SBC/DISH Subscribers - Status of 2Wire's MediaPortal

[fenwah]

Does anybody have a status of when 2Wire's MediaPortal is due to be available to SBC Dish subsribers?

The only information that I have was in a press release way back on 01/03/2005...

"The offering will be available to customers who have both SBC | DISH Network and SBC Yahoo! DSL services. It is expected to roll out in mid-2005."

Now that we are into June, I would have thought to have heard something by now. Also, any idea if SBC will lease these to you for the $4.99/month or will we have to purchase these?

By the way, the CSR at SBC had never heard of this satellite receiver. She was pushing me towards an 811.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

From what I know, this product may never see the light of day. (Too bad the unit I played with worked well too)

SBC is trying to disassociate themselves from Dish Network.

And the box is not MPEG 4 compatable.

Again its too bad, this was a well made receiver.

 

[fenwah]

SBC is trying to disassociate itself from DISH? Now that's news to me. Any idea why?

I get a nice $5/month package discount from SBC since I have my local, long distance, DSL, and sat tv all through them...therefore, I don't really get charged for the DVR monthly fee.

I was really looking forward to the 2Wire unit. It obviously wasn't vaporware since you mentioned that you got to play with a unit.

I'm in desperate need of a HD DVR (e.g. 942) to lease then. I wish DISH would open up their lease plans for the 942. Time Warner Cable is basically throwing themselves to me...but going back to cable gives me the heebie jeebies.

 

[RandallA]

"SBC is trying to disassociate themselves from Dish Network."

Scott,

Could you elaborate on that? I'm a SBC/Dish customer and would like to know what's up.

Thanks.

 

[GaryPen]

I thought they were only disassociating themselves in areas that they've wired for fiber, and will be offering their own TV service. However, I would imagine that the Dish relationship has been a customer support nightmare for SBC.

I'm surprised to hear about the MPEG4 incompatibility. I thought the MP was designed for MPEG4 upgradability.

I will certainly be disappointed if this receiver doesn't get released. It sounded great. I was looking forward to the additonal features, plus the possibility of the VOOM channels. No big deal, though. I've been pretty happy with Comcast's HD DVR these first 2 weeks. (Might be the honeymoon phase. OTOH, I was pissed with my Dish 811 from day one.)

 

[Juan]

SBC is starting their own version of Verizon's FTTP (fiber to the premis) Their all in one fiber solution thats gonna carry voice,data and video. I suspect this why they are slowly slideing away from e*

 

[rtt2]

SBC is doing FTTN. Fiber to the Node which is much worse than Verizon's Instead of bringing fiber to the home they will only bring it to the node and than use VDSL to serve about 500 homes on average. (similar to the configuration Cable TV uses)

SBC claims users will see 20-25Mbps worth of connectivity (data and video) with this configuration. However it is going to be using old 20th century copper. While Verizion is using 100% fiber and will be able to upgrade easily. Verizion will have between 5 and 30MBps dedicated just for data bandwidth alone, with the rest going toward video services.

SBC is going to have a hell of a bandwith crunch and wiring hoshold is going to be complicated. You can read more of the problems here.


http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=73558&print=true

 

[rtt2]

More info on Verizon TV offering via Fios: (read page 3)

http://www.verizon-media.com/iweb/vz/020105vz.pdf

 

[MikeD-C05]

SBC is doing FTTN. Fiber to the Node which is much worse than Verizon's Instead of bringing fiber to the home they will only bring it to the node and than use VDSL to serve about 500 homes on average. (similar to the configuration Cable TV uses)

SBC claims users will see 20-25Mbps worth of connectivity (data and video) with this configuration. However it is going to be using old 20th century copper. While Verizion is using 100% fiber and will be able to upgrade easily. Verizion will have between 5 and 30MBps dedicated just for data bandwidth alone, with the rest going toward video services.

SBC is going to have a hell of a bandwith crunch and wiring hoshold is going to be complicated. You can read more of the problems here.


http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=73558&print=true

They should have continued with DishNetwork as their partner.

Then they could have even have invested and Dish could keep promoting their service too. I don't see the need for another media provider , but the two combined would be cool. Then you could have the best of the internet and Dish with their new media portal.

From what I read the media portal could also do mpeg4 as well as mpeg2. This would be a sweet option if Dish and Sbc worked together instead of becoming competitors. Dish needs a good partner with some capital and Sbc could continue to use them for their video service. IF what you said about the quality of the video from Sbc and their new project lightspeed is true , then Sbc will fail at this new venture. Then they will lose Dish as a video partner and lose their potential cable system. Didn't they learn anything about Voom and its failure to start up a 3 rd satellite service? And look at all the smaller cable companies that are being bought up by bigger ones like TWC. :shocked

I know in Texas they didn't get what they wanted with the Texas legislature. So they are now having to go back to each city ,just like cable does to sign the deal for them to provide service in each city and town.

