Issues With Paramount+ Streaming

I subscribed to Paramount+ earlier this year primarily to watch UFC programming. While watching UFC events has become more affordable, my experience with Paramount+ has recently gone in the opposite direction. The service has developed several frustrating problems that make simply watching an event unnecessarily difficult.

The first issue is that the Paramount+ iPhone (iOS) and Apple TV (tvOS) apps are buggy. I frequently try to access a show only to get errors. When quitting and re-launching apps are unsuccessful, I find that I have to try a different method to navigate to the UFC event to access the content. I’ve never experienced this with any other streaming service.

The second issue is that watching content from the Paramount+ website on a Safari browser is unreliable. When I try to go forward or backward by 10 seconds, the website has difficulty establishing a connection and often simply freezes so my only recourse is to refresh the page. This never happens on YouTube.

The third issue is that in the past few weeks, the quality of live streaming UFC events has been extremely poor and looks blocky. Although I don’t have a way to measure it, the resolution is clearly worse than 720p. This has been discussed on Reddit, and the issue is not related to my internet connection speed which is more than sufficient to stream 4K content. From the thread, I discovered that I can install the Paramount Quality+ plugins for either Firefox or Chrome to force Paramount+ to deliver the stream to me in 1080p resolution. I shouldn’t have to install a plugin to fix the streaming service.

Paramount is a huge company, so it is surprising to me that its streaming service has so many problems. I've experienced occasional hiccups with other streaming services, but those have generally been temporary and haven't affected my overall viewing experience. With Paramount+, however, I can't seem to watch an entire UFC event without repeatedly fiddling with the controls, restarting the broadcast, switching browsers, or trying some other workaround. Paramount, please fix these problems. Customers should be able to spend their time watching the content they’ve paid for instead of troubleshooting the service that’s supposed to deliver it.

An Expedia Car Rental Gone Wrong

I’ve written many times about issues with car rentals. Here’s another incident. Through Expedia, I booked a car rental from Sixt. My original reservation was for pickup on a Sunday at 5 PM with return on Friday at 2 PM, a 5-day rental. Due to a change in travel plans, I wanted to move the pickup to Monday at 9 PM while keeping the same Friday return, making it a 4-day rental.

I first tried calling Sixt and was able to speak to a live representative. I was told that because my booking was made through Expedia, they were unable to alter my reservation, although the representative left a note on my reservation that I had requested a pickup date on Monday instead of Sunday. I was instructed to call Expedia and ask to speak to their “Sixt internal account manager” who could make the change and also tell me if there was any price difference.

I then attempted to contact Expedia, but nowhere could I find a phone number to call. The only option I found was to invoke their Virtual Agent via chat. We sent messages back and forth about my request to change my pickup date from Sunday to Monday. It felt to me that the agent was assigned to chats with multiple customers simultaneously based on the time delays in the agent’s responses. In any case, I was eventually told that my only options were to keep the Sunday pickup or to cancel my non-refundable reservation which I had already paid in full. I already knew that my reservation was non-refundable, but I wasn't trying to cancel it. Furthermore, I did not see any language during booking or on my booking confirmation that no changes could be made. I was willing to pay the full amount I had already paid for five days even though I would only be renting the car for four, and I wasn’t asking Expedia to refund the unused day.

Sensing an unwillingness to help me, I asked the Expedia virtual agent to connect me with their “Sixt internal account manager” by typing into the chat the exact language used by the Sixt representative. The virtual agent eventually agreed to do so. After a long wait, I was told by the Expedia virtual agent that he was unable to reach the Sixt internal account manager or a Sixt representative and that he would have to send an email to Sixt. He told me to expect an email reply from Expedia in 48-72 hours. Right on cue about 2-3 days later, I received the following email from Expedia:

From: travel_expedia@expedia.com (travel_expedia@expedia.com)
To: (me)
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 09:45 PM PDT
Subject: Update on Your Refund Request with Sixt – Itinerary #xxxxxxxxxx

Hello Victor,

We’re following up regarding your request to cancel your booking and request a refund from Sixt.

Request type: Refund
Itinerary number: xxxxxxxxxx
Property name: Sixt

We spoke with Sixt to advocate for your refund request. Unfortunately, they have advised that the reservation was booked under a non-refundable rate, and they are unable to make an exception to their cancellation policy. As a result, no changes can be done for this booking.

