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Hargray vs. Optimum vs. Philo Television plan comparison


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Researched by
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Reviewed by
Updated 4/11/23

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Hargray
Staff rating
2.7
Customer rating
0.0
(0)

  • Plans starting at $20.00
  • 170+ channels
Optimum brand
Staff rating
4.5
Customer rating
3.7
(22)

  • Plans starting at $15.00
  • 420+ channels
Philo
Staff rating
3.1
Customer rating
4.4
(5)

  • Plans starting at $25.00
  • 60 channels
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Hargray
Staff rating
2.7

Hargray TV offers some interesting features, but faces stiff competition

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.

What we like

  • Channel selection covers most of the top channels
  • No contract
  • Solid equipment and features
What we dislike

  • Expensive for what you get
  • Lacks niche channels, especially for sports
  • Somewhat limited coverage area
Savings tip: Hargray often has
sign-up promotions
for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Optimum brand
Staff rating
4.5

Huge value for internet-based TV

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.


What we like

  • No contracts
  • High channel count
  • Excellent value
What we dislike

  • Some areas can't get fiber internet
  • High fees
  • Second-year price hikes
Savings tip: Optimum often has
sign-up promotions
for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Philo
Staff rating
3.1

The softer (and cheaper) side of streaming live TV

Philo is a great value if you love feel-good movies, reality TV, and shows about home and family, but you’ll miss out on sports, news, and local channels. We put it to the test on browsers, phones, and streaming sticks, and we think it’s a fair contender for the softer side of live TV.

What we like

  • Affordable pricing
  • Nice entertainment and lifestyle lineup
  • No-fuss setup and navigation
What we dislike

  • No sports or local channels
  • Limited news coverage
  • Repetitive, unskippable ads
Savings tip: Philo often has
sign-up promotions
for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.
Check deals
Hargray
Content
3.5
Hargray offers a solid sports and news selection but lacks other top channels

Hargray’s strengths are its news and sports channels, but it also has decent local channels, family-friendly channels, and entertainment channels. However, its Spanish-language options are lacking, so if you have a Spanish-speaker in your family, consider a different provider instead.

Local: 3/5
While the number of locals can vary from area to area, Hargray offers almost all of the English-language locals, including ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. But if you’re looking for Spanish-language local channels, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Sports: 3.5/5
While Hargray has only about half of the most popular sports channels, it makes up for that somewhat by going above and beyond with its breadth of ESPN channels, outdoor channels, and regional sports networks.

Family and education: 3/5
Hargray has about half of the most popular family and educational channels, including both Nat Geos, Discovery and Investigation Discovery, and Disney and Disney Junior. But it’s lacking Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TV Land, and some others.

News and politics: 4/5
Hargray has nearly all of the most popular news and political channels. However, if you’re looking for extras—like financial or international news—this might not be the provider for you.

Entertainment and lifestyle: 3/5
Hargray has more than half of the most popular entertainment and lifestyle channels, including HGTV, the Hallmark channels, TLC, and TNT. But it’s missing Bravo, BET, CMT, MTV, and Comedy Central.

Local news, sports, and entertainment channels vary based on your location. Check out
Hargray channel offerings
in your area.
View plans
Optimum brand
Content
5.0
Popular channels to suit every taste

Optimum offers a great selection of channels, and pricing at each of its tiers is reasonable. If you’re part of a big family with diverse TV tastes, Optimum is easy to recommend.

Local: 5/5
Optimum offers a fantastic selection of local channels in each of its four package tiers. You get access to the four basic broadcast channels (NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX) plus Univision and Telemundo. That means local news and sports, big national games like the Super Bowl, and primetime favorites.

Sports: 5/5
Not only does Optimum offer a ton of great channels for sports, you can get most of it at either the Basic TV or Core TV packages. In addition to wrestling on USA Network and all that ESPN has to offer, you get TNT, Fox Sports 1, MLB Network, and NBA TV. NFL Network is available on the highest tier, and you can get NFL RedZone as an add-on. Sports aficionados should opt for at least the Select TV plan to get the best selection.

