Choosing a cable provider can be confusing. There are several aspects you have to take in consideration, and many technical terms. In this post we will give some tips you can use to choose your cable provider.
The first thing you should look for is what companies are available to you. In the Philadelphia area the following companies provide services: Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, RCN and Verizon. However, that doesn’t mean that you can use all of them. Comcast, RCN and Verizon must have cables laid in your neighborhood. DirecTV and Dish Network are technically available everywhere but many buildings and neighborhoods do not allow the dishes. At the end you will have to go each company website and check service availability for your address.
If you are lucky to have more than one option you have to start comparing their offerings. One of the most important things is the bundling of several services. Usually, the more services you get with a single company, the more money you can save, and that can make or break the deal for you. Comcast and RCN (and also Verizon when FIOS is available) offer television, Internet and phone services through a single cable. DirecTV and DishNetwork offer Internet and phone service through partnerships with other companies.
When comparing TV offerings, High Definition TV is the hot topic. Don’t be fooled with accounts of hundreds or thousands of HD “shows”. Some companies have a collection of short videos (many of them simply pulled from YouTube) that they count as shows. The most important thing to count is the number of actual HD channels that a provider offers.
One additional aspect to consider is the On Demand capabilities: Is it instantaneous or do you have to wait for the program to download? Can you see different on demand shows on different rooms?
There are additional features that might be interesting to you such as DVR, or watching TV programs in your computer, but those are sophisticated extras that will be important only if you are looking for them.
With the phone service it’s all about price. It is a commodity service. You should not get anything less than an unlimited plan and don’t get distracted with the extra features. If you hear “digital voice”, “VoIP” or “voice over IP” don’t worry: the quality and 9-1-1 are the same as in a traditional line.
If you worry about the availability of service even during an electricity blackout just ask if the equipment you are getting has a battery backup.
The important question when comparing Internet offerings is how much speed do you really need? For the vast majority of households 1Mbps per simultaneous user is enough to browse the web, do work and watch movies. So if you have 3 people using the same connection simultaneously then 3Mbps is a good choice. One exception is online gamers - they can consume a lot of bandwidth. Once you have determined the right speed then just compare prices and extras that you may receive such as free anti-virus.
All cable companies are offering introductory discounted rates. Do your due diligence and ask how long will this rates last and what will be the price afterwards. Also ask if there is a contract commitment and if there are any penalties if you cancel before the end of the contract.
You can hear horror stories from customers of all cable companies, that go from installation issues to useless phone support to billing errors. While there are differences from one company to another, the American Customer Satisfaction Index indicates that the cable industry in general has a very low customer satisfaction, compared with other industries. One of the reasons might be that many companies have monopoly positions in many markets, neighborhoods and buildings, so they do not have a very strong incentive to excel on customer satisfaction.
