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Portland, OR - Frontier - Page 2

post #31 of 1813
2/16/07 at 8:47am
Thread Starter 
I think the AVS forum edits out swear words automatically.
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post #32 of 1813
2/17/07 at 1:39pm
Well, the word I was trying to type was B I T T O R R E N T. I don't think that's a swear word. Go to redhat.com and try to download their Fedora Linux distribution. You will find files with a .torrent extension. But I guess that, in this case, everyone must be presumed guilty of copyright violation just because they dare to speak of a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol.
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post #33 of 1813
2/18/07 at 7:51pm
There's a little subdivision near Ibach Park in Tualatin where the lawns are littered with "locate" spray and little flags every 3 feet. A neighborhood kid thought they were for "some sort of cable". My bet is on FIOS. Some yards have 15 or 20 flags in each.

Some observations:

My street had a "locate" done last year for FIOS but nothing else happened. So maybe they're now doing "we really mean it and to prove it we'll use hundreds of little flags" locates. We'll see how that turns out.

It's the middle of February. I'm surprised they're working at this time of year. Maybe it's a consequence of global warming.

Maybe this increased activity is related to the Washington County agreement announced recently.

Posters on TiVoCommunity report mixed results with S3 and FIOS. Plus Cablelabs won't have anything to do with Verizon since they're the enemy. Without an alternative to the garbage SA and Motorola DVRs, FIOS doesn't look nearly as attractive to me as it did.
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post #34 of 1813
2/19/07 at 12:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin View Post

Posters on TiVoCommunity report mixed results with S3 and FIOS. Plus Cablelabs won't have anything to do with Verizon since they're the enemy. Without an alternative to the garbage SA and Motorola DVRs, FIOS doesn't look nearly as attractive to me as it did.


WHEN I move to FiOS, I'm not taking TiVo with me. The S3 doesn't look attractive enough (not to mention fricken $12.00 or so a month to use it!!) for me to buy one so I'll be stuck with a Motorola box, which is "acceptable" for the mean time. I guess paying $6.00 a month for both my HR10-250 and S40SR40 or whatever it's called is my major sticking point.


Isn't the S3 only able to record one HD channel at a time? Seems I remember reading something about that in the past which reminded me of the HR20 and it's disabling of the antenna signal (at the time), which then reminded me to just stick with my HR10-250 for the meantime. Anyway, is that true about the S3?
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post #35 of 1813
2/20/07 at 12:06am
The TiVo S2 units have some goofy limitations, not the S3 units. The S3 can record 2 HD channels at a time. Plus you can replace the hard drive in the S3 to increase the storage capacity, something you can't do with a rented box.

You mentioned the $12/mo TiVo fee, but that's only half the story. The other half is the $680 (more or less) initial price tag. When you put those two numbers together, the "acceptable" box from Verizon doesn't look too bad. There are quite a few people who are willing to buy an expensive toy. There are quite a few other people who are willing to pay $x/mo for a toy. However, the intersection of those two sets of people is (in this case anyway) fairly small.
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post #36 of 1813
2/20/07 at 7:25am
Any chance of seeing any Fios activity in East Vancouver? Or are we doomed because we're in a Qwest area?

Appreciate any comments,
Al Rovner
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post #37 of 1813
2/20/07 at 8:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin View Post

The TiVo S2 units have some goofy limitations, not the S3 units. The S3 can record 2 HD channels at a time. Plus you can replace the hard drive in the S3 to increase the storage capacity, something you can't do with a rented box.

You mentioned the $12/mo TiVo fee, but that's only half the story. The other half is the $680 (more or less) initial price tag. When you put those two numbers together, the "acceptable" box from Verizon doesn't look too bad. There are quite a few people who are willing to buy an expensive toy. There are quite a few other people who are willing to pay $x/mo for a toy. However, the intersection of those two sets of people is (in this case anyway) fairly small.


aaah, thanks Phantom, I knew it was one of those boxes that couldn't really do "two tuners". And like you said, I'm happy with my HR10-250, of which we paid about $500 for in late 2005 and the $6.00 a month, but shelling out another $700 + $300 for three years worth of TiVo service if I bought the S3 and that's a huge killer.

