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Question

New to US, need a heads up on ISP's

Jul 22, 2012 8:43AM PDT

No FiOS in my area so it looks like a straight decision between Service Elec & Verizon. I would like a bundle, assuming its more cost effective, so does anyone have any tips on what set up I should go for? Internet/TV options are the most critical. At the moment I am swaying towards Verizon internet with Direct TV but then its a question of what DVR equipment etc. I live in Allentown, PA so I guess I will need to accept storm outages for TV? I'm really a newbie on this so any advice is appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I am guessing you are pretty much limited.
Jul 22, 2012 11:03AM PDT

Never heard of Service Elec., what is it? cable company or internet co.? What about DVR equipments? Unless it rains very very hard, DirecTV should hold up pretty well.

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Answer
dsl/cable
Jul 23, 2012 1:43AM PDT

I am going to guess verizon is offering DSL ? Even if verizon runs the wire you can buy DSL from other vendors and maybe save some money.

In almost all cases the cable tv wire will be able to deliver faster internet service than DSL. So just looking at the speed of the connection I suspect you will be better off with the cable company. If the internet speed is not your priority then it may not matter.

TV wise it depends which packages you are interested in. Directv will have more selection than most cable companies but of course it is not free. Directv you will also get a 2 year commit to offset installation and hardware costs,cost a lot if you must cancel early. You will see very few outage due to storms and some cable companies have issue also.

Be very careful the bundles are not always good deals...especially phone. I suspect if you want the BEST option on both you would use the cable for just internet and directv for video. (Directv has more 1080i HD than a lot of cable companies.)

I tend to prefer fast internet and get my premium tv over the internet.