Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Fulmar on September 17, 2009, 07:05:25 PM
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After cutting my budget for about two years, I can comfortably now swap my rabbit ears for a few more channels. I'm looking at HD + HD DVR packages from both companies (1 HD DVR receiver + 1 standard Def receiver-> for Directv only). I'm not a big fan of Dish Network, both my parents and in-laws have it and their problems with remotes just turns me off cold (long story). That aside, I'm looking from personal experiences. Note: Only cable company in the area with hook-ups for me is Charter which I'd rather sell my soul to Satan that purchase from and ATT U-verse is unavailable in my area.
Packages I'm looking at for Directv:
Choice Xtra + HD DVR
+ 1 Standard Def receiver
Local Channels Included
$60 for 12 months, $80+ after that
Packages I'm looking at for Dish Network
Classic Silver 200 w/ DVR
+ 1 HD receiver
Local Channels Included
$60 for 12 months, $75+ after that
I'd like to keep these packages in the price range I'm at right now. Just looking for recommendations on service and hardware.
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We used to have Dish. Went with directv and haven't had probs with it, my dad and I just don't like the fact that Directv doesn't have infra red like dish does, have to have the remote pointed directly at the reciever...Dish you could have it through a wall....
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We used to have Dish. Went with directv and haven't had probs with it, my dad and I just don't like the fact that Directv doesn't have infra red like dish does, have to have the remote pointed directly at the reciever...Dish you could have it through a wall....
Do you mean the remotes? I just got a new Directv remote and it's either Infrared or RF.
To Fulmar: How long until U-Verse is available in your area?
Personally, I've had Directv for years now, and I can't wait until my contract expires and I can get away from it. It always goes out in a bad thunderstorm, or even really overcast nights. I've had various techs out here so many times I've lost count. And it's more expensive than it seems -- satellite taxes, receiver fees, repair fees if you don't have their protection plan, etc.
I like U-Verse better, so if it's only a few months out, it may be worth the wait for you, otherwise you'll be in for a year or two contract with one of the other companies.
mir
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I have Dish Network, when it rains I either have to play aces high or read a book.
shamus
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I had Direct. I have Dish. I prefer the programming and the reliability of Dish, by a large margin.
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Do you mean the remotes? I just got a new Directv remote and it's either Infrared or RF.
To Fulmar: How long until U-Verse is available in your area?
Personally, I've had Directv for years now, and I can't wait until my contract expires and I can get away from it. It always goes out in a bad thunderstorm, or even really overcast nights. I've had various techs out here so many times I've lost count. And it's more expensive than it seems -- satellite taxes, receiver fees, repair fees if you don't have their protection plan, etc.
I like U-Verse better, so if it's only a few months out, it may be worth the wait for you, otherwise you'll be in for a year or two contract with one of the other companies.
mir
Looks like I'll have to call ATT. To the best of my recollection, it wasn't available in my area. And of course ATT's address check is garbage, can't even verify address on main roads on a city of 200,000 people. I did google some confirmed address with u-verse availility. One was pinned about 3 miles from my house with a fiber line running near it. We'll see. Checking out their prices it runs about $81.00 a month (no promo 12 month prices etc, but no 2 year commitments).
However, the $149 installation fee is redonkulous. Though it has a "Cash Back," it's just a $150 prepaid Visa card which to me is a big turn off. My wife got a blackberry about a year ago and she was under the impression that it was $100 credit to her bill, not a $100 Visa card in the mail. She didn't catch it but I did after it was said and done.
I've never had problems with satellite before, and thats in "Snow Covering my Dish" Wisconsin. A bit of water takes care of that lost signal.
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Had directtv for 10 years, absolutly love it
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I've had them both.
I had very poor service with Dish Network -- as in they refused to send us the box for the third TV even though it was in the package we signed up for, their first tech installed the dish on our fence and not on our house :rolleyes: while we were not home, they charged us to have a second tech come out and move it off the fence and on the house, and when we expressed our displeasure, were told flat out we signed a contract (kind of a hard thing to do on the phone, actually, but whatever) and that they would bill us for a year anyway if we cancelled.
We kept it for our requisite year. We called DirectTV.
Their tech took one look at the old dish, and immediately asked us why the Dish people drilled a hole through our wall to run their wire, when they could have hooked it up to our cable box ? . . . He asked if our signal was always weak on our second TV (which it was, and which both the cable company and Dish offerred to fix for us by rewiring our house at the cost of a couple hundred dollars, to which we replied, we'll live with the weak signal) . . . and found the problem was a splitter in the attic that was on backwards :huh . . . he gave us the third box we were promised without our prompting . . .
And now, after a couple - several years, my wife saw DirectTV advertising some new features with a remote that looked nothing like ours. She figured she would call. They pulled up our account, thanked my wife for being a DirectTV customer for X years, and how could she help? Well, we saw this advertisement . . . Next day, next day, a tech showed up with new boxes and new remotes, set them all up, no charge, and thank you ma'am.
Might not be that big a difference in the programming or costs, but in my case, service makes all the difference.
YMMV.
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We used to have Dish. Went with directv and haven't had probs with it, my dad and I just don't like the fact that Directv doesn't have infra red like dish does, have to have the remote pointed directly at the reciever...Dish you could have it through a wall....
You have it exactly backwards. DTV's IR remotes won't go through walls, Dish's RF remotes will. Dish has multi-room receivers, which necessitates RF remotes...
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Have Dish never had Direct so can't compare. No issues with Dish have had them for about 5 years now.
