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 Apr 10th 2008 11:52AM
now thats what i call jazz hands
Theoretically, they're not lying... just representing truths in a misleading way. Cable DOES use Fiber-Optic cable... it's just not in any way DEDICATED Fiber Optics which is what FiOS is... I don't think there is a person in the world who is educated about the subject who would actually believe this commercial and would see why it's misleading.. but it certainly gives those who don't know anything about it the impression that Verizon is trying to pull a fast one when it's really TWC playing tricks.
Cable also uses copper like those 'old guys'. Ever stop to wonder what that thin wire in that shielded coaxial cable of yours?
They're catering to the stupidity of the average person. It works wonders to use gross misrepresentation.
That ad is like a corporate wedgy. It's funny I must admit.
Lol, I love your phrase "corporate wedgy". I must integrate that into my vocabulary now :D
Btw, forgive me for my ignorance, but doesn't cable service imply fibre-optic connections?
Mr. jazz hands actor is the one with the wedgie.
what is it with the unwritten rule that 2/3 of all male actors in TV ads must humiliate themselves? honor is dead
What? ... No she's not, sicko.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Blackman
I agree. I too now
Sorry comments screwed up on me!
I too now heart the term 'corporate wedgie'.
And to r3loaded:
Time Warner uses fibre-optic cables no more than my old Dial-Up provider did. Their regional switching office is connected to the internet backbone via fibre-optic cables, but from their local office to my cable modem, its all copper.
Wow...if TWC clams those words...Verizon sure got a case there. That's just outright lies. They could have gone with soemthing more truthful like FIOS is hardly available everywhere. In fact I've been trying to switch over to FIOS from timewarner, now comcast but they say they have no plans in my area.
TW has been using fiber optics for over a decade....just not directly linked to our homes. Their networks consists of all fiber optic cables at the main hubs, but its the bottle neck to consumer home that cause a slow down.
Not false advertising...just misleading information, gets the consumer every time. Just look at the DL/UL speed differential.
I agree. Misleading, Yes. False, No.
But does it really matter? that is one of those commercials that reminds me to pick up the remote and hit fast forward. ;)
Cablevision has been running these exact same ads - I thought they *were* Cablevision ads, but maybe any cable company that wants to can use them.
In fact, much of CV's network *is* "last mile" fiber, just not from the street into your house (it's converted to coax at the box on a telephone pole outside). My neighborhood is 100% fiber on Cablevision. I can't speak for Time Warner, but if they're doing the same, then these ads aren't really inaccurate.
Cablevision in my area also has the same internet speeds as FIOS, and TV that until recently at least was just as good... though quality seems to be slipping lately. I had FIOS for a while and was not very impressed, though, and their goddamn network router that they literally force you to use went down on me at least once per day. That was enough to send me back to Cablevision.
those time warner plans are REAL expensive compared to what I got. Wow. And it's not for the first 4 months either.
hmm, this makes me think, has microsoft ever sued apple for their slanderlishious ads?
They have to be false ads to sue.
well what they imply is false, and this seems to parrallel quite well with this verizon twc deal.
i really hope i didn't turn this post into a mac vs. windows bash, just saying thats what I thought of when i saw the clip above.
It must be provably false. None of the ads, at the time they aired, were false in a way that can be proven.
Yes, Apple can say "Macs are more secure than PCs." There is no single, well-accepted metric of computer security, so their claims cannot be proven false. (Microsoft could easily rebut with "PCs are actually more secure" and Apple couldn't do a thing about it.) Although, most people would cry foul considering Microsoft's track record.
Most everything else in those ads are the same way.
it wasnt my mac that got banged in 5 minutes in the hacker party in canada...microsoft was next..but that technicly makes PC's more safe...
...ubuntu was the only one who stayed alive after all the hacking...
bonds makes a great point. It's hurtful and all, but a great point. It sounds slanderous, but it can go both ways.
All the companies can say they have the fastest, but depending on where you are and which plan you pick, that varies.
