Preparation for Cable One internet is fairly simple and it should not be hard to find help from the company if you are a new customer. To ensure that you are able to receive quality digital cable from Cable One, make sure that you own a digital receiver for each TV (not provided my Cable One). The Cable One website provides installation guides for digital receivers as well as guides for connecting VCR to cable.

Economy, Standard and other plans

Cable One TV packages are named similarly to their internet packages. The cheapest plan, the Economy Plan, provides 20 channels such as the weather and local news and several weekly channels. This is offered for around $20 a month. The Standard Plan, at $50 dollars a month the next biggest thing, offers up to 60 channels. These channels would include the most popular programs: news, movies, sports, children’s and family programming, as well as local broadcast stations. There are several series and specials that are provided only with the Standard plan.

The Premium and Ultra plans

The Premium and Ultra plans are the most expensive and most extensive plans offered by Cable One. These are only attainable via subscription to Cable One. The Premium Cable plan is offered for $66 dollars a month and includes up to 140 channels and digital access. The Ultra Cable plan is offered for $83 a month and includes up to 160 channels. Small business and commercial plans are offered, but Cable One must be called for further information.

High Definition and HDR

Those on the economy and standard plan have the option of purchasing HD and HDR. This option features 20 high definition stations, local broadcast stations in high definition, Interactive Program Guides with show summaries and star ratings, parental controls for the younger viewers, 46 commercial free music channels, 38 movie channels, access to pay-per-view movie and sporting channels, DVR (the ability to record, pause, and replay live TV).

Cable One is often one of those ‘only show in town,’ providers. They are also run like a large, cooperate business and the result is charges for TV often end up increasing every six months and there is little customers can do about it. Cable One is somewhat notorious in the consumer world for its price hikes. There are many complaints of Cable One’s underhanded charges, compiled upon complaints of their internet being too high already. For those who do have a choice in provider, it may be a good idea not to sign up with a premium or ultra contract too quickly since by the time they find new charges to drop on you it will be too late to turn back.

Cable One

The Ultra and Premium seem like well rounded options for viewers. Those who do not wish to pay for channels they do not want should consider an A la carte type plan which will allow you to have more of a say over which channels you are paying for. Though Cable One is notorious for price hikes and bad customer service, they continue to provide fairly consistent cable with only minor problems such as occasional missing channels. When choosing between Cable One internet packages, many users are drawn to the simple yet not sparse Standard Plan that includes the important essentials for TV and does not require signing a contract with Cable One.

Free HD!

Bright House rightfully boasts of being the only provider of free High Definition TV to all of its buyers. That’s a lot of movies, shows and sports coming to your TV with enhanced picture quality you are probably going to want eventually anyway. Bright House cable TV packages may be bit pricier. But unlike other companies Bright House offers HD upfront instead of springing extra charges further down the road. (Plus, buying an HDTV as well? You’ll need an HDTV if you want HD signal to work. Check out their buying guide, linked to on their HD page.)

Included features and further options for your TV Package

• The HD pack which is offered for six extra dollars a month. The Pack includes Hallmark Movie Channel HD, Universal HD, HD Showcase on Demand, MGM HD, Smithsonian HD, MAV TV HD.
• 3D TV is readily available with Bright House if one owns an equipped 3D TV (and a pair of 3D glasses!) and the purchase of a 3D sports pass will provide users with 3D sports offered by ESPN.
• Bright House advertises its ‘Start Over’ feature which allows one to view shows they have missed from up to 72 hours ago. Know, however, that customers have complained that this feature is annoying in so far as it manifests as a popup that cannot be disabled.
• Bright House offers the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) service in your home. This option allows you to record while you watch and view your recordings from anywhere in the house. One can play, pause, and rewind TV, record up to 16 HD channels at once and store up to 480 hours of memory. DVR can be programmed to record specific designated shows. Interactive TV guide allows for easy searching.
• On demand programming allows you to purchase movies and watch them from any TV in your house.
• The interactive TV guide allows viewers to find channels, set reminders, and access program guides.
• Parental controls allow parents to block based on rating, block specific shows, block channels and certain time slots, and make all of these things accessible via pin number.

