Play Games on Your TV with Verizon FiOS Widgets

We have been Verizon FiOS customers for well-over a year and have only recently discovered that FiOS offers free and paid widgets, similar to apps on a mobile phone.  Since our three children are always asking to play the games that are on our Windows phones, I was curious to try out the available Games widgets.  We started with the "Where's My Holiday Stuff?" game because I thought it would appeal to all three of our children.  There were others that would be most engaging to our 7.5 year old son, such as "Hangman" and "Reversi" (which is like the board game "Othello").

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To view the available widgets, you just need to push the "Widgets" button on your FiOS remote control.  You can only access the widgets on the televisions that have a box connected to it.  There were nine widgets under the Games category, most being similar to popular PC and mobile phone games.  I actually chose a hidden pictures game to try because it is not something we have on our phones or on the kids' computers.  When you are ready to make the purchase, simply click on the game you want to buy and confirm your purchase on the next screen.  This game costs $1.99, which will be added to my next Verizon bill.  Once the game was purchased, we can access it an unlimited number of times for as long as we have our current FiOS box.

Although the games are fun, they ran like they would on an older computer.  It took awhile to load and, after each click of the remote, it took the game at least 2 seconds to register the click.  If you are use to the high speed of Verizon Internet, then you may become frustrated because the pace is a little slower.  I would recommend the game widgets for households that do not have high speed Internet or have children who do not have access to computers regularly.

If you would like to find out more about about this and other FiOS features, visit Verizon FiOS online to see if the service is available in your area.


I wrote this review while participating in a brand team campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Verizon FiOS. Verizon will send me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.  All thoughts expressed in this article are my own.

Family Movie Night Made Easy with Verizon FiOS Flex View

Our household of five is busier than we would like most of the time.  Even if we are all home at the same time, we are rarely all in the same room together.  We actually have 3 televisions and more computers than we have household members.  Simply stated, although we enjoy some of the same things, we all have our own favorite list of shows that we like to watch.  When Comcast raised their prices and we switched our cable, Internet, and phone services to Verizon FiOS, the variety of channels that came with the Triple Play plan was one of the reasons I was happy with our decision to make the change.  There are shows appropriate for preschool-aged children all the way to adults everyday from morning to bedtime.

Since our household is always so busy, I like to have the children eat at the table for all three meals.  It is nice to sit together, enjoy a meal, and talk about anything that is on their minds.  I also find that they eat more quickly at the table than when they are seated in front of the television.  Once in awhile though, when we do have two hours to devote to dinner, we will eat in the living room and watch a movie together.  That is what we did tonight using Verizon FiOS Flex View.  We looked through all the new releases available on the on-screen menu and our children chose Rango, which none of us had seen in the movie theaters.

Flex View worked out very well for us because we could pause the movie for bathroom breaks and rewind it to see what we missed when the children were talking too much.  For a family like ours who only has Family Movie Night once a month at the most, a service like Flex View makes the most sense.  We would not get much use out of a monthly unlimited video service.  Paying just $4.99 for the entire family to watch a movie (without having to leave the house) that would have cost us $50+ to see in the theater was perfect!

My husband and I also liked using Flex View to watch movies we are not positive that both of us would like.  That way, we start watching the movie together in the living room, but if one of us does not care for it, then the other can go finish watching it on one of the computers by him or herself.  You should know that you will need to download Verizon Media Manager before you can access Flex View on your computer.  I recommend your doing that ahead of time instead delaying your movie the first time you want to watch one on your computer.  Flex View is also available for mobile devices and you do not need to be a Verizon Wireless customer to use it.  Unfortunately for us, our Windows Phones are not on the list of compatible devices yet.

If you would like to learn more about Verizon FiOS, start by checking to see if FiOS is available in your area.


I wrote this review while participating in a brand team campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Verizon FiOS. Verizon will send me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.