Is Voom worth the money?

[Neilium]

Anyone out there currently have Voom? They have some free equipment and installation deal that goes till the end of the month. Has anyone had any good or bad experences with it? i currently have OTA HDTV. No cable or dish. I know the SD programming is limited but i hope that will expand. HD channels seem alright.

Thanks in advance

Neilium

[AndrewP]

I have Dish now, but I think that at the end of this month I will say that I had Dish. I am thinking to switch to the VOOM. THey improved the SD offerings, added ESPN-HD, and also have almost all HD available with one exception, HDNet and HDMovies.

Andrew

[borghe]

I can honestly tell you that had Tivo not come out right now, I probably would have switched to voom.. their cable lineup contains all of the usual suspects, their HD offering is all of the quality channels of other services and they have plenty more "exclusive" channels that will at least appeal to some (I know I would like Monster HD). To top it off their new leasing plan of $9.90/month/receiver is a pretty good deal..

If you don't care about 100 other mostly useless channels that you will probably never watch from DBS or cable, and don't care about not being able to record HD (Voom will likely be the last HD provider with a DVR), then Voom is definitely the way to go.

[Packman04]

Does anyone know what you can do to get their SD programming on the other tvs that a person may have.  I would probably switch to VOOM if I could still have a TV with some programming for my daughters playroom.

[borghe]

nothing. just like DirecTV you need a per TV box... or else you could split the video and share it on that TV, though you can still only tune in one thing on the box at a time.

[AndrewP]

I heard that they will have a home center DVR receiver which will distribute a signal to multiple tvs.

Andrew

[borghe]

which sounds great, but a DVR server sometime in the future still isn't a match for being able to record it right now.

I will definitely reevaluate Voom once their DVR is out. I think the service is fantastic. Unfortunately Tivo changed the way I watch TV 3 years ago and going to a service without a PVR, no matter how long or short of time is a huge step backwards..

and my wife would kill me if I had two pay TV services coming to the house.

[gparris]

borghe is right about the DVR.

Once you have it you can't watch TV without it.

 Voom does not have that feature and waiting for it is quite another thing.

Neilium has only OTA and Voom offers it package with the OTA feature for the subscriber in mind and without much of a setup cost (limited time offer) it is worth consideration.
But please keep the following in mind:

1) If you review the Voom website, channels for Showtime and Starz! HD packages have disclaimers in them indicating these channels may not be offered anymore, anytime. This does not add up well IMO.
2) All threads I have read about Voom indicate worse than TWC customer service and bad equipment setups. Why bother?
3) No DVR
4) Few subscribers, though growing, it could be bought by Dish or Directv for additional satellite capabilities and the installed product in your residence could be paperweights unless their amazing service department decides to pick them up.
5) Wait for July 1st as Directv is going to have that 7S satellite running more locals and "additional services" and if last year was any indication, it could be worth it in additional HD channel additions; maybe not Voom, but closer.

Just some things to think about.

[borghe]

To cover your points

1. This is no loinger an issue. The problem was that voom was leasing space from Rainbow's satellite spot and once that was up this year if Rainbow didn't renew Voom would lose the slot. Rainbow has since renewed with Voom and everything is fine. Obviously the website needs to be updated.

2. no comment. don't know.

3. Neither does TWC. Meanwhile, both are supposed to be out this summer.

4. Absolutely no impact whatsoever.. I don't care if a service has 10 subscribers or 16 million. It is about the service they provide to me. As for Dish or DirecTV buying them, it will never happen. The addition of their orbital slots and transponder frequencies would never pass FCC approval.

5. I am just as excited about 7s as anyone, but much like DVR, waiting on possible additional services is no match for present day existing services. Voom has more HD than anyone and that will likely be the case for a while.

Like I said previously, if Voom had a DVR out already or Tivo didn't come out with their HD box anytime soon, I would have gotten Voom.. It has all the cable channels I care about, locals over an installed antenna (which can get all Milwaukee locals digitally except for Fox for now), and more HD than the nearest competitor by around 200%.