Most people would consider Dish to be the better deal anyway with regards to price and they would have better picture quality then a cable like system that Sbc is proposing.

 

[GaryPen]

So Scott...

Where did you here this about SBC disassociating themselves with Dish? You can tell us. What happens in SatelliteGuys stays in SatelliteGuys.

Also, most people were under the impression that the MP was MPEG4 capable, or at least upgradable. Do you know for sure that it was not? The 2Wire wesite lists the following under "specs":
Playback Client Support
Video formats: WM9, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Real Video
Dolby® Digital 5.1 support on video playback
Music formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, Real Audio
Photo formats: JPG, PNG

2Wire still has the MP on their website. http://www.2wire.com/?p=11
Plus, they still post the press release describing the relationship with SBC for their Dish Network service. http://www.2wire.com/?p=95&pid=104

 

[BobaBird]

From what I know, this product may never see the light of day. (Too bad the unit I played with worked well too)

SBC is trying to disassociate themselves from Dish Network.

The ironic part is if this unit is as good as the early hype, releasing it may well be the best way to disassociate or, at least, differentiate themselves.

 

[danielle_s]

what I don't understand is if cable companies can offer VOD due to they're limited sub. base then why don't Dish/SBC combine they're powers and have a sat receiver that will do REAL VOD maybe via the phone line? The VOD will come from SBC while the "tv" portion will come off the sat. The two can be seemlessly integrated just like dsl is seemlessly integrated with the phone line. I'm sure if this becomes a success then maybe BellSouth & Verizon would be willing to work out agreements with both d* e* and then hopefully they're be able able to offer: hbo on demand, max on demand, wwe on demand, sho on demand, starz on demand & TMC on demand.

sorry if I left anyone out....

 

[GaryPen]

Satellite VOD may be possible with high speed internet access, such as DSL. But, it will not work with standard dial-up, at least not as well as Cable VOD. Dish VOD on the 625 simply cannot, either.
Until you actually try Cable VOD on a modern, upgraded system, you have no idea how amazing it is, especially if you add a Premium VOD like HBO. When I first switched to Comcast for my home account, in anticipation of going back to Dish via SBC with their Home Media Portal, I assumed I'd only be with Comcast for 6 months. However, after using Comcast VOD, as well as their dual-tuner HD DVR, for the past couple of weeks, I have a good mind to stay with them, regardless. (This will definitely be the case if the Media Portal is never released.)

 

[AppliedAggression]

I heard the DVR functions are very limited on VOD. You can't save material, and lots of the buttons don't work the same as if you were watching something that was recording off one of the actual channels. Is this right? What's VOD like, I'm never used it.

 

[GaryPen]

Dish VOD? Or, Comcast VOD? If you are asking about Comcast, I don't believe the VOD has full trick play functionality (I know pause works). Also, you cannot save VOD to the hdd. However, it doesn't matter, as most VOD is free, and you can watch at any time. If you want to save it, you can use a DVD recorder, as I do.
I have no idea how Dish VOD works. But, it cannot have nearly the wealth of content as the Comcast system.

 

[Matt]

SBC/Dish 2 way Portal

I am with SBC (dsl, cellular, landline and dish). In the beginning we used the 2wire "portal" - after 2 weeks we threw it away - out of many reasons - one was , it does not support multiple fixed IP # and all techn. support was cancelled with us, because they(2wire) claim it voids the warrenty. I disliked this "portal" - it doesn't even allow you to turn off the firewall - now we use linksys routers and hubs and all works good and as we want it to work and not as being told.
Since we used Time Warner before (internet and tv) -and for a short time DirectToHell tv - (they tried to screw us right, left and center) it only could get better.
Since we have this bundle with SBC we have no reason to complain - all is working well and the SBC reps are sometimes even more helpful than the dish reps.
True is, that SBC was hoping, that the Texas legislation this year would give sbc the same rights as it gives Time-waste Warner - I guess the Cable Lobby paid them more - so nothing much will happen.
This should leave sbc with D* which isn't bad at all.

 

[GaryPen]

I'm using the 2Wire HomePortal for my DSL connection, and I can disable the firewall, if I want. Actually, I can fully customize it for specific ports and/or applications.

I don't really understand the rest of your post. My Texas is a little rusty.

 

[RandallA]

"it does not support multiple fixed IP #"

Most SOHO routers that I've seen only support one IP address for the WAN port. You could've changed the pool of IP address for DHCP to match the IP address given to you by SBC.

 

[getsome831]

Since SBC reps are oblivious to the MediaPortal product i tried asking 2wire directly...they said their tech and engineers are in early beta testing phase, no ETA they could promise on the release date. Sounds like mid-05 may push into late-05 or even 06 to me.

 

[GaryPen]

Maybe I should walk over there, and ask the 2Wire folks myself. I basically live around the corner from their HQ.