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The problem my parents/brother/in-laws have had with Dish remotes is they had the one box for multiple TVs. The remotes worked fine for a few months and then all of a sudden you had to have the remote a certain spot on the coffe table or "point it to Jesus in the sky" or just get really frustrated with it since it wouldn't work. 2 of them still live with the remotes like that on their main TVs. Drives me nuts when I visit them!
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Had DTV for about 3 years got upset when we were being billed for things we didn't have, then they couldn't give us our local channels . Called Dish got the local channels and good service, been with them for about 6 years now and will be with them for a long time to come.
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Looks like I'll have to call ATT. To the best of my recollection, it wasn't available in my area. And of course ATT's address check is garbage, can't even verify address on main roads on a city of 200,000 people. I did google some confirmed address with u-verse availility. One was pinned about 3 miles from my house with a fiber line running near it. We'll see. Checking out their prices it runs about $81.00 a month (no promo 12 month prices etc, but no 2 year commitments).
However, the $149 installation fee is redonkulous. Though it has a "Cash Back," it's just a $150 prepaid Visa card which to me is a big turn off. My wife got a blackberry about a year ago and she was under the impression that it was $100 credit to her bill, not a $100 Visa card in the mail. She didn't catch it but I did after it was said and done.
I've never had problems with satellite before, and thats in "Snow Covering my Dish" Wisconsin. A bit of water takes care of that lost signal.
I agree -- the installation fee is a joke. Several months ago, here in S. Florida, they were waiving the fee, not doing a refund via prepaid Visa card. I don't know what it's like now.
When I compared prices, and wanted to switch to U-Verse, I would've paid around $3 more per month for every movie channel compared to the Directv package I have. That's including bundle discounts of $5 here and there for ATT wireless, home phone, and DSL.
I bet you can work out a deal with the U-Verse sales people also, just like you can with Directv people.
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I just don't like the fact that Directv doesn't have infra red like dish does, have to have the remote pointed directly at the reciever...Dish you could have it through a wall....
You must have an old reciever. I've have DirecTv and all my remotes are RF.
Both Dish and DirecTv are about equal in every category except customer service. Dish will not under any circumstances whatsoever admit a mistake or error on their part.
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We had dish for 1.5 years, any kind of customer service was a huge pain in the posterier. Never knew where your call was going to be routed to, but you could bet they'd speak english poorly.
Everyone I know with direct TV has been happy with it and hasn't switched.
There are tons of horror storys out there about dish, everyone I've talked to that had it no longer has it.
Personally we went back to local cable, which is overpriced, but when we call we get the lady down the street 2 miles, and we can understand each other clearly.
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Dish Network here for since 2006.
Love the service, The only service interruptions we get are huge Thunder Storms with torrential rains, which happens maybe a few times a year.
I have two DVR receivers, one is HD, I also paid the the 35 Dollar charge to allow me the ability to download all the programs off my DVR, which is nice.
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I've had Direct TV for 9 years. The customer service is generally pretty good, but it depends on what you need. For installations, they have a tendency to promise over the phone more than what the installers (who are locally contracted, not Direct TV employees) are willing to deliver, or at least deliver at the fee you were quoted. Other than that, customer service is pretty dang good.
As for rain fade, it has to be raining pretty hard to disrupt the signal. Thick clouds aren't ordinarily enough, there's gotta be big water drops in the sky. Where I live, it fades about 4 minutes before a typical heavy rain storm arrives, its a good early warning system as long as the storm is moving in the usual west to east pattern. If you absolutely can't stand rain fade, you can get a larger dish from the various vendors on the internet, similar to what a sports bar will have on their roof.
The cable company where I live is Comcast, a company I refuse to do business with based on their reputation alone. So I use Verizon for internet via DSL and Direct TV for TV. I've had the same two Comcast guys walking door to door three times ask me if I "want TV" in the past two months. Had to tell them to get lost. They were just doing their job... I hope: http://consumerist.com/5361564/comcast-contractors-caught-disconnecting-competitors-service-then-peddling-wares
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You must have an old reciever. I've have DirecTv and all my remotes are RF.
Both Dish and DirecTv are about equal in every category except customer service. Dish will not under any circumstances whatsoever admit a mistake or error on their part.
We just got a new HD reciever and new remote to go with it, 'll have to see.
Edit: Just tried...nada...odd.
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could not live without Direct TV........
I'm a long time subscriber to NFL Sunday Ticket.......and they're the only game in town...or in country for that matter.
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I have DirecTV. Used to have PrimeStar before it was bought out by Hughes and then later became DirecTV.
Cool thing is... I have both east and west coast local network feeds. It was something PrimeStar offered, but then I think they passed some law or something that doesn't allow them to do it anymore. As long as I keep the service, I'm under the existing contract.
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I have had Direct TV for over 5 years now. Since I was also a satellite installer I don't worry about installation. I bought the dish and receiver from Best Buy and set it up myself. Every time we move the RV the dish has to be pointed, same for the internet. I actually have 3 dishes for it, one auto seek on the RV, a ground mount that I can set up in case we are parked in the trees and the internet dish with a small piggy back TV antenna module on it. Now one dish gets both for us.
We don't pay the rental fee for the receiver since I bought it outright through Best Buy. Same one we have had for 5 years. The receivers are still available from the stores and the one time fee of $50 or $60 beats the $5 a month rental fee. The box we have now is starting to have minor issues so we'll be replacing it from Best Buy.