Anyone have DirecTV or DishNetwork???

[WalksInDarkness]

Hi All,

I am thinking about going with Satellite TV, as it would be half the price of cable. Does anyone have DirecTV or DishNetwork? Have you had any bad experiences with them? I have checked some consumer complaint sites, and have read some total horror stories about botched installs and billing problems.
I look forward to your opinions.

TIA! (friday)

 

[Notorious]

Well lets put it this way. My older brother works for Directv, so my parents and myself got it to support my brothers company. It sucks ass, and sort of weather movement it doesn't work well. We get a lot of fog, and the image gets grainy and jumpy. We eventually all switched to digital cable. We didn't tell my brother yet though...

 

[genericuser]

well, think about all the horror stories you've heard about cable too. Its really a crapshoot either way. I personally prefer dish network because its cheaper and you can get sirius satellite radio through your tv. usless, but I just like sirius.

 

[Mike R]

DirecTV is decent, Even though our company owns DirecTV, right now we have dishnet, it's been good. The install is crucial, that wil determine how many problems you have.

I have digital cable at home, the analog channels look like s***, and the digital drops out every time is rains-why? because digital cable comes from satelitte, and my cable company has bad equipment.

 

[ZoomZoomH]

I have DirecTV in my house, and so far I am quite pleased with the quality of reception of satellite signal and service content. I'm getting over 90% quality in reception most of the time except if there's a major blizzard or a huge lightning storm right in the line of sight to the satellite. Very little reception problems in the almost 2 years I've had the service.

Like someone said already, installation is *crucial* in getting good reception from the satellites, and this is usually where s*** hits the fan, because DirecTV the company itself doesn't actually do the installation, they subcontract installations to local installers, and therein lies the biggest problem: local installation companies vary GREATLY in quality of service.

btw IIRC DirecTV and Dish are both offering 'free installations' for 3 (or even 4?) room installations, which is a great deal imo. Just gotta make sure that when the installers show up, you *make sure* they do the best damn job they can do, even if that means being a prick and standing over their shoulder watching them do every little thing the right way

 

[Jswillmon]

I have dish network and have never had a problem. y power went out and i went next door to my neigobor's house that has a generator and his dish was still working durring bad tornado weather. Just depends on where you live and what kind of signal you get.

 

[theice]

I have DISHNet and am quite happy with it. Either one you choose, make sure to get the DVR/Tivo, which cable offers now as well. It will change the way you watch TV, guranteed. I don't think I could survive w/o it now.

 

[girth]

I had DirectTV about 5 years ago and it was AWESOME! Beautiful picture in all weather except a major rain storm or snow storm. It very rarely dropped the signal. Plus the program guides are usually better as well compared to the "big" cable companies. I have just regular digital cable from the local cable company now and it's way worse than DirecTV ever was.

 

[Greg S]

It's going to depend a lot on when you are. Here I have to deal with both of the cable companies and both satellite companies here through work for customers and I can tell you that Comcast sucks, Time Warner is actually good and both DirecTV and DISH are pretty easy to deal with and rarely give us problems. That's just with install, iwth signal quality it's pretty much the same, Comcast is bad, Time Warner, DirecTV adn DISH are all good, and funny enough during the heavy rain storms we've had here in S. California only Comcast was having problems with reception, neither satellite or Time Warner cable had problems. I personally have had DirecTV for 5 years and love it but I did have to kick an installer out of my house when I realized that he had almost no idea of how to do anything past a basic hook up.

 

[jlanger]

I agree with everyone here about direct TV and Dish. Installation is key, I usually do my own installs now that I've had some practice with it. I get things set up the way i want them and I can nitpick to get the strongest signal (which installers sometimes don't have time for) I agree that the picture quality is much better with the satellite versus the cable, even digital and with a HDTV you will really notice the difference.
As for choices between the 2 satellites, id err on direct TV, I just like thier channel selection and the fact that Tivo rental is only $5 a month versus $15 for dish. If Tivo is unimportant to u, i'd go with whatever company was going to get u the better deal.

 

[mp5zoomer]

don't foget with direct tv u have contract 4 a yr /w dish no contract and they include a hd box as part of the free box(s).

 

[theice]

Tivo rental is only $5 a month versus $15 for dish.

The tivo or dvr charge for DISH is only $5/month. AT least mine is. They call it Video on Demand fee or somethng like that.

 

[Mike R]

Okay, now how about the reviews from people with these services in the central florida area?

I've had a friend swear that 4 people she knows really regretted getting dish because all the rain Florida has causing problems.

Again install and peaking is important, and if they had so many problems, they should go to a larger dish. Bigger the dish, better the reception.