NuVu might not have the fastest fiber optic broadband connections available, but they certainly know how to use their systems to good effect. Not only does NuVu offer fairly fast fiber-optic broadband services, the company also delivers IPTV-based digital cable and digital telephone services over a fiber optic connection. The bad news is that NuVu does not offer world-class fiber optic speed, at least not yet. Part of that might be the allocation of bandwidth to data-intensive tasks such as IPTV and, to a lesser degree, VoIP technology.
Broadband With Attitude
NuvU makes things simple, and this is a theme that customers of NuVu will soon become acquainted with? For example, a broadband plan comes with a symmetrical 8 Mbps of bandwidth for a bargain basement price of $29.95 per month. At prices like this, there really are not too many decisions to make. After all, symmetrical services are vastly superior to asymmetrical broadband offerings in almost all usage patterns. There are some usage patterns that virtually demand symmetrical performance, but even putting that aside for a moment, there are very few providers offering comparable speed for one’s buying dollar.
While 8 Mbps of symmetrical speed is certainly fast enough for most people, it will not set any speed records. Fortunately, fiber optics are comparatively easy to upgrade and thus it is entirely possible that the 8 Mbps of fiber optic fueled speed will dramatically increase over time. Even with future upgrades aside, the 8 Mbps of symmetrical broadband performance are reasonable by today’s standards, especially at the price point they are offered at.
Our obligatory support call was promptly answered, and we took the opportunity to ask a very pertinent question: on NuVu’s site is a little blurb about custom fiber optic packages. What we discovered was that NuVu uses a world-class business grade fiber optic backbone, and can essentially supply as much bandwidth as a customer could want. When asked if there were upper limits to this, the support agent told our reviewer that the backbone is a full 10 Gbps, so nothing higher than that…at least for the moment. Still, the idea that one could order as much broadband performance as they would want is very enticing.
Digital Cable Rides The Light Waves
Those thousands of beautiful fiber optic strands also carry digital television data, which is not unlike Verizon’s FiOS network. The Basic Cable plan starts with 71 standard definition channels plus another 10 high definition channels. NuVu adds HD channels to this lineup fairly regularly, but the HD Gateway Package for an additional $9.95 adds an HD receiver, remote, guide, video on demand, pay per view, and dozens of channels in glorious HD. Another $6 gets on a DVR, which is really a must have item these days.
The Digital Plus package costs an additional $19.95 per month and consists of a standard def receiver, remote ,guide, video on demand, pay per view, and collection of music channels. The HD Plus package is essentially the HD gateway plan plus the music channels for $29.95 per month, but the extra $6 for a DVR steps on up to the HD/DVR Plus Package. Why NuVu did not just keep the DVR as an a la carte option is something of a mystery considering the firm’s insistence that everything be kept simple.
HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Showtime/The Movie Channel/Flix, Playboy TV/Director’s Cut, and various international channels are also all available a la carte. Also available a la carte are additional receivers and remotes of all kinds.
Simple Voice Plan
The NuVu voice plan is just as simple as their Internet offering, which is certainly a nice thing for those who do not want to get bogged down in making too many choices. For $30 per month, one gets to keep their own number or get an existing number, and can make unlimited local and long distance calls. The only downside to the otherwise simple plan is that NuVu customers will need to buy their own phone, but that should not be a serious problem.
The Bottom Line
With easy to understand plans that are very affordable and turnkey high-performance options, there are really no reasons not to like NuVu’s offerings. The symmetrical 8 Mbps connection is not going to set any speed records, but the custom options just might.
