I have a client near Culver City who moved into a house a dozen years ago and has just lived with the Time Warner cable system it came with. They have finally decided to look at the programming and service they're getting.

Time Warner is now Spectrum in their area... lots of bothersome details go with that. Everybody can keep their Time Warner system or convert to the "Spectrum account," which has different offerings and slightly higher prices.

I'm throwing a look at DirecTV into the mix, too, though, because I'm familiar with their offerings.

Basically, I'd like to know what you think of service from Time Warner, Spectrum, and DirecTV.

They have two or three DVRs now. They have whole-house DVR service, but oddly the old Time Warner accounts have whole-house DVR but the new Spectrum doesn't!

Thanks for any opinions you might have on this.

If you've waded through this particular muck lately, I'd be interested to know.

If they want the whole house DVR, and I don't know why they wouldn't, they need to stay on as a 'legacy client'. When T-W changed to Spectrum in MKE, their top internet speed was only 50Mbps and the introductory speed from Spectrum was 100Mbps- that was their big selling point. I migrated one account and it was ridiculously painful from the start of the process. I explained that I wanted to change the account to Spectrum and the first question from the person on the other end was "OK, so you want to turn off the phone?". It went downhill from there.

DirecTV is part of ATT- because of that, I don't want to deal with either of them again. Ever.

OTOH, I got my most recent Spectrum bill and, as it turns out, my one year promotional price has ended and I'm no longer paying about $45/month, I get to pay about $73/month. With no discounted rates for existing customers.

Yay.

Spectrum...DirecTV used to be our provider of choice and now...we try not to touch them with a 10' pole. Nightmare trying to set up, nightmare trying to get someone to show up on time, slow menus, etc.

Spectrum has gotten much better (IMO) from a service stand-point in our area over the last couple years.

Are they sold on the whole house DVR? Is it a deal breaker? Nowadays I recommend that most folks use Spectrum. You can use their free app to watch LiveTV on your local network so most people just need just one cable box and utliize the app on accessory televisions. I have clients that have one provider or both if they need to have NFL Sunday Ticket or the Dodgers channel.

I've become acquainted with many local DirecTV/Spectrum installers and they will come out and supply/install the Dish and SWM system or drop a line from a utility pole if I throw them a couple bucks.

My personal experience with "Spectrum" which is reality is still TWC in my mind, has been better than it was, but is still a PIA.

At the beach house, where there's other options (AT&T fiber and ATMC fiber), the monthly is lower, while at the main house we just keep getting price increases.

DTV on the other hand has managed to go to the very bottom of the barrel. AT&T has turned it into the biggest cluster possible, and the service is now the worst of ANY company. I've taken some of our DTV away, and soon will have it eliminated altogether.


Since all of them offer new clients a deal, the plan is to change services every year if they won't continue offering the intro cost for internet only service..

Am actually really enjoying cutting the cord, using a Tivo, Amazon, and will probably add Netflix.

Checking tomorrow to see if it's true that Amazon offers a $5.99 monthly for anyone over 65. I hope it's true..

You're in luck. I heard it's only $1.99 for those over 95

Bite me....

The consensus of this small sample leans toward Spectrum.

I've not yet emerged from the nightmare of asking them if they have any boxes that are RF controlled. YES, we do! That was the first time I ran into people who seem to have no idea that there's a legacy system in place that you can't use the new Spectrum equipment on. And I've run into people on the phone who GAY-RON-TEE that the 210 DVR will work in a legacy system.... only to find via the installers that, no, they won't. I've actually lost ten hours over this during the last week.

Pushing for Spectrum anyway. It's true that DirecTV is sinking.

I wish I had only lost ten hours- it took them 7 weeks to bury the cable at a clients' house, but the job only took 30-45 minutes, including drilling under the driveway. The rest of the time was just a cluster flop. The satellite debacle on the boat wasted more time than I had and it kept me from doing some things with the system that were really needed. ATT can kiss my ass.

highfigh, were you talking about ATT in the first half as well as the boat portion of that post?

You quote my post where I had just commented on problems I have had with Spectrum. You said you wish you had only lost ten hours -- it took THEM 7 weeks... then you talk about satellite.

At what point were you talking about whom?