We’ve all waffled back and forth from time to time, but in the end it’s your call.  You know yourself and your budget best.  So, should you pay for cable TV service?  You should if you want to see the influx of popular, new, award winning TV shows.

For the 5th straight year, the USA network, is topping the viewer ratings with hit shows like “Burn Notice” and Royal Pains.  USA, once the home of Baywatch and other “fluff” re-runs, has made a name for itself as a powerhouse of original content.  Of course, USA is not the only network on cable TV to make waves in recent years.

The 2010 Primetime Emmy’s were saturated with cable TV winners.  With extended basic cable channels like AMC winning Best Drama Series and Best Actor for “Mad Men” and premium channels like HBO sweeping the Miniseries category, traditional TV networks were certainly the minority.  Popular television programming has certainly found a home on cable TV, so you tell me . . . should you pay for cable TV service?

You can see a complete list of Primetime Emmy winners on TVweek.com.

Verizon announced yesterday that it has made improvements to allow some 4 million homes and businesses to increase their high speed Internet to an amazing 10mbps to 15mbps downloads, with a 1mbps upload time.  Average DSL download speeds hover around 1mbps.

In an online press release, Verizon stated, “The new 10 to 15 Mbps speed tier is the latest addition to Verizon’s existing suite of High Speed Internet speeds – 4 to 7 Mbps, 1.5 to 3 Mbps’ and 768 kilobits per second to 1 Mbps downstream for consumers, as well as similar business packages.  All [high speed Internet] services include a dedicated connection to the home or business over the company’s copper network, so service won’t slow down when neighbors are online at the same time.”  That means the speed should not downgrade if everyone on your street is streaming the latest breaking news footage or viral video.

Of course, not every service is available in every area, so you’ll want to check your address in the “Savings Widget” above to ensure availability.  If you’re into speed, you may also want to look into Verizon FiOS while you’re at it.

With the ever present cell phone becoming more and more of a lifestyle device, some see home phone service as more of a relic than a necessity.  What about you?  Do you still need your home phone, your “landline”?  Here are 10 things to consider before giving up your landline, in no particular order:

1. Do you truly get everything you need from your mobile phone?  Ditching your landline may be a bad idea if you find yourself constantly running out of minutes on your mobile plan.
2. What bout 911?  Can your cell phone carrier make sure fire and rescue can get to you in time?  It’s definitely worth looking into.
3. And speaking of emergencies, have you ever experienced, “We’re sorry.  The network is busy.  Please try your call again later.”  Cell phone networks can, and have, experienced tremendous overload in times of true emergency.  There are simply too many people attempting to make calls and it clogs the whole network.  You’ve probably even experienced during regular peak times, like afternoon rush hour.
4. And what about power?  Will your VoIP work when the power goes out?  Chances are it won’t, because it relies on AC power for your modem.  No power – no phone.
5. There’s also battery power to consider.   If you’ve ever let your cell phone run completely out of juice, you’re all too familiar with it.  Typically, your wired landline doesn’t run out of batteries.
6. Telemarketers.  Sure, you can still get sales calls on your mobile phone or VoIP, but the traditional landline seems to really draw the telemarketers . . . just as you sit down to dinner.
7. Are you a creature of habit?  Some folks just want to have the landline, period.  Could they do without it?  Probably, but they’ve always had it.
8. Cost.  Many people suggest ditching the landline to save money.  Sure, one less bill is always a good idea, but are you truly saving?  If you’ve got a phone, TV, Internet bundle (or some variation), chances are good you’re getting a better deal already.  Depending on what kind of deal you get, having all three might very well be the same price (or marginally higher) as ordering just the Internet and TV.
9. Cell coverage in another area for consideration.  A mobile phone that works great out on the road may have spotty coverage in the house.  Personally, I can talk on the phone from inside an elevator at work, but I can’t make a call from my parents’ house.  It’s crazy.
10. Lastly, you’ve got to consider the kids.  You see a lot of kids with cell phones these days, but not everyone goes that route.  You may take comfort in knowing the landline is there in case of emergency or even if they just want to call a friend to play.  It doesn’t charge you by the minute and you can always pick up the other phone to remind them it’s time to hang up.

