[Roaddog53]

Today I had an appointment for Brighthouse to put in a whole house DVR system. According to their customer service, since I had the current required DVRs, all it would take is no more than 5-10 minutes max to put in a network connection setup.
Two contractors for Brighthouse showed up on time 1 hour into the 2 hour window. They park in the driveway with an older truck and stated they were here to install the network. Brighthouse has a rule that they can not take off their work boots or put on booties when they walk into any house. I had experienced this on past occasions. As they walk in they reeked with smoke.
One goes in the garage and one on the main box. He installs the "connection" in the garage and the other works on the box in the house.
Here is the funny part. They call to get the boxes turned on (put on the speaker phone) and are put on hold as a normal customer. Finally after about 5-10 minutes customer service answers. They identify themselves and asked to reset the system. They asked if they could get a couple of "pushes" in case it did not work and the service said no. Bottom line... after waiting over an hour, and still on hold, I said I had another appointment soon. They were very polite and said they understood while still on hold and left. The system was never setup.
This is typical I have found of Brighthouse. I have had bad DVRs replaced more than once, over charged for digital converters, pixelated tv and guides, slow internet speeds not what was paying for, poor wi-fi operation, phone transferred without knowledge, and much more.
I believe they are no better and even worse from the other main companies I have also had in the past. At least with Comcast/Charter, you finally get a setup, better options (4+ recordings at once), similar pricing (called) and not NEARLY the issues. Perhaps it is time to move on.

[JoMar]

Have Brighthouse for a year and have no issues. My DVR's do 7 recordings so not sure what you are getting. Also the merger is between Brighthouse and Charter. Comcast has been identified as having one of the worst customer service capability in the industry and that was the opinion of their CEO. Change if you must, take Comcast if you feel better but please understand the playing field and the products.

[MikeV]

You could always go with an HD antenna and AmaZon Prime and/or Netflix.

[Jima64]

Sounds like you made a good statement for getting rid of Brighthouse. My personal choice is the attic antenna and netflix since I have necer found that much to need 4 or 7 recording dvr capability. Just my own view.

[Roaddog53]

Originally Posted by JoMar

Have Brighthouse for a year and have no issues. My DVR's do 7 recordings so not sure what you are getting. Also the merger is between Brighthouse and Charter. Comcast has been identified as having one of the worst customer service capability in the industry and that was the opinion of their CEO. Change if you must, take Comcast if you feel better but please understand the playing field and the products.

Not everyone has problems with every service. I for one north had very little problems with Comcast service. It was their "customer service" that was not so good. But if you had minimal service issues, no need for customer service. Now Charter and ATT was a different animal. Many I knew and me had problems with both often. That was why the initial switch from ATT to Charter, than I moved. Heard of Brighthouse so tried them. I understand most services may have some issues. Always give them chances. But the continuance is just frustrating.

You will have to let me know how you get 7 recordings at one time. Yesterday, and prior services, phone customer support, plus going to the Brownwood store and chatting with their manager while waiting for a new box they all say 4 recordings is in beta testing and will be out soon. It will require certain boxes but I already have them.

I have Netflix and is useful. We refuse to watch MOST network TV and news programs, but watch most cable programs such as ESPN, the Weather Channel, History, Military, Discovery, TNT, etc. so some sort of cable is needed.

Hey BTW. Has anyone else ever did the math on Direct TVs 99% uptime /reliability they state on commercials? That equates to about 7-8 hours a month DOWNTIME! Lol

[SCCHAMBY2000@YAHOO.COM]

We had Brighthouse when we moved last July. After 7 service calls because the system would not work for a day and then start working again they came out and found "a loose connection" every time. The next day we would lose phone, internet and cable. We had to change and went with Direct TV and centurylink. We have had only an occasional lose of satellite in a heavy storm.

[dotti105]

Centurylink Fiber Optic WiFi is very good. Although their customer service is like so many others, outsourced and unavailable after 5pm. We use an Apple Extreme instead of their router. (Better router and no rental fees)

We don't have a home phone. Our cell phones are with AT&T, which offers great service and the best pricing we could find.

DirecTV is hard to beat for picture TV quality and programing. For the sports enthusiast, DirecTV has it all. We have only had outages for 1/2 hr or less during the worst of rain storms. Usually there is no outage at all, even when it is pouring. We had more outages in Utah when we would have to go out and sweep the snow off of the dish.

The thing that bothers us, is the billing for each. We have the services bundled and save a whopping $5 a month. Woo Hoo!