There are plenty of things in the Apple commercials that can be proven false. For example, one commercial implies that Windows PCs do not come with built-in webcams when in fact many different Windows PC models have that exact feature. In the Time Machine commercial Apple claims a similar feature doesn't exist in Windows, when Windows Vista's Backup and Restore feature provides more functionality than Time Machine. The list goes on and on, I'd say Microsoft has a pretty good case if they wanted to go after those ads.
I would like to point out that the Mac vs. PC ads are just that, Mac vs. PC. It's not saying Microsoft, or Windows... or heck, OSX isn't even mentioned, just implied. The ad above specifically is calling out Verizon...
@ james
right, i forgot, they weren;t talking about microsoft when they said "vista still doesn't work right, ... it has caused so many problems" ok, so they didn't say "use osx" but they did say "should have gotten a mac"
I like the Mac v. PC ad where they try to make it sound bad that PC has all those parts manufactures while Mac does not.
Yeah, it sure sucks that competition exists to drive down prices. The horror!!!!
What about ebay saying not to use safari?
Vista's backup and restore feature is a feature that only specific SKUs of Vista have, specifically, on the business side, and Ultimate edition. For someone buying a PC with Home Basic Home Premium, the backup feature is missing entirely.
How many PCs do you think out there come with Home edition, and therefore crippled backup?
Time Machine comes with every version of Mac OS X (easy since there is only one), and every Mac.
Check your facts. Windows Vista Home Premium has the full Windows Backup and Restore Center. Home Basic has limited functionality of it, only Starter is missing it entirely.
And that's completely besides the point. In the ad, Apple is trying to portray the Windows PC as missing these features completely. The problem is the user has a choice in the Windows PC as to whether their system has this feature or not. And that's the problem with nearly all the Mac vs. PC ads: Apple tries to spin choice into something bad. Sure, some Windows PCs don't have Backup and Restore Center; some Windows PCs don't have built-in webcams. But others do have those features, which defeats the argument Apple is trying to spin completely.
Apple is using similar tactics, but the problem is that a decent amount of the industry has experienced what is being insinuated in the commercials. Most of marketing is not what you say but how you say it. Depending on which point of view you're looking from, there are a great deal of commercials that seem like lies.
Someone above said that one commercial implies that PCs don't come with webcams built in... but I saw the commercial as saying that almost all Macs come with Webcams built in rather than a few PCs.
Rarely do you see any downright lies in these ads (like the TWC vs. Verizon one here), but you see truth painted in a certain way to give a certain impression that helps the cause of the commercial you're watching every single day.
Besides Apple's marketing team knows exactly what they're doing by calling out the kinds of problems windows users experience everyday to make some kind of emotional connection with them and try and convince them that a Mac won't let them down (and I am a Mac user and Fanboy and even I can't say that my Mac has never crashed). The commercials wouldn't keep airing if they weren't WILDLY successful.
my issue, is that people in general are stupid, they are sheep, and will follow what others say. If a person is uneducated in computers (or telecoms or whatev) people will see these things as fact, and then be deceived. Take a look at windows ads, they advertise the advantages to windows, office, etc, and usually the synergy that the products bring. apple on the other hand just bashes windows without really caliming much for their side. Its usually like "windows sucks, we can make pretty photoalbums" really until leopard came out, there was very little in competition betweenfeatures, just that "pc can't do what mac can" Some one unaware of the truth will fall into this, even if they would have been perfectly happy with their bargain pc. does it work? sure it does, but it feels skeezy. Instead of low balling others, how about making a product that people actually think is better, and thus buy it.
In New York City TWC started running a different version of this add that does in fact mention a satelite dish is required for FIOS. When I first saw the ad I knew it not to be correct. It is going to be funny to see how this is settled.
I cringe every time I see this ad. I say pull it for the sake of TV watchers everywhere.
The part where they say you have to get satelite to get their tv service irks me, because its false. But when the guy waves his hands and goes "im talking verizon's type of fibberrr" I giggle.
