(Vanity) Which do you recommend: Dish or Direct TV

[taxcutisapayraise]

I'm in the process of selecting a satellite TV provider since I'll be moving soon when I buy a house. I found an old FR thread from 2003 on the topic of Direct TV vs. Dish TV. The market has changed since then.

I only have two TV locations. I don't need the premium channels, just the basics, especially Fox News.

Any suggestions and information will be appreciated.

[Dallas]

I've had DirecTV since 1991 at our country place.

At our home in Arlington we experimented briefly with Uverse and Time Warner, but switched back to DirecTV. Lest I forget, our motorhome has DirecTV.

Whichever you choose, buy some DirecTV stock, and I'll make you rich.

[IYAS9YAS]

Both have their good points and drawbacks. DirecTV has all the sports and packages. However, with Dish, and a DVR, I can record two programs, watch a recorded program in my living room and watch a second recorded program in my bedroom at the same time, or watch two different live channels, or somewhere in between. As of last year, DirecTV did not have a DVR that would work with two separate televisions.

[Junior_G]

My experience with DirectTV has been good, other than the fact that I’m basically permanently trapped in a contract with them. I recently discovered that every time you add a receiver to your home (i.e. you have more than one television), they add another two years to your contract. The penalty for breaking your contract is $175 per receiver. I absolutely despise cable companies for this reason, as well as cell phone service providers, internet providers, etc. What the hell kind of customer service is it when you need to trap your customers with contracts that promise a massive punitive financial penalty if they ever try to go to another service provider????

[bicyclerepair]

I had DirecTV and loved it. The HD dish is larger and it hardly ever scrambled due to storms. We swithced to comcast to save $60/mo. as I’m unemployed. But comcast came with HBO and starz which I didn’t have with DTV. Also internet speed is incredibly fast compared to dsl I had.

[ChrisInAR]

Did you watch the Weather Channel when you were on DirecTV? If so, were the “Local on the 8s” focused on your area (your town & the nearest surrounding counties), or was the continental US broken up into 4 quads as it was when I was on Dish?

That’s the main reason why I went back to cable.

[SoldierDad]

Our neighborhood went fiberoptic with underground cables (local cable company). When cable goes out in Chico, we still receive it.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Which do you recommend: Dish or Direct TV

They all blow, IMHO - DirecTV, Dish, Comcast. Be especially wary of sales reps offering promotional deals involving free premium channels - unless you get it in writing, and are able to find the writing in the wall of tiny print in your agreement, they'll renege.

[Cementjungle]

DirectTV by a mile.

[Lazarus Starr]

I used to work for DirecTV customer service many years ago. Their policy was based on complete honesty to the customer. Dish on the other hand made our jobs harder by telling outrageous lies to DirecTV customers. Example: Back when they had discussed merging, Dish called DirecTV customers and told them that the merger was pretty much a done deal and that they needed to buy Dish Equipment right then in order to avoid the delays when the merger was finalized. Problem with that is that DirecTV would have been the main face of the merger and Dish equipment freely traded out for DirecTV equipment as needed. Also Congress hadn’t yet decided if they could merge and rumor was that it would be shot down. Which DirecTV wanted relayed to customers with questions.

So for certain, I’d go for DirecTV anytime over Dish. And the cherry on top is the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV only. I love that package.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

TV will make you crazy!

[max americana]

>> We never watch Showtime, except “The Brotherhood” once in a while, but they appreciate and like to keep their customers.

In Season 2, the Rhode Island politician brother finally admits he’s a Democrat who dislikes Republicans. That’s when I stopped watching it.

[Sarajevo]

Nice link there. I clicked on it and was immediately spammed by bimbo’s “wanting to talk” to me.

[Cricket24]

We’ve had both and have loved and hated both! lol
Customer service at both have been questionable. Several years ago we decided not to renew the MLB package with Directtv and it took months for them to quit charging us and credit our money back! My son is now having trouble with Dishnetwork because their bill was not correct and they were also having trouble getting on their account online.
At present, we have Dishnetwork and since I don’t watch much tv, I don’t personally care which one we have. It takes a really heavy downpour or snow to lose your signal. At least that has been our experience. You do have to clean off your antenna when there is a lot of snow. Let me say...these do beat our old 12 foot antenna that we had in the 80’s!!

[Las Vegas Dave]

Pinging the HDTV list..

HDTV pings!

Interested in the HDTV ping list?
Please Freepmail me (freepmail works best) if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list, ( approximately 375 freepers are currently on the HDTV ping list ).
The pinged subjects can be HDTV technology, satellite, cable, and OTA HD reception (Over The Air with roof top or indoor antennas), Broadcast specials, Sports, Blu-ray/HDDVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.
Note: if you search Freerepublic using the keyword "“HDTV”, you will find most of the past HDTV postings.

[Las Vegas Dave]

DirecTV has issues, they don’t have the HD channels like they claim, and cancellation is also a known issue that may cost a subscriber $400 or more, with DISH if you cancel early there is a (my gustimate) of $15/mth of the remaining service.

DirectTV claims to have a better picture, my son has DirecTV on his 46” SONY, and the picture is very good, but it may be that his TV is better than my 40” JVC?

When SAT service was new DirecTV made you buy the box it was $$$ of dollars, DISH could lease the box to you if requested.

Both services “may” allow you to cancel within the first month without penality, be careful before you choose!

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-vs-directv-war-zone/202873-directv-sues-dish-network-over-ads-35.html

DIRECTV FORUM
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/

and DISH FORUM (from satelliteguys.us)
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/202870-anyway-around-2-year-commitment-new-customers.html

---

“DIRECTV, add HD channels; not just HD capacity. You can’t watch capacity.”
http://www.tvpredictions.com/swannitweet022310.htm
TVPredictions.com

Washington, D.C. (February 23, 2010) — Phillip Swann, aka Swanni, and president of TVPredictions.com, has been saying for months that DIRECTV desperately needs to add more HD channels.

At Swanni’s Twitter page — SwanniOnHD — his comments on DIRECTV’s HD plans has generated considerable attention and controversy in the last few weeks.

Below are some of his recent ‘tweets’ about DIRECTV’s HD strategy:

“On message boards and elsewhere, DIRECTV apologists are throwing mud at me now, but it won’t stop me from saying D needs to add HD — now!”

“Must say that I’m not impressed thus far with new DIRECTV CEO Michael White; he would not pass the Pepsi challenge.”

“Everyone is adding HD channels now — Dish, Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon, etc. But DIRECTV? Nope. They are just adding ‘capacity.’ “

“Really, can anyone remember the last HD channel that DIRECTV added? I think it was in the Bush administration.”

LVD

[ctdonath2]

Can’t stand TV. Huge waste of $$$ and brain cells.

...but between the need for live video coverage of breaking news or other live events (something the internet fails on), and my wife’s irritation at being out of touch with popular culture (face it: TV drives much of social discourse), after 4+ years without TV I’m about to give up and order DirecTV.

[Carpe Cerevisi]

I had Dish Network a couple of years ago with a DVR. I remember how darn loud that thing was when running. I even had to put a fan next to the vents to keep it from overheating. Now I have DirecTV with a DVR and it has absolutely no irritating sounds whatsoever.

[icwhatudo]

Thats strange. I’ve been using that site for over a year and that never has happened. Was it from the main link or a link within the site?

[bmwcyle]

Dish look up VIP 922

[McGavin999]

I agree with you. I went with Direct back in 98 when they had great service and great people. Now they are the worst when it comes to customer service.