Choosing New Services - Collier

[astropoint1]

We purchased a home in Collier and have to choose a Internet and TV and maybe Phone service, we move in the end of January.

I understand there are three vendors that will provide TV and Internet and phone, Century Telephone, Comcast, and Bright House and then of course, TV from Directv and Dish.

My hope is that the vendor will complete the wiring in the Leviton box so we will have a working LAN.

The wife is a TV 'junkie', and I'm an 'internet' junkie.

My question which vendor or combination of vendors will give the most advanced services. While price is a concern, it is not a limiting factor. Speed, TV channels, TV picture quality, and DVR functionality come first.
We are leaving a FIOS home and have become somewhat "spoiled".

Any and all suggestions are welcomed and any contacts with the local PC club that has information on hard wired LANs would be appreciated.

We are looking forward to joining the fun in the Villages.

BTW, I also posted this question in the Computer Forum, sorry for the double post.

[TNLAKEPANDA]

Let me know how that works out for you. We just bought a Designer Home in Collier and I do not recall seeing a Leviton box... nor did I see any Cat5 outlets in the house at all.

JR

[batman911]

Check out Bright House, great service, reasonable prices.

[gturay]

We purchased a home in Collier and have to choose a Internet and TV and maybe Phone service, we move in the end of January.

I understand there are three vendors that will provide TV and Internet and phone, Century Telephone, Comcast, and Bright House and then of course, TV from Directv and Dish.

My hope is that the vendor will complete the wiring in the Leviton box so we will have a working LAN.

The wife is a TV 'junkie', and I'm an 'internet' junkie.

My question which vendor or combination of vendors will give the most advanced services. While price is a concern, it is not a limiting factor. Speed, TV channels, TV picture quality, and DVR functionality come first.
We are leaving a FIOS home and have become somewhat "spoiled".

Any and all suggestions are welcomed and any contacts with the local PC club that has information on hard wired LANs would be appreciated.

We are looking forward to joining the fun in the Villages.

BTW, I also posted this question in the Computer Forum, sorry for the double post.
I signed up wih Brighthouse and got great service. The tech had to run cable from the pedestal on the lot line to the box, right next to the Comcast cable. He also wired all outlets, set up the wireless modem and verified that it worked and set the password that I wanted. I can change it later. The install was free and the first month of internet and cable is almost free (gave us $98 discount).

[TNLAKEPANDA]

I am leaning towards Brighthouse for our services.

[Lark7]

We have Brighthouse tv and internet - excellent installation and excellent service.

[BigB46]

We purchased a home in Collier and have to choose a Internet and TV and maybe Phone service, we move in the end of January.

I understand there are three vendors that will provide TV and Internet and phone, Century Telephone, Comcast, and Bright House and then of course, TV from Directv and Dish.

My hope is that the vendor will complete the wiring in the Leviton box so we will have a working LAN.

The wife is a TV 'junkie', and I'm an 'internet' junkie.

My question which vendor or combination of vendors will give the most advanced services. While price is a concern, it is not a limiting factor. Speed, TV channels, TV picture quality, and DVR functionality come first.
We are leaving a FIOS home and have become somewhat "spoiled".

Any and all suggestions are welcomed and any contacts with the local PC club that has information on hard wired LANs would be appreciated.

We are looking forward to joining the fun in the Villages.

BTW, I also posted this question in the Computer Forum, sorry for the double post.
Did you have Brighthouse come out? If so, what did you decide?

[Meddick]

Regarding the Leviton box and the blue cables in it, I have the same arrangement at our house in Collier (as I remember - I am away until March). Are the blue cables CAT5 or standard telephone cables? Are the wall outlets in the house for telephone or networking?

I do not think I am hijacking this thread as I need this information to help decide on our ISP.

[gturay]

Regarding the Leviton box and the blue cables in it, I have the same arrangement at our house in Collier (as I remember - I am away until March). Are the blue cables CAT5 or standard telephone cables? Are the wall outlets in the house for telephone or networking?

I do not think I am hijacking this thread as I need this information to help decide on our ISP.
The blue cables are telephone. There are numerous coaxial cable to most rooms also. No cat 5 wiring in the house. Most likely will need a wireless modem. Bright house rents you one for $5 per month.

[Harry & Christie]

My husband and I just moved to Gilchrist 2 weeks ago. We got the Comcast triple play and are very happy with it!

[PTY Sparky]

Bright House has been great for us.........Have heard some real horror stories about Comcast........No idea on satellite services. Bright House will lock in the price for up to 24 months with no contract.

Good Luck and welcome to the villages. We live in Collier also.

[LuckySevens]

Keep in mind that to get the first month free on your Brighthouse bundle you would need to sign up through me. I am the product specialist for the Villages, so those campaigns are exclusive through myself only. If you are interested in finding out more information, feel free to call or email me..