It's not false, it's true conditionally. Verizon's TV service is not available in all areas where FiOS is available. In those areas that have FiOS but don't have Verizon TV yet, Verizon offers a bundle deal with DirectTV that combines their FiOS internet and phone service with DirectTV's satellite television service. So when TWC claim Verizon's FiOS requires satellite dishes to use, they are telling the truth, but only for certain areas.
The Hybrid Fiber Coax networks began in the mid 90's and were begun to be implemented by the cable co's starting in 1997 or so. As it is 2008 it is entirely possible that TWC has been using fiber for over ten years.
Yes, thank you. The ad is slightly misleading, but it is 100% true.
It actually is true...but it definitely is misleading. The fiber networks have been used for business services (data centers, etc), rather than consumer end services. Who cares, I hate TWC consumer services and went with at&t UVerse instead.
Yes, but Fios is Fiber to the Home while TWC doesn't have Fiber in the "last mile" part of their offering, it just connects their POPs and Central Offices
A Hybrid Fiber-Coax network (HFC in the cable biz) is not the same as the fiber to the home that Verizon is offering. This is misleading but their is a grain of truth that can be used as a defence.
I have to side with Verizon here but the courts might not.
Full disclosure. I work for a company that sells equipment to both Time Warner and Verizon.
The Time Warner ad is funny. But, when they say that Verizon has tv service, they are saying that Verizon only offers it with their DirecTV satellite agreement, not on FiOS which is Fiber Optics.
But they do offer TV on FiOS, that's the whole point.
not everywhere there are places they offer fios without tv. its simplify not available so in theory you would need to get satellite or go 1950 and have like 4 stations
"Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family"
Fail
i would love to see the shit that goes down at that family Christmas party.
I hope in exchange they make Verizon drop the ad with the little kid.
"...You should see his twuck"
i always feel like punching that lil kid in the FACE.
TWC is just plain sad. This ad proves it. They seem to think subscribers are morons.
Sadly... for the most part they are right. The 'Average Joe' subscriber is a moron when it comes to knowing much of anything about technology.
Yeah this ad runs in PA, the Poconos to be specific. I am not 100 % sure because i don't live there full time. Version advertises there but they don't actually offer the Fios network i think. If they do they do not offer the tv portion of it I'm pretty sure. So while the ad maybe somewhat deceiving out of context, it actually may have some truth per se. If I went with version for internet and not with a local cable company, I likely would not be using the cable company for cable and therefore i would need to get satellite tv which I think verizon offers as a package. Its a serious stretch but they can't sue for lost business where they don't offer the service because even if i saw the commercial and it changed my mind, I couldn't get the service regardless. With a proper retract and mia cupa there should be no hard no foul.
"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"
Someone needs to check their facts. I've had RR in Central Ohio since 1995. When they started rolling it out, they were also replacing the lines to houses with fiber. I was without cable for 2 days when the first truck took out all the lines down the alley on my street and before they ran the fiber along the poles.
Even when I moved to just north of columbus, TW had fiber run to the switch used by 20 homes.
"... TW had fiber run to the switch used by 20 homes."
that's the point, they didn't run the last mile with fiber; fios does.
Fiber to the switch is different than fiber to the house... You were sharing that bandwidth with 20 different people by your own admission. In many areas (including where I live - also in Central Ohio) that leads to bandwidth issues during peak times... I honestly switched to DSL because it is *consistently* faster than my RoadRunner connection was. I also get more HDTV channels now that I have DirectTV than any of my friends/neighbors with TimeWarner.
When the TWC guy offers the FIOS guy some fiber, Implying that the FIOS guy was full of shit... I knew they were going to get sued. What took so long, don't those fios guys watch TV?
Does anyone know why cable company ads are broadcasted in such poor quality?
The picture and sound quality on these commercials are comparable to local commercials. It drives me nuts.
Wait a minute... so you actually care about the sound and video quality of advertisements? They are ADS! Who cares? You're the corporate advertising man's wet dream.
[Mr. Burns Voice]
Excellent. Watch the ads. Yes. Watch them all.
