I think also of note is there's a big difference between a provider, a reseller, and a provider who cap their own streams. Even a provider that's full of xstream stuff is at the mercy of their providers.

Whereas you can pop in SS's IRC to report something and instantly see the direct TV receiver change to fix things.

With very few exceptions, everybody offering a service is a reseller!

Torula, Smoothstreams, Gears, WSS, Fab and maybe one or two others sell direct to the public, but for the most part, providers avoid being directly involved with the public.

If you are subbed to Epic, Vader, IPGuys, Express, Flawless, Gold, Crown, or the majority of other services, you are using a reseller for that service as they don't sell direct to the end user.

I always wondered this too

Flawless saying they aren't resellers . They are resellers of whom