Hey, we hate lawsuits just as much as the next guy, but we're finding it hard to fault
Verizon for this one. Verizon and
Time Warner Cable arrived in court on Wednesday to settle a tiff over some ads that Verizon claims offer up misleading info about Verizon's
FiOS service. Listed among the complaints include supposed false implications by TWC that FiOS requires a satellite dish, doesn't include phone, broadband and video, and that Time Warner's network is better. Time Warner Cable is naturally calling the lawsuit "without merit." Verizon wants TWC to stop running the ads and issue a retraction, as well as compensate them for lost revenue. We're not positive which ad Verizon is referring to, but if it's anything like the ad after the break -- which has some downright false implications about Time Warner Cable using fiber optics "for over a decade" -- then Verizon very well might have something here. [
Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
Update: Reader Max sent us in a version of the ad in which it's actually implied that Verizon requires a satellite dish for its FiOS service. Seriously, you can't make this crap up -- well, apparently TWC can. Ad after the break.
posted April 10th 2008 11:52AM
I'm familiar with the add Verizon is referring to. There is a comment made in the commercial by the actor playing the consumer "phone company tv needs a dish.." which I thought was strange since that's not the case. I personally don't blame Verizon for taking Time Warner to court. It's a false statement.
Test comment.. :)
The only thing that could possibly refer to is the DirecTV packages that Verizon offers, which is completly different than Fios.
TWC runs stupid ads around here in NJ for Optimum saying their network is fiber based as well.
Frankly, I think the whole trend of phone company versus cable versus dish is getting really really old. Maybe instead of comparing, we can get back to just hocking the services like we did before? These adds are lame; the whole series of them.
(Everyone knows the best TV possible comes straight outta the foil bunny ears over the Zenith console, anyway.)
I saw the full ad. It sounds like the guy is saying "Don't I need a dish to get TV from you guys?" in a question, not a statement.
The cable companies could gang up on Verizon and sue them for saying they don't compress their HD. Because all HD is compressed. Some more, some less.
The difference is that Verizon doesn't compress the signal that they receive, like the cable cos do. So technically THEY don't compress their HD feed.
Time Warner always runs adds with a lot of false info about sat-tv here in cinci. As a DirecTV customer, it's really frustrating to see them and think to myself, "these are just outright lies...". The way prey on the consumer's lack of knowledge/experience is pretty sickening, but being an inferior service, what other options do they have?
Cable companies have been using Fiber since the 1990's, albeit in a configuration called Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Fibre_Coaxial), where the Fiber only makes it to the street corner, and Coax then completes the last leg. Verizon only adds to this by bringing fiber to the premises. So although Time Warner are completely wrong on the Satellite dish thing, they're not completely offbase with the fiber claim.
Ugh, TWC plays this commercial constantly around here - and I am already a TWC customer. I've always hated the false implications and the confusing (for average consumers) comparison regarding using fiber. Even if it is technically true that they use fiber - unless they are going to extend it to the home their service is sub par to FIOS (from what I've read.) This kind of blatant misleading of consumers is typical of TWC's cheap and sleazy local advertisements.
Also - the whole comparison of fiber optics to needing fiber to poo is just gross. This commercial often comes on during dinner...um no thanks.
Time Warner and all the cable companies now run these bullshit ads that say :
"All these service on our advanced fiber network"..
While technically true that they use fiber-optic cables for the backbones of the network, they sure as hell don't run fiber optical cable to your House like Verizon's FIOS does. They are purposely misleading people to prop up their ***** cable service as being equivalent to what you receive with a REAL fiber-to-the-home service such as FIOS.
If I were verizon I would hire a great marketing company to blow them out of the water and show their prices/megabit of internet service versus Cable and also how they don't add more compression to their HDTV!
Actual TWC does do a a fiber to the home. It is done on a small scale but they install it in San Antonio Area.
Well, obviously the cable companies use fiber. On the backend. What else would they be using, twisted pair?
Frankly, I could care less what they use. They could use pigeons if I could get >10Mb speed.
Oh, and as a TWC data subscriber, I can honestly say their service sucks.
Well, obviously the cable companies use fiber. On the backend. What else would they be using, twisted pair?
Frankly, I could care less what they use. They could use pigeons if I could get >10Mb speed.
Oh, and as a TWC data subscriber, I can honestly say their service sucks.
I called Verizon FIOS to order phone, internet, and cable prior to my move in. My Consumer Order Summary was dated 3-28-08, and the scheduled installation date was 4-7-08. I reviewed the e-mail and all looked well. I move into my new house and install date comes. They setup an 8 AM-noon window. I already had the Optical Network Terminal unit (ONT) in my house, so I figured this would be cake for them. I am a Sys Admin at an ISP, so the internet stuff I could do myself with ease.
On install day, no one showed, no one called. I had my mobile with me at ALL times. So around 1:30 PM I called Verizon to see what was going on. If something came up, I had a week off to move in and if they needed to come by in a day or two, I was totally cool with that. After about an hour on hold I got in touch with a “state level” dispatcher. That said that there were “no facilities available for my order” and I was called. Nope, I wasn’t called; they did have my cell (which I had with me all of the time) in their records. I wanted them to come out later in the week if possible since I was home. They said that their next available time for me was 4-12-08, which was a day where I was going to a wedding. The next available time after that was at the end of the month, on a work day for me.
Basically because they did not show up, or even notify me with a reason, they put me at the back of the line. I was trying to escalate my request and the support only gave me unreasonable dates and that “no facilities available for my order” BS. I later wanted to get my copper line put back so I could at least get phone service, and after a long wait in hold they gave me the end of the month as a date. Basically I was being run around in circles and being shoved to the end of the line because Verizon screwed up my installation. I was told the only way I could get it sooner is if I “knew an installer who’d do me a favor,” and I was pretty much screwed with the window of time I had to get the service installed. The salesperson fed me a load of bull and the installer didn’t even call me with a reason. I tried to figure out what “no facilities available for my order” meant, and why this was such a problem since I already had the ONT in my house. Half of their work was already done.
The same day, I called a local cable company who installed my phone, internet, and cable the next day. They showed up on time and did the normal pre and post appointment verification. I unplugged the ONT in my house and let the battery go out. Verizon gave me such a lousy customer experience I swore I would never do business with them, and be sure to let other people know about their awful customer service and commitments they setup and do not honor. Verizon screwed up prior when they bought Bell Atlantic, and screwed up our perfectly find DSL service I had around 98/99. My money is going to a competitor, and Verizon won’t see it because they have abysmal customer service. I am certainly interested in fiber optic lines connected to my house, but so long as Verizon is the only provider, I will happily do without.