Dave Schafer
Contributing Writer
Dave Schafer is a freelance writer with a passion for making technical concepts easy for anyone to understand. He’s been covering the world of gadgets, tech, and the internet for over 8 years, with a particular focus on TV and internet service providers. When he’s not writing, Dave can be found playing guitar or camping with his family and golden retriever, Rosie.
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Dave Schafer3/21/23
DSL internet (or digital subscriber line) is a staple in rural parts of the country and offers reasonable speeds of up to 100 Mbps—not the fastest by a long shot, but enough for most day-to-day activities. Dial-up, on the other hand, is a dinosaur in the networking world that offers pretty much nothing that you can’t get more of elsewhere. That said, we’ll explore each technology in detail so you can make an informed decision. Let’s dive in!
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Dave Schafer6/26/24
Metronet is a growing regional provider that offers value-packed internet service to customers. Its all-fiber network is fast and reasonably priced. Overall, we think Metronet is a solid pick for your next internet provider—if you happen to live in one of its coverage areas.
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Dave Schafer7/16/24
AT&T fiber is our pick for the best internet service in New Braunfels. AT&T offers speedy, reliable internet at very reasonable prices, and has consistently been one of our highest-ranked providers. It covers 85% of the city, so most residents should have it available. However, if you can’t get AT&T fiber, Spectrum and T-Mobile both offer solid alternatives.
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
The internet is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, learning, and entertainment. However, there are also some dark sides to the online world that parents need to be aware of:
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Dave Schafer7/22/24
To choose the best TV antennas, we considered a mix of range, size, number of channels picked up, and of course, price. We also looked at extra features like signal amplification, signal-strength meters, and smartphone apps, all of which make nice bonuses. To learn more, see our full methodology.
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
It probably goes without saying that we’re big fans of TV here. Unfortunately, we’re not always in front of our actual televisions when our favorite shows are on. We need a solution—and that solution is called TV Everywhere.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/18/24
If you can get fiber internet from Optimum , you'll get great all-around service with fast speeds and reasonable pricing. If you can get only cable internet, you'll get slower max speeds and may see different pricing. Both options are decent, but watch out for third-year price hikes and potential customer service hassles.
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Dave Schafer7/22/24
AT&T fiber is the best internet provider in Seguin—really, in the entire San Antonio area. AT&T offers fast speeds (up to 5 Gbps), excellent reliability, and reasonable prices. It’s also got a good reputation for customer service, which is more than we can say about many ISPs.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/18/24
Xfinity is a fantastic provider overall. It offers fast speeds, reliable service, and reasonable prices. Some plans still require contracts, and others still have data limits. Watch out for Xfinity’s hidden fees and spotty customer service record, but it may not be as bad as it once was.
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Dave Schafer, Rebecca Palmer6/18/24
We're big fans of AT&T fiber internet for its fast speeds, reasonable prices, and great customer service. AT&T offers fantastic value: fast fiber internet speeds at reasonable prices, plus some of the best customer support in the business and rock-solid reliability. With no contracts, no data caps, and no monthly equipment fee, AT&T is
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Dave Schafer2/8/23
With the cooler temperatures comes the coolest sport of all—hockey. The NHL season ends in June, so if you don’t have a way to watch it, you're missing out.
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Xfinity has a strong track record as a home security leader, but you’ll pay a lot to have its name on your yard sign. DIYers and renters will want to look elsewhere, but for the homeowner who wants the Xfinity reputation and doesn’t mind the price, it’s a very solid choice.
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Dave Schafer6/21/24
Getting older can be tough, but there’s no denying that it comes with perks, too. Wisdom, life experience, and—of course—discounts. Many companies offer senior discounts on products as a way to honor the older generations, ranging from a few dollars off a latte to large discounts on expensive services.
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Dave Schafer3/21/23
An optical network terminal (ONT) is a device that converts fiber signals into a format your devices can understand. It then turns the signals from your devices back to light to send them out along the fiber cables to the internet. Essentially, it's a modem for
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Dave Schafer12/20/22
Xfinity is our pick for the best cable TV provider. It offers a great channel selection, solid prices, a powerful DVR, and excellent internet bundles. Others came close, but there can be only one.
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
BendBroadband offers a surprisingly strong internet service to the towns around Bend, Oregon. Despite the occasional customer service issue, we think it’s one of the most compelling options in the area.
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Dave Schafer7/22/24
AT&T fiber is our favorite internet service provider in Schertz, TX. AT&T offers fast speeds at reasonable prices, with excellent coverage in Schertz—86% of the population can get it. It’s also consistently been one of our best-reviewed ISPs.
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
When times are tough, a little entertainment can go a long way. TV can be expensive, but there are options when you need screen time on a budget. Whether you’re looking to recession-proof your finances or just save a few bucks each month, if you’re wondering how to get low-cost TV, you’re in the right place.
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Dave Schafer2/8/23
In the immortal words of Dani Rojas, “Football is life.” No, we’re not talking about American football—we’re talking about the original, the world’s most popular sport, otherwise known as soccer. Major League Soccer (MLS) is the professional soccer league for the United States (and a few Canadian teams). If you’re hungry for MLS action, you’re in the right place.
