Just moved and am looking for a tv/internet package. I have looked through websites, but it's not clear what is the best deal. Any suggestions for best deal and most realizable service?

They are all the same and in the end you will feel like you are getting fucked no matter who you go with. Don't listen to people telling you who they have and the deal they got, they are just trying to make themselves feel better. If there truly was a deal to be had, everybody would have it. And bundling does nothing for you.

Everyone streams except for Trump rednecks who use aluminum foil to improve reception.

I hear Cox is better than Concrap. Yet, Reston cannot get them. WHy did Fairfax discriminate against Reston?

switch to AC

There is a mad rush to move everything to "OTT" (over-the-top), which in the TV business, means delivering programming as services over IP, either on a private network or the Internet.

You can essentially get similar packages now from
-Amazon
-Sony - Playstation Vue
-Sling (D!SH)
-Roku
-YouTube TV

They all have premium bundles for things like HBO and Starz (e.g. movie packages)

So if you want to go that route, I'd suggest you focus on:
- quality of Internet service you want
- speed of Internet service you want
- what devices you can use to watch (not all services work across TV, smartphone, tablet, game console, etc.)

If you're going to stream HD, you're looking at 6 megabits/second per stream, so if you order some low-speed service, don't expect to have 4 people in a house all watching different things that way at the same time.


If you want to go the more traditional route, you have

-cable
-Verizon FiOS (fiber)
-satellite

Even the cable companies are starting to just encode some of their channels and deliver them via IP to the set top box.

The newest sort of oddball offering is Layer 3 TV, which was acquired by T-Mobile. They seem to have tried to do an IP-based service, but to run it over a private network except for the hop over your local ISP to your house. Their pricing seems analogous to regular cable, but a little better.

Personally, I found Cox Internet more or less serviceable, but when I had it for 20 years, it would drop about 2x a week some time between midnight and 2AM, even though they didn't have a maintenance window announced on their site.

VZ FiOS Internet service is pretty darn good, but they have been slashing channels from their TV packages, and the price keeps going up. You can freeze pricing for 2 years with a contract. Be advised that if you want to go with their fastest Internet packages, you might have to buy a bundle with TV and phone service to actually get the best Internet pricing, which is a little annoying but not surprising. They tend to drop about once a week briefly around midnight, but nowhere near as often as Cox did when I had it.

Go with any company other that Verizon/FIOS, unless you want another car payment.

FIOS Blows Wrote:
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> Go with any company other that Verizon/FIOS,
> unless you want another car payment.

Verizon isn't bad if you've just moved here; there's a lot of promotions for new customers; It's after the first two years that they hike things.

Cox Internet Only isn't bad. $80 a month gives you plenty of streams and if you tack on Hulu and Netflix to that, you'll have a pretty decent setup.

Most of the locals who have been here awhile have learned the best way to handle the cable service is to sign up when they have a really good promotion going on for new customers. That will give you 30-50% off. You use up your promotion special time and see what they are planning to charge you to keep the contract for another year or two. Then you start calling around to the local competitors to see if they would offer you a special if you switched to them as a first time customer. For instance, in Loudoun County, they switch back and forth between Verizon and Comcast each time their contract ends to keep the costs more reasonable.

FIOS Blows Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Go with any company other that Verizon/FIOS,
> unless you want another car payment.

And Verizon's customer service? is not great for the premium price you are paying. And its not any better after this https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2018/10/05/verizon-lays-off-44000-transfers-2500-more-it-jobs-to-indian-outsourcer-infosys/ last year with more inexperienced people on board who do not know what they are doing. If you want anything done right with them, executive escalation, way too much waste of time.

vERIZON AND at&t ARE THE PUSHERS OF 5g. Guess they see the handwriting on the wall, everyone is waking up to the results of cancer for the entire family via their unfriendly personal 5G tower next to their house.

Keep it simple when you figure ISP bandwidth needed for streaming.

5MB per 1080p stream.

12MB per 4K stream. Forget what Netflix says. Most 4K is actually 2160p.

4MB per 720 stream.

Plus whatever you need for internet surfing.

Anything more than that, and the ISP just trying to pump fictional numbers so you'll pump the cash to them.

I cut the cord more than two years ago, I just was tired of those big bills. Currently, I'm using Roku and I'm happy with it. There is a wide choice of apps and addons (both free and paid), you can choose the proper ones to watch your favorite content. In case you are interested in watching TV channels and movies for free, it is also possible to jailbreak the device https://www.firesticktricks.com/jailbreak-roku.html. Thus, you’ll simply avoid some rules in order to view content not traditionally available on the device.

if you aren't using youtubetv, you're a fag

I am surprised people are still using cables this days. I quit my cable around 5 years ago and i have zero regrets about it! I have Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ accounts and i use iptv stream services if i want to watch tv. I don't know if its only my opinion but i think with all the modern technology and streaming devices cable doesn't make much sense anymore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2021 12:06AM by evatra.