Lysander Jimenez
Direct Sales Rep
Brighthouse Networks
352-414-6756
Lysander.Jimenez@mybrighthouse.com

Mr. Jimenez, WHAT do we have to do to get Brighthouse to service the other side of 466A? Aren't you guys interested in getting hundreds, maybe thousands more customers from this side of the road?
Many of us are dissatisfied with our current service and would do business with you guys in a heartbeat if we could. Please consider it.

[DeanFL]

We chose OUR Services - for our new home -Closing 2/5- in Gilchrist. Did a lot of research incl on TOTV, a rich resource, thanks.
Our Choices:

Direct TV. $56.99 + taxes/mo for 1st year, then about $86.99 for the 2nd year. I had DTV previously and very satisfied. We signed up as a new customer under Phyllis' name as DTV has policy re resigning... We got the Choice package - which is middle/road and fine for us. HBO etc etc free for 3 mos, not a big deal for us and will cancel after the free period. I really did not want the sat dish, but cable TV choices stunk IMO and very $$$. Got the Genie whole house DVR with mini boxes for other 2 TVs.

Internet- Century Link. DTV had a bundle special. $39.99 mo - PLUS a $10 discount for bundling, a $10 credit/mo for DTV bill for first 12 mos. I will supply modem and wireless router, so no renting boxes. Modem - ordered new Cisco from Amazon, $26.

Phone- thnx to TOTV, found out about Ooma. Ordered unit thru Amazon = $128.00. Free, except pay monthly taxes - about $3.50 mo. Will pay for itself quickly.

[tommy steam]

I have bright house. Wifi is turbo , my phone is included, and cable tv with HBO. Wifi is fast,no problems with the speed. Had it for the last year and it's been ok so far. Cost is $ 142 a month.

[PFT Man]

Recently moved here from Michigan where we had Comcast for internet and DirecTV.
Went with Comcast triple play in TV, here is my assessment:
Internet speed is excellent. TV boxes and software is far behind DTV. No printed materials provided at installation, must go online for information. Phone support very slow. Price of triple play package was favorable to ala cart from different providers. Hard wiring in panel was substandard (components not mounted-just hanging) Would not recommend unless you are looking for least expensive.

[BigB46]

I have bright house. Wifi is turbo , my phone is included, and cable tv with HBO. Wifi is fast,no problems with the speed. Had it for the last year and it's been ok so far. Cost is $ 142 a month.


Have been talking with rep from Brighthouse, too. Don't want land line phone, we'll keep our cells. I was quoted around $125/month including the DVR and modem/router for wifi. Only one TV -- don't think we will do much watching because we hope to collapse each day from activity exhaustion.
Bruce

[Jullie]

We have direct TV & like it. Of course when it rains hard you will loose transmission for a few minutes. Comcast for internet & service is terrible. I wish we had Bright house in Mallory. Good luck

[astropoint1]

We have all our services and they are installed and working well. We chose Bright House Networks via Lysander the Bright House Rep, for Internet and phone. While there were a couple of glitches with the install, Lysander was outstanding and got all the glitches corrected and made everything 'good'. I can't say enough good things about Lysander, he is the star of Bright House. The Bright House techs also were also great, the couple of glitches came during the initial install by contractors used by Bright House, but everything was good in the end.

For TV, we chose the DirecTV genie system via the Costco offer. We chose the Ultimate package and I added a GenieGo to the order which allows downloading of content from the DVR to my Ipad and Iphone for viewing offline. The offer included installation of One Genie DVR and 3 'mini' Genies. The Genie DVR can record 5 shows at once and stream them to any of the mini Genies. The mini Genies can have full control over the dvr to add and erase programs to the schedule. The offer from Costco came with 3 free months of the movie channels and a 2 year commitment with $20 month early cancellation charges if you don't go the full 2 years. I like the Genie's because the remotes use RF so the boxes can be hidden from sight.

It also came with a $200 costco cashback card which we used to purchase a new TV to replace a damaged TV from the move, my bad for doing a self move.

To Net it out, all is great with Bright House and DirecTV in The Villages

[astropoint1]

Actually the blue cables ARE CAT5. The outlets are not, and neither are the junction connector. Happily all the needed stuff is avaiable from Amazon.com. I added the equipment and installed a small network switch in the garage junction box and have cat five active at five drops in the house. If you need a new line run to a new location, such as the Tv outlet in the living room, tell the vendor to install a new phone line, which is cat5 cable and after they leave change it over to an RJ45 connector (8 pins) instead of the telephone connector RJ11 which is only 6 pins. If you would like to stop by to see what Ive done, PM me.

[TNLAKEPANDA]

I signed up wih Brighthouse and got great service. The tech had to run cable from the pedestal on the lot line to the box, right next to the Comcast cable. He also wired all outlets, set up the wireless modem and verified that it worked and set the password that I wanted. I can change it later. The install was free and the first month of internet and cable is almost free (gave us $98 discount).

Pretty much the same deal for us. Everything works great and the internet is fast. Apparently Comcast put the cable in with the utilities and they will not let any other cable company use "their" cable. Kind of dumb if you ask me. That accomplishes nothing. Either you are going to use Comcast of Not... I say Not.