Maybe things will clear up in the next 6-8 months on the DVR end before FiOS TV is really launched to Washington County.
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post #38 of 1813
2/20/07 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by k7ar View Post

Any chance of seeing any Fios activity in East Vancouver? Or are we doomed because we're in a Qwest area?

Appreciate any comments,
Al Rovner


Qwest =literally about 10 years behind.
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post #39 of 1813
2/20/07 at 8:04am
Here's some new news, Verizon is branching out it's FiOS internet service to the south/west side of Portland

http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-...and-its-2.html
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post #40 of 1813
2/20/07 at 4:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin View Post

Well, the word I was trying to type was B I T T O R R E N T. I don't think that's a swear word. Go to redhat.com and try to download their Fedora Linux distribution. You will find files with a .torrent extension. But I guess that, in this case, everyone must be presumed guilty of copyright violation just because they dare to speak of a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol.

Pretty soon that will no longer = swear word. See this article that says they are going mainstream: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16732868.htm
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post #41 of 1813
2/20/07 at 6:09pm
My apologies if this is a duplicate reply. My first attempt didn't seem to post. Anyone out there know if East Vancouver will be served by Fios, or should we forget about it since we're in a Qwest neighborhood?

Appreciate any info,
Al Rovner
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post #42 of 1813
2/20/07 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by k7ar View Post

My apologies if this is a duplicate reply. My first attempt didn't seem to post. Anyone out there know if East Vancouver will be served by Fios, or should we forget about it since we're in a Qwest neighborhood?

Appreciate any info,
Al Rovner


You did have a first post, just a couple of posts up. Qwest is about 10 years behind Verizon in the FiOS department.
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post #43 of 1813
2/22/07 at 11:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin View Post

There's a little subdivision near Ibach Park in Tualatin where the lawns are littered with "locate" spray and little flags every 3 feet. A neighborhood kid thought they were for "some sort of cable". My bet is on FIOS. Some yards have 15 or 20 flags in each.

Some observations:

My street had a "locate" done last year for FIOS but nothing else happened. So maybe they're now doing "we really mean it and to prove it we'll use hundreds of little flags" locates. We'll see how that turns out.

It's the middle of February. I'm surprised they're working at this time of year. Maybe it's a consequence of global warming.

Maybe this increased activity is related to the Washington County agreement announced recently.

Posters on TiVoCommunity report mixed results with S3 and FIOS. Plus Cablelabs won't have anything to do with Verizon since they're the enemy. Without an alternative to the garbage SA and Motorola DVRs, FIOS doesn't look nearly as attractive to me as it did.

FYI I am just around the corner from Ibach and had FiOS Internet installed last Saturday. So I can confirm all the flags and paint are for FIOS. I agree on the TV side the jury is still out for me due to the monthly expense of the Hardware.
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post #44 of 1813
2/23/07 at 9:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmk View Post

FYI I agree on the TV side the jury is still out for me due to the monthly expense of the Hardware.

Are you saying the TV service was offered to you for a specific price and it's available to you now?
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post #45 of 1813
2/23/07 at 10:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ridgefamus View Post

Are you saying the TV service was offered to you for a specific price and it's available to you now?

No the TV will not be available here until end of the year. However, the prices are out on the FIOS tv website. For the set up I currently have with Directv service it looks to be pretty much a wash if I add up the programming (1 sd box, 2 HD and 1HDDVR.)
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post #46 of 1813
2/23/07 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmk View Post

No the TV will not be available here until end of the year. However, the prices are out on the FIOS tv website. For the set up I currently have with Directv service it looks to be pretty much a wash if I add up the programming (1 sd box, 2 HD and 1HDDVR.)

12.99 per HD DVR, 9.99 per regular DVR, per month add up quickly.

Currently I have one of each, so in reality I'm paying 2.99 for the HD DVR and 8.98 for the regular DVR (splitting the DVR fee across both boxes and the mirror fee for the regular DVR). 11.97 a month which is less than the 12.99 for one HD DVR! Add to the fact that the Verizon HD DVR holds maybe 15 hours of HD stuff and it's still most likely pushing me to a Series 3 TiVo (which is not "supported" by Verizon as of now).

Maybe dropping the regular DVR is an option, but I still tape a ton of non-HD stuff on that so it's probably a no go. Of course, FiOS has no HD package price since it's included in the base so that does bring things closer together.

