Looking at Cable TV options

[desgnr]

What is best ? Comcast Cable TV or Satellite TV If Satellite which provider is best deal ?

[Red Green]

"desgnr" wrote in news:hdefca$jjh$1 @adenine.netfront.net:

The one you don't choose.

[Frank]

Look beyond the initial offering and find what you will have to pay long term. I'm with Comcast and when initial offers expire you can renegotiate and get their current initial offers. Verizon fios will not allow this.

With satellite, I understand signal fades in stormy weather and their internet is not good.

[dadiOH]

It doesn't fade, it disappears. And the storm need not be where you are.

[dadiOH]

Best? There is no best. They all give you a jillion stations most of which no one in their right mind ever watches and all of which are loaded to the gills wih commercials. And at an inflated price *because* they are giving you all that junk.

Why can't we pay a basic fee for service and then pick and choose the channels we want?

[John D99]

The best choice is none.

The (entertainment) "news" they put on is propagandized disinformation that will lower your knowledge of the world.

The "entertainment" they put on is offal heavily laced with pro-gay messages. Do you want your kids watching that?

The advertising is even stupider and more offensove than what's on broadcast.

Get a library card and save $50 a month.

[HeyBub]

With cable, they can fold in other services at a slight discount.

Our basic cable internet service often hits 7Mbs download (usually about

4-5Mbs).

You can also get VoIP telephone service (we have two lines). Before VoIP, our long distance bill (at 3¢/minute) was always over $200 month. All that went away for a flat monthly fee.

[AZ Nomad]

cuts in and out is a more accurate description

It has to be close enough, between the ground receiver and the sattelite, in geosynchronous orbit along the equator. The storm has to be in the sky where the dish is pointed.

[AZ Nomad]

I'm still pissed at how they have put a lock in what equipment (theirs which is crap) you can use to record digital programming.

[Bob F]

So far, I haven't had that problem. My computers digital tuners work fine.

[RicodJour]

I think it all depends on where you are. I have cable and routinely hit 11 or 12 Mb/sec download speeds. It's been as high as 15. Upload is usually in the 2 to 3 Mb/sec. This is on Optimum Online with the basic cable - no premium paid for.

I have limited experience with satellite, but what I have had has been frustrating. Dishes knocked out of alignment by weather (huh?) and weather interfering with reception. When you call customer service, the first thing they ask is if there is bad weather in your area.

R

[DerbyDad03]

Only if you allow it to. I choose to laugh at it instead. The same goes for the financial-entertainment stations.

Don't care if they do or not. Why would it matter? Are they going to catch something?

That's what the mute button, the channel changer and the DVR are for.

They have so-called "pro-gay" books at my library. Should I take my kids' library cards away?

[dpb]

RicodJour wrote: ...

I've been frustrated by the contract terms -- I'd never even consider signing such an one-sided and open-ended document as any I've seen...

--

[Eric]

Directv.

Grossly oversimplified answer to grossly oversimplified question ;^)

[AZ Nomad]

Here in AZ with cox cable, they encrypt everything that isn't available over the air. I don't want to rent their shitty DVR. I've connected my DVR to record OTA and now just have analog cable. It's ironic how the snowy channels are only what I get over the cable.

[mdauria]

You really have to look at what they offer. In this area we have comcast, fios and satellite. FIOS gives the best signal, comcast doesn't have enough bandwidth and has to compress the signal, although I'm not sure most people would notice. Verizon gives some channels for free that Comcast charges for and the other way around. The speed channel is free on FIOS but Comcast its part of a paid package. I had Dish network, it wasn't too bad, I lost the signal in bad weather but it was still ok. When you order movies on dish you can't just watch it anytime you want, it runs at a certain time since it is satellite. With Comcast and FIOS you can purchase a movie and watch anytime you want. I think Comcast has a better on-demand selection than FIOS, FIOS has better internet service (not shared like comcast). Dish and FIOS had a International Japanese channel that Comcast didn't have (my wife is japanese, so this was important).

[norminn]

We presently have satellite TV. I am contemplating doing without TV. News? I'll buy a Sunday newspaper now and then, and otherwise watch the sky for storm clouds, smoke and/or fire. Let me know when they pass healthcare reform. :o)

[aemeijers]

Hope you got an UPS on your cable modem, and probably a cell for backup. VOIP, when it is working okay, is fine, but the infrastructure for cable TV isn't too storm-tolerant.

-- aem sends...

[Bob F]

It's actually encrypted, not just QAM encoded? I have worrieds that they might take that step, but haven't seen it so far.

[The Daring Dufas]

I recently repaired a customer's computer and straightened out his Hughes Net satellite internet system. After spending hours on the phone with India based tech support, I was finally connected with American based tech support and was able to convince the tech what the problem was and was able to get another modem shipped out. The replacement modem gives my customer 1.2m down and 250k up which is what I got years ago when DSL first became available around here.

TDD