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I'm testing DirecTV Stream to cut the cord — hither'due south the pros and cons

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

I'm nigh ready to cutting the cord, merely subsequently testing DirecTV Stream I've realized that it comes with an asterisk I didn't anticipate. This service, readers, is a lesson in reading the fine print. Because while you may have heard that information technology's the place for regional sports networks, yous don't go them in every packet.

DirecTV Steam, if you've not heard of it, is the newly rebranded AT&T Tv set. Information technology was AT&T TV At present before that, and DirecTV Now before that. It's never been i of our favorites, but I feel the need to make sure I've checked under every stone. And unfortunately its wins are by and large found in competition to cablevision TV, and non up against the likes of Sling TV or YouTube TV.

To give you lot some context, I am cut the cord considering of the cable box's archaic nature. That said, my roommates don't desire to give up their specific channels, and and so I'm planning on getting rid of my cable box, and telling them that their $127 per month cable bill (which will get cheaper without that cable box) is their trouble. I'll even offer to let them share my business relationship with me.

DirecTV Stream Crook sheet

Price: $70 per month
Channels: More than 65
DVR: xx hours
Simultaneous streams: three
Broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, Play a joke on, NBC

My ultimate goal in all of this is to find a service that is great enough to convince them it's fourth dimension for all of united states to wave farewell to cable. I was trying to be optimistic about DirecTV Stream, formerly known as AT&T TV, since information technology's the but place you tin get the YES Network (and I live with some Yankees fans).

The tiptop two competitors for my dollar are Sling TV and YouTube Television receiver, which impressed with toll and excellent apps, respectively. Unfortunately, non all of its competitors can say that much. Hulu with Alive Boob tube, for example, didn't evidence stable enough for my liking. And fuboTV doesn't accept TNT, which ways much fewer NBA Playoff games.

Based on my testing, here's the pros and cons of DirecTV Stream for cord-cutters.

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Where DirecTV Stream beats (or matches) cable

(Paradigm credit: Henry T. Casey)

Unfortunately, the upsides of DirecTV Stream against cablevision are the same upsides you become with all of the best cable TV alternatives. For starters, you tin stream all your favorite channels anywhere you lot go on your phone. Spectrum'due south mobile app only gives me that whole aqueduct guide if I'thou logged in on my home network.

Secondly, DirecTV Stream offers the aforementioned month-to-month contract structure that the other string-cutter services do. Information technology'due south great, especially if you discover that yous don't similar DirecTV Stream.

I wish this department were longer. But that's non the case.

Where DirecTV Stream fails confronting cable (and Sling and YouTube TV)

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

DirecTV Stream suffers from ane of the issues I found in Sling: less-than-alive Tv. YouTube Tv is already about xx seconds or more backside my cable box, and that's not great (watching live events with friends and constantly being backside them stinks). But Sling was fifty-fifty further behind YouTube Television receiver, and I timed it out that DirecTV is 10+ seconds backside YouTube TV.

But I had problems with DirecTV Stream before I could even go my business relationship going. It all started when I clicked the wrong Google outcome for DirecTV Stream, which gave me traditional DirecTV package options. Things got even more abrasive when I thought I'd fabricated it to the right page, and a DirecTV rep called me out of the blue (which my iPhone flagged as a spam risk) to sell me standard traditional DirecTV and not the DirecTV Stream package.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

It turns out I didn't look closely enough at the fine print of the site I was using, which states "By clicking "Meet PLANS" higher up, I consent to receive from DIRECTV and any party on behalf of DIRECTV emails, telemarketing calls using an autodialer or pre-recordings and SMS text messages, which could result in wireless charges, at the number provided. I understand that consent is not a condition of purchase."

And that's not great. I detest to exist a platitude millennial, but I do not want to go a phone call from DirecTV ever. That'due south why we accept websites. But then when I found the correct Google result, I couldn't check out, equally information technology kept giving me errors at the billing page. When I got it to work on another device, I learned that the 'payment address' field may not have been working correctly.

This is all to say, though, that any suspicions of DirecTV Stream being a service that seems stuck in the antiquated methods of DirecTV and cable providers are warranted. Everything about the service just feels old. I don't want to cutting the cord to go back to something that's rooted in the by.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

And then in that location's the whole "rewinding live shows" effect that I've run across elsewhere. Say you're watching a testify that yous've got gear up to record, and then channel surf over to something else during the commercial suspension (to check out your other options). When I did this, and went back to the show I was watching, I lost the power to rewind past a certain betoken, even though I was recording the testify. I had to and so navigate the menus in the system to the My Library department to find the full recording of the live show.