[/Mr. Burns Voice]
Couple of reasons.
I do in fact enjoy short form narratives which include commercials.
I'm a stickler for quality so it irks me when something is put on TV that looks less than stellar.
And Lastly, it's a freaking company that is bragging about their HD tv content, yet their commercials look and sound like ass.
Woohoo! I'm glad I'm not the only person who notices that. :D
They wouldn't bug me as much if the commercials were actually timed correctly. That's what REALLY ticks me off about their commercials. They'll come on and cut off other commercials towards the end, be either much louder or quieter, and of course, have ass-quality picture and sound. And then at the end, we'll see the last second or so of whatever commercial was on 'under' the TW ads.
What really pisses me off is that maybe two or three times a month, the ads come on right in the frickin' middle of a show. "And there's a base hit to the gap in right-center field! Furcal rounding sec-*knock knock* Hi, have you heard about *woosh* THE FIBER??" >:(
I just moved from MA to CA. In MA I had FiOS and it was great. In my neighborhood in CA the only choice is TWC and now I pay more for fewer TV channels, a slower Internet connection that is down at least once a week and a phone service that was down for a whole day last month.
Please Verizon, come to SoCal and safe us from TWC.
Verizon *is* in SoCal, just only in Riverside County. I'm in San Diego, and I would LOVE it if Verzion came further south, so I can ditch my TWC for them. As it stands, I'd have to move to Temecula to get FiOS, as that's the closest it gets to san diego.
*waves hands in rainbow motion*
boo, stupid comment system. that was supposed to be a reply to Double-J
The add makes me want to get the Verizon service, it looks so sweet. Do you get different amounts of sparkles with different level service and is there a limit to the amount of sparkles per month because i use sparkel torrent.
This is a messed up add. First it doesn't matter how long time warner has been using fiber, they still don't bring fiber directly to there customers ( to the curb). Second the part about the directv is only partially true for DSL customers, which last time i checked DSL isnt FIOS.
So...why does it matter if they bring fiber to hour curb or use fiber to the switching office, then coax to the house? You can only go as fast as the weakest link, and FioS uses Coax from the curb to the house, so it's a moot point.
Example: If you have a 1Gig connection to your curb, and a 10meg connection from the curb to the house, you still can't get any better connection than 10meg.
No, the fiber comes right into the box in your house. Then it's split into coax in your house that goes off to the cable boxes. This is called FTTP. (Fiber to the Premises).
WTH are you talking about? FiOS does NOT use coax from the curb to the house.
The point is that it does split to coax, so if coax is the weakest link, it doesn't matter to travel on it for 50 feet or 5,000 feet. You will never be able to go any faster than the weakest link.
I am not saying coax is incapable of fiber speeds, just that it really makes no difference where the fiber terminates so long as the coax runs are not in excess of the limitations of the physical link standards set forth.
In this area, the fiber goes to the curb, not the house, they actually DO use coax from the curb to the house, they trench up your yard in order to run it from the curb and they lay coaxial cable.
@Neal
The coaxial cable you're talking about is only used for TV. The internet connection doesn't use coaxial cable at all. The fiber optic cable is connected to an ONT located on or in your house and is converted to a CAT5/RJ45 cable to your router.
Neal: You seem pretty daft and not understanding what everyone is saying. Let me dumb it down to an Elementary level that even a Time Warner fanboy can understand:
1. Verizon fiber enters house House
2. FiOS box in house:
a: fiber goes into FiOS box - from the outside
b: coax goes out of FiOS box... to TVs and TVs ONLY
c: NON-Coax connection to the computers.
Got it now?
See the below post, I have watched the guys connecting coax from a buried box in a customers yard by the curb, and trench coax to a house. It's not fiber, it's Verizon trucks. Not sure what else to tell you.
Being insulting doesn't help your cause, or make you seem any smarter than anyone else here. If it helps you feel better about how much smarter you are than I am - I am a network engineer for an exceptionally large company.
