Depending on where you live, you may have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to Cable TV. Every mall, electronic store, even the grocery store have a company or two trying to get your attention with all these amazing offers. These companies range from larger companies with national coverage to smaller companies that cover much smaller areas.
A couple of decades back, choosing a Cable TV service provider was literally a no-brainer but now, with so many to choose from, and so many apparently amazing offers, you could use some help in making the right choice for you, your family and your budget.
What’s on offer?
The first thing you need to look at is what each of those companies is offering and how that fits in with you and your family. There are several things you can look at as far as their offers:
• Number of channels
• Type of programming
• Internet services
• Extra features e.g. digital recording, pay-per-view, video-on-demand
Most Cable TV companies will offer a package deal. Don’t be dazzled by all the shiny offers; take a critical look at the components of each package and determine whether they meet your needs effectively. Based on what you need, you can narrow down these companies to a few who have all of what you’re looking for.
What’s the quality like?
If you are going to pay for something, you want to get your money’s worth and this applies to TV. Find out how their channel reception is like, whether they have down times and how long those last, and whether they have HD channels or not.
No self-respecting company is going to tell you everything that’s wrong with them, so you should call up some friends or family in your area that use those specific Cable TV companies and ask for an honest review. You can also check out comments about them on the Internet but you should take these with a grain of salt.
What are the terms and conditions?
Always read the fine print on all these offers before buying into any of them. Sometimes what they are offering has a time limit and after that the rates could change, or some free services could be withdrawn. You can get this information from sites like http://www.tvproviders.com/time-warner-cable/ as well as from the sales people.
You also need to know how long your contract will last. Some contracts last for months while others go for a minimum of 1 year. This means that you cannot switch to another service provider in that period of time so you need to be clear on whether you are okay with being with this particular service provider for that length of time.
How much is it?
At the end of the day, no matter how good the offer is, you cannot choose a package that you simply cannot afford. Cost is the final determinant on which Cable TV service provider and which of their packages you will choose. Make this decision before you start shopping for your TV provider so that you are not swayed by all the cool features that you really cannot afford.