Additionally, Sixt has informed us that the main driver named on the reservation must contact Sixt directly regarding any requested modifications to reservation xxxxxxxxxx.

We understand this is disappointing. We always strive to advocate for our travelers; however, Sixt has elected to uphold the terms and conditions associated with the reservation, and we are unable to override their decision.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this email. We're here to help.

Regards,
Ipsita
Expedia US Travel Team

I can’t say for sure, but the response from Expedia felt inaccurate and potentially dishonest to me. The inaccuracy is that I never asked for a cancellation or refund. I had only asked to pick up my car a day later than originally scheduled. The potential dishonesty is that when I spoke to the Sixt representative, they seemed willing to allow the change and even left a note on my reservation stating that I had desired to pick up the car a day later. So it felt to me, based on my interactions with Sixt and Expedia, that Expedia was the one refusing to make the change, and they blamed Sixt. Lastly, Expedia wrote, “Sixt has informed us that the main driver named on the reservation must contact Sixt directly…” when in fact I had already contacted Sixt directly prior to engaging with the Expedia virtual agent. It seemed to me that Expedia may not have even contacted Sixt and simply gave me a boilerplate denial. Besides, how would the virtual agent know that emailing Sixt, receiving a reply, and responding to me would take 48-72 hours? I do not have definitive evidence for this, but my observations suggest to me that Expedia refused to accommodate a change and blamed their business partner for their decision.

I kept my existing reservation for a Sunday 5 PM pickup. I showed up to Sixt on Monday at 9 PM, and I asked if they would accommodate my rental. They did in fact give me the car, with a caveat. They explained that if a customer does not pick up their vehicle within 8 hours of their scheduled pickup time, they release the reservation. However, without much hassle, they did note that I had already paid in full, and the agent said he did his best to give me a new 4-day rental and credit me for the amount that I already paid. The best deal he could find for a similar vehicle type was about $73 more than I had already paid, and I thought that was a fair price given the situation.

In summary, Sixt seemed willing to accommodate my change when I called them on the phone, and they accommodated my change when I showed up in person. On the other hand, Expedia was uncooperative at best, contrary to their claim that they “always strive to advocate for our travelers”. It also felt to me that Expedia couldn’t get its facts straight and was possibly dishonest to me, as well as bordering on slanderous to Sixt. This experience has eroded my trust in Expedia.

Downloadable National Park Maps

If you’ve planned visits to US national parks, you probably know that each National Park Service (NPS) site has its own dedicated page or sub-site. Each page typically has a “Plan Your Visit” menu item where you can select from choice such as Basic Information, Things To Do, and Directions & Transportation. As I plan my visit, one of the first things I do is to view maps of the national park to understand the location of the visitor center(s), trails, and other features. In the past decade or so, various NPS sub-sites began transitioning their online maps from static downloadable PDF or JPG maps to interactive web maps that allow users to pan, zoom, and click on map features within their browsers.

If you’re old school like me, you might prefer downloading static maps, printing them out, and keeping a hardcopy in your backpack. Interactive maps are convenient while at home, but downloadable maps have a major advantage: they work when you don't have connectivity which is often the case in our national parks. If the NPS site does not provide downloadable maps, check out these alternatives.

National Park Maps is a passion project by a guy named Matt who has meticulously organized his website so users can look up maps alphabetically or by state. It’s an unofficial collection of free maps. I’ve often found maps on this site that are not even featured on corresponding NPS sites. Kudos to Matt!

NPS has its own official GIS, Cartography & Mapping site where you can download maps in PDF, JPG, or Adobe print production file formats. They can be searched by keyword, state, or park. Rather than providing the static maps in a separate website, it would be nice if each NPS sub-site offered options to view both interactive web maps and to view and download static PDF/JPG maps.

If you’re interested in learning more about the technology behind the interactive web maps, there is a National Park Service Web Maps site for that too. They discuss their open source NPMapJS code library.

While NPS has embraced interactive web maps, you don’t have to give up the good old fashioned downloadable map. Whether you prefer exploring a map on your screen, downloading a PDF for offline use, or stuffing a printed map into your backpack, there are still plenty of options. Happy mapping and happy exploring!