Busts

• Quality of TV does not necessarily live up to the expectations created by their high prices.
• Since no one watches all 200 of their channels you will certainly be paying for a chunk of channels that you do not want.
• Customer service and tech support are often poor.
• Bright House Cable Internet Packages are offered in many different bundles with phone and internet, though buyers will be forced to pay drop fees if they wish to downgrade their bundle to something simpler.

Conclusion

Bright House cable internet packages are considered a fairly dependable choice for the most part. However, the advantage of not having to sign a contract with Bright House is, in many cases, made obsolete by the fact that Bright House is the only cable provider in their area. Bright House does tend to have a fairly stable connection. As well, instead of pushing its energy towards bolstering the customer’s bill with surprise expenses, Bright House aggressively tries to market new products. There are many who feel that Bright House should be more competitive with their prices, but often it is the case that ‘competitive’ prices only appear competitive initially, and therefore, a final virtual high-five to Bright House for offering free HD upfront.

Both of these internet options come with the Constant Guard option, the most comprehensive suite of online protection (and the most expensive, free with the package) available through a major Internet Service Provider. Constant Guard will help you to protect your passwords and personal information, as well as defend your computer from viruses with the Norton Security Suite, help back up files using Secure Backup & Share, and give users access to Identity Guard, a program which will help to safeguard you from identify theft. This option is specifically available for Mac users as well.

Pros

Don’t be deceived by the disparity in these list sizes. Comcast has become the largest internet provider for a reason. Nothing beats the speed of a good cable internet connection and in many places Comcast provides download speeds of up to 105 Mbps. The security that they provide is unchallenged and Comcast is constantly using new technologies and infrastructure to provide the best services possible.

Other Pros of Comcast internet include:

• With XFinity connect users have the option of combining e-mail, voicemail and Universal address books in one area online for fast and convenient access from your laptop or smartphone.
• Users can watch over 3,500 online games available at xfinity.com/espn3.
• XFinity offers the world’s greatest collection of On Demand movies accessible online and on TV.
• Comcast provides everything you need to get started; no appointments are required and Comcast can send a local technician to your house if you would rather have a professional set it up for you.
• Xfinity 2go allows you to access your internet from different Mobile Hotspots as well as with Broadband device. This function gives coast-to coast 3G mobile internet coverage, allows one to check their email from virtually anywhere, update Facebook status and more. This feature is offered for twenty five dollars a month, though roaming charges past the 2GB cap will be heavily penalized.

Cons

Comcast is the largest internet and TV provider in America. That being said, one can understand that every possible complaint that can be made against them has been made. These are helpful to consider when choosing between Comcast internet packages and the packages of some other company. Very poor customer service is certainly a frequent complaint. Customers are often told different things by different representatives. Field tech guys show up late or not at all. If anything breaks do not expect it to be fixed promptly.

Customers are also often upset when their internet is throttled after they exceed their monthly usage; however, careful monitoring of your activity can easily prevent this. Be wary when first signing up.

Comcast offers appealing deals for its new users (for the first six months, or first year) but is not going to cut the same deals further down the line, after one signs a contract. Many people complain that their Comcast bill, for one reason or another, is steadily increasing every month and in every case the additional costs are added completely without warning. These are more than the additional taxes on prices. Comcast will try and sneak in whatever fees they can, and long time users know this better than anyone. Newer users are more likely to notice the difficulties with the difficult to comprehend website.

Conclusion

As is the case with many of the larger network companies, half the battle may be navigating the company and trying to ensure that you understand exactly what it is you are signing up for. But buy signing on with any of the Comcast internet packages you will certainly receive quality internet (albeit on the slightly pricey side.)

• Lite-$19.99/month, speeds of 1 Mbps
• Express-$29.99/month, speeds of 12 Mbps
• Plus-$39.99/month, speeds of 18 Mbps
• Max-$54.99/month, speeds of 25 Mbps
• Ultra60-$99.99/month, speeds of 60 Mbps

When investigating Charter cable internet packages be sure to also explore Charter’s bundle options, which include the possibility of customizing your own bundle in order to fit your internet, cable, and telephone needs.

