Question for DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers

i've found a half a bottle of PAM come november does the trick for snow.

i also haven't lost a signal in about 10 months. it lasted about three minutes.

 

Best way I can think to put it: if you remember hearing about that storm in STL last month that knocked out power to about 700,000 people -- well, I have DirecTV, and I didn't lose the signal until the power went out, well into the storm. In my year of having it, as others have said, I've lost the signal for no more than an hour, combined. Having grown up with cable, I can tell you that losing your signal for an hour would be a great month, let alone a year.

 

Just curious, does anyone like cable? I understand the benefits of a dish and why people like them, but I still have cable mostly because by packaging it with phone and internet they are all pretty darn cheap. I get all the channels mentioned by most people above, plus HBO and a DVR for $60 a month. I am in my second community that has Cox and I've also thought the customer service has been well above average in both places.

Of course, much of my family lives in an area that has Comcast and almost all of them have a dish of some form. I think that says something. But I don't think all cable is the devil.

 

I'll echo what has been said:

I have Dish Network, and pay about $90 for all the basic channels, all the sports channels available and HBO & Showtime.

I'll never go back.

The signal is lost in bad weather, but as others have mentioned, it's always a temporary thing. Longest it has been out is an hour or two in a blizzard. When I had cable, it would be out for days at a time, with no offer from the company to pro-rate those off my bill.

My receiver/DVR went out one day, and when I called Dish, I had a guy talk me thourgh re-setting it, give me some helpful troubleshooting tips should it happen again, and, by the way, pro-=rated the day on my bill without me asking or even complaining.

Fuckabuncha cable. In many locations, they're the classic example of a business that has had a monopoly for way too long. They know damn well that anyone who goes to Dish never goes back to them. I'd love to see numbers on that sort of thing.

 

No, I agree with you. Not ALL cable is the devil. Then again, I don't have Comcast, which does seem to be the devil.

 

Well, in STL, Charter is the cable co. And if Comcast is the devil, as I've heard, then Charter is Satan's Little Helper. We have our internet through them, because it's the fastest available in this area, but it's a bitch. Their customer service is non-existant, because they've got a monopoly on high speed internet and cable. If you want either, you have to go through them. And they know it.

On a related note, I've always wanted to throw a brick through one of Charter's company windows, or the window of one its trucks. Just to give them a bit of payback for the headaches they've given me. But I don't have the requisite testicle size to do that...

 

When I look back, I was happiest in the first year I got the big dish, before the powers that be learned the ins and outs of signal scrambling.

You could find any sporting event without commercials, just the guys talking a la Bert Blyleven during the commercial breaks. Any prime-time show would be shown beginning-to-end without commercials at some point during the week. It was great.

 

I'm a huge Direct TV fan (especially with TiVo). You should do your due dillegence and compare the channel line-ups. The significant difference is, of course, Sunday Ticket. Also, my dad has the Tennis Channel on Dish, which I do not on Direct TV, if that matters to you. My dish rarely goes out unless there is a major thunderstorm and even then, it's just a few minutes at most.

Most importantly, I am liberated from the evil cable company.

Good luck!

 

See, I never had any real problems with Charter when I had them, and my dad has significant problems with Dish Network during rainstorms. It doesn't have to be a thunderstorm, but fairly significant rain or moderately heavy rain with wind.

But other than the weather problems, if you can get a dish cheaper, by all means go for it.

 

Is your Dad in an area with a lot of new construction?

I've heard tell of things getting built in the path of people's Dish wreaking havoc, but that can usually be solved with a repositioning.

I haveno doubt that some people have a bad time with the dish going out due to weather patterns. But I also have no doubt that most of it is BS made up by the cable companies.

 

I love Directv. Not only do I get the sports stuff, but I get Spanish language stuff from just about every country in South America.

 

same here. I got it mainly for Sunday Ticket but i will never, ever go back to cable and i will miss Sunday Ticket wayyy too much! I echo everything people are saying so far with the bad weather and things like that, but it is hardly ever a problem. There is no way anyone can compare the two products, taking everthing into consideration such as costs, customer service, ammenities, channels, etc., , and think cable is a beter product.