Xfinity Comcast vs Verizon FiOS, Internet Only. Thoughts?

[irishScott]

So I'm moving and have experience with neither, have heard horror stories about both. Which do you guys prefer?

FYI I'm looking at the Xfinity/Comcast 20 mbps plan vs the Verizon 15/5 mbps plan.

Edit: Ended up going with FIOS. Thanks guys!

 

[Jumpem]

FiOS.

 

[jpiniero]

Uh, did you look at the prices? For internet only, Verizon should be substantially more expensive.

Edit: But Double/Triple play would be cheaper. Verizon knows people don't want cable so the price difference between Internet only and Double play might be $5/month.

 

[PowerYoga]

Do a search in the area to see how people like the comcast internet.

Fios is generally more stable and you won't get bandwidth'd when everyone's watching TV and streaming movies.

Also see if comcast offers the blast package in your area for cheap. That's 50mbps.

 

[Jimzz]

As said look at the price. Verzion agreed not to compete with the other cable giants so the cable giants would sell their wireless spectrum and not get into cell phones.

 

[John Connor]

http://www.broadbandreports.com/

 

[irishScott]

Uh, did you look at the prices? For internet only, Verizon should be substantially more expensive.

Edit: But Double/Triple play would be cheaper. Verizon knows people don't want cable so the price difference between Internet only and Double play might be $5/month.

Looking at internet prices, Verizon is $50 for 12 months then $70 for 12 more. Comcast is $40 for 9 months then $43-65 for the remainder. To be conservative I'm assuming Comcast will jack up the price as much as they can, so IMO they're about equivalent.

The double-play is $70 for 2 years, so it's actually $240 more expensive for a ton of channels I'll likely never watch. I'm not a huge sports fan so ESPN isn't necessarry, and any cable show I want to watch can be found (somewhere) on the internet.

Also my area has a ton of Xfinity wireless hotspots that I'd probably use throughout the day, so I'd get those.

 

[Agent11]

atm I have the fastest comcast available and I pay $25 a month, for another 5 months, then it will go up, I think somewhere in the 50-60 range. Over all I am very pleased with comcast.

I have my own router and modem though, so no rent.

 

[Thebobo]

I like my FiOS but its a tad pricy.

 

[KentState]

No complaints about Comcast internet from me. Haven't seen a dip in performance at any point throughout the day. Now, TV is pretty crappy as the hardware lags behind DTV.

 

[xanis]

If I had any other option besides Xfinity, I'd get FiOS. Unfortunately, I live in a Xfinity Monopoly Zone...

That being said, Xfinity has been fine for me so far (I have the 20/5 package, $35/month on promo). I haven't encountered any speed or performance issues at all since I've had it.

 

[thegimp03]

Comcast in my area is pretty decent, for a pretty highly populated area. I get 60 down and about 10 up with a modem I purchased and it never dips in performance.

 

[Jumpem]

I find the comments about FiOS being pricey interesting. When I switched from Time Warner, my service quality went up and my bill dropped almost $50.

 

[MiniDoom]

been with verizon for about 4 years. price went from 125 to 195. i'm about to cancel and use roku/amazon/netflix because i know comcast/cox will be the shittier than fios for almost the same price.

 

[Malfeas]

I have comcast and have tested my download speeds to be between 60 to 78 mps. Upload speed was somewhere around 12 I think.

 

[John Connor]

I have Comcast and although I can say the Internet is solid and no latency, sometimes the connection will drop and I have to change the MAC address and acquire a new IP address. That happens maybe once every 8 months. Once it happened withen weeks which really pissed me off. I hate to think what other people do when they don't know about the MAC address IP change trick. They probably call a tech out.

 

[SteveWilson]

I had Comcast for over 10 years. Customer Service was a BAD joke. Their connectivity for both cable and internet progressively deteriorated until I could have done better with an inside TV antenna (impossible for my location) and an old modem. When FiOS was offered in my area, I dropped Comcast like the proverbial hot potato!

Comcast has tried to repackage itself as Xfinity. Their commercials sing the praises of their in-home WiFi but what good is it if the internet speed is way below that of the WiFi? Yes, you could transfer files or play games within my house at a high rate but just how often does that happen? Xfinity's problem is that copper wire dooms their internet speed to a relative creep, and their cable is prone to drop-outs and pixelization. Add to that, the number of people on your "run". Copper wire can only handle a limited number of connections. FiOS' fiber optics can handle over 100 times the distance, over 100 times the bandwidth, and over 1,000 times the voice channels.

Bottom line(s):
1.) If you transfer lots of files or play games, all within the confines of your home AND do not have/want direct wires to your computer devices, Xfinity may be right for you.
2.) If you are only interested in the $$ bottom line, the Xfinity may be right for you (at least for the time being).
3.) If you live some distance from a Xfinity junction and/or there are lots of people in your area on Xfinity, then FiOS is probably a better choice.

 

[BeeBoop]

I'd support FIOS just because they do not have data caps. Comcast has data caps in areas that have no competition.

 

[irishScott]

Holy necro. Regardless, I ended up going with FIOS. Thanks guys!