A Word of Caution When Considering Charter

When considering Charter cable internet packages there are certain aspects of Charter as a company that must be taken into account. Poor customer service is a frequent problem with internet providers and Charter is certainly no exception. This bad service may result in slow fixing time, difficulty connecting over the phone, or unfriendly staff. Many complain that their internet connections will be dropped for several minutes at a time, a serious problem for gamers and an annoyance for anyone else. Charter often provides in areas where no other competitions exist. If you do find yourself in a position that Charter is the only provider in your area, the most that you can do to protect yourself is to ensure you completely understand their costs before settling on a package, particularly if you are considering buying a bundle package. Though when laid out on their website the options seem very clear, Charter has a reputation for being confusing as well as deceptive. One user provides a helpful guide on getting exactly what you want from Charter. Again if you find yourself in the position that Charter is your only option for a provider, be sure to be persistent with your complaints to ensure that you get what you want.

System requirements for Charter Cable Internet Packages

Charter provides a chart with which you can determine if you have the proper equipment needed to run their internet services using your Windows or Mac. For example, you will require a certain processor speed, amount of RAM, hard drive space and internet browser. Don’t get too caught up with this jargon, however, as most standard setups will easily meet these requirements. Charter internet most frequently makes use of the asymmetrical cable modem scheme. The asymmetry allows for more brandwidth for downstreaming than upstreaming as the majority of users download significantly more than they upload. One also requires a network interface card, though Charter will provide one if you do not already have it. Charter internet will run with most cable modems and nearly all DOCSIS 2.0 and DOCSIS 3.0 devices. A 3.0 device is required in order to reach the advertised internet speeds but these can be rented from Charter or purchased online.

Conclusion

As the fourth largest internet provider in the United States, Charter is often the sole cable provider in certain areas. The result is that many feel ‘stuck’ with Charter and are unsatisfied with the spotty internet, the poor customer service, and the difficult phone calls. Charter prices are often unclear or deceptive. There are lots of possibilities of attaining more for less if you are willing to do the research and attain absolute clarity on what it is you are getting. The truth is that Charter is not necessarily any ‘worse’ than other possible internet providers and given the breadth of the options they provide it is not farfetched to think that one of the several charter internet cable packages may be the best fit for your needs.

Optimum Internet Packages

With certain Cablevision Internet Packages one can download with speeds up to five times faster than your old dial up internet connection. The Optimum Online Express Link Technologysm ensures that popular sites like Google and Youtube will be that much faster. Cablevision also brags of their excellent security. The CA Internet Security Suite Plus offers parental controls, anti-virus, anti-spyware, personal firewall, anti-spam, and anti-phishing software. (Regular value, $69.99) Cablevision also has WiFi hotspots and allows you to link anything on your PC screen to your television using Optimum Link.

• The Optimum Online Boost Plus is available for $14.95 a month to those who are already members of Cablevision. This package makes available speeds of up to 50 Mbps downloads, 8 Mbps uploads (caution! See below paragraph). For users who are interested in building their own sites, Cablevision offers 12 GB of web space for hosting your own website, easy to operate Site Builder tools, domain name registration and the option of hosting your own Web or email server.
• The Optimum Online Ultra is another kind of boost available only through a subscription to Cablevision. This is far and away their fastest online speed, offering up to 101 Mbps (about 50 000 internet pages a minute). This option includes all of the site building tools, more than enough space for email attachments, and 75 GB of email storage. Availability will vary based on location so you will have to call them in order to get a rough estimate. Prices vary, in fact, they are subject to “change without notice,” though you can definitely expect a $34.95 installation fee, and a $300 activation slap. A Gigabit PCI adaptor is required to run this.

Cablevision Difficulties

A glaring warning for those considering Cablevision Internet packages is that Cablevision Internet tends to become very slow in both directions during peak times. Cablevision even admits that their 50 Mbps speed is not guaranteed, well aware that they do not have the capacity or the brand width to produce what they advertise. Cablevision claims that their high speeds allow for multiple users to share connections. On the grounds of this claim, it’s worth having the Cablevision phone number on handy if your speeds are nowhere near what they should be.

If you are experiencing delays it is highly probably that those in your community are experiencing delays as well. In that case it is definitely worth finding others in your area who are experiencing the same frustrations with their Cablevision Internet and encourage them to call and complain since the more pressure put on the company, the more likely they are going to fix it. The redeeming quality of Cablevision in this instance is that their award winning technicians are known for doing everything they can to address a problem, even if they need to send a technician over (more than once). Technicians are available through phone or live chat online. Expect that for your first complaint call they will simply tell you to the problem is your modem.