This is worse than cable (shocking, I know) and is the kind of thing that could ship people running back to their cablevision box. You don't accept this outcome on YouTube TV either. If you lot've set up a show to record, the service y'all're using should know you'll want to search effectually it, and non forcefulness you to do weird things to get there. Sling has been inconsistent at this, sometimes letting me rewind live recorded content, and other times non.

DirecTV Stream also just doesn't assistance itself. It puts up these interstitial title cards for the channel and evidence you're about to watch when it's loading — which makes it seem like the load time is longer than it should be. But when I tested YouTube TV and Sling TV, I realized that those apps simply take a blackness screen that shows up as the channel loads, which takes up the same second or ii.

(Paradigm credit: Henry T. Casey)

The DirecTV Stream app on the Apple Television 4K also just seems very buggy. It one time randomly spammed me with the Welcome to DirecTV Stream splash window when I was switching apps, long after I'd signed up. Information technology would also randomly throw up a title card for the show and channel I was watching.

Another annoyance you lot may have with DirecTV Stream is the lack of a Chromecast with Google TV app. It's one of the all-time streaming devices, and I can't imagine what the agree-up is. I also looked for an AT&T TV app. Zip. Instead, DirecTV advises you bandage your mobile device app to your TV. And that's not enough.

Does DirecTV Stream hitting my sweet spot for channels and price?

DirecTV Stream has been 1 of the services we're interested in for channel bundle reasons, just afterward I started using the service I realized that the DirecTV Stream entry-level bundle is defective in the i way the service stands out.

That'southward regional sports networks, such equally the Yep Network our apartment full of Yankees fans is interested in. It turns out that YES (which is only on DirecTV Stream, and no other service) is not in the $70 per calendar month DirecTV Stream Entertainment packet, but limited to the $85 per month Pick packet. And that cost, vs the $127 cable bill, doesn't offer enough savings.

(Epitome credit: Henry T. Casey)

It's really irksome that people would have to spend an extra $20 — vs. fuboTV or YouTube TV, two relatively stiff picks in this field — to follow the sports team of your selection more closely. Specially for all of DirecTV Stream'south other flaws.

Otherwise, though, the $70 per month Entertainment parcel of DirecTV Stream has a perfectly decent channel lineup, simply not ane that makes paying $5 more than per calendar month over those competitors brand sense. Yous become CNN, MSNBC and Pull a fast one on for news, and some of the ESPN networks (just not ESPNews, which might irk yous).

You go all the local broadcast channels such as ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC (something Sling tin't offer without AirTV now that Locast is under ground), and I become all the other channels I need, with AMC, USA Network, TNT, One-act Central and Cartoon Network.

DirecTV Stream, by fashion of charging more for these channels, takes an 50 on the Roommates Examination, charging $fifteen more for the package with Aye and a whopping $25 more for the $95 per month Ultimate package that has the BBC Earth News (which YouTube TV has in its regular parcel). That said, PBS is accessible for donors via the Thirteen Passport. It would just exist dainty to take information technology packaged in with everything else.

The other DirecTV Stream pricing neglect is its DVR, which only has 20 hours of storage by default, though an extra $ten per month gets you 500 hours. By comparing, Hulu and Sling give you l hours by default, fuboTV includes 250 hours and YouTube Telly has an unlimited DVR (with a nine-month expiration window).

All of this — channels and DVR — adds up fast, and we'd probably spend $105 per calendar month for DirecTV Stream. That'due south fashion besides much.

DirecTV Stream is not a contender to replace cable

Now having tested five of the best cablevision TV alternatives, I've however got two principal contenders and three coulda-been-a-contendas. DirecTV Stream's pricing and bugginess and rewinding bug just kick it to the curb.

DirecTV Stream is basically the same app as AT&T Television and AT&T TV At present earlier information technology. The proper noun may change, but the problems stay the same.

my string-cutting ability rankings so far

Next up, I'm making sure I've tried everything by boot the tires on Philo to come across what it's like. That said, information technology lacks TNT and USA, two of the well-nigh of import channels for me, so I'chiliad worried about its chances.

Correct now, Sling is still winning with the best pricing for my particular needs. YouTube TV's superior app and mid-stream navigation help brand it my favorite if coin were no option. Still, a year of YouTube Telly is $780, which is 85% more than than the $420 per year for Sling Bluish.

If but DirecTV Stream didn't seem similar DirecTV minus the cable box.

Stream Time is where Tom's Guide senior editor Henry T. Casey dives into the big choices we make nigh streaming media. We tackle it all, from the best and worst streaming services and devices, to the never-ending listing of shows to watch.

Be certain to check out my guides to the best streaming devices  (and best streaming services ) for more recommendations. Email me at henry.casey@futurenet.com or leave a comment below with anything you'd like to meet me embrace in the streaming world — I might just address information technology in a future installment.

• Plus: How to spotter Riverdale season v summer premiere online and without cable

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past vi-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild globe of professional person wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

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