Decisions decisions and it's only February!
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post #47 of 1813
2/28/07 at 9:12am
Thread Starter 
.
Here's a mildly interesting story on how Verizon hopes to reclaim those billions it's spending on fiber upgrades across the country. Nothing really surprising or outrageous in my opinion. They claim to spend about $1700 dollars to bring service to each home, and a reporter estimates people will spend about $1500 per home per year. Of course, that $1500 isn't pure profit to Verizon...

(see link in next post)
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post #48 of 1813
2/28/07 at 3:08pm
http://siliconforest.blogs.oregonliv...sp?item=503685

Better link here, as Devlin's link leads to nowhere. The phone really can't be changed very easily(as it's not copper anymore, and there's really no competition as the internet/Comcast phones don't count) again so that's a good income stream for Verizon, but the tv and internet can change at a moment's notice. Still, a three year break-even point (approx) is a pretty nice investment.
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post #49 of 1813
3/10/07 at 8:51am
Thread Starter 
Looks like California just gave Verizon state-wide approval. Why would that matter to us? Two reasons I can think of: one, as goes California so goes the nation (or at least the West Coast). This should help keep the fiber-optic TV ball rolling for both Verizon and non-Verizon areas. Two, with a market as large and as prized as CA, this might help increase the number and quality of channels offered.

Bit of pricing news, though it is for CA. Seems a bit low though - reporter might be quoting the basic lineup.

Quote:


The top tier FiOS TV package, including 200 channels, would be offered for $42.99 USD per month.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Veri...ise/1173471030
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post #50 of 1813
3/10/07 at 12:40pm
Pretty sure that the 42.99 is their top tier of channels...sports, movies are all add-on's. HD is free, assuming you subscribe to the non-HD version (subscribe to HBO, receive HBO-HD for free).
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post #51 of 1813
3/16/07 at 11:29am
FYI...I called yesterday to ask about the FIOS Internet ad in the paper. While talking she said they expect FIOS-TV within 3 Months for the areas already wired!
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post #52 of 1813
3/16/07 at 2:28pm
Thread Starter 
Wow! Here's hoping that Verizon person knows what they're talking about.
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post #53 of 1813
3/17/07 at 11:58am
I know...I can't wait. The only thing I thought was bad was when she tried to get me to go FiOS Internet now. She said that the $1200 fee for the equipment will be free! When isn't it!
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post #54 of 1813
3/17/07 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DevlinNulland View Post

Wow! Here's hoping that Verizon person knows what they're talking about.


I'm thinking she doesn't know what she's talking about. But it would definitely be a nice surprise. Sell the HR10-250 and pick up a series 3.
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post #55 of 1813
3/22/07 at 1:38pm
Anyone else get a flyer for referring new customers to FIOS tv recently? I have FIOS internet, but the flyer only referenced FIOS tv service. Seemed kind of odd unless they are quickly approaching the date for rolling out the service. Why send a flyer for referrals more than 9 months before service launch?

Probably just a coincidence.
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post #56 of 1813
3/22/07 at 5:05pm
Couple more today:

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/...350.xml&coll=7

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/...030.xml&coll=7



ron
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post #57 of 1813
3/22/07 at 9:04pm
Verizon is still pushing Triple Play with TV being from DirecTV in markets that don't have FiOS TV yet. That MIGHT be what they were offering.
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post #58 of 1813
3/23/07 at 9:04am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the article posting, R11. Comcast made this threat before, but the MACC board brushed them off, telling them if they want another deal then they should apply for it.

I haven't received any FIOS TV fliers yet, but next time I see a Verizon truck in my neighborhood I'll pester the guys about it.
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post #59 of 1813
4/5/07 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
Talked to a couple of experienced Verizon guys out in Tigard, and they told me that FIOS TV will be here in the fourth quarter of this year. They said they've tried to get a firmer date, but that's all the company will tell them too.

They say the holdups are both nailing down the details of the city agreements and that Verizon has to finish a new CO for tv distribution.
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post #60 of 1813
4/5/07 at 1:01pm
In the meantime, they're sending a bunch of reps door to door in the SW Beaverton area yesterday to try and get people to sign up for the tv service (yep, not the internet but the tv service). Yeah they're at least 6 months out.
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