It is important to remember that despite the vocal complaints of communities who have experienced major slowness from Cablevision, there are still those who have found Cablevision a reliable provider and have not experienced major slowdowns. As one should when considering providers, it is important to research the experience others have had in your area. If the service has been reliable, you can feel more at east committing to a company. If the provider is known to be reliable, any problems you may be experiencing with speed might be the problem of faulty hardware.

Conclusion

Cablevision Internet Packages are generally offered as “boosts” for pre-existing Cablevision subscribers. Though many people never experience the speeds advertised, one must consider that for all internet providers there are more factors influencing speed than the provider can control.

Road Runner High Speeds

Bright House Cable Internet packages are only provided through use of digital cable, not as fast as other options such as FiOS. Speeds of up to 40 Mbps are offered in the Road Runner Lightening package, 20 Mbps for the Road Runner Turbo package, and 7 Mbps for the Road Runner Standard package.

Extras offered for Road Runner High Speed users:

• Pure Sight Parental Control Software is free for users of Road Runner High Speed. This option allows for parents to setup up as many as ten separate profiles with daily limits for each profile, set bans on specific topics such as drugs or violence, and the option of banning individually selected websites. This feature also allows parents to keep track of websites visited, or attempted to have been visited by their children.
• Road Runner radio streams commercial free music by way of a browser based device and is free to all Road Runner users.
• Road Runner video store allows users to easily search and rent or purchase videos within a wide selection of genres and titles.
• Road Runner Safe Storage provides means to backup up to 500 MB of data that can be accessed 24/7 from any internet computer.
• Road Runner Photo Show 5 is a product of 40 dollar value that is used to organize, and display photos, create media portals, and other options. This product is free to Road Runner High Speed users.
• Internet Security Suite is a free security suite from Computer Associates (CA) that provides up to date anti-virus, anti-spam software.

The standard plan starts at 47.95/month, depending largely on location. (You can determine the price for your specific location on their website) For a ‘Standard Plan,’ anyone can see that this is a bit pricey. A more sensible option, perhaps, is to try to pick up deals with one of their many TV/internet/phone combo bundles.

Bright House as an Independent Internet Provider (or, the Integrity of Brighthouse)

Because of the independent nature of their company (they were originally a part of Time Warner), Bright House is run less as a corporate company. Of course they will try to make their deals look desirable, but they are far less likely to try and trick customers, being fairly honest up front. The following are examples of how Bright House strives to protect their customers.

• For its internet services, Bright House Cable offers the Best Price Guarantee. This ensures that they are giving you the lowest possible price for your area (with the exception of resellers and other third parties) and if you pay more than was advertised on the website, including the fine print, then you can email a complaint and receive a refund.
• Notably, all of Bright House Cable Internet Packages are contract free. The fact that these cable packages do not need to tie down their customers by swaying them into contracts likely says something about the integrity of the company as well as customer satisfaction. The Roadrunner speeds may not be what one requires, but if you are willing to settle for less, Bright House is a company in which you can feel safe from contract obligations.

Conclusion

Though prices for Bright House Cable Internet Packages can be deterring, one must consider the advantages of purchasing internet with Bright House, mainly the Road Runner High Speed bonuses and the certainty that in terms of costs what you see is probably what you get.

Economy and Standard Plans

Listed for home use, the Economy Plan is offered for as little as 20/month+tax. (Prices will increase in the case of obscure locations, high usage, or extra fees if additional wiring is required.) This includes 1.5 Mbps download speed, 150 kbs upload speed and two email accounts. This package is only recommended for very low internet use, such as email and occasional web browsing. Any downloading will quickly result in a breach of the 1 GB/month limit resulting in very large fines per each additional GB. Usage between 12 at night until 8 the next day, however, will not count against your meter.
The second plan recommended for home use, the Standard Plan is offered for as low as 50/month including all of the possible, aforementioned additional costs. The maximum speed for this internet is 5 Mbps download speeds (not available in all areas) and usage is capped at a 5 GB data plan. A fairly standard speed, this is well suited for someone who plans on slightly more usage than the economy plan, though again, this option is not recommended for anyone planning on downloading or watching videos.

