Cutting Fios cord(s)

For some time I've been following discussions on this topic.  I've also asked questions.  For all this I'm still somewhat in the dark bc lotsa posts jump over things I don't know.  That's a major problem of having to ask questions--- we just don't know what we don't know.

Our fios triple package will be running out in a few weeks and I'd like to learn what, at least some of our options are.  To my way of thinking fios triple is actually four (dis)services:

A) Telephone-  VOIP telephone aka landline  (I assume)

B)  Internet access

C)  TV bundle- where they have made arrangements w/ various providers to "steam" t5heir content to us.  We're limited to that bundle only

D)  Equipment rental-  we're required to rent their hardware to use these services.

I'd like to rid myself of portion(s) of their bills.  I'm quite happy w/ their internet service and want to stay with it it; perhaps even step up speed, if advisable.  That leaves the other 3 items.  

Let's start off easy and stay on the CURRENT SINGLE topic, please.  I've heard lotsa good things about Oomah voip phone.  I assumed that changing over was simply a matter of making a call.  Someone recently said there's a $40 charge to keep your old phone number; is this true?  What other hidden charges are there?  Is there anything else I should know that I don't?  Other high quality services?   Not interested in marginal quality to save a few cents.

Once finished with this topic I'll ask about mu next issue.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Apollo_T, 

I do not have any input re: Oomah.  But, for reference, we have been very happy with 1-Voip ( https://www.1-voip.com/residential-voip.php ) for our two phone lines.  

Same old phone equipment, same old phone number, very low monthly rates, no contracts and SUPER NICE and friendly tech folks who you can reach over and over again.  (Just a new modem in basement provided by 1-Voip.)

The same guy answers the phone in the AM and the PM!

obihai is an amazing phone option.  Look into it.  Working flawlessly for several months now 

peteglider, which VOIP service do you use with your obihai?

Apollo, I might be wrong, but I'm under the impression that you buy the Ooma device and set it up yourself.

When you call verizon to tell them you don't want the triple play any more, they may make it worth your while to keep it. That's what happened with us when we were your neighbor. And their phone over fios is more reliable than regular VOIP.

I never had triple play, only double play, with VOIP via Vonage at an outlandish $20-$30 per month. Tom Reingold told me about voip.ms a year or so ago, and since then I've paid about $56, using about $5 worth of service per month. (They debit my paypal $25 at a time and then deduct usage; when it drops low enough ($10, probably), they debit a fresh $25.)  (And, Tom, at the same time, I switched my company from SIP trunking with Asterisk to OnSIP.) 

And not to get onto the other topics before you're ready, but i just bought a Tivo Bolt ($399) and two Tivo Minis ($120 or so each) and took my DVR and two STB's back to FiOS. I now pay $5 a month for a FIOS cablecard instead of ~$38 a month to rent their hardware. Tivo will charge $12-$15 a month for service after the first year's service, which is built into the Bolt price, but I'll still be $20 ahead at that point. I recommend the forums at dslreports.com/forum/vzfiostv and tivocommunity.com for more on all that. 

W O W ! More info than I expelcted.  A good plan may be to pursue KMK,s no contract plan since it appears easiest   Other follow up with other service is possible in the future.  T H A N K S.

@kenboy, given all the info re phones your comments hit the nail on the head.  Yesterday, after starting this thread I visited the TIVO site.  I was in a hurry so didn,t get as much info as you provided. 

Does that work with the fios programs package, or did you have to do a bunch of services? Strange question- do you recall how long it took to get the decoder card?  Does the tivo act as a streaming device- for Netflix, Amazon Prime etc if we want to go that route?