If Optimum's offerings aren't quite right, you're in luck! A lot of games and matches are now available via streaming or over the air. Find out how to watch the MLB, how to watch pro football, and how to watch the NHL.

Family and education: 5/5
Optimum TV truly offers something for everyone, and that includes all kinds of shows for kids and channels focused on education. You can get PBS, Disney, and Nickelodeon at the Core TV price. If you bump up to the next tier, you can get History, Discovery, NationL Geographic, Travel, Animal Planet, and more. There’s no Family Entertainment TV (FETV) or Me TV, but we aren’t too mad about it.

News and politics: 5/5
Optimum TV keeps hitting homers when it comes to news. You get a selection of US political news from both sides of the aisle plus international news, Spanish-language news, business news, and even sports news.

Entertainment and lifestyle: 4.5/5
When it comes to watching great movies, reality TV, and home improvement shows, Optimum TV has you covered. At the highest tier, you get a selection of premium channels including Reelz, HBO, and SHOWTIME, plus both Hallmark and Lifetime. A number of the top 100 channels in the US are missing, including Game Show Network, Grit, INSP and Ion Mystery, but all the most popular content is easy to find. (1)

Local news, sports, and entertainment channels vary based on your location. Check out
Optimum channel offerings
in your area.
View plans
Philo
Content
1.0
Plenty to watch, but no sports or local channels

If you love home renovation shows, feel-good movies, and reality TV, Philo has a channel lineup you’ll love. But you won’t find sports, local channels, or news.

Local: 0/5
Philo doesn’t offer any local channels, so that means no local news, no primetime favorites, no local sports, and no awards shows. If you want this programming, we recommend checking out live TV streaming options YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV or a traditional TV provider like your local cable company or satellite TV providers DISH or DIRECTV.

Sports: 0/5
Like with local channels, Philo doesn’t offer any sports coverage. You can catch some sports content on ESPN+ or get a decent variety on services like Fubo or Sling TV. If you want to catch every NFL game, you could even try the NFL Sunday Ticket premium channel from YouTube.

Family and education: 2/5
Where Philo is a poor choice for sports and news, it’s a great choice for families and kids. You get multiple channels from Discovery with the base package price, plus Animal Planet, Great American Family, Family Entertainment TV (FETV), three Nickelodeon channels, Story Television, and Science. There’s no Disney, Cartoon Network, or PBS, but we love that Philo makes it easy to access free programming from services including Crackle, Cheddar News, Gusto TV, and RetroCrush, the new station featuring classic anime hits.

News and politics: 0/5
While you can technically catch BBC America and BBC World News on Philo, there’s virtually none of the news or analysis you would expect from traditional TV. There’s not even Late Night Tonight, and no 60 Minutes or PBS Newshour. You don’t get Fox News, MSNBC, HBO, or CNN either, and we didn’t happen upon any foreign-language news programming in our tests.

Entertainment and lifestyle: 2.5/5
Philo does better—a lot better—when it comes to stories, movies, and inspirational shows. You get all the Hallmark and Lifetime channels before add-on pricing, plus A&E and the up-and-coming INSP channel. We also found shows from TV’s rich past, including I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best, Matlock, Doctor Who, and even Touched by an Angel. There’s a strong selection of shows about the Black experience, too, including Rasheeda Frost's Boss Moves and much more. Even better, you get to choose from four different MTV channels before add-ons.

Local news, sports, and entertainment channels vary based on your location. Check out
Philo channel offerings
in your area.
View plans
Hargray
Value
2.0
Hargray falls short in the value department, especially compared to competitors

Hargray service falls a bit short in the value department. Packages start low, at around $30 per month, but this is just for basic cable. To get a decent channel count, you’ll need to pay more than $100 per month—and even then, the channel selection is mediocre. You’ll get the basics covered, along with more than half of the more popular channels, like ESPN, Fox Sports, and the Disney Channel, but we wish there was more for the money here.

