I've noticed some websites have varying prices for the same provider.
Are they not all the selling access to the same main server(s) provided by the main provider?
What are the benefits of going with a reseller which is offering the access to the same server at a higher price over one that is cheaper?
yes
Not all, but some "providers" even uses "hacked" streams like for example an official cable company offer to their clients an app to access the same channels and then these private streams got "hacked" and restream these channels from their servers and sell that, the problem is that these servers sometimes can't handle all the traffic and thats when you get the annoying buffering issue
Some resellers offer better customer service than others.
not all are from the same source.
I know some independent including me. but I agree most are just reseller and hope to get clients. some of them go out of business if its doesn't work and other new reseller jump in
In case people didn't know EPIC IS THE BEST STOP TRYING TO COMPAIR IT PEOPLE
There is no "main server" you speak of.
Basically, how it works is every stream comes from a different source. What I mean is, maybe Bob encodes/captures/streams CP24, and Joe streams CBC, and so on. Bob and Joe then can sell their feed to whoever they want.
So, yes it's very possible that some provider have similar content. For example, some of Fab's channels have a small E on them, and those are purchased from Epic.
The difference between providers as you mention could be cost, as well as channel lineup.
Additionally, every server that has VOD content will be unique to that server. Express is known to have one of the best VOD collections of most of the servers.
Timeshifting/catchup can also vary from provider to provider.
So there are many similarities, but there are also many differences that can account for different pricing structures.