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
One of the latest additions to the DVR world is the cloud DVR. As the name implies, these DVRs store your recordings in the cloud and stream them back to you. How do they compare to traditional, local DVRs? How can you get one? We’ve got everything you need to know, right here.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Local internet service providers (ISPs) sometimes lack a certain something. They might be expensive or fail to reach the speeds of national providers. Omni Fiber wants to buck that trend with speedy internet at an affordable price and the promise of local customer service, but can it deliver? Spoiler alert—yes, it seems it can.
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Dave Schafer3/21/23
Deciding between fiber internet and DSL is mainly a question of speed—fiber packages tend to start at DSL’s
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Dave Schafer2/10/23
DVRs are one of the best things to happen to TV. After all, who has time to catch every single program right when it airs? When choosing a DVR, one of the main challenges is figuring out how much storage you need. In this article, we’ll walk through all the details to help you determine how much storage space you need to store all your favorite movies, sports games, and shows.
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Dave Schafer6/26/24
Overall, we like Clearwave Fiber. It’s a speedy fiber provider with decent pricing and good customer service. Our main complaint is that it’s just not as competitive on the pricing as it could be. In general, though, we think people will be happy with Clearwave Fiber.
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Dave Schafer6/21/24
Blackouts are one of the most frustrating experiences in the world of television. If you’ve ever gone to tune in to your home team’s game and found it’s not available, you know what we mean.
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
Buckeye Broadband offers a good internet experience for residents of the Toledo area. However, substantial price hikes, high prices on the faster plans, and a reputation for poor customer service make it tough to recommend for certain customers.
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Dave Schafer2/10/23
Out of the dozens of internet security software brands on the market, we've found Norton 360 Deluxe to be the best all-around internet security software, followed closely by Bitdefender Total Security, McAfee Total Protection, and Trend Micro Maximum Security. Each of these suites brings a slew of useful features, excellent protection, reasonable pricing, and cross-platform support.
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Dave Schafer3/30/23
Few buzzwords have taken the tech world by storm quite like “5G.” However, mobile network carriers have done a terrible job of explaining what’s so great about 5G technology and why it’s worth all the hype. Let’s take a deeper look at exactly what 5G is and why you should care to demystify the topic once and for all.
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Dave Schafer3/3/23
Even though it’s been around for several years now, there’s a good chance that many people are just now upgrading to a 5G-capable device. Naturally, that means it’s time to talk about the next generation—6G. Although it doesn’t exist yet, there are some details about 6G we can discuss now, so let’s dive in and look at the future of mobile internet.
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Kathryn Casna, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Hawaiian Telcom is a solid choice for TV service for Hawaii residents—with a couple caveats. You have to be on Oahu to get TV service, and there aren’t any standout features to help it rise above competitors DISH and DIRECTV.
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Dave Schafer2/8/23
Internet security isn’t just for IT professionals—it starts at home. When you’re shopping for a new router or another piece of
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Dave Schafer8/2/24
AT&T fiber is our top pick for internet service provider in Cibolo (and the entire greater San Antonio area, in fact). AT&T offers super-fast speeds, solid pricing (especially on gig plans), and outstanding customer support. It’s tough to go wrong here.
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Dave Schafer3/30/23
Online safety and security is one of the most important topics in today’s connected world. However, discussions around it can often veer into technical territory beyond the average person’s experience. It’s hard to get excited about security when you feel like you need a Ph.D. in information technology to understand it.
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Dave Schafer3/27/23
Whether you’re trying to catch the big game or call into an important video conference at work,
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
Baseball is America’s Pastime, and America has never had more ways to watch than today. There are cable and satellite providers, streaming services, broadcast channels, on-demand—it’s a baseball fan’s dream come true.
However, all this variety can also be confusing. That’s why we’re here—we’ll walk through all the different ways to watch MLB and offer recommendations on the best ways to get all the games you need.
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Dave Schafer2/10/23
You work hard for your money, so it’s important to ensure you’re getting a good value. Fiber is, in general, one of the best values in internet—you tend to get more speed for your dollar with fiber than with even the best cable providers (and certainly more than with DSL or satellite).
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
Google Fiber offers affordable gig speeds with no contracts, data caps, fees, or fuss. Unfortunately, it’s still hamstrung by extremely limited availability.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Kinetic by Windstream aims to bring better internet to rural and remote areas. While it offers one of the best values in internet service anywhere, it’s hampered by a mediocre customer experience.
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Dave Schafer1/9/23
Fiber internet is an outstanding service that offers the
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Dave Schafer6/21/24
One of the best things about TV service is the ability to watch local channels. These channels are often local subsidiaries of broadcast networks like NBC and CBS and carry content that’s highly relevant, like local news and public access TV. These networks are also one of the only ways to catch games from your local team.