Sure, the Internet was created to fuel the exchange of knowledge, but it has evolved into so much more.  Sure, we still mine the Internet for knowledge, but now, using your high speed Internet service, you can rent and watch movies and TV shows!

Watching movies over the Internet is nothing new.  However, the method of delivery continues to change.  Netflix uses an “instant play” feature on many titles.  It allows you to watch certain movies over your high speed Internet.  You can also use the Netflix service, and several others, through many gaming platforms like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The latest story comes from the guys at Apple.  They’ve been in the works trying to create a rental system for using iTunes to watch current TV episodes.

Designed to compete with Hulu, the online TV portal fueled by Disney, News Corp. and NBC Universal, the iTunes TV episode venture would allow users to “rent” episodes for 48 hours.  According to Todd Spangler at Broadcasting & Cable,  ”Apple is reportedly near deals with News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. to provide 48-hour rentals of TV shows — priced at 99 cents — through iTunes within one day of broadcast.”

Competition has almost always resulted in better products for consumers, so let the Hulu Apple war rage on!

Who offers the best home TV service?  The debate has lingered on for years.  So which product is truly better in the ongoing battle of cable TV vs satellite TV and fiber optic TV?  There are certainly a lot of opinions, but what about the facts?

ChangeWave Research, an independent research firm specializing in consumer spending behavior, recently surveyed over 5000 television service customers to gain insight into customer loyalty in the TV marketplace.  It may shock you to learn that, of those surveyed, fiber optic TV customers appear to be most satisfied with their TV service.  A whopping 44% claimed to be “very satisfied” with their TV service providers, compared to 27% of satellite customers and only 14% cable TV subscribers.

Verizon topped the actual provider ratings for overall satisfaction, with Brighthouse and AT&T U-verse coming in 2nd and 3rd.  DIRECTV placed 4th in overall satisfaction.

When speaking about provider ratings, the ChangeWave report states, “Importantly, when we break out the results by type of provider a clear trend emerges. Fiber-Optic customers exhibit the lowest churn rate (only 6% say they’ll switch), considerably better than their Satellite (10%) and Cable counterparts (12%).”

It would appear that fiber optic TV, like Verizon FiOS, is the clear leader when it comes to TV service.  However, fiber optic TV still suffers a serious availability issue.  Products like Verizon FiOS simply don’t have the coverage area available to satellite TV providers or even cable TV companies.  Fiber optic TV may appear to be a superior product with better customer service, but it simply isn’t available everywhere.  That lack of coverage area may very well turn out to be the Achilles heal of fiber optic TV.

Still, cable TV and satellite TV appear to have the most visible battle.  Fiber optic TV is all but left out of the picture when cable and satellite battle for consumer dollars.  So which is better, cable TV or satellite TV?

Well, the answer is ultimately up to you.  They carry roughly the same programming with comparable pricing and features.  The nonsense about weather messing up the satellite signal has been all but put to rest, for the most part.  Yes, crazy storms can interfere with your satellite TV, but those same storms can also knock out your cable TV.   In the end, the debate over which is better, cable TV or satellite TV, is best left up to your personal preference.

Who has the channel line up and hardware you most prefer?  Who can best meet your budget requirements?  Which service is ultimately right for you and your household?

Have you been wondering if you even need home phone service anymore?  You’re likely not alone.  With the ever increasing options for VoIP, internet phone, and mobile phone plans, ditching your landline, the traditional home phone, is often seen as a way to save money.  Just make sure you truly don’t need that landline before you make your choice.

Here is a checklist of things to consider when thinking about ditching your landline:

Ask yourself the following questions to determine if you still need your home phone service:

1. How is your cell phone reception at home? In some areas, mobile coverage is spotty inside the house.  If you find yourself having to walk outside to complete a call, your mobile phone may not be the ideal option.
2. Will you be able to make 911 calls? Emergency calls have been a hot button issue with VoIP services, because they are not required to carry emergency service  like traditional phone companies.  Some now include 911, but you can’t make a call if the power goes out.  That’s not very emergency friendly.
3. How’s your battery life? If you don’t regularly and reliably charge your mobile phone, you may find yourself out of luck.  Sure, home cordless phones may suffer the same fate, but the trusted corded phone doesn’t require batteries.
4. How many minutes do you have? If you talk a lot, and you don’t have an unlimited calling plan, you may want to keep your landline. It’s easy to forget how much time you’ve used and cell phone companies charge a premium for overages.  Those 2 minute calls could start to add up, ruining the very reason you dropped your landline in the first place – saving money.

