expensive when I calculated things.

 

[vdog16]

TiVo is definitely a great option but I'm not sure if it is right for me. We only record a few shows and usually watch them within a week. And I think we would take advantage of the Fios VOD. We had Comcast a few years ago before Dish and liked the VOD, although everything else about it was horrible. The VOD on Dish leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

That being said, only 20 hours of HD space is awful.

As many have said, I think the most important thing is to compare HD channel lineups. Also, if I end up making the switch, I may just wait until Verizon rolls out some better DVR boxes (which could be a while).

 

[SatelliteGAL]

Doesn't Tivo have a monthly fee? How does that compare to Dish when you add the Fios monthly fee plus the TIVO fee??

Ross

Bottom line.... yes However, you can do lifetime and end up paying less.
Initially I thought the same thing... why bother if it would be the same $$ Then I started to think long term. There is an up front investment to recoup. But we are early adopters of equipment and we paid more for some of our dish receivers and then we paid to upgrade receivers and lease them. Dont get me wrong... I am not in any way negative toward dish network. If FIOS had not become available in our area we would not have tried it and we would not have switched from dish. FIOS is not perfect and is not for everyone. Everyone likes different things when it comes to TV and equipment. We are not missing any channels that we really like to watch, we are not sports fanatics. We definitely see big pq improvement and value that over the awkwardness of the FIOS box. We are also enjoying their VOD feature although we are still exploring it. If we understand it correctly the VOD feature will make up for the lack of HD space because it will be available on VOD so you do not have to record it.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

Personally, if I ever go to FiOS, Moxi would be the no-brainer with 3 tuner model with the much more superior multi-room viewing that is streaming that requires a less expensive "mate" device rather than a 2nd DVR, better (subjective) HD interface, NO MONTHLY FEES EVER, and massive capacity with the internal HDD nearly all 1TB available for recordings (no hack upgrading--at additional coast, even if DYI--necessary, as with some TiVo's) and a far superior external HDD that supports at least 2TB. And the investment works about about the same. Moxi, the winner for me.

I am still really new and exploring options. Moxi.... does that box replace your fios box and use the cablecard the way tivo does? Or would it be an additional box?

 

[mike123abc]

One can pick up used TiVos with lifetime on ebay for less. I bought my first 2 TiVos on Ebay. Lifetime can be transferred to a new user, so it stays with your box and you get your own TiVo account for things like netflix and amazon VOD. Also once you are a TiVo customer you can get specials on upgrades.

TiVo is not for everyone, but it is a great alternative for many who want more recording time, the ability to transfer programs to a PC, easy to use interface, etc. But, it is not going to be a cheaper solution unless you get lucky on ebay.

 

[KillerV]

I switched from Dish (sub for almost 12 years) to FIOS last Spring. 1st, I'm saving almost $100 a month. That right there is reason alone. 2nd, I hated all the extra fees DN kept adding. 3rd, my signal was starting to crap out with all the trees in my hood growing bigger and no one trimming them (not my trees).

So FIOS it is. I think the picture quality is better. There are some channels I miss (superstations, NASA ), but their lineup is fine.
Their DVR sucks! Can I say SUCKS even louder? It SUCKSSSSSSSSS!!!! Well, the dvr is ok (except the low recording space), but the GUI. It's the worst I've ever seen! Time Warner Cable's DVR GUI is better. The interface is just awful. Searching is awful. Setting up a recording is unnecessarily hard. I've had months to get used to it, and I am, but it's just horrible (the GUI).
I love the widgets, on demand is the best, and the Media Manager is awesome. I can watch any movie I download onto my computer in my basement. And it looks great on my tv. That is a cool feature. I've never ever had a problem with Verizon support.

 

[dlsnyder]

If you want to pick up a TivoHD for cheap to use with Fios, try your local Blockbuster (if you can still find one). My local store has them in stock for $99.

 

[Chamo]

I made this transition about 6 months ago after having been a DISH customer for the previous 10 years. As others have stated in this thread, how happy you will be with a switch will boil down to the programming you are interested in watching.

One word of caution about programming. In the six months that I have had Verizon FIOS TV, they have not added a single HD channel to the lineup. I expected Verizon to be similar to the satellite providers in terms of adding HD channels, but that has not been the case. If there is an HD channel that you currently receive and cannot live without that Verizon is not carrying, do not count on them adding it anytime in the near future.

In my situation costs were about the same with both providers. What appears to be a great deal with Verizon is quickly eaten by the monthly fees they charge for the receivers ($20 for the DVR, $10 for the HD receiver, $5 for the SD receiver). In my case those fees add an extra $45 to my monthly bill.

Picture quality is better on some channels, worse on others.

Things I like about FIOS TV better than Dish

1. Whole house DVR works as advertised. One DVR that can be accessed by every receiver in the house. The limited 20Hr recording size is offset by #2.

2. On Demand library, pretty much everything that you would record to your DVR is available on Demand the following day.

3. Media manager, which allows you to view your video content stored on your computers through the verizon receivers, is nice.

4. The utility for accessing the DVR from the web works flawlessly.

Things I don't like FIOS

1. The FIOS receivers are terrible. The receivers are slow to register the buttons you press on the remote, so slow that you will press them over and over and then watch the screen scroll passed the channel you wanted.

2. The channel layout is cumbersome. The concept of .0 and .1 for SD and HD has not been implemented. The HD channels are always the SD channel +500.

3. The dish concept of pre-programmed guides that show you your subscribed channels and the hd only channels is one that I miss a lot.

