Frontier, Spectrum, or DirecTV?

[Lionel Mandrake]

They're all bad, but which is worst?

Frontier took over Verizon's customers in California, including CaliforniaPeggy and me. We have Frontier fiber to the house, which brings us bundled TV, telephone, and internet service.

Frontier TV service sucks. This year Frontier dropped Turner Classic Movies (TCM) from our tier. To get TCM back we would have to switch to the "ultimate" tier, which includes many channels we're not interested in and costs an additional $100 or so per month. Frontier also dropped the music channels this year; nobody who subscribes to Frontier can get them any longer.

I'm thinking of switching TV service from Frontier to either Spectrum or DirecTV, if either of them offers everything we used to get from Frontier at a reasonable price. But which of them is worse?

DirecTV lost many customers after being acquired by AT&T in 2015, presumably because of lousy service. Now that DirecTV has been spun off, has the service improved?

Spectrum used to be Time Warner. We had lousy service fro Time Warner in the 1990s. Is it any better now?

[elleng]

1. DirecTV service is pretty good, imo,

but I can't compare it with others. Only significant problem is loss of service during storms, due to lack of contact with satellite.

[brokephibroke]

2. I'm very satisfied with YouTubeTV

Great for sports if that’s your thing.

[LeftInTX]

3. Spectrum has/had an ala cart package at $30/month for cable service

You can pick like 10 channels or something like that...
We still have them for internet, but we ditched the cable...
The final straw for me: Spectrum cable no longer had TCM (We had the package that got like 100 plus channels). But when I did not see TCM, that was it. We would have also have to "upgrade" to some "ultimate" tier....

TCM is included in this package and just now on Spectrum's site, it looks like TCM is still included, but I can't find a way to purchase Spectrum TV Choice

Hubby wasn't interested in this package

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/spectrum-has-an-a-la-carte-tv-option-for-cord-cutters-called-spectrum-tv-choice-here-is-what-you-need-to-know/

Worth looking into or for the info...

Their internet is pretty good.

[msongs]

5. have spectrum internet only, works pretty well but pricey for that $65/mo nt

[Desert grandma]

4. We have Dish TV

and that has been OK. We have a great selection and pay right around $100 per month, and we rarely have had trouble with it. I have had to call and renegotiate the rate when their "special discount" expires, but I have been able to do that fairly easily. My daughter has Sling TV, which she loves. It is direct streaming service, and comes with DVR service. I think she pays $50 and when she joined she prepaid 3 months and got a streaming device and an HD antennae for local channels free. She has lots of channels, music, and movies too. You do have to have reliable, fast internet service though. She does because she works from home. She gets MSNBC and all kinds of other channels too.

[hunter]

6. My children have gone with internet only fiber...

... from whoever is offering it in the cities they live in.

They seem to flit about among the various subscription services.

Sling and Hulu offer TCM.

If your are looking for cable-like service there's Philo but it it doesn't have TCM.

https://thestreamable.com/channels/tcm

My wife and I mostly watch basic Netflix over an inexpensive DSL connection.

[hibbing]

7. That's what I do, Spectrum is horrible

My cable and internet bill just got too high and I was not watching much at all. Plus "paying" for a land line I never even hooked up because of their stupid bundling. I now have fiber optic with Allo. It is faster and cheaper than the fastest Spectrum internet. At least Spectrum keeps sending me snail mail adverts every week in case I want to switch back.


Peace