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Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 12, 2016 07:22PM

Which is better for cable TV, internet, and landline phone? Anyone have experience with both of them?

How do the costs compare? We have all the normal channels and non-premium cable channels (AMC, TNT, FX, etc.) as well as a movie tier (ten or so encore and similar movie channels, but not HBO, Showtime, etc.) and subscribe to SEC channel during football and basketball seasons.

Right now we have Cox (analog - not Contour) with two HD DVRs, one on each level of the house and two regular (not HD) cable boxes in other rooms. We are going to select either Contour or FIOS for future viewing, probably changing in June or July.

With either Contour or FIOS, we would probably have one DVR and 3 set top boxes (or smart cards) in TVs in other rooms. If I understand correctly, you can then watch recorded shows on any TV in the house.

Question: can you set up to record a show from a set top box and TV that are remote from the DVR?

Thanks in advance for any and all helpful responses.

---------------------

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. - John Cassis on manners

Ignoring juvenile attacks and remarks on the internet for over two decades.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Count our ()
Date: March 13, 2016 12:11AM

The Countour box sucks. I cancelled Cox in part due to how shitty that thing is. All kinds of problems. Replaced multiple times. It's a Cisco box like everyone else but man I was not a fan.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: FrankR. ()
Date: March 13, 2016 08:50AM

COX has always been great for us. No problems.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 13, 2016 12:21PM

Count our Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Countour box sucks. I cancelled Cox in part
> due to how shitty that thing is. All kinds of
> problems. Replaced multiple times. It's a Cisco
> box like everyone else but man I was not a fan.

Thanks, Count.

About how long ago did you last have the Contour box?

Also, did you switch to FIOS or something else?

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 13, 2016 12:23PM

FrankR. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> COX has always been great for us. No problems.


Frank, thanks for the reply.

Do you have the Contour box with all digital cables or is it the older Cox analog boxes?

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: FrankR. ()
Date: March 13, 2016 05:59PM

Fully digital / HD Cisco boxes. I guess they are Contour?

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 13, 2016 07:24PM

FrankR. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fully digital / HD Cisco boxes. I guess they are
> Contour?

Frank, any of below look familiar?

Here are the Contour devices from their webpage: https://www.cox.com/residential/tv/tv-equipment.html Maybe Contour is only the record 6 and the record two boxes? That's how it's labeled.

The record six at once DVR: tv_equipment_dvrreceiver_record6.jpg

The record two at once DVR: tv_equipment_dvrreceiver_record2.jpg

The record one show at a time DVR: tv_equipment_comparetv_hddvr.jpg

The HD cable box: tv_equipment_hdreceiver_hd.jpg

The mini-box: tv_equipment_hdreceiver_mini.jpg

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Greybeard ()
Date: March 14, 2016 07:47PM

Cox has two DVRs: the older, rock-solid (in our experience), two-programs-at-a-time-max box and Contour. Countour is newish (couple of years old) and appears to have been developed by a gang of drunken teenage monkeys who used a Web app once a long time ago.

OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but the UI is wildly counterintuitive, including lots of places where buttons either do nothing or cause error messages like "Unable to perform that operation at this time". Or my favorite: you're watching a show, get semi-bored, go into the DVR menu, and say to delete the show you're watching. It says you can't because you're watching it. DOH...

Seriously, the number of folks who have had horrible experiences with Contour is sad. We've actually been pretty lucky; our Contour box has wedged a couple of times, but that's it. Of course we've also ignored a mailing from Cox saying that the hard drive may fail and to bring it in for a replacement unit -- but they won't transfer existing recordings, and we have stuff we (at least thing) we'll watch at some point. And of course we'd also lose all the programming, which at least we could semi-avoid by noting what programs we have set to record. Of course that only works for ones that are currently being shown: there's no way to say "Hey, if a program called XYZ ever shows up, record it". Which would be REALLY nice -- think of your favorite movie that you'd like to grab if and when it's ever on. But I digress.

Now, when the Contour works, it's pretty good. It lets you do things like say "Record this program and add 1/2/3/5/10/15/30/60 minutes on the end", so if it's, say, the Oscars, or the Super Bowl, you don't have to worry about losing the last bit.

So my advice (free, worth every penny!) would be to try it. And I haven't tried Verizon's DVR, so it could be better in every way. But we're *reasonably* happy with our Contour, despite the aforementioned UI weirdness.

HTH

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: FrankR. ()
Date: March 14, 2016 07:56PM

My apologies Dog Walker1, turns out I have the non-contour HD Cisco boxes. Mine isn't pictured there. I have this one, I think. Works for us. http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/settop_8640HDC.html

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: streaming guy ()
Date: March 14, 2016 08:06PM

I ditched cable a long time ago. Streaming is the way to go. I use Cox internet 50MB and it works just fine. If you want basic channels, just get an HD antenna for around $20 and watch everything else on Hulu, Netflix, or online

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 14, 2016 11:30PM

Greybeard,

Thanks for the informative post.

I love your idea of setting the box to record a particular movie if it is ever aired and well in advance of when it's on the schedule (which usually only extends a week out). A DVR that with that capability would really be useful.

The UI weirdness makes me think of my recent experience in a vacation rental house that had an Xfinity setup with an HD DVR in the living room and an HD set top box in the master bedroom. The remote control for the set top box worked fine, but the DVR kept misinterpreting remote control commands. My wife or I could simply be scrolling up the channel guide program list and the unit would turn off or otherwise perform a random function.

