Jonathon Tillman
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2001
- Messages
- 72
Caution: This is a bit of a rant and a vent, nothing that currently has anything to do with me in my location but I am always looking on the other side of the fence to see whats going on. Our current location, cable company is offering a double play with cable and internet. Phone service to be offered within the next couple of months for $99.95 plus HD, boxes etc. Still tiered service. Between the cable bill and phone bill its an outrageous price so a triple from the cable company really would help. No Verizon in our neighborhood (private mom & pop phone company). Outside of it, yes.
Not everything I mention here is 100% accurate, so any clarification you want to add, feel free.
I’ve lived on Long Island. I’ve lived there for most of my life and I’ve never heard such bickering amongst the Cable company and the phone company. I no longer live on Long Island, however there are some things I’ve noticed that Interactive Optimum states quite clearly on its website that just sort of bug me.
http://www.optimum.com/facts
"Fiber optics" is not new. Every home served by Cablevision has been served by fiber optics since 2003.
This may be true, however most cable companies that use fiber in their transmission and distribution only make it to the node or curb. If fiber optics isn't new where was it before 2003?
Hybrid fibre-coaxial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In a most likely event, Cablevision/Optimum uses a hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) to distribute its cable signals for years. It is true that “Fiber” optics is not new, however when I lived on LI, Fiber to the home was not in place. Verizon’s FIOs network runs Fiber directly to the customers home in a FTTH topology.
With Cablevision, and my current cable company in a FTTN or HFC topology, fiber optics is run to a node in the neighborhood and then distributed via RF Trunk cables which are amplified maybe several times by the time it reaches your home. From there the RF trunk line ends at the termination tap (to eliminate stray voltages from the amplifier typically 90 volts and then to coaxial cable lines brought to your home. As a signal degrades so does its clarity and you know the saying: “If you have crap and you amplify crap, your going to get crap”. As I’ve seen temperature has a lot to do with how a amplifier functions. In the summer the signal strength may be strong or average, however in the winter months when temperatures fall way below freezing those amplifiers are no longer able to provide a clean, strong signal to your home and need to be adjusted by one of the technicians. This is when you’ll notice artifacts, tiling and little squares on certain channels, especially the High def ones.
Now, once the warmer months come around the signal may be considered “hot” whatever that means. I wouldn’t think fiber optics would be affected by temperature or need such maintenance.
“The $95 per month triple product advertised by the competition does NOT cost $95. With taxes and fees it's at least $112. Cablevision's comparable package with all three products is a better value. Read their fine print”.
All cable companies charge taxes and copyright fees and DVR fees Etc. Cablevision had and still does have a one year deal for the Optimum Gold package which includes Phone and internet to lore you in for how much your getting only to jack the rate up after a year.
“Cablevision never requires a contract. Their best deals do, plus activation and early termination fees.”
How else would you pay for the roll out of the expensive fiber optic network that’s truly to the home rather than to the node. Verizon has to make some profit, because they aren’t making much with how much they are providing and how much they are spending. To get true fiber to the home, its worth it.
“HD is FREE with iO. The competition charges extra for HD service and/or equipment.”
HD isn't free with my current cable provider and I’m sure after a period of time such as the IO gold package for a year, HD would be a extra charge too with cablevision. Cable converters are leased through the cable company (Cablevision) and there is a monthly charge to use them. i.e SD boxes are $5.00 and HD boxes are $10.00 DVRs are $12.00. Just a quick note, other countries have had HD for years and its only been recent that the Americas have just started getting into High Definition. Cable companies should not be charging extra for something we should have had all along. But with each new service they use it as a reason to charge extra.
“News 12 is exclusively for Cablevision customers.”
So is Local Programming. They’ve been using that ploy for years. Who cares, you can still get News 12 news off the web or watch/listen to the many of other news stations that are available. I.E Newsday.
“Optimum Online is up to 5x faster than DSL/phone company high-speed Internet.”
Hmmmmm, well we went from talking about Fiber optics to DSL? DSL can give you at the most 768 Kbps upload and download. Cablevision’s Optimum Online’s average was 5mbps download and 400kbps upload. I've even heard a few people complain that Optimum capped there download speed. This is done because they are using a lot of bandwidth. As much as a business server would use. And, Optimum states in its terms of service that it will do "what is necessary to maintain consistency of the network".
Verizon’s FIOS at the moment is offering 3mbps and 5mbps all the way up to 30mbps. Cablevision and all other cable systems internet is on a shared system, meaning you are sharing your internet bandwidth with your surrounding neighbors.