But Centurylink has a 1 year contract and you have to watch the calendar. YOU have to call them to renew the contract, otherwise your Internet bill will double. Then you call, go through the phone tree and get put on hold for way too long. You know the drill. They will renew your contract and the bill gets cut in half. But of course you have to stay on top of that and call to renew before your contract ends or have the bill increase again...they love it when you forget to renew....

DirecTV offers very inexpensive packages to new customers. But like many other companies, if you have been with them a while, those offers aren't available. You have to call "customer retention" and tell them your bill is too high and they will cut it down for 6 months to a year. Then YOU have to be on top of those promotion ending dates and call again to get a better price.

I hate playing the "Pricing Game", but from what I understand all the premium TV services do the same. To us, it is an inconvenience that we are willing to deal with to keep the great programing and picture of DirecTV. We have had them for 10-15 yrs (out west and here) and do love their quality of packages and picture quality. We just wish we could avoid the hard sell of pricing, much like buying a car!!! I'm not a fan of haggling.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Roaddog53

Not everyone has problems with every service. I for one north had very little problems with Comcast service. It was their "customer service" that was not so good. But if you had minimal service issues, no need for customer service. Now Charter and ATT was a different animal. Many I knew and me had problems with both often. That was why the initial switch from ATT to Charter, than I moved. Heard of Brighthouse so tried them. I understand most services may have some issues. Always give them chances. But the continuance is just frustrating.

You will have to let me know how you get 7 recordings at one time. Yesterday, and prior services, phone customer support, plus going to the Brownwood store and chatting with their manager while waiting for a new box they all say 4 recordings is in beta testing and will be out soon. It will require certain boxes but I already have them.

I have Netflix and is useful. We refuse to watch MOST network TV and news programs, but watch most cable programs such as ESPN, the Weather Channel, History, Military, Discovery, TNT, etc. so some sort of cable is needed.

Hey BTW. Has anyone else ever did the math on Direct TVs 99% uptime /reliability they state on commercials? That equates to about 7-8 hours a month DOWNTIME! Lol

We have 2 DVR boxes from Brighthouse and both have the ability to record 7 shows or 6 shows and watch one. The boxes and the service was installed September 2014. Everything continues to work fine (except when the landscaper cut the cable) and yes, both my wife and I watch a lot of programs. We record everything, including sporting events, and watch whenever we can find the time. We had Comcast in previous years when we rented and they were horrible. We came from PA where Comcast was the rock and they were horrible. Have friends in PA that are envious because we have choices and they have Comcast. As said before, to each his own and what we have works very well for us.

[jgm3279]

Our dvr box from Brighthouse will only record 2 shows at the same time, and that is without watching another channel..wonder why such a dicrepancy among our boxes?

[Roaddog53]

I thought maybe it was regionalized. I KNOW I asked at LEAST 4 times about >2 shows recorded at once and they tell me it is not out there yet. Beta testing . Although Comcast has it. Not sure of other companies. Great that some have it but odd. I just looked again and only 2. Anyone else get more than2? If so, it's worth a call no matter how long to find out what's going on.

[Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by jgm3279

Our dvr box from Brighthouse will only record 2 shows at the same time, and that is without watching another channel..wonder why such a dicrepancy among our boxes?

Co$t. You can upgrade for a higher monthly rate.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Roaddog53

I thought maybe it was regionalized. I KNOW I asked at LEAST 4 times about >2 shows recorded at once and they tell me it is not out there yet. Beta testing . Although Comcast has it. Not sure of other companies. Great that some have it but odd. I just looked again and only 2. Anyone else get more than2? If so, it's worth a call no matter how long to find out what's going on.

It's on their website...Enhanced DVR. Record 6 shows.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Jayhawk

Co$t. You can upgrade for a higher monthly rate.

Exactly

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Brighthouse Cable Lysander

We currently offer two different stand alone DVRs. The normal 2 tuner DVR where you can record 2 shows at once. And we offer an Enhanced DVR where you can record up to 6 shows at once. With our Whole House DVR currently it's only a 2 tuner DVR, but with have begun Beta testing our new Voyager DVR, Voyager combines the recording
capabilities of the Enhanced DVR with the ability to stream to up to 7
HD boxes.

Whole house DVR doesn't and I don't think will work for us which is why we went with two Enhanced units. But always open to new technology.

In my experience working in the villages I have found quite a few people with centurylink fiber optic phone, internet, and TV service. They have a whole home DVR very similar to Verizon fios and the picture quality is very good. Tom from villages AV knows someone who can set you up with services if you want to go that route. They also offer 30 days to try it in your home risk free without a contract.