Fios Reviews, Eagles Truly Stink & the Colts and Patriots are the Class of the League

First of all, thank you very much to all the people who responded to my question regarding Fios. Many of you expressed a similar desire to know what people thought about the service, so here are some snippets from the people who responded to me (in a nutshell, 80% very positive and a big improvement over cable company products, with some exceptions):

• In regards to their internet service, I absolutely love it. A million times better than RCN/Comcast/Time Warner, etc. Never glitches, never stops working due to service problems, etc. (N.S., NYC)
• I have had FIOS for about 6 months. I'm a former Cox customer and couldn't be happier when comparing to what I had with Cox. I have the telephone, Internet and FIOS TV, and did with Cox too (HD Digital). And hands down Verizon is better. At least my experience has been. Overall, the price is roughly the same. The FIOS TV is a little less than Cox's price, but the phone is more. Also have a multi-room DVR (FYI, the multi-room DRV if on a HD-TV records on the HD-TV and can be played on that TV and other none HD-TV's, I can't play on my other HD). Internet a virtual tie. And that includes customer service which is far superior than Cox. (E.Y., Virginia)
• we just switched over to FIOS internet & TV .. bottom line ... good or better channel lineup, less cost (but not much) ... it's fine. we haven't had any problems. (A.C., Philly)
• Switched from DirecTV about three months ago. Overall it's ok. The on demand features seems pretty good, but I don't get the HBO or other premium channels, so not sure how their on demand features normally are. Anyway, the interface as compared to DTV is a little strange, but ok. The set top box deal is cool because you just need one DVR, but can view anything on there from any TV. We also got it bundled with phone and internet, which I guess is fine -- no real difference from the other service. The only issue we had is with the install. They had to come back a couple of times because either the set top box was bad, or the DVR was bad -- depending on which TV. When they came over to hook it up and upgrade my internet, the guy accidentally took my wireless router (thought it was a verizon replacement). They never found it, so gave me a $120 gift card for comp usa. Not bad considering the router he took cost me $80 when I bought it over a year ago. Long story short -- I had comcast once and hated it. I had direct tv, and thought it was pretty good. I think the fios thing is pretty damn good, but I also think they are going through some growth pains with rolling it out across the country. (K.K.)
• I Like it. The HD TV is good alot more channels than cablevision. Telephone has no problems, sounds the same as all others and the internet is a little faster than optonline. (Barely noticeable) There are other fees that they charge. My fees are 6 bucks taxes on phone. Starz and showtime About 30 channels 3HD is 12.99, HBO 10 + 1HD 15.99, Reg Box 4.99 ea, DVR HD box12.99, I think it is 9.99 hd only with no DVR and 15.99 HD box with DVR to watch recordings in each rrom that you have a box in. The picture is great in HD, good on big screen with regular channels and sound is much better. I have a sony 32 inch tube TV with simulated surround sound and that sounds alot better and looks just as almost as good as HD on my big screen. Any other questions just let me know. (T.N., Long Island)
• Well, good friends of mine in Radnor got it over a year ago and love it. But my sister who lives in Berwyn got it about 6 months ago, had nothing but problems and horrible customer service problems with Verizon and got rid of it and went back to Comcast. You'll probably love it or hate it, no in between. (S.H., Philly)
• We had Fios. The price for the same service was about $40 less a month....two phone lines, 3 boxes (2 were DVR, the multimedia didn't work for us since there were nights we would tape 3 shows in the same time slot) and wireless. It was around $222 a month with Verizon. TV was def. better but not a HUGE diff. I didn't like the box said PLA when watching a taped show instead of giving the time but not the end of the world either. I did like that you could search a program by title and type in the letters for quicker access. On Cablevision, we can only search by first letter then need to scroll through all the programs. I found out internet was MUCH slower and inconsistent. Verizon had me run all kinds of tests and sometimes I was running around 20,000 but other times only 4000. They said it was most likely a defective router. I canceled service b/c if I waited longer than the 15 day trial period, I would have to pay $199 service fee. When I switched back to cable, my bill went down lower than Verizon. When I did try to cancel, Cable tried to keep me by offering a lower bill so you can always call and tell them you are switching and see what they do. (S.M., New York)

Now back to some sports....

The Eagles are not a good team. I think most of us knew this before Sunday, and I have probably alluded to it in this space before, but Sunday night proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this team cannot compete with the better teams in the league at this point. The personnel is not at a level that can line-up and beat the best teams in the league. That is Andy Reid's fault as the General Manager. In addition, the gameplans, preparation and execution are all terrible, and that is Andy Reid's fault as the General Manager. The tea leaves, if I am reading them correctly, say that Donovan McNabb's days as the quarterback in this town are coming to a rapid close. I will go on record by saying I think this is a mistake and that if we get rid of McNabb, some other team will be very lucky to have him. He is still less than a year removed from surgery on his knee, and has NOBODY that can get open on a consistent basis. It was doubly irritating watching the Cowboys and watching T.O. (who was here) and Jason Witten (who was passed over by the Birds for L.J. Smith) run around freely because the Birds have nobody who can cover them. We should all pray that Andy Reid steps down after this season and that the Eagles can start to rebuild in earnest.

Much more interesting was the Patriots vs. Colts game. These two teams are so far above everybody else it is ridiculous. And the Colts, who were rightfully maligned for years because their defense was light years behind their offense, has put together a defensive squad with enough speed and talent to slow down Tom Brady, who had 30 TDs and 2 INTs coming into Sunday's game. In my opinion, the Colts proved that they are every bit as good as the Patriots. They were in a position to win despite playing without Marvin Harrison, who should be good to go for the rematch. Of course it would be ideal for Indy if the rematch were in the warm friendly confines of the dome in January, but this team has the ability to go into Foxboro and beat New England in January.

Pittsburgh looks like a legitimate 3rd best team in the league after just demolishing a Baltimore team that just cannot play away from home. Dallas is probably the best the NFC has to offer but no better than the 4th best team in the NFL at this team. Personally, I still do not believe in Green Bay despite the lofty record, and look for them to slump a bit down the stretch before making a much earlier than expected exit in the playoffs.

The college basketball regular season started last night with Memphis, a true National Championship contender, debuting in the Coaches vs, Cancer first round game. Derrick Rose looks like the real deal for the Tigers.

I will be back tomorrow or Thursday with a preview of the mighty 2007-08 Duke Blue Devils, along with a few other college hoops tidbits...