FiOS TV Technical Assistance

[#1]

Currently running 3 Motorola QIP2500-3 standard STBs and a Motorola QIP6416-2 DVR STB, I believe these are the same cable box's we have had since we first got Fios years ago when our town was a test platform for Verizon's new Fios phone, cable, and internet package, that's how long we have had Fios.

My issue is since the last User Interface update, which came out about a month ago, all 4 box's became incredibly slow to respond. The DVR box does have some lag but its manageable, however, the 3 standard box's we have are SO slow now it's annoying, almost aggravating. Navigating the guide is painfully hard to do as when you press a button on the remote, then you can practically count to 3 before the box responds. When the lag first started happening, I would press a button on the remote, nothing would happen so I would assume the inferred signal from the remote didn't make it to the box, then proceed to press the button several times to get the box to respond, only to realize that the signal was being made and now I would have to wait for the box to catch up as it slowly reacted to every time I pressed the button.

So my questions are: Is there any way to make our current STBs not lag? If not, are there newer versions out that can handle the new User Interface better? If so, will Verizon replace ours with the new ones, free of charge? 

Any and all help will be appreciated.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, the old 2500s (and to a certain extent the 6416s) are maxed out due to memory and processing capabilities.  Verizon no longer even offers the 2500 and this is the last update that model will able to support.

Your only "option" (and I use that term loosely as it is difficult to get equipment upgraded) is to update your equipment.  This means going to an HD STB to replace the 2500s which more than likely will incur additional expense (unless you are fortunate enough to live in the NY metro area where they charge the same for an SD or HD box).  The DVR would have to be updated to a 7xxx series Motorola or the new Cisco box (again depends on location as to which is being used).

[#3]

I'm not so sure it's the equipment since I have the same problem with my Motorola QIP7100 ever since they upgraded the menu. I too am frustrated when I have to constantly have to push the buttons while trying to change channels. With all being the same and FIOS upgrading their interface what else could it be? I have not seen a cure for this problem and I wonder how many customers have this same problem, but aren't taking the time to complain about it? It has taken me several months for me to take the time and complain.

[#4]

I would like to think the same thing, being as it was clearly the user interface update that fouled everything up and it affected both series of stb we had, i can only imagine that many other customers were affected. That being said, after FINALLY getting through the gaunlet of customer service to upgrade our STBs, what they eventually sent us, and what cured the issue was a set of motorola qip 7100 set top boxes, so i find it odd that you have the issues i had. Maybe there is a few different generations of the 7100 series, ours are designated qip 7100-1, i don't know if that means anything but it might be something to look in to.

On a side note, I would like to vent about the process i had to go through to get were i now am. A brief synopsis goes like this: for 3 days in a row i sat on hold for about an hour a day before i gave up and decided to try again the next day, the forth day i finally got through to a human and was promptly redirected to several other departments. That phone call probably took about 2 hours but before i hung up i was assured that they understood my issue and were sending a fix, free of charge and no affect to the bill. A few days later, I was surprised to find the new STBs i received were identical to the ones i already had, installed them anyway just to be sure the weren't updated versions, but no, they were exacxtly the same. So i got the pleasure of calling 1800 Verizon back and just decided the easiest way to fix the problem was to upgrade to high definition like keyboards said, which surprisingly didn't take that long and, because i locked in another year of HBO and Cinemax, actually knocked of a couple bucks off our monthly bill.  About 6 or 7 buisness days later, still no show of my new STBs, called back Verizon and the response i got was something along the lines of  'Hmm, not sure why your cable boxes weren't shipped so let me fix that, but since i have you on the line, would you like to add Stars and HD sports channels, we have a deal on them right now.'  Finally i got what i ordered and it fixed my original issue but i sure was a pain in the butt to fix. /endrant