Welcome to the Verizon FIOS section of this website!

Rumor (4-3-06).  If you read the information about CableCard 2.0, Network DVRs please read this new information as things have changed in how these new services and offerings will be delivered. This new information also ties in the new new apartment plans as well.  I'll start with the apartment news.

First you need to know a few terms in case you don't know them yet.  SDU stands for single dwelling units and an SDU is a house that is not connected to another house.  An MDU stands for multiple dwelling units.  An MDU is any home that is connected to another home.  This will include all apartments and condos.  It also could include some Villas and townhomes as well.  For quite some time FIOS service required the following to be done before service could be started.

Phone service converted to fiber used the same phone lines and jacks inside the house so that required no changes.

TV service could also use the existing coax cables in the house that both satellite and cable companies have today so no change on this either.

Now internet service was the big issue as it required an ethernet jack (aka RJ-45 or Cat5e) to be installed and this is very hard in many MDU settings.  The other issue with MDUs is that the ONTs could only serve one unit and installing this ONT in each and every apartment unit also poses a great problem.

So the two biggest changes Verizon made I'll list below.

They now have a new ONT that doesn't need to be installed in each apartment unit and each of these ONTs can serve at least 16 apartment units so an apartment building that has say 30 units can be done with just two ONTs instead of 30 SDU ONTs.  This is a massive reduction in both ONT costs and installation costs.  The second big change is the fact that internet service will now use just a coax cable instead of an ethernet jack.  So if a room has a coax jack in it the tech can use a splitter to feed both your digital box and internet service in that room and this will greatly reduce the cost of installation as installation will be sped up greatly.  These two changes now allow apartment complexes to be wired with such ease that apartment complexes can be installed and ready to serve within weeks.  Verizon will be allowing apartment owners the choice to have ethernet jacks to be installed tor to use existing coax jacks for internet.  Verizon from what I've been told will provide extra incentives for apartment complexes to use existing coax cables instead of installing ONTs in each apartment unit as they give them that choice.  Either way the apartment owners must allow Verizon to serve their complex but Verizon won't be charging the complex owner anything to have this installed so I don't see this as much of a problem as Verizon now has people contacting each apartment complex owner.

Now if internet (aka data) is sent via coax from the ONT that means that no NIM is needed as VOD, two-way ability and networkable DVR services can be done all over the coax cable entering the box. This means that all digital boxes only need one coax feed and nothing more or less beyond that.

Also CableCard 2.0 is on schedule but the ETA is still unknown and because VOD will be sent over the coax as data unlike cable Verizon is working with Tivo to allow the Tivo software to handle data over coax using MOCA.  I've also heard that Tivo is willing todo this as they are looking at using MOCA for their multiroom service so shows can be sent over the existing coax cables.  Tivo is looking at offering both SD and HD dual-tuner DVR boxes to offer a better user experience in the future.  They will still support currect hookups along with the current multiroom viewing solution but this new solution will be the ideal one and one they hope will spur sales.  They are hoping that with their new lease model that if a customer pays 1.99/month for a cablecard 2.0 card that the difference in price between this charge and their service fee won't be much different than the cost of the cable company DVR rental and DVR fees per box.  Also I'm getting the walkaround on this like crazy but maybe just maybe Verizon might offer another brand DVR that could very well be these new Tivo boxes.  Instead of being billed by Tivo you would be billed by Verizon but Tivo would get most of the money on it as it would be their box and not Verizon's.  That doesn't stop Verizon from supporting the boxes themselves and fixing them as needed.  All I can say is that Verizon is doing way too much talking with Tivo that I just know something more will come out of this.  Right now Verizon's current DVR isn't doing so well which makes this type of partnership all the more likely.

Now onto the last new change which is network DVR service.  Network DVR service will be DVR service that doesn't require a DVR box at the customers house.  Verizon will price the service based on both space for storage and the number of live recordings your home needs at a time.  The more of each the higher the price.  So I'll list the benefits and drawbacks of this service.

Benefits.
Tons of storage with at least 4 tuner ability with room to grow without having to change anything. Backups of everything so you will never lose your recordings like you would if your hard drive and/or box went bad.  Pricing will be cheaper than renting DVR boxes but don't fret Verizon will still offer DVR boxes now and in the future.  I've also heard that if a customer has both a DVR and NDVR service if they record something on the local DVR box and want to save it for a much longer period of time the NDVR service can store a copy of the movie/show right from your hard drive.  They are looking at making this a full service offering that both DVR and non DVR customers would use.

Drawbacks.  If you cancel service with Verizon you will lose your recordings but you would also lose them if you needed to send the box back as well.  If Verizon service went down you couldn't playback a show as the service must be up because your show is being sent like a VOD movie is sent.  You can't pause live TV as this service is a recording service and not a local DVR service with a buffer.  If your recording a show you cannot start playing it back until the recording is done as its being recorded on a Verizon server and not a local drive in a box at your house that you can interface with directly.