Oh FFS, Neil. Just because you have copper running in your house doesn't mean all of a sudden your quality goes down the shitter. It comes down to bandwidth and the amount being proportioned to each customer. Every customer has the fiber line run to their house.(It's irrelevant if it's to the house or curb) They then use a fiber converter box which will have the copper coming out of it. The copper lines are more than enough bandwidth for everything you'll be using. Everything.
The difference is that the cable company is using their copper for 30+ houses and that's when the bandwidth of copper becomes an issue and kills your quality. If you have a full fiber optic line run to your house, and the copper lines are only being used for your own house, you will not have any issue with bandwidth causing a quality drop.
Plus, I forgot to mention that copper coax over long distances will have a loss in signal strength over much shorter distances, requiring boosters to keep the signal going. Fiber is much better suited to sending data long distances. While RG6-quad outdoor or burial cable is heavily insulated and shielded, it is still more prone to becoming corroded or being effected by interference, especially over long distances and through multiple signal boosters.
Since many here can't seem to read the below response as I indicated, (or in yoru case even my name correctly), I'll spell it out a little more plainly.
The complaint isn't (or rather shouldn't be) one of copper vs fiber, so long as the limitations of the physical standard are not being exceeding in any way - as I stated below.
The complaint should be one of oversubscription. If the cable company in your area has an oversubscripbed node, example - 1Gbps connection into the node, and 11 people with 100Mbps connections, then it can theoretically be oversubscribed if all people download something at max bandwidth, then the it's the architecture problem - not the Layer 1 connection being used.
Saying fiber or FioS is superior or inferior is a worthless arguement, since Verizon or any other telco has the ability oversubscribe a port at any place in the network. It matters not one whit if you have fiber 100% to the NIC in your PC if there is a bottleneck upstream in the telco.
It's semantics. I'm sure that they have been using fiber for over a decade, they certainly aren't running their long range backbone off coax. It doesn't state where they are using fiber, they could mean that they had fiber attached drives in their data centers - doesn't say, but that would technically be true for the commercial's statement.
That said, I have FioS in my area, but still use Comcast. Why? I get 15Mb down and 2Mb up for $50 a month, and I don't have to bundle my phone with Comcast to get that. Verizon wants $70 for the same speeds and I have to go with their phone deal too.
Check the prices with Verizon again. Last time I checked 15down 5up was only 55 and doesn't require you to bundle anything. Comcast on the other hand does require you to bundle cable with internet or it's 60 a month.
Responding to Neal:
..."FioS uses Coax from the curb to the house"...
Maybe you've heard that FiOS uses coax from the curb to the house, but it's not true for me. I've got fiber coming right to my Verizon router in North Jersey.
... "I get 15Mb down and 2Mb up for $50 a month, and I don't have to bundle my phone with Comcast to get that. Verizon wants $70 for the same speeds and I have to go with their phone deal too"...
Again, I live in North Jersey, but I have FiOS service at 20Mb down, 5Mb up for $50 a month. Better speeds than yours for the same price. Also, I ONLY have the internet service, I don't have TV or phone with them. So again, I don't know where you're getting your information.
I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a FiOS fanboy, but in almost a year of having the service, it has blown away any other consumer connection I have ever seen.
Those commercials annoy the hell out of me because I know any cable company talks about Verizon's "high speed internet", they aren't talk about FiOS, they're talking about DSL. It's extremely misleading for the everyday consumer.
Verizon just has a better product and the cable companies don't know what to do about it. It's a shame they have to resort to borderline false advertising.
edit: I meant 20down 5 up
Neal, FIOS is fiber to the house.. and given it does does something like 5 tv channels at a time, + 50/20 mbps internet, they've got 250+ mbps down at the very least to the house..
beyond that, it's ~79 for the 50/20 service.. that's 3x better down, and 10x better up than you have for 50.. Not a value for all folks, but if you upload a lot, it's really worth it.
