Choosing the right choice for your home TV can be really tricky. People see all the online advertisement about Cable TV, and about satellite TV and every advertisement claim that its publisher offer best service, and best price. As such, it is very hard for consumers to know what is really the best in terms of quality, and price.
Current cable television customers know the reality of cable all too well: the bills keep getting bigger and the service keeps getting poorer.
Cable subscribers around the country are subject to constant rate hikes and some of the worst customer service of any industry in existence today. Two or three cable companies have a virtual monopoly on the market, and they seem oblivious to widespread dissatisfaction with their product, pricing, and support. Between taxes, monthly subscription fees, and equipment rental charges, cable subscribers are consistently paying far too much for the quality of the service they receive.
Satellite TV offers an alternative to these frustrations. With most retailers offering free installation, you can start enjoying satellite TV for as low as $24.99 a month! What's more, the satellite dish and receiver are yours to keep, so you won't need to pay a monthly rental charge or worry about returning the equipment if you move.
Satellite TV delivers 100% digital audio and video. Despite the incredible distance that the signal must travel before it reaches your television, the end result is still crystal clear and equal to any digital cable picture! As long as you have an unobstructed view of the southern sky, the only threat to the quality of your signal is very heavy rain or snow, which can occasionally interfere with reception. If you live in an area with frequent severe weather, you can always get a slightly larger dish to offset the interference.
But what about service? Not surprisingly, satellite TV wins there as well. The proof is in a study conducted by the respected research firm JD Power and Associates, which compared customer satisfaction with satellite TV providers and all the major cable companies. The results were clear -- both Direct TV and Dish Network received the highest possible scores in almost every category, including reliability, cost, and customer service. In contrast, the major cable companies' scores were not even close.
For expatriates, students, language buffs, and others, satellite TV is a great way to receive foreign-language programming. Both Direct TV and Dish Network offer foreign channels, though Dish Network currently has a greater selection of language choices, including Arabic, Russian, Korean and many others; VOOM does not currently offer any foreign channels. If you want to receive foreign programming, you will need to purchase a separate satellite dish, which must be aimed at different satellite than your standard dish.
From our experience, cable customers have one single advantage. They are always sure that they will get acceptable quality. If the company connects you with a cable, the signal certainly going to reach your home. However, if you use satellite TV, the signal quality depends on your location.
Satellite Tv Versus Cable
When it comes to video and media entertainment, there really is no reason why anyone should be left behind – especially with all the choices being made available by satellite TV and cable TV service providers. But since for practical reasons you can only have one, which of these two services will offer the best deal for you? Here, we take a look at how one compares to the other in terms of the major factors you have come to expect from each.
In terms of COST:
Satellite TV wins, versus cable TV. Recently, the rates per month of satellite services have decreased while cable TV services have increased. Over the last few years, the rate of increase has gone a little over 8 percent each year. You could, for example, get satellite TV services for as low as $19.99 a month. With cable TV, the lowest you can go is around $39.99 a month.
In terms of INSTALLATION FEES and EXTRAS:
It's still satellite TV. The basic cable TV rate you could get lets you view about 65 channels. If you want to access more, you only have to add around $11 each month to view channels with digital programming. Installation cost is around $40 for a single room. If you want to access cable TV in other areas of the house, you only need to add $9.95 for every additional room you want cable to be installed.
With satellite TV, a monthly rate of about $30 lets you view 100 channels (that's all digital programming). You could even take advantage of free installation not just in a single room but for a maximum of 4 rooms. That's a lot of savings if you want to view as many channels as you can stand from basically every important room in your house – the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen or the family den.
The two major satellite service providers in the U.S. (DISH and DIRECTV) also offer equipment to go with your satellite TV at no cost.
In terms of PICTURE QUALITY:
You could expect digital picture quality and audio from both satellite TV and cable TV (although some cable TV service providers still stick to older analog technology). The only drawback is that most cable TV service providers charge additional fees for turning your analog picture to digital format. Currently, the fees range from about $10 to about $15 per month, depending on the provider. If you opt for satellite TV, you could be assured that both DISH and DIRECTV will let you view your favorite channels in sharp, picture-perfect digital format.
In terms of PROGRAMMING:
You can expect great quality programming for both satellite TV and cable TV. However, if you're a video monster and prefer a wide range of channels to choose from, satellite TV has more to offer for you. You could also expect more HDTV programming from satellite TV.
In terms of SERVICE RELIABILITY:
Satellite TV relies on the satellite dish to transmit signals from a satellite onto your television set. Since the dish is located outside, reception can sometimes be affected by bad weather. However, this doesn't happen very often and you could rely on satellite TV to deliver high quality reception 99% of the time. With cable TV, you'll have to rely on the maximum output of analog technology for good quality pictures.
Outages for satellite TV are also quite low (about 1%). For cable TV, it's about 4%.
Both Adi Azar & Thomas Martinez are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Adi Azar has sinced written about articles on various topics from Food and Drink, Mortgage Insurance and Health Insurance. Satelliteko offers for its consumers from both . Adi Azar's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Thomas Martinez has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, How to Sell on Ebay and Computers and The Internet. Thomas Martinez has contributed many articles on the HDTV topics especially on Satellite TVs. If you want to learn more on high-definition TVs like. Thomas Martinez's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
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