I think the problem was that the DVR was in a metal cabinet. The IR remote control signals were getting scrambled by reflecting off metal surfaces close to the sides and back of the DVR. Either that or the remote and DVR were lemons, unable to effectively work.

I didn't ask about Xfinity in my post b/c it's not available in my area. I also didn't ask about Dish or other satellite TV. Ten years back we rented a vacation house with satellite TV and it went out whenever it rained hard.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 14, 2016 11:33PM

FrankR. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My apologies Dog Walker1, turns out I have the
> non-contour HD Cisco boxes. Mine isn't pictured
> there. I have this one, I think. Works for us.
> http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/settop_8
> 640HDC.html


Frank, no apology needed, but thanks for clarifying what box you have. It's tricky b/c Cox uses Contour for some units and not others with an unclear dividing line.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Dog Walker1 ()
Date: March 14, 2016 11:52PM

streaming guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I ditched cable a long time ago. Streaming is the
> way to go. I use Cox internet 50MB and it works
> just fine. If you want basic channels, just get an
> HD antenna for around $20 and watch everything
> else on Hulu, Netflix, or online

Sounds good, and I love the idea in theory, but it might not work for someone with my viewing preferences.

How can you watch certain cable shows (e.g., Major Crimes on TNT), political debates on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc, and also sports events such as college basketball on ESPN & other cable channels?

I guess you just don't watch those except the political debates would be streamed and/or available for watching later on the news networks websites.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: ThePrice ()
Date: March 15, 2016 07:50AM

Sucks Cox

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: heymack ()
Date: March 15, 2016 01:18PM

To watch what you want to watch is $80/month plus Internet so around $150/month) which is a ripoff. Right now Cox is still streaming HD OTA channels direct without a box ($18/month) and SlingTV streams a bunch of channels including CNN, AMC, ESPN, ESPN2, History, TNT, A&E, FoodNetwork and others for $19.99/month. If and when Cox drops the direct feed I still have a couple of free boxes they gave me that are free until next Feb...at that point I will drop them altogether and go OTA for those channels.

I do like their Internet and will probably stay with them. Right now my cable bill with 50MB Internet is $88.00/month before taxes.

Dog Walker1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> streaming guy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I ditched cable a long time ago. Streaming is
> the
> > way to go. I use Cox internet 50MB and it works
> > just fine. If you want basic channels, just get
> an
> > HD antenna for around $20 and watch everything
> > else on Hulu, Netflix, or online
>
> Sounds good, and I love the idea in theory, but it
> might not work for someone with my viewing
> preferences.
>
> How can you watch certain cable shows (e.g., Major
> Crimes on TNT), political debates on CNN, Fox
> News, MSNBC, etc, and also sports events such as
> college basketball on ESPN & other cable
> channels?
>
> I guess you just don't watch those except the
> political debates would be streamed and/or
> available for watching later on the news networks
> websites.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2016 01:18PM by heymack.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Stephen ()
Date: September 12, 2016 08:20AM

I've had both services, Contour and FIOS. THhe Contour technology is a generation behind FIOS: can't stream to your devices, can't record as many shows simultaneously, internet speed slower, more service outages, worse customer service,etc. Cox makes the minimum investment in technology, and customers suffer accordingly.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Tad Kennedy ()
Date: September 12, 2016 09:47PM

Fios is superior in every way. The only good thing about Cox is that their existence helps keep Verizon from gouging even more.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Gene Dickerhoff ()
Date: September 12, 2016 10:57PM

I prefer this bad boy.
Attachments:
used-jerrold-impulse-general-instrument-cable-box-8e3e5baa632b363105a51f2910a809aa.jpg

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Couch Potato ()
Date: September 12, 2016 11:08PM

Tad Kennedy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fios is superior in every way. The only good
> thing about Cox is that their existence helps keep
> Verizon from gouging even more.

I stopped listening when the Verizon sales guy told me that FIOS would cost "only" $86 more per month than Cox. I decided to pass on acquiring another 100 channels I won't watch.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: fios is cheaper, for now ()
Date: September 12, 2016 11:35PM

Just switched from Cox to Verizon, it's faster and cheaper for now .

I was paying $140 a month for 50mpbs (actually 30mpbs) internet and the basic hd channels CNN, History, Comedy central etc along with 2 HD boxes. Get pretty much the same TV, 2 boxes and 100mpbs internet (actually 80 - 90mbps) for $100 per month with Verizon for 2 years. Verizon router bought on ebay for $90 instead of paying $10 a month to rent it.

I suspect Verizon will start charging me something crazy the 2 year period and will I'll just go back to cox.

The best deals are for new customers, they like to fuck you over if you have been with them for years since they know most people don't want to go through the effort of switching providers.

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: cc9hG ()
Date: September 13, 2016 10:53PM

you can and should try both and limit services to fit your real needs

you might even get an apple tv

(i can't, my land lord has decided to use expensive choices as a means to make me injured. but you - you might be free !)

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Re: Cox Contour vs. Verizon FIOS
Posted by: Pwj97 ()
Date: September 13, 2016 10:57PM

neither is locally owned, both were given special monopoly deals by fx co gov (actaully on file not just saying that)

one is georgia - a gov bitch who claims it's private (privatized at your cost) (and likely is hiding which hostile country they've xfered control of the company to) , and the other somewhat similar verizon - who is also out of state when germany claims to own

so try both and neither

depends on what you get out of what they offer and how well it fits your situation

you should use both so neither have complete control

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