I just switched out my last remaining FiOS box for a TiVo. The cablecard came in the mail in about three days, if I remember correctly. Just as a data point regarding TiVo, in case it's an option you want to pursue:

1) There are a number of recent-model TiVos that all do essentially the same job. The Premiere, Premiere XL, Premiere XL4, Roamio, Roamio Pro, and the brand new Bolt are all very capable machines. The differences among them are, in my own estimation, relatively minor. Obviously you would need to compare and contrast to determine which one(s) fit your needs. The reason I mention this is that VERY frequently the older models are available at substantial discounts compared to the Bolt. For example, my Roamio is a factory refurb which I bought directly from TiVo (same warranty as a new unit). I got the machine, a lifetime service package, and the wireless adapter I needed to move my older Premiere XL from the den to the bedroom, all for less than the unit cost of the new Bolt.

2) Speaking of lifetime service, there are different service plans available for the different TiVo models. Generally speaking, the lifetime service package is the way to go, if it is available for the unit you get. Of course it makes for a pretty steep upfront cost, but the units almost always last considerably longer than the break-even point over the monthly fee.

Tivo works with FiOS, but not with their pay per view / On Demand. The Bolt integrates most streaming sites -- Netflix and Amazon, for sure, but NOT Hulu yet (they say they're working on it.) What's cool is that you can set a "OnePass" on the Bolt for a show that airs on any of the outlets, and searching is seamless across it all, FiOS/Amazon/Whatever -- so with the exception of Hulu it's all one-stop shopping and I can watch an episode of the new Aziz Ansari show just as easily as last night's Scandal. 

The Bolt has 4 tuners, and streams TV to the minis. That means you can record 4 things at once, if no one is watching any TV, or 3 things if someone is watching live TV on one of the minis, etc. Some of the other models have 6 tuners, I believe, and the Bolt Pro that's supposedly coming next year likely will, too. 

One handy thing with the Bolt & Minis is they run off MOCA internet, just like the FiOS set top boxes do -- meaning, internet over Coax. You can pop a box anywhere you already have a coax cable. Not sure if that's the case with the Roamios and such. 

We had Tivo years ago, with DirecTV before they rolled out their own terrible boxes, and it's great to have it back. 

The Bolt doesn't have Hulu!? Surprising. Both my TiVos have Hulu streaming. Or at least, they did have. Did they remove it? (I don't use Hulu, so I honestly haven't paid attention.)

The Premieres and the Roamios stream Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu(?), and maybe some others I'm forgetting. Edited to add: the OnePass works the same on the Roamio and the Premiere as it does on the Bolt.

The Roamios will network via MoCa. The Premieres do not.

Also worth mentioning, the Roamio Plus, Roamio Pro and the Bolt can stream content to your iPad and other devices, and even download shows to those devices for offline viewing.

Premiere's don't have MoCA built in but you can add it via adapters if you need it.  We were doing enough work when we moved into our house that I just opted to put CAT-5e cabling in between the first and second floors to the basement so I stopped using the MoCA adapters that I had been using when I was living in the city.

I think FiOS uses MoCA for its set top boxes so there could be some possible complications if you were trying to use both at the same time. (MoCA does allow for different channels, so it depends on 1- if it causes a problem in the first place and 2- if you're able to change channels with your adapters, the cheaper ones can't). I've seen people mention that they've had to disable the Verizon MoCA in order for the TiVO MoCA to work. This would mean that any left over set top boxes won't get channel information for the guides and a few other things. As I never tried to use MoCA with FiOS I never tested any of this myself.

All of that is correct, of course. I should have more clearly stated that I meant MoCa was built in to the Roamios, but not the Premieres.

For phone service, I've not been pleased with MagicJack. The call quality was marginal at best, caller ID is missing and some other issues.

Replaced it with Ooma and really like it. It is true, they do charge a fee for number transfer, but do waive it if you signup for one year of their premium service at $120. Premium gives you caller id, a 2nd number and some other stuff, see here http://www.ooma.com/premier/

You have to also buy the Ooma adapter ($110), which you plug into your router (or in between the modem and router for even better quality) and then you plug your phone into the ooma adapter.

I use google voice with obihai. Transferred my home number to a burner phone, which I then transferred to google voice.  I also use the obihai which allows several numbers, so I can add google voice numbers as the business needs 

I know I'm not the OP, but I got lost around post 3.