Business and Data Plans

Cable One’s internet packages for business are equipped for a growing business, their fiber-based data plan allowing businesses to connect remote locations to a single network and continue to add bandwidth as the organization grows. These packages offer services such as Static IPs, web hosting/storage, and e-mail. Depending on the package speeds can range from 5 to 50 Mbps, and allowance of monthly data usage from 100 GB to unlimited. Cable One boasts 24 hour network monitoring for more reliable service.
For more information on business and home packages, see the official website.

The Elite and Preferred Upgrade Speeds

At 50 Mbps, the Elite and Preferred Upgrade speeds are ten times faster than the standard speeds. This option is available to customers under contract with Cable One and requires a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. There are many varieties of these plans and packages available for use in combination with various phone and cable options.
What should be considered before signing on with the Elite and Preferred Speeds?

• Users are often surprised by conditions and costs not fully clarified before entering in a contract with Cable One. However, Cable One does offer a 90 day period in which the customer may drop the plan free of charge. (During the first ninety days they will cancel any overuse charges, but don’t let that make you too comfortable.)
• Users are often disgruntled with the fifty GB monthly budget. Formally, once exceeded, speeds would be cut down to ‘Standard Speed’ for the user (roughly 5 GB). This is no longer the case, though there is a charge of 50 cents per extra GB. Many hold that Cable One is a bad choice of provider for internet users interested in downloading. Though the prices are cheaper, the monthly limit is easily surpassed. Consider the Elite and Preferred Upgrade speeds as a trap that can push you past the monthly limit that much faster.
• Cable One provides a tool for estimating your internet usage. Though not an exact science, it is good to get an idea before you sign on to a 50 GB of data/month deal.

And speaking of measuring usage, once signed on to the contract, Cable One will provide you with the ‘My Brandwidth’ graph in order for you to keep strict track of their monthly usage. They also send out a notification when you are near exceeding their limit. These features seem desirable as they could help any careful user remain within their monthly budget. However, a great deal of time spent monitoring usage could easily become irritating and time consuming. Excessive worry about exceeding the monthly limit may be indicative of the need for more usage allowance. (http://help.cableone.net/HSD/MyServices/MyBandwidth/Graphs_Default.aspx)
Hours between 12:00 midnight and 8:00am are not counted towards usage.

Conclusion

When considering signing on with any of the Cable One internet packages, one must not agree to anything too quickly simply because the price may seem low. Doing the research and determining how much internet you will use a month can certainly save money in the future. Remember to also check their terms of agreement.

Sports Franchises Covered

Bright House Sports Network provides coverage of local sports. As a rule, it does not broadcast NFL, NBA, Major League or NHL events, but it does actually broadcast events from smaller sporting leagues and school sports.

Major Professional Teams

Bright House Sports Network does not actually show many of the sporting events of professional times, but it does cover them. In other words, they have a number of shows that discuss the latest games and provides analysis. While this may seem like a raw deal, remember that Bright House Sports Network comes packaged with other cable networks that do show the games. As a result, the programming is actually quite unique: it provides the perspective of fans from Central Florida and Tampa Bay.

The major professional teams that are covered by Bright House Sports Network are the Buccaneers, the Magic, the Devil Rays and the Lightning.

Smaller Professional Teams

Bright House Sports Network covers a number of other professional teams from the central Florida area. These games are shown in their entirety, along with analysis and commentary from their broadcasters.

Many of these teams are minor league teams from the advanced-A division of minor league sports. As a result, fans often enjoy following both the minor league team and also the associated major league team.

The other sports are either local teams not quite at the professional level or teams for sports that don’t have the same level of coverage as the major sports teams.

They carry each of the following teams:

Tampa Bay Storm: Arena Football League
FC Tampa Bay: North America Soccer League
Clearwater Threshers: Florida State League (Phillies’ minor league team)
Brevard Co. Manatees: Florida State League (Brewers’ minor league team)
Dunedin Blue Jays: Florida State League (Blue Jays’ minor league team)
Orlando Predators: Arena Football League
Orlando City S.C.: USL Professional Division Soccer
Tampa Yankees: Florida State League (Yankee’s minor league team)
Lakeland Flying Tigers: Florida State League (Tiger’s minor league team)

Many of these teams are covered exclusively by Bright House Sports Network, so they cannot be watched unless one subscribes to Bright House cable.

