If so you do know that we are all being sold to Frontier starting in 2016? (actually, we have already been sold.)
So far I've not been able to find out much about Frontier or how the cutover will actually work. Will the FIOS speeds stay the same or not? Will the TV channel linup stay the same or not? Will out STB's & routers stay the same or not? If not, what then?
It hasn't been announced as to how the transition will occur.
You might see if you can get any info from Frontier.
You can probably look at other forums to see what previously sold states experienced. Essentially not good.
Some Fios speeds were changed. TV lineups were mostly the same for the packages that were continued, but some packages were not offereed. I believe the same STB and routers were left in place.
This being a new round its not clear if the same will be true. For example Verizon has added a bunch of channels and its not clear if Frontier has added them as well or not.
Your in sympathy from Florida.
@bbinnard wrote:
If so you do know that we are all being sold to Frontier starting in 2016? (actually, we have already been sold.)
So far I've not been able to find out much about Frontier or how the cutover will actually work. Will the FIOS speeds stay the same or not? Will the TV channel linup stay the same or not? Will out STB's & routers stay the same or not? If not, what then?
Actually you are wrong, we have not yet been sold, but of course there is an agreement that is planned to close sometime in early 2016.
Here is a link to a Verizon announcement on the sale: http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-sharpens-strategic-focus-and-returns-value-investors-trans.... And if you search you can find some trade press articles on the sale.
I went to Frontier's website and downloaded their PDF of the channels in their FiOS TV service. One quirk is that you have to enter a valid zipcode where they currently provide service to get the PDF. They appear to offer pretty much exactly the same plans and channel lineups as Verizon does (Prime, Extreme, and Ultimate), but of course these plans are for existing Frontier service, there is nothing yet available on what they will provide in FL, TX, and CA. And one thing that worries me a little bit, they apparently do not currently offer the Quantum service, their website seems to only offer the older STBs; I have Quantum, I am hoping that I get to keep it, and that Frontier will deliver the software updates as Verizon delivers them to their remaining customers.
Frontier does appear to offer 50/50 internet service, which is what I currently have, so I am hoping that there will not be any change there.
I also have home phone service with FiOS, again I am hoping that will pretty much continue as is.
I am uncomfortable with the sale to Frontier, they apparently did a pretty poor job when Verizon sold some areas to them in the past, but then again hopefully they learned from that and will do a better job this time. And we do have probably at least 6 months, maybe 9 or more, to learn the details, and you never know, maybe the regulators will nix the sale, althought I doubt it. My 2 year contract expires in Nov. 2015, I am trying to figure out whether I should renew with Verizon for another 2 years, hoping that Frontier will honor that contract, or just let it go to month to month and see what Frontier does. If push comes to shove, I do have the option to go back to Charter Cable (had them for a number of years, hated them, went to FiOS in late 2005, but maybe Charter has improved since then), or DirecTV or Dish.
I think all we can do for now, assuming we want to stay with Verizon until the sale is completed, is sit back and wait. Sooner or later Verizon and/or Frontier will provide some details (at least I hope they will).
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Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/50, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)
Interesting....
One more source of information some of you might want to explore, a Frontier forum over at DSLReports.com: https://www.dslreports.com/forum/frontiernet
There are questions there about the transition just like here, with very little solid information available. But as we get closer to the completion of the sale I imagine there will be more information over there, just like hopefully there will be more information here on the Verizon forums.
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Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/50, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)
After reading some of the postings at that DSLReports/Frontier message board I must say I am not exactly thrilled about being transferred to Frontier. But of course no one cares about that.
My guess is Verizon will do the transition as cheaply as possible, which I'd guess would mean all the Verizon people and equipment in CA, TX, andFL will simply be transferred to Frontier. But assuming that happens, I wonder if Verizon will also transfer to Frontier it's sets of IP addresses used by those states. I don't know if that is even possible.
If not, then everyone's IP in those states will change. I wonder if it is possible to make such a change without a nasty service interruption.
Another issue (I guess) is the TV Guide software. That comes from the "head end" servers and Frontier will certainly want to replace the Verizon software with its own. So I expect we will at least have to re-download our STB's and DVR's. And that will likely cause a major re-shuffle of channel numbers and probably channel availability too.