BrickPig said:
The Bolt doesn't have Hulu!? Surprising. Both my TiVos have Hulu streaming. Or at least, they did have. Did they remove it? (I don't use Hulu, so I honestly haven't paid attention.)

From what I've seen on the forums, the issue is that the Hulu interface uses Flash, and the Bolt is strictly HTML5, and won't support Flash at all -- so Hulu needs to produce a non-Flash interface for it to work. 

I use Ooma on FiOS. I got a box from either Yugster or Woot for about $65 a year and a half ago, and it's been great. It's all solid state, so a refurb is probably fine. 

Service has been fine. No complaints. I like that I can use Nomorobo as well as my own blacklists and Ooma's community blacklists. I don't use the premium service, but still seem to get called ID. 

It's a phone line. To me, it's one of those things that, if it's working well, is invisible.

Apollo_T said:
For some time I've been following discussions on this topic.  I've also asked questions.  For all this I'm still somewhat in the dark bc lotsa posts jump over things I don't know.  That's a major problem of having to ask questions--- we just don't know what we don't know.
Our fios triple package will be running out in a few weeks and I'd like to learn what, at least some of our options are.  To my way of thinking fios triple is actually four (dis)services:
A) Telephone-  VOIP telephone aka landline  (I assume)
B)  Internet access
C)  TV bundle- where they have made arrangements w/ various providers to "steam" t5heir content to us.  We're limited to that bundle only
D)  Equipment rental-  we're required to rent their hardware to use these services.
I'd like to rid myself of portion(s) of their bills.  I'm quite happy w/ their internet service and want to stay with it it; perhaps even step up speed, if advisable.  That leaves the other 3 items.  
Let's start off easy and stay on the CURRENT SINGLE topic, please.  I've heard lotsa good things about Oomah voip phone.  I assumed that changing over was simply a matter of making a call.  Someone recently said there's a $40 charge to keep your old phone number; is this true?  What other hidden charges are there?  Is there anything else I should know that I don't?  Other high quality services?   Not interested in marginal quality to save a few cents.
Once finished with this topic I'll ask about mu next issue.
Thanks in advance for your time.

I too would LOVE To cut FIOS out of my life. I don't care about phone, only internet and TV, and the TV is really for my kid. Looks like the only option is Xfinity, since for some reason Optimum isn't available here. Curious if there's another options as well.

ridski said:
I know I'm not the OP, but I got lost around post 3.

I,ll try to put my undertsanding of these topics in order...soon

ncoutroulis said:

I too would LOVE To cut FIOS out of my life. I don't care about phone, only internet and TV, and the TV is really for my kid. Looks like the only option is Xfinity, since for some reason Optimum isn't available here. Curious if there's another options as well.

I wanted to start the conversation with what, I hoped, would be an easy to understand topic.  I think starting here will be a springboard to understanding the other areas as well.

ridski said:
I know I'm not the OP, but I got lost around post 3.

In part that's because the discussion is about service AND equipment.  We need to see that's not one single thing being considered. 

A part of my make up is to try to explain things I've learned.  If I can do that adequately then my understanding is right.  Forgive me if I'm a bit simplistic and not at the nth degree of accuracy.

When we signed up for fios 3x threat we got an integrated system of fully   integrated sub-systems.  That is we got services and equipment, matched to each other, to make the system work.  This was put together by fios or comcast etc.  To make changes WE have to see to it that the new is a matched set.

As I expected this is easiest to do and understand with phones.  To cut the fios 'phone cord' we need a new service provider AND the right equipment.  That is we need a service and an adapter.  Luckily, VOIP providers do this for us.  We only need to decide which provider has the closest match of services to our needs...they have the necessary equipment.

The names in the above posts (re: voip) provide both.  (Tivo, hulu etc relate to tv; disregard those posts).  To cut to the chase; google voice- goo... is Apollo speak for snit; voip.ms is well regarded...for tech savvy folks; obihai seems like ALOT of system- not for simple family use.  Vonnage and magic jack have gotten poor reps.  For those reasons the names above are off the table.  This leaves: OOMA and 1-VOIP.  These show us the different approaches of companies.