FIOS is the same way however surpasses the bandwidth cable can offer you with their so called fiber network and can handle the many users that connect to it at any given time. In an ideal situation, your upload and download speeds should be similar if they are not you will have issues with third party VoIP. Regardless, a cable company should not chump you out of upload bandwidth because they can’t handle it for the money you pay them.
“Optimum Voice, one low flat rate for unlimited local and long-distance calling in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada, so hang up on that phone company.”
Great deal but every so often you get lag in the voice response and complete drop outs in the middle of a conversation. That’s because the phone service comes from your cable modem which connects to any phone jack in the home. If you have a power outage, you lose your phone. No 911! Better have a cell phone (But in the blackout of 2003 cell phones didn't work either). Verizon’s phone through the fiber has a battery backup that lasts 3 hours. Traditional phone service lasts days if you still have that. But cable still has not come up with a solution for a power outage yet.
Verizon’s FIOS sounds as if the person is right next to you, lag free and never any drop outs.
The big gorilla (Verizon) is new to the table and it will take some time for customer service to improve and services to completely meet your needs. One impressive thing that Sirius Satellite radio announced is non tiered service. You pick the best of 50 channels or whatever the number may be for a low cost of $9.99 a month. Any additional channels will be extra.
How about Cable companies and Verizon TV taking note of this. Think about it, non-tiered service. No more nickel and dimes for HBO or Cinemax. No more Basic, Silver and gold packages. Just pick (50 channels or whatever #) what you want and be happy, all for one low price. If the number of channels aren’t enough for what you picked you can add more for an extra charge per channel.
Sirius might even get into satellite TV or internet service. So Cable and Verizon Fios watchout.
Cable companies have always been the bad guys and have had things there way with no reason to upgrade or drop their prices other than for the customer. They have always and still do have teared service. They have controlled the market for years using lobbyists to persuade governments to see things their way.
Its only been since Verizon has started rolling out their fiber optic network that Cable has felt vulnerable and to defend their services. If there service was so great then why the need to explain to us why they are so great? Let the product do the explaining and we’ll see who ends up on top. If there service was so great than why are they spending money to upgrade or improve their network to compete with verizon? If there service was so great then why are they adjusting prices?
If Verizon didn’t come out with it’s FIOS then cable would be in a dominating market with only satellite to compete with which some cable companies do own a few themselves. Very little would push cable to change, its only the big gorilla that walked into the room that scared the crap out of cable. Now in order to compete, its fiber or its not.
Not everything I mention here is 100% accurate, so any clarification you want to add, feel free.
I’ve lived on Long Island. I’ve lived there for most of my life and I’ve never heard such bickering amongst the Cable company and the phone company. I no longer live on Long Island, however there are some things I’ve noticed that Interactive Optimum states quite clearly on its website that just sort of bug me.
http://www.optimum.com/facts
"Fiber optics" is not new. Every home served by Cablevision has been served by fiber optics since 2003.
This may be true, however most cable companies that use fiber in their transmission and distribution only make it to the node or curb. If fiber optics isn't new where was it before 2003?
Hybrid fibre-coaxial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In a most likely event, Cablevision/Optimum uses a hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) to distribute its cable signals for years. It is true that “Fiber” optics is not new, however when I lived on LI, Fiber to the home was not in place. Verizon’s FIOs network runs Fiber directly to the customers home in a FTTH topology.
With Cablevision, and my current cable company in a FTTN or HFC topology, fiber optics is run to a node in the neighborhood and then distributed via RF Trunk cables which are amplified maybe several times by the time it reaches your home. From there the RF trunk line ends at the termination tap (to eliminate stray voltages from the amplifier typically 90 volts and then to coaxial cable lines brought to your home. As a signal degrades so does its clarity and you know the saying: “If you have crap and you amplify crap, your going to get crap”. As I’ve seen temperature has a lot to do with how a amplifier functions. In the summer the signal strength may be strong or average, however in the winter months when temperatures fall way below freezing those amplifiers are no longer able to provide a clean, strong signal to your home and need to be adjusted by one of the technicians. This is when you’ll notice artifacts, tiling and little squares on certain channels, especially the High def ones.
Now, once the warmer months come around the signal may be considered “hot” whatever that means. I wouldn’t think fiber optics would be affected by temperature or need such maintenance.
“The $95 per month triple product advertised by the competition does NOT cost $95. With taxes and fees it's at least $112. Cablevision's comparable package with all three products is a better value. Read their fine print”.
