CBR is very popular, I often see their ads in the baby magazines. I didn't think there're much differences, we chose via cord because other than a blood bank, it also does researches on cord blood and diseases.
I used Cord Blood Registry. It was expensive for the first time as you need to send the cord blood to the center for storage. (I believed it was almost 2000 dollars couple years ago) and then each year you pay for the annual fee (about 120 dollars).
I think CBR is better as it is more popular and longer history, better reputation.
Finally I've picked CBR too, coz I don't have much time to do research as the delivery date is getting close.
My only concern about CBR is that it's not a publicly traded company like Via Cord and Cryo International. However, looks like it's the most popular one in these years, so I picked it.
About the price, almost all the blood banking services cost about the same. The difference might be $100-$200 only for the first time processing time.