US residents.....which TV/internet provider do you use?

[Japan-Games.com]

Hey Guys

I'm moving back home in July and I'm starting to check out internet/tv/phone packages. I haven't had to sign up for this in the US for 10 years so it's all new to me again. I thought I'd check in and see what everyone else is using and what their experience is.

Looks like my options are Comcast, Verizon, and Direct TV. I already use Verizon for my mobile phone and I'll probably keep them. I'm guessing there is really no need for a land line anymore? And it looks like Verizon is just a partner with Direct TV so one offers internet and the other offers TV.

Comcast is offering internet and TV (160+ channels) for $79 a month. Internet is 20 Mbps.

Verzion/Direct TV is offering internet and TV (205+ channels) and phone for $65 a month. Internet is 15 Mbps (non-FIOS)

Anyone using FIOS from Verizon? I won't know if i can get it until I can give them an address. Supposedly it's the best....but I probably won't be doing much gaming anymore anyway.

Comcast is more but they have more services like more in-demand videos, plus there is no dish to install. Arizona gets massive rain storms in July/August so if the weather really does affect the dish then it's going to suck for a few months out of the year. Anyone had a problem with this?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Eric

[graciano1337]

A lot depends on what's in your area. I currently live in a house with Time-Warner Cable and it's pretty awful. I'm not quite sure what's all available in Arizona.

I used Comcast when I lived in Washington state. It was fine, basically everyone had it.

[Japan-Games.com]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards Comcast... With the new "download limits" is that mostly for mobile devices or home connections as well?

[BM-Viper]

The download caps are on both mobile devices as well as home connections as well. Honestly, what I'd do is get a Comcast business connection, they're a few dollars more than the standard residential connection, but have no caps.

[APE]

Using AT&T U-Verse right now. Not bad overall but my father was the one paying for the line and he was an AT&T employee for 30+ years. As such we don't have any caps right now and I can't complain.

But if I had caps I'd want to murder AT&T on principal.

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

I have Comcast where I live, and overall I like it. It's pretty fast (~24Mbps down), and it works pretty consistently unlike some providers I've used. I only have the standard cable package since I don't watch TV that much, but my neighbor has the HD package, and he has almost every channel in HD - which is pretty cool.

I think the data cap for my package is 250GB per month, which honestly is much more than you could ever need, unless you operate a business that routinely transfers large amounts of data. There isn't an overage fee for it - if you go over that amount, they send you a letter telling you not to use that much data. If you do it a certain number of times they take some action against you, not sure what.

I wouldn't recommend using DirecTV for internet, as the upload speeds are supposedly very slow.

[Borman]

I have Time Warner Cable here. Hate it. Download speeds are okay, but I wish I had an option with better upload speeds. It really holds me back from doing more video. If things took 5 or 10 minutes vs 2 hours, I would be doing a lot more.

[graciano1337]

I have Time Warner Cable here. Hate it. Download speeds are okay, but I wish I had an option with better upload speeds. It really holds me back from doing more video. If things took 5 or 10 minutes vs 2 hours, I would be doing a lot more.

exactly how I feel.

With Comcast I used to post a crappy YouTube video every day. But with time Warner in the last 2 years, I've uploaded maybe... 5. Because videos take all night to upload!! And when i let it upload all night, it always disconnects randomly and i never get anything uploaded....

[Borman]

Im actually contemplating paying the 20$ extra a month just for the increase to 5Mb upload. If FIOS was here, Id be getting so much more for my money. Damn economy.

[takeshi385]

Att.

[HEX1GON]

Didn't know the US customers had data caps :o

They're horrible in Australia like 50GB and so on, of course there are larger ones but you sure do pay for it. I'm very jelly of all your speeds though, that would be light speed compared to ours.

[Japan-Games.com]

I think the data cap for my package is 250GB per month, which honestly is much more than you could ever need, unless you operate a business that routinely transfers large amounts of data. There isn't an overage fee for it - if you go over that amount, they send you a letter telling you not to use that much data. If you do it a certain number of times they take some action against you, not sure what.

Cool, that's what I wanted to hear. I'll be "catching up" on a lot of shows that I've missed over the years so I'll be using stuff like Hulu and Netflix a lot, plus maybe playing online. Looks like it won't be a problem.

[CrAzY]

Highly recommend that any Southern California users stay away from AT&T as well as Time Warner. Both awful where I am near LA, constant down time with no repayment/freebies for all the shit I have put up with. I know you said AZ, just thought Id mention that anyway for others. I have heard good and bad about almost all (main) providers, but it seems certain areas people will always side with a certain company being poor quality, where other areas people seem to talk about how good quality that same company is for them.

[Vosse]

I've got Charter. But that's because it's the only Cable tV/web provider in my area :/


I did have Comcast for a while when I was living back in California in 2010. Much better experience than I've had both times i've had Charter.

[Bad_Ad84]

Didn't know the US customers had data caps :o

They're horrible in Australia like 50GB and so on, of course there are larger ones but you sure do pay for it. I'm very jelly of all your speeds though, that would be light speed compared to ours.

I get 70mb down, 17mb up - no limits. £27 a month

[Vosse]

I get like 15 Mbs down and 320Kbs up with a 100GB cap each month that counts both my up and down bandwidth.

:/ Only way to get a bigger cap is to buy a more expensive plan. Which is stupid, even with Comcast I had like a 250-300GB cap.

[bob]

Arizona gets massive rain storms in July/August so if the weather really does affect the dish then it's going to suck for a few months out of the year. Anyone had a problem with this?

Im in the Metro Phoenix Area, I have had issues for a few minutes here and there in storms but thats it. As far as internet goes for the phoenix area, you have cox and quest for your internet. For tv you have cox, directv and dish network. As far as phones go stick with verizon/sprint for your service.

[GodofHardcore]

If you can get Verizon GET VERIZON you'll get more channels than you can possibly ever watch, internet that almost never shits out and really good phone once you have it set up.