Over a decade ago, GTE laid fiber optic cable in to the end of my street and brand new high-quality coax throughout my house for FREE in an attempt to beat the local cable company. GTE became Verizon when it merged with Bell Atlantic; Verizon sold the TV business to Adelphia who deprecated their older coax network. Adelphia sold the TV business to Time Warner. And now Verizon/GTE has laid fiber again and is trying, AGAIN, to sell me service.
My time warner service (as a product, not in name) has been as fiber as FiOs for over a decade. That is to say, the last distance (inside my house) is copper in either case.
I honestly don't care what technology they use to deliver my content as long as it's cheap, good (fast Internet, high quality video), and reliable. Time Warner has been all three thus far. Until the Verizon FiOs prices come down and/or Verizon proves itself to be sufficiently less evil than Time Warner, I'll stay with Time Warner.
Having researched this in my area (and I have checked it out several times over the last year + since it was piloted in this area), I wish I had the same rates availible you do. That is not the case in my area though.
Also of note, those I do know who have FioS in my are also have port 80 and 443 blocked incoming to their home. That won't work for me, as I have a Windows Home Server and I use it for remote access to my home PC's, and you have to have those ports open without getting creative with ports and registry hacks. Again, not at all worth it for me.
What I am arguing is that it makes no difference how long a coax run there is, it can support a ton of bandwidth, why argue that the fiber runs are longer and the coax run is shorter? They are both involved and if coax is so bad that the companies and customers are to believe that one is so much better for having a shorter run of it - why use it at all if it's a flawed or inferior technology?
You must live in magic unsupervised contractor FiOSland. They run fiber to the house and terminate to a NUI which then splits the connection to coax, cat5/6, rj11, etc. They do that in 100% of homes and 80%+ appartment/condos (the fiber will terminate in a common location and use building wire to the customer).
When I recently switched from Tampa Bay Time Warner / Brighthouse to Verizon FIOS, I called Time Warner to shut off my service. They tried to prevent the cancellation, and the Time Warner rep said, "you know you have been getting fiber optic service from us all along?" I said, not quite, but he insisted the service was identical to the FIOS fiber service. Worsening matters, this lie was apparently a SCRIPT he was reading, so that means it wasn't a rogue Time Warner guy lying, it was corporate policy. If someone got a hold of their scripts, they'd have some damning evidence supporting Verizon's claims.
I'm in North Jersey, so we've had FiOS for a decent amount of time. Yet I still saw this ad several times, claiming that the satellite was necessary. So on that account, they are 100% deceptive.
Actually, at the end of that commercial, the guy with the cereal bowl says something to the effect of "besides, don't you need a satellite dish to watch tv?" So, if I'm right about it, then I think TW needs to cut the crap and correct that. Loss revenue, I don't know how they can prove that.
Engadget, come on now, stop showing your bias towards your owner. That's a new edited version of the commercial which clearly omits the part about needing a satellite dish to watch tv. The version that has always played in my area clearly makes the mention of needing the dish. Besides, I don't recall ever seeing the version you've posted here. Shady Engadget, shady.
Here is the ad with the dish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyaPwe528NY
Comcast has ads running in the Chicagoland area that say AT&T's new TV service "U-verse" requires a Dish. They even show a picture of a house with a Dish. Sounds very familiar to the claims in the Verizon suit.
I've always hated this ad. It's misleading and not funny. Also, it's sad that they have to attack another provider, since they can't claim to have the most HD or the fastest internet.
The message seem to be that fiber optics are for people who are constipated. Who are the ad wizards that came up with this?
Comcast is also showing ads in the Olympia, WA area saying that they have a fiber optic network too. Unfortunately, they're not saying that they aren't bringing fiber to the home, but it is implied in their commercials.
Verizon FIOS is up in the Seattle area and in the Portland, OR area and slowing making its way through the I-5 corridor. I'm looking forward to it.
These ads always make me cringe, too. I have roommates that often shout at the TV, which irks me. However, every time I see this ad I find myself shouting "yeah, but you didn't run the fiber into our homes, you dolts!"
I do not have Fios. I cannot get it in my area, and I was incredibly unsatisfied when I had Verizon for DSL (OptimumOnline has been so much nicer.)
