# Best Bay area cable provider?



## funkle (Dec 28, 2007)

Hi,

After waiting for 3 years for things to look up, I've finally given up on DirecTv and decided to switch over to cable with a Tivo HD. I'm a little new to the whole cable thing, and I'm wondering if people can give me some feedback of some of the alternatives in San Francisco. I'm looking for pretty basic service: HD locals, Discovery, E!, BBC, MTV etc. plus on demand & HBO. No sports. I found the Comcast site so annoying that my desire to stay away from them was only reinforced. Any alternatives? Astound looks cool, but I'm just out of the area where it is available. Or should I just give in and get Comcast?

Thanks for your feedback.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

In most areas, you are stuck with a single cable provider. The contract is assigned by the local regulatory authority, who also fields complaints in regards to costs and other service issues.

In addition to cable and satellite, in many areas your local phone company is now providing TV services as well. If you are served by Verizon and they offer FiOS, you are in luck as these are compatible with the TiVo HD and TiVo S3. If you are served by AT&T, you are not as lucky, their U-verse service doesn't mesh well with TiVo and you are also limited to watching one HD channel at a time PER HOUSEHOLD.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

Also, I didn't catch this the first time, but if on-demand and pay per view are important to you, these are not compatible with the TiVo S3 and THD models. They still require the use of the cable provider's own cable boxes if you cannot order them by phone.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Exactly what has caused you to give up on DirecTV?


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## funkle (Dec 28, 2007)

JimSpence said:


> Exactly what has caused you to give up on DirecTV?


Basically, wanting to stay with Tivo and take advantage of nome of the newer tivo features. The horror stories I've heard about the DirecTv HD DVR, combined with the 2 year contract doesn't sit well with me. If I can get into a Cable plan with no contract, I can always bail and switch back to DirecTv, or whatever new alternative becomes available.


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## funkle (Dec 28, 2007)

RonDawg said:


> In most areas, you are stuck with a single cable provider. The contract is assigned by the local regulatory authority, who also fields complaints in regards to costs and other service issues.
> 
> In addition to cable and satellite, in many areas your local phone company is now providing TV services as well. If you are served by Verizon and they offer FiOS, you are in luck as these are compatible with the TiVo HD and TiVo S3. If you are served by AT&T, you are not as lucky, their U-verse service doesn't mesh well with TiVo and you are also limited to watching one HD channel at a time PER HOUSEHOLD.


No FIOS here. Comcast is the main provider here. But it seems like there are a few alternatives. As I said, astound.net is available in SF, just not my neighborhood.



RonDawg said:


> Also, I didn't catch this the first time, but if on-demand and pay per view are important to you, these are not compatible with the TiVo S3 and THD models. They still require the use of the cable provider's own cable boxes if you cannot order them by phone.


What about the TIVO HD?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

funkle said:


> What about the TIVO HD?


THD = TiVo HD

TiVo S3 = TiVo Series 3


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The TiVo HD/Series 3 need real cable, or can work with just OTA. FIOS, if you can get that, will also work with the Series 3/TiVo HD.

AT&T Uverse works only with Series 1/2 Standalones, as does satellite. If you anticipate going back to satellite, you should get a Series 2.


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