High School Sports

Every day at 3 p.m., Bright House shows a local high school sporting event from the area. Which game will depend on whether you are in Tampa Bay or somewhere else in central Florida. The Tampa Bay ineration of the channel shows almost exclusively Tampa Bay games, while the other iteration shows games from a much wider region.

For the most part, the high school sporting events will cover championship games, though when no championship games are available, they will show regular season games.

Local Programming

Bright House Sports Network is what is called an “embedded” channel. In other words, it is “embedded” in another channel and provides a part of its programming. In the case of Bright House Sports Network, it is embedded in the local channel.

In Tampa Bay, Bright House Sports Network is embedded in the local channel Bay News 9. This channel provides a number of local programs, including information about local events, local news, weather and traffic, as well as information about local politics. It also hosts a range of educational programs similar to what one might expect on public television.

In central Florida, Bright House Sports Network is embedded in the local channel CF13 News. This shows some of the same range of educational programs as Bay News 9, but also has a wide range of local programming covering the entirety of Central Florida.

Conclusion

If you enjoy local sports, Bright House Sports Network provides one of the most comprehensive local sports channels available. By shying away from the big games that everyone else is showing anyway, Bright House is able to provide coverage not only of other local professional teams but even daily high school sports. Since this service is only available with Bright House Networks, Bright House cable is a must for any local sports fan in central Florida.

More information is available at their official site.

Mid-Hudson Cable Television

Mid-Hudson Cable provides a range of television packages, from basic cable all the way up to HBO. Mid-Hudson works according to an “a la carte” system, rather than a tiered system. In other words, after you’ve gotten their basic pack, you can then choose additional channels to add to your channel options. Just make sure you add everything up before you purchase.

Broadcast Basic: I’ve written dozens of articles on cable television, and Mid-Hudson Cable is the only company that I have encountered that openly advertises its basic cable, which is very impressive. Basic cable is required by the FCC and provides the channels that local broadcasters would provide, plus some local channels,. It has 22 channels and costs $21.95/month.

Basic: Basic is completely different from Broadcast basic. It includes all of those channels, plus the standard non-premium cable channels (i.e., the ones that include advertising). It has 74 different channels and costs $59.95/month.

Digital Basic: This package adds some additional 60 channels for a cost of only $8.95/month. This sounds like a great deal (and it is), but requires purchasing the Basic package. So, you can’t just get Broadcast Basic and Digital Basic.

Premium Channels: You then have the option of adding the premium channels HBO, Cinemax, Showtime with the Movie Channel or Starz with Encore for $15.95 each. Note that this includes more than it sounds like. For instance, HBO is really seven different channels.

Spanish Tier: It is also possible to get 11 Spanish channels as a part of their Spanish tier. These are basically Spanish versions of other channels. It costs $6.95/month and requires that you at least purchase their Basic package.

A complete listing of their television channels can be found here.

Mid-Hudson Internet

Mid-Hudson internet service, unlike its television service, has unfortunately gotten poorer reviews from users such as those here, here and here. In general, the complaints center around speed and stability.

Mid-Hudson Cable offers internet service for $49.95/month, which offers 5 Mbps of speed. However, many people have complained that their service is significantly slower than this. Worse, they have also complained that their complaints were not very well handled when they brought them to the company.

One of the nicer things about Mid-Hudson Cable internet service, though, is that it can be upgraded rather inexpensively. You can have up to 10 Mbps if you pay another five dollars per month or up to 15 Mbps if you pay another ten per month. Usually internet prices become exponentially more expensive the faster they become, while Mid-Hudson doesn’t charge much more for additional speed.

My recommendation, then, would be to look for other options for internet. However, if you do decide to go with Mid-Hudson Cable, then I would suggest at least getting 10 Mbps. It is a good bargain for that extra speed, plus, if you find your speed starts dropping below 5 Mbps, you’ll have better grounds to complain about the speed of your service.

Mid-Hudson Cablevision also provides telephone service, but only for those who have internet services with them. Since I’ve already disrecommended their internet service, I will therefore need to disrecommend their telephone service. In a package with internet, telephone service costs about $20/month for unlimited calling to the continental United States and Canada (sorry Hawaii). It does come with a lot of nice features like call forwarding, call waiting and a do not disturb fuction.

