This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rider chapter.
Let’s say you just graduated college and you move into your first apartment. You’re going to need a few things to make your new place a little bit more comfortable: furniture, decorations, appliances, phone, internet, oh yeah – and TV. With all of the companies out there offering the “best deal” and “best picture,” how are you supposed to know which one really does offer the best picture for the best price? Without asking around and doing your homework on what channels you get, how reliable the service is and how decent the prices are, you have absolutely no way of knowing which provider to pick. Here’s a little helping hand.
DirecTV
This is probably one of the most popular TV providers around. Because DirecTV is satellite-based, you can get the exact same channels and programming anywhere in the country, depending on the package you choose. Most of the time, DirecTV tries to offer good prices for their TV service and says “packages as low as $29.99.” But that’s the catch here – the least expensive package is that price, so it’s the bare minimum channels and programming that you will receive. Also, the price you sign up for is typically a one-year price, then the cost jumps at least $10 more a month for the rest of your agreement with them. The good thing about DirecTV is that they do have a lot of channels and their service is really great. I personally absolutely love having them in my home. The only issue with the service is during really bad storms – we’re talking lightning, high winds and rains – and the dish will go out, therefore leaving you without TV service. Otherwise, no problems! DirecTV does offer a DVR (digital video recorder) service for about $7 a month per TV where you can record two shows at a time and watch them whenever you want. They boast four TV packages with different options depending on what you like to watch. To see if DirecTV is right for you, check out www.directv.com.
Verizon Fios
They have a reputation of being the best provider around because of the quality of their service. Verizon offers packages starting at $64.99 a month for 185+ HD channels. This is definitely more than DirecTV, but this basic package offers more than DirecTV’s basic one, not to mention you are getting all the channels in HD standard. Plus all of the packages that Verizon offers include an On Demand video library that has over 19,000 shows and movies, a lot of which are free. The main difference between DirecTV, Dish and Verizon is that Verizon is the only one of the three that does not require a satellite dish for the service. They are digital cable like Comcast. Therefore there’s much less chance of the service going out in bad weather. Also, a lot of the time, HD digital cable providers have a much more crisp picture than satellite providers. Check out what else they offer at www.verizon.com.
Dish Network
For the service, quality and packages, Dish offers the best price for what you’d be getting. They have packages starting at just $24.99 a month for a year (regular price $34.99/month), with their most expensive package only hitting $49.99 a month with a 2-year contract. These packages also include free Sirius radio in every one. They are also upgraded to HD for free and have 3 months of Showtime free. The only drawback is having to have an ugly dish on your property, but they aren’t bad unless the weather is. So the commercials about Dish are true – they do offer more than DirecTV for a better price! See their other packages at www.dishnetwork.com.