Topic: direct tv- dish network or cable ?

[Roach Carver]

I thought I would see what the general concensus is here. I pay about 120 a month for cox. That is basic cable plus a few of the extended channels and the high speed internet ( which is slow). It looks like I can get dish with internet for about half that. I am seriously considering it. I know that the offer goes up after the first year but it would have to double to cost me what cox cable does now. Any input appreciated.

[eldar]

I got direct tv and it is great. had it almost a year and it has been out 1 time. way less then the cable I had before. That you could count on being out at least once a month.  Cable likes to say dish is bad but if it is professionally installed, usually there is little to no trouble. Or if you install it yourself and do a very good job. I have a good range of channels with picture MUCH better than cable and pay $50 a month. If I expanded it, I would pay 60 or 70 something. The equivalent on cable would have been well over $100 in my area.  DirectTV all the way for me.

[Jonesy]

We had directv for a while. After a few years the box for the tv starts to go screwy (no signal... unplug it, let it reset, reprogram, finally watch TV half hour later) I didn't find out until I called to cancel the subscription that they would have sent us a newer box.  Seems you have to threaten to leave before you get things done.

I also didn't like how they'd send me the bills and I'd keep getting them 3 days before they were due... I went with the direct pay because of this. I wasn't sure if it was contrived to happen that way or not.. (like the day the guys outside the gas station wanted me to sign up for a speedpass. Mysteriously, none of the card readers in the pumps worked that day, and they could walk up and conveniently say, "Hey, if you had a speedpass you wouldn't have to worry about this happening. Care to sign up?")

My 2 cents.

[Roach Carver]

Thanks guys - so far I am getting a yes and a ehhhhh for direct tv

[edbikerii]

I had DirecTV for a few years, and I was fairly happy with it.  They have the DIY Network, which used to host shows like "A Jaguar is Born" and "Classic Car Restoration".  I loved those shows.

Now I have Optimum Online's Triple Play, and they don't have the DIY Network.  But the Triple Play is so much cheaper than the three services separate, that I don't mind so much.  I've had cable now for 4 months and had no outages.

The biggest problem with DirecTV is rain fade.  It happened whenever there was a serious rain with heavy downpour.  Now, that doesn't seem so bad if it doesn't rain much where you live, until you realize that the best time to sit on your @$$ and watch TV is when it is really pouring outside!  Then DirecTV gets tired really fast! 

Another problem with it is that you can't just split the signal to other TVs.  I had a setup where it came into the DirecTV box, then I routed the output video signal into a signal amplifier/splitter, and routed it to secondary sets.  Also, if you have any splitters inline between the dish and the DirecTV box nothing will work.

[Jonesy]

I forgot to mention the fade in heavy rain... Dealt with that as well.

[eldar]

Never had rain fade. Not even once. The one time I had issues was when the wind was blowing so hard it felt like the house was going to slide off its foundations! No rain and no snow problems at all. But then I think a lot of it has to do with how it is installed and where.

[edbikerii]

Well, nothing non-standard about the install.  I installed it myself on a chimney mount the first time, and when I had the house renovated I had DirecTV re-mount (professionally?) to the side of the house (so as not to penetrate my new roof).

Made no difference with professional install.  I got rain fade every time there was a serious downpour.

I wouldn't take my chances that someone said "I never had rain fade".  Rain fade is well documented, and even DirecTV warns users about it.  There doesn't appear to be any way to fix it, as it is inherent to satellite communications.

I cannot explain how one person managed to avoid it every time, when I experienced it every time it rained.  Furthermore, if you do experience it, DirecTV won't be able to help you.

[Roach Carver]

My friend had direct tv in an apartment we shared. I did also experience rain fade, but when it rained we would just play x box and that solved the problem of entertainment. I am not too worried about that but am most concerned about the tactic of the day where you are promised great savings up front but once the contract is signed---- look out. Cox is this way. They have great intro rate but after three months they hit you with the normal (high IMO) prices. I read through the fine print for directv and did not see any thing too serious. just want to make sure I dont miss any fine print.