Help my choose my cable provider

wrecktum662

wrecktum662

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Hey guys, currently I'm with DirecTV, but the price is going to shoot up soon and my family was considering going to another provider. I've already tried Dish Network and it didn't have most of the channels I want. The Channels are: FX, ABC, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, VH1 Classic, Animal Planet, Discovery, Palladia, Fuel, Nicktoons, Cartoon Network, Spike, Sprout, and G4. I'm based in Southern California so I may only have some options as far as providers, but I do know that Fios will also work on my Xbox, which is a very nice plus. As far as price and quality goes, what do you recommend?
 
[quote name='beachbum662']Hey guys, currently I'm with DirecTV, but the price is going to shoot up soon and my family was considering going to another provider. I've already tried Dish Network and it didn't have most of the channels I want. The Channels are: FX, ABC, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, VH1 Classic, Animal Planet, Discovery, Palladia, Fuel, Nicktoons, Cartoon Network, Spike, Sprout, and G4. I'm based in Southern California so I may only have some options as far as providers, but I do know that Fios will also work on my Xbox, which is a very nice plus. As far as price and quality goes, what do you recommend?[/QUOTE]

This wound is beyond my skill to heal.
 
I recommend subscribing to cable or fiber-optic Internet and then choosing what *you* want to watch. Cable television is antiquated.

If you go the cable TV route, it means you like paying for channels you don't want.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204083204577080793289112260.html

ESPN charges the highest per-household subscription fee of any cable channel, according to SNL Kagan, which estimates its monthly per-subscriber fees for the flagship channel have risen 42% to $4.69 since 2006. The average cable channel fee rose 24% over that same period to 26 cents a month.
Click to expand...

On another note, I'm not sure why you are asking for recommendations for a cable provider. It's likely already decided for you based on where you live. Where I live the only choice is Time Warner. Ideally you'll want to find out whether or not the provider has bandwidth caps. I'd recommend supporting a company that does not impose caps (they are complete bullshit and not needed) but it's up to you.
 
hm, never knew this was an option. interesting. thanks for the info! and actually, I have the following choices for cable (as far as im aware these are the only ones): Fios, DirecTV, Dish, Time Warner, Comcast, Cox
 
It sounds like Newport Beach has more options. They sure do know how to live over there.

Anyway, your first step should be to go to Broadband Reports and research these company's performance *for your area*. I can't stress this enough. You put in your zip code and get reviews here: http://www.dslreports.com/reviews

This is important because service can depend a lot on area. Where I live, Garden Grove, I'm fine with Time Warner but other subscribers may get poor service somewhere else.

Of your list, Fios is fiber optic, DirecTV and Dish are satellite, and the other three are true cable. I find that Time Warner is the lesser of the three evils between the cable providers just based on following the news and stuff. Time Warner abandoned their plans for caps years ago, as far as I am aware. Something else to consider. Do they make you sign a contract? I avoid contracts like the plague.

As far as watching TV with your Internet connection, we subscribe to Time Warner Cable and Hulu/Netflix has us covered for basic TV watching. For anything that isn't offered on the various Xbox and smartphone/tablet apps, we hook up the PC via HDMI to the TV and watch it through the browser. I watched the various debates this way.

For movies, we like Amazon's weekend deals. There's also the odd movie that we pay five bucks to watch. We also purchased Breaking Bad season 4 on Vudu through the Blu-ray player because they offered a discount. Some shows put their clips on YouTube. I watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube, for example. I also find myself watching a lot of Three Stooges recently on Xbox's Crackle app. For news I use the MSNBC app on the Xbox. I also watch the NBC Nightly News sometimes with a CBS app on my tablet.

Performance is nothing to complain about. If the content is in HD, it'll play in HD. Disconnects are not common. Performance will vary by area of course, and this is what Broadband Reports is for. We pay $52.99 a month. Checking Speedtest.net just now, my speed is 21 Mbps down and about 1 Mbps up at 5PM. Ping usually measures between 10 and 16 ms.

It's probably about the same price as cable TV once you factor in the online services and crap, but we unsubscribe from Hulu in the summer and then subscribe again in the fall. It's a level of choice that you just can't get with cable TV's antiquated system.
 
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Good luck, friend. Let us know what you decide. I am very interested in the cable TV decisions of others.
 
[quote name='Spokker']On another note, I'm not sure why you are asking for recommendations for a cable provider. It's likely already decided for you based on where you live. Where I live the only choice is Time Warner. Ideally you'll want to find out whether or not the provider has bandwidth caps. I'd recommend supporting a company that does not impose caps (they are complete bullshit and not needed) but it's up to you.[/QUOTE]
Where I live(northeastern Pennsylvania) the ONLY choice for cable providers in our area is Comcast and they suck balls and gouge out the wazoo.

We went from a higher tiered cable package($60 a month) down to a $50 or so a month package a while ago. We lost all the shitty sports channels that I never watched, but in the process we also lost SciFi(or however it's spelled nowadays:roll:) and a couple other channels I really liked.

But to me it's not worth the additional $10 a month to get back 2-4 channels. Not to mention that since we lowered the package we have they've upped their rates, so we're back to paying the $60 or so we were before but with LESS channels.

So my answer to the OP would be: Anyone BUT Comcast.
 
Having SoCal Time Warner Cable, I'll say its not so great either. Worse than outages in cable and internet is their old ass DVR.

Comcast has a much much much better DVR system. But they're also a shit company like TWC (I've been a subscriber to both of them).

I'd say go with COX and give that a whirl.
 
Where do you live? Candyland? Because I wasn't aware there was a place on Earth where you could CHOOSE your cable provider, short of packing up a U-Haul first.
 
For me it's all about FiOS. Great reliability, picture quality, and great pricing. My second choice would probably be Cox. Thankfully where I live, FiOS and Cox are the two choices we get.
 
[quote name='kodave']Having SoCal Time Warner Cable, I'll say its not so great either. Worse than outages in cable and internet is their old ass DVR.[/QUOTE]

This reflects why it is so important to filter reviews by zip code instead of going by overall company reputation. I am on SoCal Time Warner Cable Internet and outages are rare and speeds are very high. When we were on DSL it would go out every 15 minutes to an hour and we couldn't get through one movie. I was hesitant to get Time Warner but it was a great decision.
 
comcast seems to be the best at least for me..

i been getting all movie channels for FREE for the last 2 years and everytime my promo comes up i call up say im going to cancel and they toss me another year free (hbo,showtme, cinmax. starz)

i get all channels and high speed net for 97 i can get it with phone for 119 if i wanted it
 
[quote name='Spokker']This reflects why it is so important to filter reviews by zip code instead of going by overall company reputation. I am on SoCal Time Warner Cable Internet and outages are rare and speeds are very high. When we were on DSL it would go out every 15 minutes to an hour and we couldn't get through one movie. I was hesitant to get Time Warner but it was a great decision.[/QUOTE]

Doesn't change the fact that TWC has a shitty DVR system. At least Comcast can sort your recorded shows into folders.

OP, can you give us a residential address near you (as to not give away where you live)? I just want to see for my own eyes that you have THREE cable provider options. It was my understanding Comcast isn't even in Orange County, and that TWC more or less services north county and COX has some south county holdings.
 
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