The only thing I would think about is DVR. But the bottom line is that TWC doesn't have a DVR either yet and DirecTV's will cost you $1000, whereas you will probably be able to lease Voom's.

If you wouldn't be getting an HD DVR with any of those other services anyway, I would definitely STRONGLY consider Voom...

[uplinkguy]

Currently Voom is renting the box at $9.50 a month.  Basic service is $39.99 a month.  No minimum service contract.  With free installation at the moment, it might be worth checking out.

Andy

[gparris]

I still think that if you try Voom and what borghe said is true about the Sho and Starz channels still being offered and you can live without a DVR and get their offer right now, you then have little to lose under a rental agreement, providing you have no money down or extended contracts.
IF you get OTA fine, then you have little to concern yourself with, except for what to watch and when,  what with all those HD channels with "Va Va Voom"package @ $79.90/month. :cool:

As long as the satellite service remains solvent or you can reuse the holes on your roof (from the Voom dish mounting) for a Directv (or Dishnetwork) one, do it.  Right now, the business operation of Voom is a little in the red based on what I have been reading, so my personal thoughts are enjoy it,  for now. Additional  subscribers like you will be may put it in the black and raise the bar on HD channel competition, then we all get more.

 

[easylistener]

I have a install time for the 24th.  I will let all of you know how it goes and how the HD channels are.

[Neilium]

Thanks for the help everyone. I will wait it out for a few months and see if there are any better deals from Time Warner, or see if Voom ups the programming or drops the price a bit.

-neilium

[borghe]

hmm.. I guess I don't understand that decision.. If it was a question of DVR I would understand.. But pricing and channel lineup compared to either TWC or DirecTV blows both of them out of the water completely. $80 gets you all the movie channels, all 21 exclusive HD channels, HD locals (most likely for everyone but Fox, and even fox will happen within a month or two), for a much better price than cable or satellite will give you.

I guess I would still reconsider.. The bottom line is you won't get a better deal from TWC or DirecTV. You CAN'T get a better deal from them, because the simple truth is they will never in the near future have anywhere near the HD channel count that Voom does, and never give you all the channels for as cheap as Voom does.

Anyway, I've said my peace. It's your decision, but if you are waiting out only on pricing and programming, the landscape likely won't change dramatically over even the next year. If you want HGTV, Nicktoons, Discovery Wings, or National Geographic channel, go with TWC or DirecTV. If you just want the standard cable channels and a TON of HD channels (more "real" HD channels that DirecTV or TWC and more total HD channels than both combined), go with Voom. Those choices won't change at all over the next year or so.

[borghe]

ok, looking up pricing I'll lay it out like this.

TWC
$77.95 for all channels
$6.95 for HD pack
$8.95 for box and remote.
Total BEFORE taxes and franchise fees
$93.90 (roughly $103 after fees)

Voom
$79.90 for all channels
$9.50 lease for box and remote
Total BEFORE tax
$89.40 ($94.40 after tax)

As you can see, Voom the service is a much better deal than TWC if you care more about HD than fringe SD cable channels. The only place Voom starts to fall short is multiple boxes. Each extra box for TWC should be around $9.50 whereas each additional box for Voom is around $15.30.

This price increase with Voom though is SOLELY related to leasing the equipment. You can also outright purchase the equipment. It is:

$499 for one receiver plus OTA antenna, plus free installation
$199 for each additional receiver
$50 installtion fee per receiver after the third.

Going that route only incurs a $5/month fee for each additional receiver after the first and also removes that $9.50 leasing fee.. So if you purchased the equipment your bill for one room would look like:

Voom
$79.90 for all channels BEFORE tax ($84.37 after tax)

So if you buy the equipment, Voom is almost $20/month cheaper than TWC and is an additional $4 cheaper per extra room you add. Three total rooms and you are now saving $30/month compared to TWC. At $360 annual savings you will make your money back on the equipment purchase in around two years.