The bundle situation is a little better, but not much. There’s just no way around it—if you want a decent channel count and respectable internet speed, you’ll have to pay a premium with Hargray.

Get the best value by speaking directly with a sales rep at 1-877-427-4729 or check your address at
Hargray's website.
Check address
Optimum brand
Value
5.0
You get a lot for the money, but internet is required

Optimum TV offers excellent value, whether you live in an area that gets only cable internet or one wired for fiber-to-the-home. Internet-based TV packages are available for as little as $35 per month (for basic TV), while the higher-tier plans offer high channel counts for the price. There are as many as 420+ channels available—one of the highest channel counts of any provider.

The internet service is also a fantastic value, offering faster speeds for the money than many competitors. It’s worth noting that an internet plan is required, though, at a minimum price of $40 per month. There’s also a few hidden fees, but they’re lower than what we’ve seen from other cable providers.

There's a 2-year price lock on most plans, which is great! Prices go up in the third year of TV service, though, and the company doesn't say by how much. We've heard customers complain about price hikes in the range of $85–$115, though, and that's just for TV. Since you also need internet, your price could balloon by $200 per month by year three.

You may be able to save on your bill by calling in and threatening to switch to a competitor, so we recommend it!

Get the best value by speaking directly with a sales rep at 1-844-719-8066 or check your address at
Optimum's website.
Check address
Philo
Value
3.0
Less than half the cost of top competitors

Cleverly named after the inventor of the television, Philo is one of the cheapest live TV options we tested. It’s a great value for limited live TV and an endless array of movies, entertainment, and lifestyle shows. There are other add-ons, but even if you pay for them all, you’ll still pay less than most of the other live TV services we reviewed. You’ll also find more than 60,000 shows in the on-demand library, but it’s hard to recommend Philo for most cord cutters.

The service stays super cheap by skipping local channels, sports, national news, and many of the most popular national networks. (1) You’re also locked out of recently aired entertainment from PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox. A digital antenna is an easy workaround, but you’ll need a separate DVR if you want to save the content to watch later. You could sign up for on-demand streaming apps to make up the difference, but prices add up quickly.

It’s not great, but there is a silver lining. Philo comes with a free trial and is easy to cancel online, so you can sign up for just a month or two whenever you’re in the mood for all the movies and programming it offers. It’s also a nice option for subscription hopping, if you can remember to cancel within a few months.

Get the best value by speaking directly with a sales rep or check your address at
Philo's website.
Check address
Hargray
Equipment and features
2.5
Hargray offers some decent features for a small provider, but its DVR falls short

Watching TV with Hargray is a decent experience. Its greatest downfall is its disappointing DVR features, but we'd also like to see Hargray offer a voice remote to make it easy to find shows if you don't have Google Home or Alexa.

Ability to watch: Great
Hargray’s equipment is surprisingly solid for a regional provider. TV boxes are inexpensive at just $8, but your first one isn’t free like with a lot of other providers. Hargray also has an app you can use to watch shows on the go.

Ability to record: Bad
There’s a steep monthly DVR charge, and you get just 50 hours of DVR storage (less if you record in HD). The good news is, if you try to catch a show within 24 hours of it airing, you can watch it without recording it. When you do record, you can capture up to six shows simultaneously.

Ability to find: Good
Hargray doesn’t provide a voice-control remote, but if you have Google Home or Alexa, you can use them to find shows and channels. Hargray's parental controls are also decent. You can block content by channel and rating, but you’ll have to do so on each device your kids use. And the only way to block previews and descriptions in the channel guide is to block entire channels—you can’t block them based on rating level.

Features and equipment may vary based on package. Visit
Hargray's website
or call 1-877-427-4729 for more information.
Optimum brand
Features
4.0
A solid DVR, but fees for storage

Optimum TV is a nice option for channel surfing, watching on-demand, and catching episodes or games you might have missed (whether on a TV set or on your phone or laptop). However, its costly DVR storage may not be worth the money.

