Everybody watches TV. However, in a world where streaming services are dominating the world of entertainment, is dealing with a flawed cable provider really worth it? Verizon is one of the most used providers out there, and its general consensus is mediocre to negative. Verizon has many features that sound good on paper but are extremely underwhelming upon execution. Primarily, quarrels are made with the “On Demand” feature, which is supposed to provide access to thousands of free movies and shows. Sounds great, right? Well, that isn’t quite the case. Margo Wensel, a nine-year user of Verizon, finds it incredibly irritating that many of the programs available On Demand are in fact not free for consumption. “If I am already paying for Verizon, I shouldn’t have to pay for the things On Demand too,” she says. In addition, Margo also takes issue with the fact that Verizon does not prorate your television bill if your power happens to go out. This is a very big issue because if you are unable to use your TV for a day, or even a week, your monthly bill will still charge you as if you had full access all month. This, effectively, wastes the consumer’s money. Other than these two faults, Margo says she thinks Verizon is “fine”, but she still wonders if paying for cable at all is worth it. 

In a decently similar vein, Mark Wensel also takes issue with a fair amount of Verizon’s features. In his experience, the provided cable box and remote often don’t work, which is extremely inconvenient. You can also only DVR two shows at a time, one of which you have to be watching, which “defeats the purpose of DVR-ing a show in the first place,” says Mark. Another displeasing aspect of Verizon is that you are forced to pay for channels that you don’t necessarily want. Instead of choosing the channels that you are interested in watching, you have to purchase channel packages. For example, “If I want the Golf Channel, I have to buy the ‘sports package’. Basically, I have to pay for a whole package of channels that I’ll only actually watch three or four of.” This is yet another flaw in Verizon’s service that wastes people’s money. However, on the bright side, Mark has no issues with Verizon’s customer service. In fact, he claims, “Even when I yell at them, they’ve been really helpful.” But unfortunately, in Mark’s eyes, this fact doesn’t quite make up for the many issues he has with the provider.

To put it generally, the taste left in the mouths of Verizon’s customers is decently sour. Especially in a time where more and more families are switching to exclusively streaming services for entertainment, there is no room for a subpar cable provider. Of course, the two Verizon customers that were interviewed do not speak for the entirety of Verizon users, but their points are worth considering if you’re on the fence about getting rid of cable all together.