Dish or Cable?

III · 10-01-08, 01:54

Which do you have?

I signed up for satellite lastweek. I went with dish network, not direct tv. I told the rep that I wanted it mounted on a pole. I was told that it wouldn't cost extra. I said fine and made the appointment. So the tech comes yesterday and says there would be a $75.00 charge for a pole mount. I then explained that I was told there would be no charge. This was part of the free install. The tech said he'd have to call his supervisor and get it cleared. Meanwhile, the tech noticed there were some trees that might be blocking the satellite feed. He did a test, and I couldn't get a signal from where I wanted it mounted. Sure, I could have done a roof mount, but I don't want anything drilled, poked, or stuck on my roof. So, in the end, no satellite.

It looks like I'm going with cable, which I'd prefer not to have. It seems the rates go up and up, at least in my area. Depending on who you get for a rep, I think the cable company if kind of sneaky. I was told the package that I'm going with will cost $39.00 a month. It's their cheapest package. What they don't tell you is this is only for 12 months. After that it goes up to at least $55.60. I say at least because I was informed that in November there probably will be another rate increase. In all fairness there was a rep that was upfront about the price for 12 months. (I've called a couple of times to confirm packages and other questions)

The only reason I knew the price was good for only 12 months was because co-workers and friends told me.

bert31 · 10-01-08, 02:04

I have an antenna in my attic. Don't watch enough television to justify the high cost of cable or satellite.

III · 10-01-08, 02:10

You go bert31! Like you, I had an antenna. Mine was on the roof until a month ago. With 3 kids, they get sick of watching PBS and videos all the time. They should enjoy things like animal planet, disney, discovery, and the cartoon network. I'm looking forward to having the Fox News Channel among other things.

bert31 · 10-01-08, 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by III

You go bert31! Like you, I had an antenna. Mine was on the roof until a month ago. With 3 kids, they get sick of watching PBS and videos all the time. They should enjoy things like animal planet, disney, discovery, and the cartoon network. I'm looking forward to having the Fox News Channel among other things.

If I were married and had kids, I would get cable or dish. Sometimes when I am watching my brother's three kids, the channels you mentioned above can be saviors when they have wild hairs up the butts.

Since I am single and live alone, I don't see any purpose since I am rarely at home and when I am home, I am usually doing stuff around the house or with the car or asleep.

RDAVEX7 · 10-01-08, 08:44

Im married with kids and if it wasnt for Dish Network I would have killed them along time ago.

I asked Dish Network when I signed up over 2 yrs ago if they had the football package and they said yes, so I said count me in. Then when football season came around I was excited when I called credit card in hand to get this package and they said oh im sorry that is for college football. ***! I was pissed as I remember asking if it was the NFL. So now after my 2 yr contract was up (and they are not going to call and tell you) I forgot to cancel and switch to Direct TV and the season is already here. I almost canceled but the termination fee plus the switch over would be more money than I want to pay.

Jokeman · 10-02-08, 05:11

I had DirectTV since the beginning. I recently made the switch to FIOS due to the great deal they had running. It was WELL worth it! 20mbps internet is great. The DVR for FIOS is decent, not as good as the old Direct Tivo I had hooked up to the dish. Other than that I am very happy with the FIOS.

mobenzowner · 10-02-08, 05:38

I had cable, my wife switched to dishnetwork. 5 months later I am back with cable. Never been told so many different things in my life. Every person you talk to will contradict the previous representative. And good luck figuring out their billing. I had the same package the entire 5 months and never had two bills be the same amount.....go figure??

jfelbab · 10-02-08, 05:47

Having been a Direct TV owner for several years I moved to a new home that had no exposure to the satellite and had to go with cable.

TiVo made the best DVR's They had the best software and features but DTV didn't want to pay their licensing fee and made their own box. IMO, it is a poorly designed POS. I missed the TiVo features immediately.

Now I'm on TW Cable and the box they give you (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD) is a big steaming POS. I've been through half a dozen DVR's in the last year. Now another is failing again. DTV offered the most HiDef and TW is playing catch-up and not well. They lag by a mile. Picture quality also goes to DTV.

Sad to say that neither Verizon's FiOS nor AT&T's U-Verse offering is available to me. If they were I'd be there tomorrow. Both have better offerings, larger number of HD channels, and much superior hardware. For example, the U-Verse box lets you record 4 streams at once.

III · 10-02-08, 06:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfelbab

Now I'm on TW Cable and the box they give you (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD) is a big steaming POS. I've been through half a dozen DVR's in the last year. Now another is failing again.

Good to know. The package that I'm getting from time warner consists of no cable box. It's a direct hook up. It's just your standard/basic package. No HD. But hey what do I care? I don't have a HD set anyhow.

rjstaaf · 10-02-08, 07:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfelbab

Having been a Direct TV owner for several years I moved to a new home that had no exposure to the satellite and had to go with cable.

TiVo made the best DVR's They had the best software and features but DTV didn't want to pay their licensing fee and made their own box. IMO, it is a poorly designed POS. I missed the TiVo features immediately.

Now I'm on TW Cable and the box they give you (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD) is a big steaming POS. I've been through half a dozen DVR's in the last year. Now another is failing again. DTV offered the most HiDef and TW is playing catch-up and not well. They lag by a mile. Picture quality also goes to DTV.

Sad to say that neither Verizon's FiOS nor AT&T's U-Verse offering is available to me. If they were I'd be there tomorrow. Both have better offerings, larger number of HD channels, and much superior hardware. For example, the U-Verse box lets you record 4 streams at once.

DirecTV has seen the error of their ways is coming out with another Tivo based DirecTV receiver as theirs really never caught on. I have gone so far as to purchase a used DirecTV receiver and added a 250Gb hard disk to it for our living room we hated the DirecTV DVR so badly.

Hell freezes over, new DirecTV HD TiVo on the way - Engadget

There is a whole community out there if you guys want to get into the DIY DirecTV Tivo mod scene. I started out just wanted to get another DirecTV Tivo with more capacity and found there are a lot of options out there. I had absolutely no problem activating my newly upgraded eBay purchased DVR.

TiVo Community

TiVo Upgrade Kits and Hard Drives for Increasing your TiVo's Recording Capacity | High Capacity TiVo DVR Systems

BlueLibby04 · 10-03-08, 08:21

Weve got both direct tv and cable.

Direct tv seems to charge more for extras(HD, movie channels, etc). They have a lot more HD channels than the cable offers in our area but we live in the butt crack of ky. Over all Ill never have cable again when the time comes to make that decision. Weve had a lot of problems with the HD channels not working when it counts(right in the middle of a race!) which is a deal breaker real quick.

User Name · 10-03-08, 08:30

First had DirecTV and I liked it a lot (had two boxes, one was the Tivo DVR) which was amazing.

Switched to Cablevision (for their "triple play"). Phone service was very important because I make a ton of long distance calls within the US and Canada. Cablevision is EASILY the WORST company I have ever done business with. Horrible.

Switched to Verizon FIOS as soon as it became available. Even with their introductory offer, they are very expensive but the service is great, the DVR is average and the picture (both SD and HD) is IMO, better than cable (especially noticeable when watching SD channels).

Got a call from Cablevision to switch back and they offered to pay my early cancellation fees, plus a $300 gift card + $30 less per month (although not quite as many channels, especially HD).

I turned the deal down based upon how bad I think the company is and the lack of service. Just horrendous.