Ability to watch: Great
Whether you go with the Optimum cable box, buy an Apple TV from the company, or use your own Apple TV, we think you’ll enjoy watching Optimum TV. Optimum gives you Wi-Fi equipment and the first set-top box for free, but you'll be charged an additional $10 per month for each additional TV box. However, it’s easy to get out of those fees using the sweet Optimum TV mobile app, so that’s what we recommend for most households.

Ability to record: Good
Optimum’s Cloud DVR system offers up to 150 hours of storage for your favorite shows and movies, and you can record up to 15 shows at the same time—perfect for large families or households with lots of roommates. The system comes with all the modern features we expect from a DVR: voice control, an Apple TV app, support for streaming services, and more.

You can also access your DVR and on-demand content from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device with the provider’s app. Our only gripe is that the DVR storage is costly—more than $20 per month for the full 150 hours, in addition to the fee for renting the box. You'll also be charged a DVR service fee for every set-top box you rent, but you can skip the DVR altogether if you want and there’s no charge.

Ability to find: Great
Optimum TV offers thousands of shows and hundreds of channels, and they’re pretty easy to find using the app, the company’s cable box, or an Apple TV. Both the cable box and Apple TV have voice search functionality, and you can enter in credentials for other streaming services like Netflix on either. With the cable box, you can even pause and restart live TV.

Philo
Features and usability
3.5
Simple interface and easy login, but take time to build up your DVR

Philo is pleasant on a day-to-day basis, and works better than some of its higher-priced competitors. There's no 4K, though, and we found some platform-specific quirks.

Ability to watch: Good
We tested the Philo interface on iOS and Android mobile phones, a few different web browsers, and an Apple TV. The interface was similar across devices, and the setup was one of the simplest among all the live TV streaming services we tested. After we entered payment info, we got right into the guide. The original browser saved our login info. Signing in later on different browsers and apps required two-step verification using a mobile phone number or email address, but we never had to enter (or remember) a password.

We didn’t run into any issues when we tried multiple devices and browsers from different locations, which was a refreshing change from services like Hulu + Live TV, which tracks your IP address. Unfortunately, there is no way to watch in 4K—Philo maxes out at 1080p resolution no matter how you’re watching.

The viewing experience is about what you’d expect from a live TV provider, but with some oddities. Watching live, the only way to skip commercials is to record the episode in progress, wait several minutes, and skip ahead whenever the commercials come on. You can also fast forward through most commercials on DVR content, and some channels let you skip ads with one click on Roku streaming devices.

We ran into some buffering issues with Philo on the Apple TV we tested, particularly with the channel guide. It happened on different devices in multiple locations, so we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a bandwidth issue. The slow loading wasn’t a dealbreaker, but we can see how channel surfers would be annoyed.

Ability to record: Excellent
The DVR and on-demand experiences with Philo were pretty par for the course in our tests, and Philo recently upgraded its cloud DVR to save recordings for up to a year. We are impressed that you get three extra months to watch your recordings, compared to competitors Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, which give you only nine months. Unlimited recordings is also pretty sweet, and we liked Philo’s 72-hour Rewind feature. You can use it to watch almost anything that’s aired in the last 72 hours, even if you forgot to add it to your library before it aired.

To get the most out of Philo, we recommend spending some time in the beginning to find and add your favorite shows. Within a few days, your Saved library will fill up with dozens of episodes to choose from.

Ability to find: Good
When you get to the Home screen on Philo, you’ll find a roundup of trending live and recommended shows, plus top movies and other categories. You can see whether a show is available on demand by clicking through to the episode description or by hovering your mouse over a particular episode, but there’s no way to tell at the series level. However, you can favorite shows at either the episode or series level, and saving a series means all future episodes will be recorded in your Saved library. You can also favorite channels, and that makes them show up first in the channel guide. It’s fairly simple to unfavorite, and the changes appear across devices instantly.