4. The FIOS receivers don't allow you to receive over the air channels.

5. While all of the receivers can playback content stored on the DVR receiver, the only receiver that can schedule recordings is the DVR receiver.

6. The SD receivers cannot playback HD content stored on the DVR. I don't know why, but I was expecting it to down-convert the resolution and play it back. This forces me to record some programs both in SD and HD which eats into that 20Hr limit rather quickly. The HD receivers can play back recorded content both in SD and HD.

7. The receivers don't play well with the HDMI connections 100% of the time. Every so often the audio disappears or there is a loud buzzing sound for a few seconds after changing a channel. The Verizon recommended fix to the problem? Don't use HDMI.

8. FIOS doesn't offer any 1080p programming, not even in the PPV section.

9. The PIP functionality that I had on the VIP622 is not available on the FIOS DVR receiver. I also miss the external hard drive storage option.

10. Can you tell the FIOS hardware is not even in the same league as DISH's (with the exception of its networking capabilities)? I understand that there are other hardware platforms that I could use with FIOS, but the trade-off of losing the things that I actually enjoy about my FIOS service for an additional expense is not worth it.

At the end of the day, it is only TV. Dish and FIOS both have things that I like and things that I don't. In my case, it boils down to programming, and that has me seriously considering a switch to DirecTV.

 

[Ghpr13]

I made this transition about 6 months ago after having been a DISH customer for the previous 10 years. As others have stated in this thread, how happy you will be with a switch will boil down to the programming you are interested in watching.

One word of caution about programming. In the six months that I have had Verizon FIOS TV, they have not added a single HD channel to the lineup. I expected Verizon to be similar to the satellite providers in terms of adding HD channels, but that has not been the case. If there is an HD channel that you currently receive and cannot live without that Verizon is not carrying, do not count on them adding it anytime in the near future.

In my situation costs were about the same with both providers. What appears to be a great deal with Verizon is quickly eaten by the monthly fees they charge for the receivers ($20 for the DVR, $10 for the HD receiver, $5 for the SD receiver). In my case those fees add an extra $45 to my monthly bill.

Picture quality is better on some channels, worse on others.

Things I like about FIOS TV better than Dish

1. Whole house DVR works as advertised. One DVR that can be accessed by every receiver in the house. The limited 20Hr recording size is offset by #2.

2. On Demand library, pretty much everything that you would record to your DVR is available on Demand the following day.

3. Media manager, which allows you to view your video content stored on your computers through the verizon receivers, is nice.

4. The utility for accessing the DVR from the web works flawlessly.

Things I don't like FIOS

1. The FIOS receivers are terrible. The receivers are slow to register the buttons you press on the remote, so slow that you will press them over and over and then watch the screen scroll passed the channel you wanted.

2. The channel layout is cumbersome. The concept of .0 and .1 for SD and HD has not been implemented. The HD channels are always the SD channel +500.

3. The dish concept of pre-programmed guides that show you your subscribed channels and the hd only channels is one that I miss a lot.

4. The FIOS receivers don't allow you to receive over the air channels.

5. While all of the receivers can playback content stored on the DVR receiver, the only receiver that can schedule recordings is the DVR receiver.

6. The SD receivers cannot playback HD content stored on the DVR. I don't know why, but I was expecting it to down-convert the resolution and play it back. This forces me to record some programs both in SD and HD which eats into that 20Hr limit rather quickly. The HD receivers can play back recorded content both in SD and HD.

7. The receivers don't play well with the HDMI connections 100% of the time. Every so often the audio disappears or there is a loud buzzing sound for a few seconds after changing a channel. The Verizon recommended fix to the problem? Don't use HDMI.

8. FIOS doesn't offer any 1080p programming, not even in the PPV section.

9. The PIP functionality that I had on the VIP622 is not available on the FIOS DVR receiver. I also miss the external hard drive storage option.

10. Can you tell the FIOS hardware is not even in the same league as DISH's (with the exception of its networking capabilities)? I understand that there are other hardware platforms that I could use with FIOS, but the trade-off of losing the things that I actually enjoy about my FIOS service for an additional expense is not worth it.

At the end of the day, it is only TV. Dish and FIOS both have things that I like and things that I don't. In my case, it boils down to programming, and that has me seriously considering a switch to DirecTV.

This was a great post. I liked the way you gave a run down of the differences. A lot of good info here. After reading this post I'm not so upset that Louisville, KY doesn't have FIOS.

Ghpr13

 

[AngelHeart]

FiOS isn't available in my area but I'm thinking about switching to a cable service because I think some of the fees Dish has are BS. $7 a month for receiver fee, $6 a month for DVR access. Are they kidding ? Total rip off. I told them that in chat. Called last night. CSR said it's better to lease a receiver than purchase one in case I don't want Dish anymore. She said a mouthful there. Today quoted $149 for an HD receiver purchase. Also told Rep in chat I don't think I should be strongarmed into paying a $99 upgrade fee because I don't want automatic bill payment. I think that is BS too.

 

[mike123abc]

If you want all the Dish DVR functionality you will have to invest in a TiVo. TiVo will give you a ton of recording time (assuming you get XL at 150 HD hours). It will also let you copy all your programs to your PC, you can set up automatic series copy if you wish.

It is a trade off, the cost of a TiVo vs the FIOS DVR. The FIOS DVR gives you VOD, but TiVo gives you fast responsive menus, 30 second skip and the ability to archive to a PC.

 

[AngelHeart]

You can buy the lifetime service or pay monthly. Better deal than Dish DVRn fees.