Which Cable TV Company In My Area Is Better Comcast or Time Warner?

The two top cable companies in the USA are two corporate giants that dominate their industry. One is Comcast Cable with over 23 million subscribers in the nation. The other is Time Warner Cable with over 13 million subscribers in the country. Both offer similar services and packages to their customers.

Packages
The packages that both cable companies offer are almost so similar that sometimes it is difficult to tell if they are not twins. The companies both offer a basic cable package that includes the local channels and a few cable channels like the Weather Channel. Those packages are priced at about $20 per month . From there the package costs move up with about a total of 40 channels of television and 20 or so music channels offered for a rate of about $30 to $35 per month for the first 6 months. After that the rates with both companies increase to about $45 to $60 per month depending on the region of the US you are in.

Both companies also offer features like DVR, pay per view movies, premium movie channels, phone service and internet. For the larger packages that include these, the price differences between the two companies is almost negligible. An example of this is that Comcast on average charges about $100 per month for a 12 month contract to have its XFinity Triple play that packs in home cable television, phone service, and internet all for one price. Time Warner by comparison offers essentially the same package with their internet, phone and cable television services all for about $98 dollars a month on a 12 month contract. So as you can see, there is essentially not a difference at all in the pricing and packages offered by the two companies.

Differences Between Comcast and Time Warner Cable

However, having been a customer of both cable companies, I can tell you that there are some differences between them. One of the major differences is in the quality of customer service. When I was a customer with Time Warner, I dealt with some of the rudest technicians that I have ever met when I needed service done at my home. Comcast’s technicians on the other hand were very courteous and helpful in understanding the way the system worked when they installed it. In the area of technical support, Comcast wins my vote.

Another area where the two companies show their differences is in how they treat you when you have problems with your bill. I was a customer of Time Warner, when I lived in Alabama, because they were the only company for cable TV in my area. At that time, I had a serious problem with my bill having an overcharge on the services that I had ordered. I called the billing hotline on my bill and was kept on hold for over an hour before I could reach a person to discuss my bill. Then the billing agent was rude and made me feel like an idiot for not understanding my bill. This was so bad that I turned off my cable entirely and boycotted Time Warner for the remainder of the three years that I lived in Alabama. When I moved to Florida, I signed up with Comcast in hopes that they would be different from their competitor. I was a customer for about six months when I lost my job and had to be late on my cable bill. When I called Comcast to discuss setting up payment arrangements with them, they were very cordial and helped me by giving me an extension for two weeks, until I could get paid from my new job. Comcast again won my vote by providing excellent customer service.

Overall there are few differences in the packages offered by the two companies. However, as you can see from my personal experiences with dealing with the two companies, Comcast seems to value their customers a little more than what Time Warner does. It is little wonder that Comcast is the larger of the two companies given that they are available on a 24 hour a day basis and Time Warner’s offices keep only regular Monday through Friday hours. In conclusion, if Comcast and Time Warner were both available for cable TV in my area, I would recommend Comcast to everyone because of their overall better value with their professional technicians and billing agents.