I meant to post this when I saw it a couple of weeks ago, but I noticed a FiOS banner at the Shell gas station on Commerce Street and Routes 202/35/118 in downtown Yorktown a couple of weeks ago. My family and I have seen this at stations in Cortlandt Manor and Wappingers Falls in the past, and we've started to call it "FiOS Gas". What they did at those stations is make a deal with the station owner to sell gas at what seemed to be 30c off the regular price per gallon, and Verizon would set up a FiOS sales booth at the station and their reps would try to sell you FiOS while you were in the station getting cheap gas (anyone who drove in got the discount -- signing up for FiOS was not required). Either I got there too late or they've changed their approach because I did not see a discounted gas price at the Shell station in Yorktown when I was there, but what I did notice was a $75 gift card offer for signing up for FiOS, which I had not noticed in the past. So, if you are planning to sign up for FiOS, be sure to be on the lookout for FiOS gas stations. And please post here if you see any in the Yorktown area!
Update: I was at the Poughkeepsie Galleria today and there was a FiOS booth set up, so I stopped by to ask about the FiOS gas promotion. It turns out the person at the booth was the same as had been at the Yorktown gas station (earlier this week, in addition to the time I saw it there). He confirmed that they've changed how they work at the gas stations, and no longer offer discounted gas to everyone (boo!), instead offering a $75 gas gift card if you sign up with them. He told me that they are not able to offer special promotions like $10 off per month that I have heard people were able to get when ordering over the phone, so if you can get that, it is a better option than signing up at the gas station promotion. Obviously, it does not hurt to try and get the best deal you can get when signing up. Oh yeah, they tried to sign me up for FiOS, even plugged in my phone number, but of course it said that it was not available :-(.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Verizon Franchise approved - FiOS TV is available in Yorktown!
The Verizon franchise agreement was apparently approved on Wednesday because I got the following note from a co-worker who has been anxiously waiting for FiOS TV to become available:
FIOS TV showed up on Friday as available at my address. I've been getting flyers for a $94.99 bundle.....
So, Saturday morning I was able to order that $94.99 package (HD extreme TV, FIOS 20/5, phone). The deal they offered included the HD set top box and an additional $10 off - with taxes the rep estimated it would cost $105 per month for the first year. Also, he said verizon was about to switch over to all digital telephone service (apparently the service provided now is conventional POTS) and that that would reduce the taxes and add a lot of features. Installation is scheduled for 11/26....I'll let you know how that goes. It should be relatively quick, as most of the pieces are already set up.
FIOS TV showed up on Friday as available at my address. I've been getting flyers for a $94.99 bundle.....
So, Saturday morning I was able to order that $94.99 package (HD extreme TV, FIOS 20/5, phone). The deal they offered included the HD set top box and an additional $10 off - with taxes the rep estimated it would cost $105 per month for the first year. Also, he said verizon was about to switch over to all digital telephone service (apparently the service provided now is conventional POTS) and that that would reduce the taxes and add a lot of features. Installation is scheduled for 11/26....I'll let you know how that goes. It should be relatively quick, as most of the pieces are already set up.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The digital TV conversion and cable customers
It appears that there is a lot of confusion about the February 2009 changeover to Digital TV, especially as it pertains to cable television customers. Cablevision has done their part to add to this confusion by their recent switch of several channels (most recently the Public Access, Educational and Government stations, collecting known as the PEG channels) to digital. Just in this past week I’ve heard of two people who tried to get the conversion boxes to work with their cable TV service.
So let me start by saying something that I hope will clear things up for most of you. If you are a cable TV customer and have all of your televisions connected to cable (with or without boxes), the February changeover does not apply to you. The $40 coupons and conversion boxes you buy with them? You don’t need them. If you get one, you can’t plug cable into them. They are only for customers who get their signal over the air (i.e., rabbit ears or roof antenna). They are not a substitute for the boxes you get from the cable company (unfortunately).