The channel guide itself is less impressive. Channel numbers aren’t listed (just logos) and you have to click into a program to get additional preview info. It works, but there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to rave about.

Ability to share: Good
Philo offers many of the features you’d expect from a modern live TV streaming service. In our tests, it was easy to create profiles for different viewers, and the DVR libraries and favorites were kept separate. You can add up to 10 profiles and assign each a separate mobile phone number, so different users can sign in using their personal phones. However, there were no parental controls to be found.

You can watch Philo on up to three screens at a time, without a lot of verification or hassle.

Hargray
Customer experience
3.0
Hargray’s customer service is decent, but installation will cost you

Hargray provides a decent customer experience with 24/7 phone support and live chat, but self-help troubleshooting content on its website is hard to search. First-hand customer reviews about Hargray’s TV service are hard to find, but internet customers seem to have a great experience overall.

Installation is less exciting. The provider charges a flat installation fee of $50, which isn’t terrible. However, there’s also a $99 activation fee, and the two together make the installation one of the most expensive we’ve seen.

Visit Hargray's website
or call 1-877-427-4729 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.
Go to provider
Optimum brand
Customer experience
4.0
Premium installation with a premium price

Most Optimum TV customers are happy with the service and self-installation is free if you order online. If you need a pro to come help (and you order online), the charge is $60. If you call in to order, self-install is free, the standard installation costs about $100, and premium installation costs about $150.

Visit Optimum's website
or call 1-844-719-8066 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.
Go to provider
Philo
Customer experience
5.0
Simple, clear, and intuitive options

Philo makes it easy to sign up for the service, easy to sign in on different devices, and easy to cancel if you so choose. It’s also fairly simple to find and understand add-on pricing, and we love that the free trial lasts a full seven days even if you cancel midway through.

If you run into trouble, there’s a nice Help Center, a chat line, or a phone number to call. In this category, we believe Philo’s perfect score is well-deserved.

Visit Philo's website
or call for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.
Go to provider
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Made up your mind?
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Hargray
0.0
(0)
5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Optimum
3.6
(22)
5 Star
27%
4 Star
32%
3 Star
27%
2 Star
9%
1 Star
5%
E
Edwardfrom Manalapan , NJ
Optimum Customer for 4+ years
Reviewed on: 8/15/2022
Service is good but we lost channels in the last change of offers
J
Joann from Fairfield , CT
Optimum Customer for 8+ years
Reviewed on: 7/14/2022
Too expensive. Difficult to contact by phone
D
David from Hackensack, NJ
Optimum Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 7/2/2022
My optimum bill is included in the rent.I use it mostly for the wifi. I like to use the Amazon firestick as it offers first run movies.i don't think that there is any way to improve on that.
K
Katfrom Bronx, NY
Optimum Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 6/29/2022
It's just ok
Philo
4.4
(5)
5 Star
40%
4 Star
60%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
J
Jenniferfrom Cincinnati , OH
Philo Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 9/15/2022
The value could be a little less expensive. Philo is the most expensive app I have. I do like all the shows I am able to watch though.
H
Hattiefrom Bellville , TX
Philo Customer for Less than a year
Reviewed on: 9/11/2022
Programs are shown with clarity very nice. Would like to have local channels in package
T
Toshafrom Cincinnati , OH
Philo Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 7/20/2022
It's an affordable service, and one of the cheaper ones. They have a ton of channels for everything you want to watch. It's easy to use. Prefer it over cable or satellite.
C
Camronfrom Port Richey, FL
Philo Customer for 1+ years
Reviewed on: 6/28/2022
The DVR feature works great! I love that I can save movies but not that I can't access all of them all of the time.
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Endnotes and sources
Endnotes and sources
Endnotes and sources
(1) “Network Ratings 2021 Top Channels.” Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2022.As an Amazon Associate, Switchful.com may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.