# Should I switch away from Verizon FIOS over to Time Warner Cable?



## True Colors (Oct 19, 2006)

Long time customer here of Verizon FIOS. 

The quality of their internet and television services have always been excellent. And, of course, FIOS matches up extremely well with Tivo.

However, I am a HUGE fan of college sports. Verizon is lacking in this area, in my opinion. Vz never did pick up the Pac 12 network and now it appears that they will fail to carry the SEC network either. This might be the final straw for me.

My other option is Time Warner Cable. They DO have all the channels that I want.

I hesitate to switch because I am not sure if Time Warner will work with my Tivos(premiere and roamio) as well as FIOS does.

Any thoughts?

TC


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## namwoljr (Aug 8, 2014)

If they use Tuning Adapters in your area, be prepared for an extra layer of hardware to create potential issues. I recently upgraded to TV service with Time Warner in NC, and still have yet to resolve my Tuning Adapter issues. Not saying you will for sure have problems, but don't be surprised if you do.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

I've been on FIOS for over six years and I would never consider switching. I hear nothing but bad things about TWC so be sure that's what you want before you decide to switch. FIOS has the best internet connection of any existing provider so consider what you'd be giving up.


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## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

I don't mind TWC overall, except for one huge, huge fatal flaw:

TWC locks down nearly every channel, neutering the Stream's functionality. In other words, except for broadcast channels, other channels are flagged so that you can't download shows to your iPad/iPhone, not stream to those devices outside of your home wifi network. 

If FiOS were available to me, I'd switch in a heartbeat.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

OP, 
Are you prepared to go from "you can copy anything but HBO and SHO to anything else and stream outside the home" to "you can only copy local channels"?

I know that would be the kiss of death, there are very few enthusiastic TWC customers that I see here on TCF, a lot more of the TWC folks would love to have FiOS as an option


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Odds are TWC will not work as well in general with your Tivo's.
Odds are you will need a Tuning Adapter, and
Odds are that TA will cause you some problems.

I presume many people beat these odds so it's just a matter of how much of a risk you want to take to get those channels.

Post your location so you can get specific info for that location. Unfortunately experiences are not uniform even in the same region. The poster in post #2 is having major problems in a TWC region that many other posters are not having problems in.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

I would give up watching college sports before I would give up my FIOS.


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## Aero 1 (Aug 8, 2007)

True Colors said:


> Long time customer here of Verizon FIOS.
> 
> The quality of their internet and television services have always been excellent. And, of course, FIOS matches up extremely well with Tivo.
> 
> ...


get an apple tv or roku and see if its included with your verizon log in in the watchespn app.

http://variety.com/2014/digital/new...annels-on-apple-tv-roku-exclusive-1201122302/


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

I say try it because you can always go back and pay full price for FIOS. 

You could even keep your FIOS subscription current and then only cancel after Time Warner is installed and up and working for a few days.


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## True Colors (Oct 19, 2006)

I live in the Dallas area.

I really, really, REALLY do not want to have to deal with a tuning adapter.

Guess I may be stuck between a rock and a hard place here.

TC


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

True Colors said:


> I live in the Dallas area.
> 
> I really, really, REALLY do not want to have to deal with a tuning adapter.
> 
> ...


I'm on TWC in NC, and I will say that I had a lot of frustrations with the Tuning Adapter when I first got my Roamio back in November. But updates to the firmware on the Tuning Adapter back in February solved all my problems. I haven't had a problem with the Tuning Adapter in about 6 months. Of course, YMMV, but I would suggest you at least give TWC a try. You'll probably be able to get one of those great 1 year intro deals. And you can always switch back to FiOS whenever you want. If the SEC Network is really important to you, be sure to tell Verizon the lack of that channel is why your are switching. The more people who do that the more likely it is Verizon will offer it in the future.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

The best thing I ever did with my TiVos was to move them off of TWC in north Dallas when I moved away. If I need to move again, having TWC as the only provider option would be a negative mark against any potential location. Yes, it's that bad.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

The cost to try out Time Warner seems fairly minimal because you can cancel after a few days right? So ~$10 to try out Time Warner for 3 days if your package was $100/month? SEems worth it to me. 

Worst case you are out ~$10 and some hassle of waiting for the cable guy and returning equipment.

Best case you'll get your sports programming and probably save a few hundred dollars the first year over the cost of your FIOS package.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

dianebrat said:


> Are you prepared to go from "you can copy anything but HBO and SHO to anything else and stream outside the home" to "you can only copy local channels"?


For the record, it's only HBO and Cinemax that are locked down on Fios. Showtime is actually in the clear.


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## bracketologist (Aug 15, 2014)

I have had TWC for quite a while and switched from their boxes to TiVo HDs last year. Once I had everything set up, I haven't had any problems. I have the Motorola Tuning Adapter/CableCard setup. I just made sure that when it was time to activate anything or I had any questions about either piece of hardware, I called the TWC National CableCard hotline instead of the general support number. They seemed very knowledgeable on the hotline.

As was stated, though, not everyone's experience has been that smooth. In my case, I was a TWC customer long before using TiVos, so I knew how the things would look using their boxes, so for me it was just a matter of making sure that my experience with TiVos would be similar. And because I already had TWC, I had the luxury of doing a self-install instead of having a technician visit. Also, here in the Los Angeles area, TWC has been performing upgrades to the system so it is possible that may have played a role in how smoothly things went for me. YMMV in other parts of the country, but at least you can switch easily to something else if you don't like it since I don't believe there are any contracts involved.


