How Long It Take For Directv Now To Work After Registering

DirecTV vs. DirecTV Now: What's the Difference?

Editor'south Note: Yeah, DirecTV Now is becoming AT&T Tv set At present , details hither .

DirecTV At present has been up and running for more than a yr, and customers have two important questions: What is it, and how is information technology dissimilar from regular old DirecTV? In the simplest terms, DirecTV is a satellite-Television set subscription service, while DirecTV At present is an online streaming service that delivers live TV channels. Both are owned by telecom giant AT&T.

But if you want to know how each ane works, which channels each i offers and which one — if either — is right for y'all, those questions are a bit harder to respond. We've gathered some of the nigh salient facts to help you brand your own decisions.

Oh, and are yous confused every bit to why your DirecTV At present app just inverse its proper noun to AT&T Telly At present? Well, check out our explainer guide hither (hint: it'due south about corporate ownership and brand awareness).

MORE: Hulu Alive vs. YouTube TV vs. Sling vs. Vue vs. DirecTV Now: Face-Off!

	DirecTV	DirecTV Now
How You lot Get Information technology	Satellite dish	Cyberspace
Channels	145 to 315	sixty to 120
Pricing	$90 to $187 per calendar month* *Introductory prices: $50 to $125 per calendar month	$40 to $75 per calendar month
Required Hardware	TV, Genie box, satellite dish	Compatible device (Android, Amazon Fire Television set, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, iOS, Roku), TV* *Not necessary for Android/iOS devices
Pros	More channels; DirecTV sets it up for yous	Relatively inexpensive; No contract
Cons	More expensive than streaming; Long-term contracts	Some performance bugs

Availability

Before yous start looking into the pros and cons of a DirecTV or DirecTV Now subscription, you should probably bank check to see if DirecTV is available in your area. While DirecTV Now is available everywhere in the United states of america, DirecTV is a satellite service, so you'll need a satellite dish. While the dazzler of a satellite dish is that yous tin apply it from just about anywhere, it does mean that you've got to start modifying the outside of your business firm. Flat dwellers or people who belong to specially strict housing associations tin probably forget almost it.

Channel selection and cost

DirecTV At present offers a diversity of channel packages, ranging from Live a Niggling, with more sixty channels at $40 per month, to Gotta Take It, with about 120 channels at $70 per month. This may sound like a lot, but fifty-fifty the most modest DirecTV satellite package offers a slap-up bargain more: The basic DirecTV package starts at around 145 channels, and the nigh extreme options range upward to nigh 315 channels. There's a flip side, though: The packages also range in toll from $90 per month to $187 per month. (DirecTV offers considerable discounts to first-time subscribers, however.)

DirectTV Now package selection — DirectTV Now package choice

Giving an exact channel breakup would depend on too many variables, including where you live and what kinds of packages y'all're willing to buy. However, no affair which package you invest in, you'll become the basics: A&Due east, Bravo, CNN, Cartoon Network, Disney, History, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Syfy and so forth. For both satellite and DirecTV Now subscriptions, the presence of local channels very much depends on both your location and on DirecTV'south continuing with those channels.

Only conduct in mind that DirecTV Now'due south DVR features are rolling out equally a beta. By default, accounts come with twenty hours of recording capacity, and recordings last 30 days. In the summer of 2018, a more than-expensive tier, — 100 hours of storage, with recordings that last xc days — will launch for an extra $10 per month.

Necessary hardware

Of the two services, DirecTV Now has a lower bulwark to entry. All you need is a computer, mobile device or streaming player (Android, Amazon Fire TV, Apple Television set, iOS, Google Chromecast or newer Rokus). While the service isn't available on Android Television receiver or game consoles (but really should be), you can spend about $30 on hardware and exist upwards and running within half an hour.

Not so for a DirecTV subscription, all the same, which requires both the aforementioned satellite dish and an HD DVR box known equally the Genie. If yous're a new DirecTV subscriber, the company will install both the satellite dish and the Genie for you. The dish won't cost you lot anything actress, and the Genie fees (usually $7 per month) are included with newer subscriptions, unless yous want five or more boxes.

More: Our Favorite 4K (Ultra Hard disk) TVs Available At present

Mobile access

One chip of good news is that you can admission your content on computers, mobile devices and streaming players, regardless of the service you lot employ. The DirecTV (non DirecTV At present) app allows satellite subscribers to view programs on devices other than their TVs. DirecTV subscribers can download the app to both iOS and Android devices, then proceed to lookout both live Television set and content from their DVR boxes (provided that their Genie is continued to the Cyberspace, of course).

DirecTV also sweetens the deal for AT&T mobile customers. If you lot're a customer and y'all're out and about, yous can stream DirecTV content to your telephone or tablet, and it won't count confronting your mobile data cap. While customers from other wireless providers can yet utilize the app, they'll probably want to do and then on Wi-Fi connections; streaming video tends to consume upward data pretty fast.

DirecTV Now, on the other hand, is a streaming app first and foremost. You can download information technology right to your mobile devices and watch it just similar any other streaming service. The same deal is in place for AT&T mobile subscribers: While anyone tin access the DirecTV Now app, AT&T subscribers can stream as much of it every bit they want without having to see their mobile data plans take a hit.

Which 1 should you get?

Assuming you lot lookout a lot of TV, either DirecTV Nowor DirecTV is a viable selection. Although Tom's Guide has encountered a lot of problems with DirecTV Now's service, the amount of content y'all get for the coin is more than off-white. DirecTV, on the other hand, provides consistent service, merely it's heir to the problem that whatsoever satellite dish encounters: poor reception, especially during bad weather condition and the similar, and extremely high prices.

DirecTV is a more traditional service. Every bit such, information technology's more straightforward to lookout man on your Television and information technology offers more channels, but it's as well much more expensive and ties you into a yearly contract. DirecTV Now offers fewer channels, and it's considerably more limited when it comes to the ways yous can spotter it, simply the price tag is much easier to breadbasket, and yous don't demand whatsoever expensive, specialized equipment.

Since DirecTV Now offers a complimentary trial and doesn't crave a contract, I'd recommend checking that out first. If information technology meets your needs, you could save a lot of money; if not, you can ever abolish and switch over to the full satellite subscription.

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Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'due south Guide, overseeing the site'due south coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. Afterward hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.