[JerryLBell]

I've had DISH Network for 2 1/2 years now here in The Villages. As pointed out by other posters, you can get signal breakup during heavy rains, particularly if the rain is to the East. However, that doesn't seem to bother us all that often. In fact, during the hurricane that went overhead a year and a half ago, we didn't get any signal breakups.

You need at least one box in the house as TVs can't directly decode satellite signals (or most cable signals). Most people get a box with video recording capabilities (a "DVR"). This is where DISH particularly shines. On their top model, you can record a ridiculous number of channels simultaneously; something like a dozen or more. They use a very compressed format that, in combination with their fairly large hard drive, allows you to store an equally ridiculous number of shows and/or movies. They have an option to record every show on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox from 8 PM to 11 PM at night (and erase it after 2 weeks) and that barely makes a dent on the hard drive. You can watch any channel or recording you have made in any room in the house by getting additional, smaller boxes ("Joeys") that don't need a cable connection. You just plug them into the wall and into the TV. If you hook your main box into a home network with reasonable speed, you get a ton of channels "on demand". The picture quality is not stellar compared to Blu-ray but it is pretty good. It supports 5.1 channel sound but not 7.1 or higher and not "lossless" audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, Dolby ATMOS or DTS:X. So the Dolby Digital sound is pretty good but not great.

If you don't want to use a "Joey", you can get the Dish Anywhere application on Amazon Fire Sticks and on some phones and tablets and watch TV on them (but not on Roku sticks or TVs). I tried this and found jumping to a channel directly with the Fire Stick remote was frustratingly difficult. You are also limited to having only a single device use the Dish Anywhere application at a time on your account (where you can have several "Joeys" working simultaneously).

They have all the channels that most every other provider has with the exception of "sub-channels" and some highly localized channels. For example, the local PBS outlet might broadcast a "main" channel and a few additional specialized channels but DISH (and DirecTV for that matter) only have the "main" channel. You won't get The Villages channel on satellites either. You can get any of several packages (including some less expensive but more limited "ala carte" packages) to get the channels you want.

Like DirecTV and most cable companies, they have a great price for the initial year (or perhaps two), then the price increases begin. You'll probably get a few premium channels like HBO, Showtime or Starz for free for a few months as a new customer. When they eventually raise the price, you can threaten to quit to renegotiate (though you probably won't get the introductory pricing) or just switch to another provider. I don't remember who I got DISH through (I do remember it was a vendor in the same shopping plaza as the Sam St. John's seafood restaurant on 441) but it seems like they did a good job installing it and I think the installation was free.

I've had DirecTV in Michigan and North Carolina and found them comparable. I have not had them here so I don't know if the occasional signal loss is better for one over the other. I do know that DirecTV kept raising and raising and raising their prices on me in North Carolina until I finally quit and went to a local cable provider for the last several months before I retired and moved here. I considered quitting DISH when my 2-year contract was up but I've had too many friends complain about Comcast, didn't like the DVRs offered by other cable companies, though DirecTV was too expensive and didn't really like the streaming alternatives (my wife would go nuts trying to watch all her shows scattered across multiple streaming services). I went from a "full" package to a basic "ala carte" service and only miss BBC America (which I can get on the Philo streaming service if I really want).

I do stream NetFlix and it seems like there is or was a way to integrate that with the DISH receiver. However, I found it easier to use the Netflix app built into my smart TV in the living room and to use the Netflix app on the Fire Sticks in the other rooms (I gave up the one Joey I was using to save a few bucks per month).

If you know somebody who has DISH, get them to refer you. When I did this for a buddy, it cut $100 off their bill and off my bill ($10/month for 10 months). I'm not sure if they do this anymore.

I do enjoy watching TV but now and then I remember back when I seemed just as happy with the 4 or 5 channels I got for free over the air back when I was young. I know I could try an antenna to get OTA TV from Orlando but am not sure what reception I would get with an antenna in my attic. Also, I'd have to buy a TiVo or something to record TV (I am WAY too spoiled by DVRs to give them up) and don't really like paying as much as TiVo wants for their channel listing information.