Now, let me address the Cablevision conversion of some channels to digital. They started by converting about a dozen back in August, and the PEG channels in September. Cablevision says that 85% of their customers are digital, so they make it seem like it doesn’t affect them and that it only affects a minimal number of customers. But I know plenty of people (myself included) who have cable boxes on some sets but not others (like in the kitchen, or in my case on my DVR). Those folks can no longer access these channels on the box-less analog sets. I can no longer record town board meetings or the educational channel on my DVR. My friend the author can no longer watch Book TV (on CSPAN) from his kitchen (although he can on his big HD set with a cable box). The town and schools will need to pay for boxes for every set they want to be able to view their own channels (ouch!). Several towns have filed complaints with the Public Service Commission over the PEG change, including Yorktown. Whether they will do anything about it is anyone’s guess, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Now, if you have a fairly new television with a “QAM” tuner (short for quadrature amplitude modulation, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner for more details), you can still watch the PEG channels without any box. This is because the QAM tuner allows you to watch digital channels. However, to add to the confusion, you will NOT be able to view the other digital channels that were removed earlier, because those are scrambled and need the box (or a CableCARD, which is a topic for another day).
The good news is that Cablevision does not have any plans to discontinue their analog service until 2012, which is the deadline for cable services to switch to digital (I didn’t even know there was such a deadline!). Here’s an interesting article on that topic: http://saveaccess.org/node/2171. That said, I would expect that the number of analog channels will continue to shrink over time. Why? Because analog channels take a lot more bandwidth than digital and Cablevision needs that bandwidth to add more HD channels to the system. So look for more low rated channels to drop off the analog service.
If you are not currently a digital customer, you can get one free digital box from Cablevision, and I am told that it will be free forever, so long as you do not change your service. Earlier reports had said that there would be a charge after the first year. You have until the end of 2008 to request it. Call customer service if this applies to you.
How does this affect the Verizon FiOS service? I’m told that their service is fully digital, so you will need a box for every set. Something to consider if you want to switch providers, although Verizon does appear to have some bundle deals on box rentals. And I have read something about $3 boxes (or maybe even free) for low end boxes, but I do not see anything on their site.
Confused? Please post your questions here and I’ll try to answer them.
So let me start by saying something that I hope will clear things up for most of you. If you are a cable TV customer and have all of your televisions connected to cable (with or without boxes), the February changeover does not apply to you. The $40 coupons and conversion boxes you buy with them? You don’t need them. If you get one, you can’t plug cable into them. They are only for customers who get their signal over the air (i.e., rabbit ears or roof antenna). They are not a substitute for the boxes you get from the cable company (unfortunately).
Now, let me address the Cablevision conversion of some channels to digital. They started by converting about a dozen back in August, and the PEG channels in September. Cablevision says that 85% of their customers are digital, so they make it seem like it doesn’t affect them and that it only affects a minimal number of customers. But I know plenty of people (myself included) who have cable boxes on some sets but not others (like in the kitchen, or in my case on my DVR). Those folks can no longer access these channels on the box-less analog sets. I can no longer record town board meetings or the educational channel on my DVR. My friend the author can no longer watch Book TV (on CSPAN) from his kitchen (although he can on his big HD set with a cable box). The town and schools will need to pay for boxes for every set they want to be able to view their own channels (ouch!). Several towns have filed complaints with the Public Service Commission over the PEG change, including Yorktown. Whether they will do anything about it is anyone’s guess, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Now, if you have a fairly new television with a “QAM” tuner (short for quadrature amplitude modulation, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner for more details), you can still watch the PEG channels without any box. This is because the QAM tuner allows you to watch digital channels. However, to add to the confusion, you will NOT be able to view the other digital channels that were removed earlier, because those are scrambled and need the box (or a CableCARD, which is a topic for another day).
The good news is that Cablevision does not have any plans to discontinue their analog service until 2012, which is the deadline for cable services to switch to digital (I didn’t even know there was such a deadline!). Here’s an interesting article on that topic: http://saveaccess.org/node/2171. That said, I would expect that the number of analog channels will continue to shrink over time. Why? Because analog channels take a lot more bandwidth than digital and Cablevision needs that bandwidth to add more HD channels to the system. So look for more low rated channels to drop off the analog service.
