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Is Time Warner really cheaper than Verizon FiOS?

August 28th, 2009, 7:04 am · 19 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Verizon FiOS vs. Time Warner Cable. Who's going to win?In an effort to keep customers, Time Warner Cable is pushing a feature possibly more important than the number of HD channels it offers: saving money.

The cable TV company, at least for its Southern California region, says its service is cheaper than rival Verizon FiOS. Time Warner offered me this handy chart, put together by its competitive research team:

Time Warner Cable cheaper than FiOS? Here's Time Warner's analysis.

How much is your monthly bill for TV, Internet and phone?
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What? Time Warner is $68 cheaper per month than FiOS? I had to check this out myself.

But wading through the screens and fine print of both Time Warner and Verizon FiOS is not so simple. Instead, I went to the source and asked Verizon FiOS to tell me what they thought of the numbers.

Surprise: Time Warner is cheaper! But only by about $10 a month, depending on the plan. But, adds Verizon, you can’t really compare services since Verizon offers nearly 100 HD channels plus Internet service that is almost twice as fast as Time Warner’s.

“As usual Time Warner is playing fast and loose with the facts,” said Jon Davies, a Verizon spokesman.

First, Davies points out that Time Warner compares Internet and TV service packages first, and then later adds in phone service. This overlooks Verizon’s best deal of bundling the three services, at $110, which shaves $10 off the monthly price. Time Warner’s calculation also doesn’t include any sort of promotions for FiOS, such as one that offers no DVR charge for three months. Time Warner’s $99 price is a promotional price good for one year before it jumps to $119.99.

Then there’s the $49 activation fee, which FiOS charges for Internet service. But it’s a one-time fee and not recurring monthly one. That alone brings the price down to $150 for Verizon.

Verizon filled in its own figures for me and offered a chart that looks like this:

FiOS plans: GOOD BETTER BEST
Basic triple play $109.99(15/5 Mbps, 12 HD) $119.99(25/15 Mbps, 82 HD) $129.99(25/15 Mbps, 94 HD)
HD DVR $19.99 $19.99 $19.99
Internet Security Suite $5.99 $5.99 $5.99
Subtotal $135.97 $145.97 $155.97
Federal Access Charge $5.53 $5.53 $5.53
Total Monthly Fee $141.50 $151.50 $161.50

Either way, both seem to be hefty monthly bills for any consumer to pay, in my opinion. But people really love TV and we can’t live without high-speed Internet, right?

Time Warner and other cable companies have been actively pursuing consumers in neighborhoods where Verizon FiOS is rolling out its fiber-based TV service.  Tough competition was cited as a reason why Verizon slowed new expansion in some cities in order to concentrate in areas where service was already available.

No tricks here, says Darryl Ryan, Time Warner’s director of media relations.

“It is important for customers to know that each and every one of our campaigns are not only informational, but they are also factual,” he said.

Recent Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS  news:


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 19 Comments

  • H8cable says:
    August 28, 2009 at 8:21 am

    What are these people smoking??
    I pay Totally Worthless Crap $65 a month for garbage digital basic and dont get half the channels I want
    Just a bunch of home shopping, religous, and non english
    For $65 a month these scum should give me ala cart!

    Post Reply
  • ROD says:
    August 28, 2009 at 9:26 am

    DATS RIGHT $65 BUCKS WE SHOULD BE GETTIN AAALL THE HBO CINEMAX EVEN PLAYBOY CHANNELS FOR THAT SAME AMOUNT.. ITS AAALL MAJOR B.S!!!

    Post Reply
  • Terry says:
    August 28, 2009 at 9:47 am

    TIME WARNER SUCKS!!!! Always somehting wrong. If you don’t have a box everything is cool but my tvs that have the boxes are CONSTANTLY having in and out picture “PLEASE WAIT THIS CHANNEL WILL BE AVAILABLE MOMENTARILY” and then you call for tech support and they want you crawling behind your set to disconnect power, plug it back in wait a few min. etc. etc. I’m finally having a tech. come out to my home on a SUNDAY??!!

    Post Reply
  • Jimmy says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:03 am

    it’s time for fcc to approve an ala carte programming…we are paying over $150.00 with time warner and we don’t even use their phone services…and i’m not sure if their claim of free hd is true…that might be for just the basic hd…but if you subscribe to all the hd channels, then you have to pay extra…i think there is something wrong with their ad…that’s false advertising…

    Post Reply
  • alphanumericone says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Ask for limited basic! I think it’s about $15 from COX. They do stick you with a shiv for internet though.
    a

    Post Reply
  • Donna says:
    August 28, 2009 at 11:04 am

    I left Time Warner because of their extremely poor customer service, after being a subscriber since 1982. Should have done it years ago, I went to Verizon for their bundeled service and am saving over $100 a month

    Post Reply
  • Warren says:
    August 28, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    Here’s a head up on TWC. I received a call the other night from SVCS (760-526-8136) advising me that I would get upgraded to roadrunners new faster internet service for just $10 more per month.
    I told the girl NO! I don’t want it. When I told her no she was surprise. She wasn’t sure what she should do. She said she will note my account. I’m waiting for my next bill to see if TWC increased my cost for a service I didn’t ask for.