OOMA- sells their equipment ($100 +) with no monthly user charges for basic service.

1-VOIP- charges $8.97/mo for service; provides the adapter free.

In all cases we still have to pay some mandated taxes, fees etc.  There are upgrades in services and equipment offered, but I really don't want  that now. 

And, speaking of what I want now... I've decided to try 1-voip.  I want to try internet phone before making a commitment.  That's it!  I just want to try it.  With 1-VOIP there's virtually no cost  For a few bucks I'll be able to make a more informed choice.

Hope this helps.

P.S.- if this is more or less resolved according to most folks- I'll move on to cable and hardware. In a few days

voip.ms isn't really that hard if you can follow multi-step procedures. You may need to know a little about VOIP, but we can help you here if you get confused.

I have a $50 device from Obihai to connect to the service from voip.ms.

What Obihai hardware seemed big and complicated? This device is the size of a cigarette pack and fairly simple. It has a power connector, a phone jack, and an ethernet jack.

kenboy, I'm glad my recommendation worked out well for you.

I would like to ditch my landline completely but have FIOS for TV and Internet and have an alarm system which I believe can operate without a landline. Can FIOS ? Is there a better very simple solution for the rest? I am not techy at all so need really simple options to work with. Thanks

Lately, the providers very much want you to buy two or three services at once and will give you a better price than if you only want internet services. They probably need to keep their subscriber numbers up so that advertisement has a value.

hopey said:

I would like to ditch my landline completely but have FIOS for TV and Internet and have an alarm system which I believe can operate without a landline. Can FIOS ? Is there a better very simple solution for the rest? I am not techy at all so need really simple options to work with. Thanks

FIOS does not need a landline. We have internet and TV only in our house

that makes sense. It's just that landline seems to be such a waste and my FIOS internet has gotten slower. I have bought a splitter for the one room that never had good reception that my kids are in a lot and that has helped but I was wondering what else was out there and potentially better.I have called FIOS directly to try and speed up my service and got a new router from them. They now want me to pay more for faster service which I am not willing to do. Seems like the service got slower as they started advertising big time for the upgrade in service. Maybe just a coincidence.

@hopey, did the slow-down happen after you put in the splitter? That might explain it. You need a good quality splitter, and you need to tighten the cables with a wrench, not your hands.

slowness was before splitter but I will definitely try to tightening the cables with a wrench thanks!

Apollo-did you ever change Internet and TV? I am going to go with 1-voip for phone but just had an infuriating conversation with Verizon and would like to change the rest. I don't DVR, need reasonably fast Internet as I work from home and would like to keep HBO or 1 premium movie channel. Any advice would really help thanks

Hopey, Cut the cord you will love it.  

Pay for high-quality, fast internet and stream everything else - including HBO.  http://www.cnet.com/news/hbo-now-app-arrives-on-amazon-fire-tv-and-fire-tv-stick/

Look into Hulu, Amazon Prime & Netflix.  You might be surprised but you don't need a movie "channel" anymore. 

I hope I am not laughed off the board, but if you don't have cable, how do you watch a news show at the time it is being broadcast? Are you relying on an antenna? (I bought a LEAF antenna a couple of years ago but haven't had the time or confidence to test it yet to see how many channels I can get.)    

I would like to ditch our phone and rely only on our cells. And I would like to have internet, which I understand must be purchased through a cable company? So the question is about cable tv. I can live with getting movies and shows from Acorn TV, Hulu, Netflix, etc., and figure there is a way to have them appear on the larger TV screen rather than my computer. (I bought what I think are the components to connect my computer to the TV in order to watch on a bigger screen, but I haven't had the time or confidence to try them out.)

So questions:

How do you watch a show being broadcast live without cable?

Is there any way to ditch cable for internet and still have internet?

Thanks!