But the ads still tend to piss me off.
Much like this new format for engadget is, as this text box is about 5 or 6 characters behind my typing. We went from one slow, buggy format to another?
Although the TWC ads may be misleading, the winner for all time worst intelligence-insulting ads would have to be Cox Cable.
Stupidest commercial around and makes me sick. Time Warner sux with their crappy upload and download speeds and claiming they had fiber for years. Must be somewhere's in their headquarters, because it certainly hasn't reached their customers. Time Warner is the one that's bunched up. I want Verizon FiOS, not some crappy TWC. It was nice when I got it three years ago, but they haven't improved as much as they should have.
I see no inaccuracies whatsoever in this commercial. The cable companies have indeed been using fiber optics for over a decade. Most of the cable networks is comprised of fiber. Copper is only used for the last hop of the network to reach residences. The cable companies upgraded their networks to this fiber/copper hybrid because they realized copper offers more than enough bandwidth for the final connection into residences. And so far they seem to be correct: my cable provider, for example, provides just as much bandwidth as FiOS (up to 50mbps downstream/5mbps upstream internet, and just as many HD channels, plus voice). So I can understand the cable companies frustration with FiOS: FiOS brings no tangible bandwidth increases to the residential subscriber, yet Verizon kept touting their fiber network as some sort of improvement, when so far it has proven to be nothing more than a marketing gimmick. It is possible, though, that in the future FiOS may scale beyond the capacities of the cable companies hybrid networks, but that will only happen when we get speeds far beyond what is currently offered.
what annoys me most about this story is the comments where people keep calling an advertisement an "add"
I have never got used to this type of promoting since moving here, be it competing corporations or politicians.
In the UK ads NEVER mention the competition by name or compare - they just talk about their benefits.
I think this is reflective of USA culture who are happy to listen to a competitor slagging off competition. It simply wouldn't work in the UK - it's been tried commercially and politically, and has never worked.
Time Warner AOL just look smug, cheap and dirty by UK standards and certainly say you need a dish...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyaPwe528NY
I want to see the ad where Verizon claims they're saying it requires a dish. The ad in the post is legit. Cable companies have been running fiber to the headends for a long time.
Engadget, can you also retract your comments that TWC is downright false in saying they've used fiber optics for the last decade?
Because it is true, that is the F part of the HFC network, Hybrid Fiber Coax.
Just because the fiber doesn't go to the house doesn't mean they're not using fiber.
Heck, the fiber that goes to the house for Verizon is technically on the customer side either, it's just closer to the customer. The customer is still using copper, and usually coax at this point for the Verizon side in their house.
You know what I thought was really awesome though?
That Michael Bay FIOS advertisement:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MiHsxQJ9ZOo
Okay heres my take on this. Why the hell would Verizon even bother if their FIOS is not even available in most suburbs. I wanted FIOS when I first heard it 4-5 years ago but its only available in selected areas, mostly cities. And 5 years later its still not here. They only give FIOS to upgraded cities and I'm still stuck on TW.
I want to mention one thing. ITs not the coax medium thats slowing cable down. ITs how the docsis spec uses that medium which slows it down. Coax can do speeds atleast of 270/270 (was shown by verizon and that company they use for their box connections).
So Blame docsis for slow cable speeds not the coax medium itself.
Heck cablevision was doing tests with 50/50 and 100/100 using the narad tech which used unused spectrum of the coax and switching . The tests stopped though because narad went out of business (which was upsetting because the tech had promise).
I have symmetrical FIOS at 15Mbps up and down. I had fun with a TWC door to door sales person the other day who said he could "Turbocharge" my internet with Roadrunner. I said "Ooooooooooh! Can you "turbocharge" the upload speed from your 384kbps to the 15megs I have with FIOS?"
I think he began to weep inside.
Even the "business class" Roadrunner that I have at my office (FIOS isn't offered there, dammit) is only about 10 megs down and 1 meg (up on a good day) and costs 20% more than FIOS.
I usually don't root for Verizon, but I hope they win this one.