    Post Reply
  • Rob says:
    August 28, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    I paid an average of $70 per month from 09/08 to 03/09 with Time Warner. No DVR service and only one TV.

    With DISH Network I’ve paid an average of $51 per month since 03/09 to 08/09. This covers 2 TVs with 2 DVRs. I get many more HD channels then what Time Warner offered. I have internet access for the DVR and the channel guide which moves a lot faster then the box. Yes I have been receiving promotional pricing to start but I figure when the promo ends I’ll be paying around $72 a month with DISH for many more services then Time Warner’s $70. The $2 extra got me service for 2 TVs and DVR service for both. DISH is great!

    Post Reply
  • kat says:
    August 28, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    What difference does it make if TWC is cheaper or not? There service sucks no matter what the cost! The internet service is horrible! It constantly freezes and when i called about the problem I was told there system shows I am connected and showed no problem. Maybe that’s my problem, I’m connected to TWC service. I know it’s the connection because every time the computer freezes then comes back up I get a notice that say’s ” Your now connected”.

    Post Reply
  • Mike says:
    August 28, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    The thing about Time Warner is that it does not offer internet access comparable to FIOSl. The top speed tier with FIOS is over twice as fast downloading, and with 10 times the upload speed. You simply can’t buy that kind of speed from Time Warner at any price.

    Post Reply
  • American-ized says:
    August 28, 2009 at 9:39 pm

    Every one needs to dump TWC… they are THE WORST!!!

    Post Reply
  • [Blocked by CFC] BK says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    They don’t charge you a $49 activation fee EVERY MONTH!!!!

    I’ll also bet you a million dollars that TWC doesn’t give you all the HD channels for free.

    Post Reply
  • [Blocked by CFC] Brian says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    They don’t charge you a $49 activation fee EVERY MONTH!!!!

    I’ll also bet you a million dollars that TWC doesn’t give you all the HD channels for free.

    Post Reply
  • Nicole says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    Time Warner Cable=Worst Customer Service. EVER. If Time Warner was a person, I would punch them in their face. I have called with examples of friends of mine having more services than me and paying less, and each person told me they can’t do anything and they don’t think my friends really know what they have (really??). I even told them I don’t want to pay less, if I can get movie channels or DVR free, like others I know. Still nothing. I have spoken with so called “managers/supervisors” and I don’t see much difference. I actually told one woman I was going to have to cancel service with them and go elsewhere and they didn’t care! Nothing. Another issue is the employees don’t know what is going on and promise things they don’t deliver, like free Showtime for a year or not charging for your cable box. The on demand programs always say they cannot be reached when we first try to watch them as well, which is awesome. Ridiculous. Frustrating. Horrible. A cruel joke played on people like me who don’t have any (or very few) options for cable, internet and phone based on the city they live in.

    Post Reply
  • longcat says:
    August 28, 2009 at 10:31 pm

    I have been with time warner for 1 year now. The internet hasn’t gone down at all in 1 year, and is much 100% faster than my old ATT dsl line. I love the HD channels. Dont have the phone anymore though. cancelled it yesterday.

    Post Reply
  • mark says:
    August 30, 2009 at 7:58 am

    19.99 HD DVR price is actually the price for the multi room DVR, which is something TWC cant even offer. The regular HD DVR price is 15.99. You can also program it from your cell phone or computer, again, something that cant be done.

    and there is not a $10 HD surcharge for FiOS bundles now include the Extreme HD tv plan, which includes HD.

    The $49.99 activation fee is ALWAYS waived.

    Post Reply
  • mike rios says:
    September 4, 2009 at 12:52 am

    before you go TWC bashing, wait until you have the fun of experiencing Verizon’s horrible billing system and trying to get credits to your bill, TWC is easy compared to Verizon. I have the triple play, and though I love the speed of my interent connection, I am not a fan of the nickel and dime and limited HD for the price that Verizon give for it’s triple play packages, not “forced” upgrades to a higher package ( speedwise ) and a higher price. Come October ( when my contract expires ) I am dumping the FIOS service and only keeping the internet portion ( and i very well may dump that too since Verizon ties everything to your phone number ). Oh yeah TWC is month to month and no locked contract, and they actually have a store to return and pick up equipment, unlike Verizon. I also ditto the call for a la cart channel, and not bundled crap that all systems provide for now.

    Post Reply
  • Larry Centeno says:
    November 14, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    I received a call from SVCS 760 526-8136. After so many calls, I answered and a lady offered me faster turbo internet service on my Time Warner Road Runner. She said I had 30 days free trial and if I want to cancel, call in. The 30 days wasn’t up and I received a bill that was $22.00 higher than my previous bill. I called Time Warner and what customer service??? told me was that they had no free trial and I will not get any credit. SVCS must be in cahoots with Time Warner and I wash there is a way we can get a class action suit going. I called Time Warner on 11/14/09. SVCS called me on 10/15/09. What a ripoff!

    Post Reply

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