I have my phone / cable / internet all with one company. The cable company. I happen to live in an area where I have the option to choose from more than one company (yay).
Knology is my provider From them I get the following through a "package" deal:
Three phone lines (2 with unlimited long distance)
All phone lines have all the bells and whistles available (caller ID, call forwarding, voice mail, blah, blah, blah, etc. )
High Speed Internet (just did a speed test - 2601 Kb/s down and 479 Kb/s up)
Cable TV including (2) High Definition DVR. Those two TVs get every channel available including all the HBO, Showtime type channel and their HD counterparts. The rest of the house is wired for extended basic cable (about 100 channels)
All this for the grand total of $300.00/mo
(the three phone lines were killin me prior to this set up)
I'm getting ready to move so I'll be shopping this again with my current provider as well as whatever else is available. This package is about 1 1/2 years old.
General pros of a package deal through the cable company:
One bill
One place to call for customer service.
General cons of a package deal through the cable company:
If you loose your cable you loose everything.
Knology pros:
Their customer service is among the best I've dealt with for any phone and or cable company.
Up time very good. I lost "everything" only once for a few hours when a traffic accident destroyed some type of switch box. It was strange losing phones as well and everything else but I had my cell phone. There has been times when the internet is out but few and far between. No more than any other I have experienced.
Knology cons:
Their DVR Software needs to be updated. I also have a TiVo and the Knology software is crap compared to it. I know BrightHouse (Time Warner) has a software closer in line with the TiVo (though still not the same).
They have a tendency of updating their DVRs a lot. They do this at around 2:00 am so most of the time you don't notice. There have been a few times it has been a minor annoyance for me though.
I used to have DirecTV a few years ago. I switch from them when Knology introduced their HD-DVR as well as HD Programming for local channels. At the time you could only get the HD Locals through an antenna if you had DirectTV here in the Tampa area. Many things with DirecTV has changed since I had them, including the number of channels received.
It was always a great picture. What I did not like was having to purchase all of the equipment. Lot's of money up front to set up a house like I have. Also, you have to have a box anywhere you have a T.V. A couple of years back I had 8 TVs here (now it's down to 6). If you have a lot of rooms with TVs (guest bedrooms etc) you have to have a box in that room, unlike cable where the whole house is wired.
My son now has DirecTV and enjoys it. I have considered it but for the reasons mentioned above still don't think it is for me. Maybe when my last son moves out.
Hope my rambling helps in some way
EDIT: I see Pete has posted with a similar setup. I can tell you my experience I have lost cable and it has not affected my phone but it most definitely kills the internet. The only time we lost it all was the one time mentioned above.