Ditching your landline is a perfectly viable option these days.  However, you’ve got to be smart about it.  Going wireless or relying solely on VoIP isn’t for everybody.  Make your own checklist of pros and cons to be sure.

Our demands on the limits of technology seem to grow by the day.  Even in larger metro areas, high speed Internet doesn’t always seem so “high speed”.  So what do you do when looking for high speed Internet in rural areas?

If you’ve found your online needs have outgrown dial-up Internet, here area a few items to consider:

• Does your local cable provider offer service in your area? Sometimes we forget that cable services, like high speed Internet, actually do run through cables.  If the cables don’t make it to your house, cable Internet isn’t an option.  However, it may pay to ask if there is a timeline setup to deliver access to your house.  If cable Internet is a year or less away, it may pay to wait it out.
• Have you talked to your phone company? Many times, the local phone company is the first place people turn to find high speed Internet.  However, they’re in a similar to position to your cable providers.  If the lines physically don’t make it to your house you can’t get DSL high speed Internet.  In rural areas, this often appears to be the case.
• Is satellite Internet an option? In many places where cable or DSL high speed Internet isn’t available, satellite Internet is a perfectly reasonable alternative.  When it comes to satellite, there are no cable to run to the house, so you can literally get satellite Internet almost anywhere.  You still have to have the correct angle on the signal, but that is typically an easy problem to solve.
• Have you talked to your local mobile phone company? With the influx of “air cards”, mobile high speed Internet is catching on.  Companies like Clear provide home high speed Internet based solely on wireless network coverage.  It’s just like having a wired connection in your house, but it receives its signal from the wireless network.

If you’re looking for high speed Internet in rural areas, you may think your options are limited.  They’re really not.  You may not have the same options as your metropolitan neighbors, but you can certainly enjoy similar Internet speeds.  If you broaden your ideas of how you can connect to the Internet, you can download movies and photos, play online games and more.

It looks like you may be able to enjoy Video On Demand (VOD) from your local cable TV providers even if you don’t have a leased set top box.

Thanks to a partnership between Clearleap and Related Content Database, Inc., cable TV providers will be able to send VOD movies and shows through your Blu-ray player.  Glen Disckson of Broadcasting & Cable does a great job of explaining how the system would work.  According to Glen, “To launch the VOD application directly from a cable operator’s servers, a consumer would insert the cable operator’s Blu-ray disc into a BD-Live player and press start. The Blu-ray disc and service are powered by the RCDb software and the content is then streamed by the Clearleap’s TV technology platform, operated on behalf of the cable operator, to the consumer’s home.”  It really is entertainment at the push of a button.

There were no cable TV providers or official launch dates provided.

In the ever evolving mission to produce the fastest high speed Internet,  Verizon FiOS has successfully tested near “break neck” speed.  Using its gigabit passive optical network (GPON), Verizon successfully sent data at 1gbps.  If you’re looking for perspective here, that’s 200 times faster than its current 50mbps high speed Internet, which is plenty fast itself.

An article written for Electronista claims, “The test was conducted in Taunton in June, with an existing GPON system sending data to a second optical network terminal. Both an optimized route and across the public Internet to a regional speed test server over 400 miles away were part of the test.”  That translates to achieving optimal performance in ideal and typical situations.

So what does that mean for us, the consumers?  That means we are well on our way to using super fast high speed Internet, with Verizon FiOS anyway.

In a move sure to please technology infused football fans, Verizon FiOS is set to broadcast the first NFL game of the year in 3D.

A press release issued by Verizon details the preseason Giants/Patriots game, broadcast in 3D, with pre-game, half-time and post-game shows, also in 3D.   The 3D event won’t be available in every market, but Verizon plans to broadcast in areas of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  Also, keep in mind that you must have an HDTV with 3D TV capability and a pair of 3D glasses for everyone planning to watch the game.

You can check to see if Verizon FiOS is available at your house by entering your address in the “Savings Widget” above.