DVRs, Verizon hikes up monthly FiOS DVR charge
By Darren Murph 
posted May 20th 2007 8:52PM
posted May 20th 2007 8:52PM
Verizon is certainly no stranger to cranking up the fees on its number of services, and while it doesn't exactly have a vast footprint of FiOS subscribers just yet, the monthly charge for your DVR is going up nonetheless. Reportedly, current subscribers are getting notices now that show FiOS DVR pricing going from $12.99 to $15.99 per month "on new services added and orders places on or after July 13, 2007." It still seems ambiguous as to whether or not current customers will be grandfathered in at the lower rate, but we've got all ideas that everyone will end up footing the higher bill. Additionally, the cost of a full disconnect ($74.99) will now be charged to the departing user if "it requires a technician to visit," so we'd strongly suggest delivering your wares sans hired help if you decide to pull the plug.
Considering we are still beta testing their DVR software, The box only holds about 20 hours of HD content, and the ESATA port is disabled; I don't see why they think they need to charge more for the box rental.
All that said, I got a notice in the mail, telling me that the rate was going up, but as an existing customer, not to worry about it. My guess is, that the rate will go up for existing customers at their annual renewal time.
Deadwood
$16 per month? Holy Schnikes!
The letter I got made it sound like I wouldn't have to worry about it until my annual contract was up. At which point I'll just threaten to switch back to Comcast anyway to get a lower rate. Not that I want to. Even though the Verizon Moto DVR still has issues, it's still far-and-away better than my old Comcast one. And maybe the rate hike is so they can afford newer better boxes... Yeah, wishful thinking.
As much as I hate Tivo, I'd go with a series 3 if I was on Fios.
I wonder how much they charge for cablecards?
FiOS charges $2.99/mo for CableCards.
The increased DVR fee only applies to customers that add a DVR after July 13. Customers that add the DVR before then are "grandfathered" at the older $12.99/mo pricing.
Makes me so glad that I have kept Comcast. I have the TriplePlay and I have added on some things a-la-carte, and my monthly bill comes out a little over $100 per month. I'd be paying the same price to Verizon for TV only......
Charge to disconnect? That's terrible.
What's the monthly fee for a TiVo subscription? $19.95 a month, plus a $200 box... I don't like saying this, but this is still a better deal.
Even though the cable/satellite/fiber providers intentionally gimp their boxes to avoid hurting the advertisers. Since, you know, none of your cable/satellite/fiber money actually GOES to the channels providing the content.