All cable companies charge taxes and copyright fees and DVR fees Etc. Cablevision had and still does have a one year deal for the Optimum Gold package which includes Phone and internet to lore you in for how much your getting only to jack the rate up after a year.
“Cablevision never requires a contract. Their best deals do, plus activation and early termination fees.”
How else would you pay for the roll out of the expensive fiber optic network that’s truly to the home rather than to the node. Verizon has to make some profit, because they aren’t making much with how much they are providing and how much they are spending. To get true fiber to the home, its worth it.
“HD is FREE with iO. The competition charges extra for HD service and/or equipment.”
HD isn't free with my current cable provider and I’m sure after a period of time such as the IO gold package for a year, HD would be a extra charge too with cablevision. Cable converters are leased through the cable company (Cablevision) and there is a monthly charge to use them. i.e SD boxes are $5.00 and HD boxes are $10.00 DVRs are $12.00. Just a quick note, other countries have had HD for years and its only been recent that the Americas have just started getting into High Definition. Cable companies should not be charging extra for something we should have had all along. But with each new service they use it as a reason to charge extra.
“News 12 is exclusively for Cablevision customers.”
So is Local Programming. They’ve been using that ploy for years. Who cares, you can still get News 12 news off the web or watch/listen to the many of other news stations that are available. I.E Newsday.
“Optimum Online is up to 5x faster than DSL/phone company high-speed Internet.”
Hmmmmm, well we went from talking about Fiber optics to DSL? DSL can give you at the most 768 Kbps upload and download. Cablevision’s Optimum Online’s average was 5mbps download and 400kbps upload. I've even heard a few people complain that Optimum capped there download speed. This is done because they are using a lot of bandwidth. As much as a business server would use. And, Optimum states in its terms of service that it will do "what is necessary to maintain consistency of the network".
Verizon’s FIOS at the moment is offering 3mbps and 5mbps all the way up to 30mbps. Cablevision and all other cable systems internet is on a shared system, meaning you are sharing your internet bandwidth with your surrounding neighbors.
FIOS is the same way however surpasses the bandwidth cable can offer you with their so called fiber network and can handle the many users that connect to it at any given time. In an ideal situation, your upload and download speeds should be similar if they are not you will have issues with third party VoIP. Regardless, a cable company should not chump you out of upload bandwidth because they can’t handle it for the money you pay them.
“Optimum Voice, one low flat rate for unlimited local and long-distance calling in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada, so hang up on that phone company.”
Great deal but every so often you get lag in the voice response and complete drop outs in the middle of a conversation. That’s because the phone service comes from your cable modem which connects to any phone jack in the home. If you have a power outage, you lose your phone. No 911! Better have a cell phone (But in the blackout of 2003 cell phones didn't work either). Verizon’s phone through the fiber has a battery backup that lasts 3 hours. Traditional phone service lasts days if you still have that. But cable still has not come up with a solution for a power outage yet.
Verizon’s FIOS sounds as if the person is right next to you, lag free and never any drop outs.
The big gorilla (Verizon) is new to the table and it will take some time for customer service to improve and services to completely meet your needs. One impressive thing that Sirius Satellite radio announced is non tiered service. You pick the best of 50 channels or whatever the number may be for a low cost of $9.99 a month. Any additional channels will be extra.
How about Cable companies and Verizon TV taking note of this. Think about it, non-tiered service. No more nickel and dimes for HBO or Cinemax. No more Basic, Silver and gold packages. Just pick (50 channels or whatever #) what you want and be happy, all for one low price. If the number of channels aren’t enough for what you picked you can add more for an extra charge per channel.
Sirius might even get into satellite TV or internet service. So Cable and Verizon Fios watchout.
Cable companies have always been the bad guys and have had things there way with no reason to upgrade or drop their prices other than for the customer. They have always and still do have teared service. They have controlled the market for years using lobbyists to persuade governments to see things their way.
Its only been since Verizon has started rolling out their fiber optic network that Cable has felt vulnerable and to defend their services. If there service was so great then why the need to explain to us why they are so great? Let the product do the explaining and we’ll see who ends up on top. If there service was so great than why are they spending money to upgrade or improve their network to compete with verizon? If there service was so great then why are they adjusting prices?
If Verizon didn’t come out with it’s FIOS then cable would be in a dominating market with only satellite to compete with which some cable companies do own a few themselves. Very little would push cable to change, its only the big gorilla that walked into the room that scared the crap out of cable. Now in order to compete, its fiber or its not.
