What is best cable tv provider
Best Cable TV Providers | Why Cable TV Isn't Dead Yet
all right I can already anticipate some
of your concerns because today we're
talking about the best cable TV services
out there and for some of you that'll be
like ranking the tallest buildings in
Wichita with my apologies to the guy
behind the camera who is from Kansas
yeah we know that cable TV isn't exactly
the most beloved industry in the world
and that can probably be chalked up to
two things customer service and billing
practices so right up front we'll
acknowledge that the industry has some
work to do in those areas but today
we're grading on the curve so we'll
highlight a few of the companies that we
rate highly and we'll dig into why we do
so and who each company may be a good
fit for we'll talk about Xfinity Cox
spectrum and optimum so you can skip
ahead if you want to hear about one of
them specifically two other things to
note before we get started though first
we're only going to give a brief
overview of each company if you want a
more detailed review we have a separate
review from each one and you can check
those out on our channel or on our site
and second before you ask no we're not
including satellite or Fiber TV
providers today is pure cable so now
with all that throat-clearing out of the
way let's dive it
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Xfinity spry Singh is on the lower end
at least when it comes to their sticker
price their digital starter TV plan
comes in at 50 bucks a month for 140
channels which is about 15 bucks less
than the basic package at Cox which also
delivers fewer channels Xfinity also
offers no contract service with any of
its plans you just tack on an additional
10 bucks a month and you can go contract
list and lastly while Xfinity x1 DVR
isn't at the very top of our list it
still gets very positive notes and the
x1 interface makes for a really slick
experience but while Xfinity has a low
sticker price you'll have to watch out
for the dreaded additional fees there's
a broadcast TV fee a regional sports fee
and more plus tax
so that attractive pricing jumps up by
quite a bit this goes into the negative
bin because I think we would all prefer
it if those fees were just wrapped up
into your price
so you knew for sure what you were going
to pay but it's also hard to judge
Xfinity too harshly for this since this
is standard operating procedure across
the industry
in a similar vein we give Xfinity
negative marks for its customer service
scores again poor customer service
scores is a reality across the industry
but Xfinity has distinguished itself
here as below even that average so
they'll get called out Cox is trying to
do something a little different they've
narrowed their service down to basically
one thing contour TV within the contour
umbrella your plan is customizable using
add-ons called packs PA KS no I don't
know why they left the C out I mean if
you're gonna misspell the word then Cox
might as well go with an X but whatever
I'm just getting sidetracked the point
is whether it ends up working in the
long term or not we appreciate the
experimentation and at least in theory
we always appreciate more customization
so this goes in the good column for Cox
on the other hand all that customization
comes at a price literally Cox is
pricier than other cable TV providers
their record 6 DVR which is roughly
equivalent in capability to Xfinity x1
costs twice as much 20 bucks a month so
by the time we got to check out on their
site and we included the 850 receiver
fee our monthly charge was over $90 and
that was before all the additional fees
and before we'd added any of those
add-on
so if you take advantage of any of Cox's
positive features be prepared to pay
quite a bit for it
spectrum is the result of the merger of
charter spectrum and Time Warner Cable
bigger of course does not necessarily
mean better but it's also not an
automatic bad thing either
most of what spectrum offers is pretty
much par for the course but there's one
positive that deserves to be pointed out
and that is no contracts where as
Xfinity has the option of no contracts
for an additional price spectrum just
doesn't do contracts wherever possible
we'd like to see this trend continue so
props to spectrum from being ahead of
the curve in this area spectrum suffers
though from the same additional fees
problem that we've already pointed out
for some other providers it's not as bad
as with some others but there's still
something to watch out for they're a
bigger bummer for us was that you aren't
able to choose your DVR spectrum will
either send you a DVR from Motorola or
Cisco and you'll have no idea which one
it is until it's delivered on top of
that neither of them records more than
45 hours worth of content which is well
not enough in my book for optimum let's
keep this one quick like spectrum
optimum has no contracts which is
exactly what we like to see plus they
have quite a few channels available in
their packages even the introductory
package has over 220 available channels
and since the pricing is right in line
with what you see elsewhere it turns out
to be good bang for your buck
unfortunately one of the worst things
about optimum is that it's not very
widely available its coverage is all
clustered around New York City New
Jersey and some of Connecticut so we'd
love to recommend a TV service that
gives you a pretty good value with no
contracts but unless you're in that
tri-state area then you're out of luck
which is too bad now there are plenty
more cable providers out there but we
think these four represent the best in
certain categories Xfinity is solid and
really widely available even though it
has some issues with fees and customer
service Cox is trying some new stuff
with how it structures its packages
which we applaud spectrum is ahead of
the curve with its no contract approach
an optimum is attractive enough that we
wish it were more widely available let
us know what your best or worst
experience has been with a cable
provider in the comments below
and if you have any questions or if
you're curious about another provider
hit up the TV section of reviews org and
get your questions answered alright
thanks for watching everybody be sure to
subscribe to our Channel and we will see
you on the next review
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