Mid-Hudson Packages

Mid-Hudson Cable bundles together a number of their services into bundles that provide savings. They have four different packages available, each of which will make the services cost less than if you bought them all together:

All the Right Connections: Combines the Basic packages with internet and phone for $131.25/month. For the first year, this package costs $99/month.

Digi Pak: Combines Basic and Digital Basic with internet for $116.00/month. Note that this package does not include phone service.

Basic Speed Pak: Combines Basic with one premium channel and internet for $122.45/month. This pack doesn’t include phone service.

Movie Pak: This service combines your premium channels so that the more of them you purchase, the cheaper each is. Two premium channels cost $26.95, three cost $32.95 and all four cost $42.95. This Pak must be combined with at least the Basic television package.

Note that these packages are themselves a la carte. In other words, you can add additional channels and services to them (for example, you could add Spanish television to any of them).

Conclusion

Mid-Hudson Cable provides a good range of television channels at reasonable prices. They have done a good job of being upfront with customers about prices and available channels. The difficulty many customers seem to have is their internet service, which has been said to be slow. Still, as a television provider, they are well worth looking into if you live in Columbia, Greene or South Albany counties.

Please feel free to see their official website here.

Return from Mid-Hudson Cable to Cablevision Packages.

The channels tend to focus on three things: local sports (including everything from high school to professional teams), local events (including television shows about local culture), and educational programming. In some cases, Cox channels are more reminiscent of public broadcasting than they are of traditional local networks.

While Cox offers television service in many areas of the country, their stations are far more localized. Only a few cities have local networks dedicated to them, and even then, they are often not the most populous cities. I discuss each of these cities below, organized by state:

California

In San Diego, Cox manages the channel called “Channel 4 San Diego” or “4SD”. It also went under the names “Channel 4 Padres”, “COX 4″ and simply “KCOX”. As you can tell from one of its names, “Channel 4 Padres”, one of its primary types of programming is Padres games. Cox doesn’t cover all of San Diego, so if you are unable to get Cox Cable, 4SD is also available on Time Warner Cable.

Orange County has a local station called “Cox 3“. This station is similar to the many local television networks that existed before the advent of cable. It carries programming about local events called “OC Lifestyle”, and it carries local high school sports games. You can even purchase copies of individual shows, which is nice if a family member is in a featured event.

Louisiana

New Orleans has its own channel, the somewhat ambiguously-named “Cox Sports Television“. It focuses on local sports, and is the only station that provides coverage of the New Orleans Hornets. They also provide numerous college games and also the pre-season (but not the seasonal) games of the New Orleans Saints. This station is also available on Suddenlink, Comcast, Charter and the Dish Network.

Lafayette and Baton Rouge also have their own local channel called “Cox 4” (a completely different station than the one in San Diego). It is more like a public television channel, providing educational programming and coverage of local events. Like Cox 3 in Orange County, it covers a single local high school game every week, in its case focusing on football.

Oklahoma

In both Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Cox provides the “Cox Channel“, formerly known as “Cox Channel 3″ (though it is a completely different channel from that in Orange County). The channel is a local sports channel, primarily consisting of local high school games. Most local sports channels might show one or two high school games, but high school sports is the primary focus of this channel. It also shows a number of older television shows, largely as filler between the games.

Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, Cox provides another incarnation of its “Cox Sports” channel. They cover a number of local college sports teams from Rhode Island and the surrounding area, as well as local high school sports coverage. In addition, they offer a show called “Varsity Life”, which is a show about life as a college athlete. This channel has some cross-programming with ESPN, so sometimes, the television shows will end up being the same on both channels.

Virginia

In Hampton, Cox provides an exclusive channel called “Cox 11“. This channel functions similarly to a traditional local network, providing local sports events, local news and information about local events and culture. They also have a number of talk shows, where they speak to local personalities and viewers can learn about local events. Cox 11 also has an on-demand feature, allowing viewers to watch programs at times other than that of their original broadcasts.

Conclusion

Cox provides a number of different television stations, usually focusing on local news and events. They have a special focus on sports, though in many areas, they work function more like a traditional local broadcast network. Having these channels is a nice feature of Cox if they are available in your area.

Return from Cox Cable Channels to Cox Cable Packages.