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## rickruan (Apr 23, 2014)

I bought the Roamio Pro and 2 Mini's last April so I could have the capability of recording 6 channels at a time and getting rid of the TWC DRV box and their charges, so I thought. I live in Oxnard California and my cable provider is Time Warner Cable. Ordered the Cable card and Motorola Tuning adapter from TWC and installed all of them by myself. Things was going smoothly for a couple of days, then some of the channels starts disappearing, meaning I could not get them. So I called TWC again this problem with my Roamio Pro and they came over and replaced the cable card and Motorola tuning adapter with new ones, all was fine for a couple of days and again channels are missing, this went on for 4 months now. TWC after 3 months said that TIVO needs to work on their software to work with TWC's and until they do this, this will keep on happening, the TWC tech said they put me on a list of customers who are having the same problem, and that there is nothing I or them can do until Tivo fixes this on their end. I decided to call Tivo and told them my issue, he said that Roamio pro has the latest software. The Tivo Tech walked me through the settings on my Tivo Pro and concluded that the signals were weak and that is the reason I am missing some of the channels. He instructed me to add a Signal Amp to cable going into the Tivo line. I told him that I would have the TWC tech come over to my house and do this. The Tivo Tech said that he can work with the TWC tech and get this all worked out. Just last week I had the TWC tech over and called Tivo tech while the TWC was there, guess what, the TWC tech said that installing a Signal Amp won't help because they are having issue with their Motorola Tuning Adapter, and that there is noting that they could do for now until that issue is resolved, he was saying this as I have the Tivo tech on the line and on speaker, the Tivo tech said he's heard some story of that nature and that it's probably right. 
Bottom line 4 months of having bought a TIVO Roamio Pro and 2 Mini's I'm still paying TWC cable for their DVR Boxes and HD service and on top of that I am paying TIVO for the monthly service on the Roamio Pro and 2 mini's.
I thought I would save money in the long run for having TIVO's instead of TWC DVR boxes. I am not getting any resolution either from TWC or TIVO. It looks like this was a big mistake!
If you're planning on switching to TWC, don't do it, this is a nightmare!
I am now looking to see if Verizon Fios is available in my area. Looks like it is.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

GOD NO. TWC is aggressively anti-TiVo, Verizon is TiVo-neutral. I think Verizon is going to pick up SEC, but don't quote me on that. I think the article I read said that DISH came first, then Comcast and DirecTV, and Verizon and AT&T would pick it up as well...



rickruan said:


> Bottom line 4 months of having bought a TIVO Roamio Pro and 2 Mini's I'm still paying TWC cable for their DVR Boxes and HD service and on top of that I am paying TIVO for the monthly service on the Roamio Pro and 2 mini's.
> I thought I would save money in the long run for having TIVO's instead of TWC DVR boxes. I am not getting any resolution either from TWC or TIVO. It looks like this was a big mistake!


Did you file a complaint with the FCC? Those usually get things fixed quickly...


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## wedenton (Jun 13, 2002)

Comcast is trying to buy Time Warner. So stay with Fios.


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## msdonnelly (Apr 3, 2004)

I'm with Time Warner in the Raleigh, NC area. When I moved here in December, I got frustrated with TW because they gave me unpaired cable cards and when a contractor delivered two usable cable cards and literally stood and watched me call and get the cable cards working they then charged me for the truck-roll! I went toe-to-toe (politely) with them and got the charge removed. Other than that, I've had one of the two tuning adapters (hooked up to my XL two-tuner which is in the loft with my treadmill) stop working for a couple of days until I noticed and reset it. I've suffered through lots of problems with Time Warner in Texas before I moved to NC. TW here seems to be trying harder. Last week the system was down in my neighborhood for several hours. When it was back up we actually received a call (robo-call, but still) telling us service was restored and apologizing for the inconvenience. That's the first apology I've ever received from Time Warner in at least 30 years being a captive customer!


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

msdonnelly said:


> I'm with Time Warner in the Raleigh, NC area. When I moved here in December, I got frustrated with TW because they gave me unpaired cable cards and when a contractor delivered two usable cable cards and literally stood and watched me call and get the cable cards working they then charged me for the truck-roll! I went toe-to-toe (politely) with them and got the charge removed. Other than that, I've had one of the two tuning adapters (hooked up to my XL two-tuner which is in the loft with my treadmill) stop working for a couple of days until I noticed and reset it. I've suffered through lots of problems with Time Warner in Texas before I moved to NC. TW here seems to be trying harder. Last week the system was down in my neighborhood for several hours. When it was back up we actually received a call (robo-call, but still) telling us service was restored and apologizing for the inconvenience. That's the first apology I've ever received from Time Warner in at least 30 years being a captive customer!


I'm with TWC in Raleigh also, and I will say that the local TWC people seem to provide better than average TWC service. The first tuning adapter they gave me was DOA, but the second one worked. After initial setup frustrations like that and several firmware upgrades, my Roamio and Minis have been working pretty flawlessly with my TWC service. So I guess just how bad TWC service is will somewhat depend on what market you are located in.


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

I'm a little late in all this, but hasn't it been pretty much established that Time Warner's track record as regards cable TV service has left customers suspecting they're agents of the anti-christ? (Only half joking here.)


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

gastrof said:


> I'm a little late in all this, but hasn't it been pretty much established that Time Warner's track record as regards cable TV service has left customers suspecting they're agents of the anti-christ? (Only half joking here.)


This. But don't take it as a religious issue. We are just a PITA to them rather than a business opportunity, and not even the all powerful FCC  can make them do any better.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

wedenton said:


> Comcast is trying to buy Time Warner. So stay with Fios.


If they Comcastize the TWC systems, that would be a really good thing for TiVo owners, although that would reduce the HD channel lineup, and maybe add additional compression (not sure how much TWC compresses now), but it would make the systems much more TiVo friendly, and Comcast is a far less bad company than TWC. However, given Comcast's track record with integrating cable systems, if they end up with TWC, it's going to be a mess for a long, long time.


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