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Dave Schafer6/21/24
Online security is a big deal. While many of us know the basics, a little help can go a long way—and what better place to get that help than your internet service provider (ISP) itself? After surveying the options, we’ve found AT&T to offer the best all-around security features, with advanced content controls, useful apps, and even a
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
If you don’t have a way to watch the NBA season, make sure you sort it out before the season starts. In this article, we’ll cover all the different ways you can watch NBA games—cable and satellite, streaming, in-market, and out-of-market. If it’s NBA-related, it’s here. Let’s dive in!
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Optimum offers exceptional value. You get tons of channels, a solid DVR, and a good selection of sports and premium channels for a very reasonable price. Despite some additional fees, Optimum is an excellent choice.
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
Mediacom offers a decent overall experience, with fast speeds and modern Wi-Fi gear. However, big rate hikes, a hefty installation cost, and lots of small fees bring the rating down.
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To determine the best cheap cable TV providers, we considered a few factors. Cost of service was important, but we also looked at the number of channels you get for that cost, availability, fees, quality of bundling options, and overall quality of service offered.
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Dave Schafer7/22/24
AT&T fiber is our top pick for internet service in San Antonio. The service is fast, reliable, and one of our
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/18/24
If you can get fiber internet from Frontier, it's fast, affordable and reliable. If you only have DSL from Frontier available in your area, the internet will be slower and more expensive for what you get. The good news is that Frontier is constantly expanding its 100% fiber network across the United States.
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Dave Schafer3/2/23
For a service that’s so simple, internet bills can be surprisingly confusing. It’s common to see a list of fees that seems to go on forever, and in many cases, it’s not clear exactly what you’re being charged for.
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CenturyLink offers excellent fiber internet, but it’s available only in limited markets. If you can't get fiber, you may be able to get a DSL connection but you'll pay nearly as much.
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
We were extremely impressed with Brightspeed’s prices—you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better deal on
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Dave Schafer3/2/23
It’s no secret that TV bills can be confusing. The list of fees and charges can stretch a mile long, even when you’ve subscribed to a single service. It can be frustrating to see a bunch of charges and not know exactly what you’re paying for.
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Kathryn Casna, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Hargray offers solid TV features and fast internet, but it’s expensive for what you get. On top of that, it competes against Xfinity and DIRECTV, both of which offer outstanding service. This makes Hargray a tough sell—unless you just don’t have any other options.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/21/24
In 2024, the regular 18-week NFL season kicks off September 5. But things kick off with the draft at the end of April, and the pre-season starts August 1.
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
Bandwidth is a bit tricky to explain. It refers to the capacity of your internet connection—the maximum amount of data you can transfer at once, based on your plan and connection type.
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Dave Schafer3/24/23
Coaxial cables, often referred to as “coax” cables, are a type of copper cable used primarily in TV, internet, and phone services. They carry data transmissions from one point to another.
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Dave Schafer8/13/24
Public Wi-Fi networks are everywhere these days, and they’re so useful—no matter where you are, you can get online (usually for free!) and take care of business. Seems almost too good to be true, right?
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Dave Schafer2/9/23
Pretty much every internet service provider (ISP) will give you a modem and router when you sign up for service. They'll even install it
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Verizon Fios TV offers an excellent value TV service. The customizable Your Fios plan is particularly attractive, but all tiers offer a lot of TV for the money. Add in outstanding internet, and it’s hard to go wrong with Verizon.
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Dave Schafer2/3/23
These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a TV that isn’t a smart TV. Even the most affordable options usually have some sort of streaming platform and a few built-in apps. However, the experience of using these TVs can leave something to be desired.
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Dave Schafer3/21/23
If you’re moving, you have a lot on your plate already—you don’t want to add to it. However, moving into a new apartment complex can bring an extra challenge: trying to sort out your internet provider.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/26/24
Spectrum offers speedy, reasonably priced cable internet service, and a strong budget plan. We wish there were fewer fees attached, though.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/26/24
Verizon Fios offers fast, reliable fiber internet, along with one of the best overall customer experiences in the business. Verizon Fios is highly recommended, and it's
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Dave Schafer6/18/24
If you're willing to pay a little bit more for an exceptional customer experience, EarthLink may be the right choice for your Internet service. EarthLink is an interesting Internet provider. Instead of serving internet through its own infrastructure, it partners with other internet providers to repackage
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Dave Schafer3/21/23
A firewall is a device or software that monitors network activity and blocks unauthorized or suspicious network traffic. Think of it like a coffee filter keeping grounds out of your morning brew, but with far more serious implications.
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Dave Schafer6/24/24
Rise Broadband offers competitive fixed wireless speeds at reasonable prices for rural customers. While it won’t compete with your typical fiber or cable internet service, it offers a compelling alternative to satellite.
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Rebecca Palmer, Dave Schafer6/24/24
Mediacom offers a decent value in TV, but it’s far from perfect. First, you must bundle it with internet—standalone TV isn’t available. A thin sports selection and lots of fees also hurt. That said, Mediacom internet isn’t bad, so if you’re going with that, it probably makes sense to go with Mediacom TV, too.