If you are not currently a digital customer, you can get one free digital box from Cablevision, and I am told that it will be free forever, so long as you do not change your service. Earlier reports had said that there would be a charge after the first year. You have until the end of 2008 to request it. Call customer service if this applies to you.
How does this affect the Verizon FiOS service? I’m told that their service is fully digital, so you will need a box for every set. Something to consider if you want to switch providers, although Verizon does appear to have some bundle deals on box rentals. And I have read something about $3 boxes (or maybe even free) for low end boxes, but I do not see anything on their site.
Confused? Please post your questions here and I’ll try to answer them.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Verizon Agreement Approved
I just came back from the Town Board meeting and the Verizon franchise agreement has been approved. The next step is PSC approval. I'm not sure how long that will take (I will try to find out) but hopefully it won't be longer than a couple of months.
Some highlights of the agreement, which runs for 15 years:
- Two educational channels, one each for Lakeland and Yorktown, so both can broadcast 7 days a week
- $150,000 in PEG (Public, Educational and Government) grants, spread over the length of the contract
- $27,000 in connectivity grants, which is in lieu of Internet access
Several Verizon employees I spoke to said that they had ramped up their buildout in Yorktown (I was told that they currently have 45% complete) so hopefully those of us who do not have FiOS Internet yet will have it sooner rather than later.
Update: I am told that they hope to have the PSC approve the franchise on November 12th. If it does not get done then, it would be December 10th. I suspect they can turn on the service almost immediately after that.
Some highlights of the agreement, which runs for 15 years:
- Two educational channels, one each for Lakeland and Yorktown, so both can broadcast 7 days a week
- $150,000 in PEG (Public, Educational and Government) grants, spread over the length of the contract
- $27,000 in connectivity grants, which is in lieu of Internet access
Several Verizon employees I spoke to said that they had ramped up their buildout in Yorktown (I was told that they currently have 45% complete) so hopefully those of us who do not have FiOS Internet yet will have it sooner rather than later.
Update: I am told that they hope to have the PSC approve the franchise on November 12th. If it does not get done then, it would be December 10th. I suspect they can turn on the service almost immediately after that.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Article in Westchester paper about Cablevision's switch of PEG channels to digital
The deadline for requesting a free converter box is 10/16, so if you have not done so already, you probably want to call Cablevision. Of course, this does not make what they are doing right, and after a year you will probably have to pay for the box. I think more towns should file complaints with the PSC and make them investigate the legality.
Here's an article from the 10/4 Journal News on the topic:
Officials, users criticize Cablevision changes on government programming
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081004/NEWS02/810040361/1136/SPORTS0265
Here's an article from the 10/4 Journal News on the topic:
Officials, users criticize Cablevision changes on government programming
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081004/NEWS02/810040361/1136/SPORTS0265
Tentative agreement with Verizon
The Town of Yorktown has reached a tentative agreement with Verizon regarding a cable franchise. There will be a public hearing at the Town Board meeting on Tuesday, October 21st, to be held at the John C Hart Memorial Library in Shrub Oak.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 7:30pm. I don't know the exact time of the public hearing but hopefully it won't start much after 8 (it is fairly early on the agenda).
If you have interest in the Verizon franchise, please attend and make your views known
The meeting is scheduled to start at 7:30pm. I don't know the exact time of the public hearing but hopefully it won't start much after 8 (it is fairly early on the agenda).
If you have interest in the Verizon franchise, please attend and make your views known
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Article in Rockland paper about Cablevision's switch of PEG channels to digital
I guess the switchover took place yesterday. Would residents like the Town Board to invite the rep from Cablevision to attend a board meeting to answer concerns like this (as they were doing in Haverstraw)? If people think it's worthwhile, I will suggest it. Not clear it would convince them to change their plans, of course.
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/NEWS03/809170385/-1/SPORTS
By the way, I am amazed at the number of people (relatively small, but I never expected that anyone would find this blog) who have told me that they read it. Feel free to reply and tell me what your concerns are.
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/NEWS03/809170385/-1/SPORTS
By the way, I am amazed at the number of people (relatively small, but I never expected that anyone would find this blog) who have told me that they read it. Feel free to reply and tell me what your concerns are.
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