A door-to-door salesman showed up at my hovel today to sell me
Verizon's internet, TV, and phone package using FIOS.
I know FIOS transmission is supposed to be quicker than cable, but I
don't know if I would actually benefit from getting it. To ask those
who know, what improvement (if any) would I see in a TV signal using
fios over cable, both now with analog TV and later using HD TV? What
improvement in internet speed would I see, considering that I am using
the internet for simple web browsing and email mostly?
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Background: I now have Verizon local telephone, Sprint long-distance
(usually no charge per month), Cox internet cable, and DirectTV. My
current monthly bill is about $165 for same, paid month-to-month (analog
TV box). The similar service for Verizon FIOS is $145 per month for a
one-year contract -- thereafter going month-to-month which will increase
about $15 if prices are not raised. Verizon might offer another
contract at the end of the first year but that price is unknown. In
addition, the "free" DVR that Verizon offers might be charged for after
the first year. Plus, getting a HD TV box with Verizon FIOS is about
$10 per month extra.
Technical: To try to gain some technical insight, I asked the salesman
how many hours the "free" 120 GB DVR would record; he responded that it
would record 3 hours per GB for analog TV. This means that the TV
signal is compressed about 12:1, a fairly high amount IMHO. I asked how
many HD hours could the DVR record, and his response was that it could
record 1/4 the time of analog TV signals -- I don't know if this means
the compression is 3:1 or not. Since compression of prerecorded video
sources can be easily done, but maybe real-time signals can't be
compressed quickly enough for transmission, I asked if there was a
difference in recording time between analog & HD signals. He responded
that this was too technical a question for him to answer. Any insight?
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