Now to sum this up everything above is 100% rumor "except" the news about the new ONTs and the internet using coax cables instead of ethernet cables.  I hope this information can give you some insight as to what is coming in the future with Verizon and what also might start coming to other cable companies near you.

Channel lineups for your area can be found Here.

Please select your state and city from the list on the right side of the page for your channel lineup. Now onto the future of TV because Verizon FIOS is the product that is being raved about right now and people are to the point they would do anything to get it.

First Verizon FIOS TV service is a 100% all digital offering and it also has the "best" SD and HD picture quality of any cable and satellite company today.  They have so much bandwidth they must reduce the picture quality or your DVR would only record 1 hour total of anything.  But even their reduction in picture quality is still much much better than anything out today so that should give you an idea.  Also the HD channel offerings are among the best and they are the first company in quite a while to add new HDTV channels in less than a month after their launch and that is something we haven't seen in quite some time to say the least.

So onto pricing and offerings.

Verizon offers an expanded basic package of over 180 all digital channels with PPV access and free VOD programming for 40 bucks a month.  Beyond that you can add one or all three of these add-on services.

You can add HBO or Cinemax for 14.95/month extra each or you can add both HBO and Cinemax for 24.95/month.

You can also order their Sports Pak for 5.95/month.

You can also order their Movie Pak for an extra 11.95/month.

You can also bundle both the Sports Pak and Movie Pak for a total price of 14.95/month.

The Movie Pak is a very good package and includes the following premium channels.

All Showtime channels including Showtime HD and Showtime On Demand.
All TMC channels including TMC HD and TMC On Demand.
All Starz channels including Starz HD and Starz On Demand.
All Encore channels including Encore On Demand.

You get everything listed above in that Movie Pak.

Also make note that the HBO/Cinemax Pak comes with all HBO and Cinemax channels including HBO HD, Cinemax HD, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand.

Now all HDTV channels besides NFL Network HD and the movie HD channels come free with expanded basic.  The channel offerings include the following below.

ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, Discovery HD Theater, HDNet, HDNet Movies, TNT HD, Universal HD, Wealth HD, MTV HD and your local channels in HDTV.

Also National Geographic Channel HD, Food Network HD and Home and Garden TV HD are expected to be on Verizon FIOS very soon.  NGC HD has a contract in place today.

One big drawback with Verizon FIOS TV is the issue with InDemand.  InDemand is a company that offers the two InHD channels along with PPV On Demand titles and many of the Sports subscriptions. InDemand is partly owned by several of the top cable companies such as Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Comcast Cable among others.  Because of this they are pulling some unfair pricing tactics that are keeping DirecTV and Dish Network from offering the two InHD channels but these tactics are hurting Verizon more as its not just the two InHD channels but the sports subscriptions as well.

DirecTV and Dish Network have deals in place for the sports packages while Verizon is a new entrant without a deal so they are getting the hard end of the stick.  I expect this to be handled quicker than most think but until that time the following channels and packages aren't on Verizon FIOS TV.

The two InHD channels of course.

Sports Packages include the following below.

MLB Extra Innings.
NBA League Pass.
NHL Center Ice.
Nascar InCar.
MLS Direct Kick.

Until this InDemand issue gets cleared up these sports packages listed above and the two InHD channels will "not" be offered on Verizon FIOS TV.

Also note that in some Verizon areas HDNet isn't offered and this is because of a few blackout issues that will be fixed soon and when that occurs HDNet will be offered everywhere that has access to Verizon FIOS TV service.

Also hardware prices are all rental and listed below.

Plain digital box is 3.95/month per box.
SD/HD DVR is 12.95/month per box.
HD box is 9.95/month per box.

Also note that Verizon doesn't offer an SD DVR box so if your an SD only customer or you want a DVR on your SDTV you will just use the HD DVR box as it can output in the regular non HDTV format like an SD DVR box does.  The DVRs have no DVR service fees so the price of 12.95/month is what you pay per box.

Also if you bundle phone service with your TV service you can get one of the following discounts below.

1. Expanded Basic for 34.95/month instead of 39.95/month.
2. 5.00/month off the Movie Package or the Movie/Sports Package.
3. Free basic digital box.

If you order phone, TV and internet service besides getting the above discount you also get 5.00/month off your internet service.

Also note that Verizon has been offering customers who call a cheaper internet tier that costs 14.95/month with speeds of 1.5Mbps down and 768Kbps UP.  But this is hit or miss as of now.

So you have a pretty good overview of Verizon FIOS TV but the biggest benefit is that in every area that has FIOS TV available the cable company that covers that area has lowered prices and increased their service offerings including internet speeds.