Not to mention the lists of DVR recording schedules people have. I wonder how closely tied these are to the Guide software itself. Will we have to recreate all our future recording lists?
ANother issue: how will the cutover handle our Verizon sign-ons necessary to vew live TV on pC's, phones, and tablets?
There sure are lots of unknowns facing us.
@bbinnard wrote:
After reading some of the postings at that DSLReports/Frontier message board I must say I am not exactly thrilled about being transferred to Frontier. But of course no one cares about that.
My guess is Verizon will do the transition as cheaply as possible, which I'd guess would mean all the Verizon people and equipment in CA, TX, andFL will simply be transferred to Frontier. But assuming that happens, I wonder if Verizon will also transfer to Frontier it's sets of IP addresses used by those states. I don't know if that is even possible.
If not, then everyone's IP in those states will change. I wonder if it is possible to make such a change without a nasty service interruption.
Another issue (I guess) is the TV Guide software. That comes from the "head end" servers and Frontier will certainly want to replace the Verizon software with its own. So I expect we will at least have to re-download our STB's and DVR's. And that will likely cause a major re-shuffle of channel numbers and probably channel availability too.
Not to mention the lists of DVR recording schedules people have. I wonder how closely tied these are to the Guide software itself. Will we have to recreate all our future recording lists?
ANother issue: how will the cutover handle our Verizon sign-ons necessary to vew live TV on pC's, phones, and tablets?
There sure are lots of unknowns facing us.
While I think you have raised some good questions, I think you are worrying about some things that won't really be issues:
1) My IP address changes fairly regularly, I'm sure yours does too, and of course you can easily force a change at any time you want. Over the almost 10 years I have had FiOS I have had addresses in many different blocks as well as changes within the same block. So I don't see any issue there, as long as the blocks of addresses we might get are not marked as "bad" addresses, such as frequently used by spammers, hackers, etc. Of course Verizon might just transfer the existing block(s) of addresses being used in each state to Frontier, that might be a part of the sale, who knows.
2) There should not be any issues regarding the guide software, channel lineups, recording schedules, etc. Attached below is a Frontier FiOS channel lineup from a zipcode in Oregon; you will notice that the channel numbers match exactly with the Verizon numbers, the various packages match Verizon's, etc. Remember, Verizon sold some areas to Frontier some years ago, and that included FiOS customers, so I imagine there is still a close relationship between the Frontier and Verizon FiOS services.
3) Good question about the signons, etc., for sure at this point I have no idea, but they will have to have a plan. And for me, I am most worried about Quantum TV since I have that service and it appears to me that Frontier currently does not. There are a fair number of Quantum TV users in these states now, so surely they will have to support Quantum TV at the transfer of service, but then again, way back in the previous sale apparently Frontier did not do a very good job taking over the FiOS service, lets hope they learned from that experience.
Once again though, we have at least 6 months before this switch happens, and probably more like 9 months, so there is plenty of time for decisions to be made and info disseminated. Just MHO of course.....
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Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/50, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)
Thanks for posting the Frontier channel lineup - that's the first time I've seen anything like that from Frontier. And you are correct - it is a mirror image of our current FIOS lineup. Frankly I was not expecting that at all.
It is interesting that you say your IP address changes frequently. Mine never does - unless my router is turned off for a while or I force a change myself. At any rate, I wonder if it is possible for a company to transfer blocks of IP addresses to another one. I guess it should be possible since the only thing that really has to change is who owns the addresses and pays for them, and that is just a database change in the ICANN servers (or something like that.)
Your point about Quantum service is a good one. I don't have that myself, so it isn't an issue for me, but I can see how it would be for those who do have it. So add another item on the list of "currently unknowns."
Over a long time you will usually notice your external IP changing. I rarely look at mine but know its changed because I use opendns. For OPENDNS protection options to work you need to have the ip known to them. Then have a little tool you can have running to handle that.
Yes block of IP have been sold, traded etc many times. Not sure if Verizon is giving up any to Frontier or making them use their own.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
