[billethkid]

One can not tell from the advertizing material the advantages of one over the other because they both sat the very same thing...best reception 99.9%...most stations...the most HD channels...the best service....the lowest price....etc....etc...

If you have Direct TV why did you choose them?
Are you satisfied?
During all the rain storms and cloud cover have you experienced outages? for how long?
If you could do it over tomorrow would you make the same decision?

If you have Dish Network why did you choose them?
Are you satisfied?
During all the rain storms and cloud cover have you experienced outages? for how long?
If you could do it over tomorrow would you make the same decision?

We currently have Comcast here and Dish Network at our lake home in TN. If I knew Dish Network was as reliable as it is in the hills of TN I would switch tomorrow.

There is no contest for quality Dish VS Comcast....Dish is all digital and hands down SUPERIOR. There is no contest Dish is less expensive than Comcast. I just need some feel for te outage potential for sattelite reception in the very active skies of FL.

Thanx for the responses to come.

btk

[Talk Host]

I've had Direct TV for about two months.

1. Two weeks after installation, the receiver box hard drive cashed. It was a Friday night. Customer service said they would send another box on Monday and it would take three or four days to get here. That was almost a full week without TV. After it arrived, I was on the phone with customer support for an hour getting the new box working. Then I had to pack up their broken box and take it to FedEx and send it back within seven days or be charged $1,400.

2. I never could get High Definition, before or after the new box. Finally, after two hours (really two hours) on the phone with customer service, they agreed to send a tech to the house. The dish was hooked up wrong. I had no High Def for over a month and they generously agreed to credit my account $5.

I told them how unhappy I have been with the whole service and I wish to disconnect it. They said that would be find, but there will be a $480 early termination fee.

Consider this.

[schotzyb]

We have Dish Network here and are not really happy with it in terms of performance during storms. Have what I consider abnormally long outages during rainstorms . Had Dish Network in North Carolina and was extremely pleased with it in all aspects. The other issue I have with with Dish here is customer service. Not very cooperative or knowledgable. Also for the package I have(~$85/month) it seems half the channels are either infomercial channels or just plain garbage.

[aln]

Your questions:
If you have Direct TV why did you choose them? -- SPORTS . . MLB & NFL TICKET You can't get them anywhere else

Are you satisfied? - - I had DirecTV in WISC for 5+ years and here for 3. Always satisfied

During all the rain storms and cloud cover have you experienced outages? for how long? - - Never an outage with clouds. Rain='once in a while' usually for less than a minute. Once or twice a year maybe 5-10 minutes TOPS. I had more outages in WISC because of snow.

If you could do it over tomorrow would you make the same decision? - - YES

[villages07]

Comcast...the company you love to hate; but, their service is reliable. I was in someone's home during a modest thunderstorm and the Direct TV signal went out 3 times (short interruptions but annoying nonetheless).

I keep looking for a reason to dump Comcast and switch to direct/dish but so far I'm not convinced. I called Comcast up and threatened to switch and Comcast knocked $15 off my bill for the next 6 months. When that expires, I'll call them again.

In doing some internet research, I found that Comcast is doing a major network upgrade throughout the country called project Cavalry. I ran into a comcast tech a week ago and he said our area is due for this upgrade this month (September). This is supposed to significantly improve the quality of digital channels. Time will tell.

Not specific answers to your questions but some thoughts to consider.

For now, I'm sitting tight. The 2 year commitment that the dish/direct folks require (with pricey termination fees) scares me a bit.

[dillywho]

We had Dish in Texas and hated it! For starters, they promised us local channels; never happened...still hasn't last I heard. Another example:

One night we had a tremendous hail storm and the box got damaged. I called and told them that the box was damaged and that the damage was visible just by looking up to the roof. They quoted $150 to come out "in a few days" and tell us what was wrong....I just did. So then they said they would drop the charge to $50 + parts. I told them to forget it, went back to cable, and was completely happy. Never a charge for service or parts and it was prompt as well.

Needless to say, I won't try again.

On another note, I was told by someone (so this is 3rd party info) that the big full page ads you see in the paper for a "different cable" is actually satellite. Don't remember which one they told me, though.

[Talk Host]

Remember too that satellite services are not controlled by the FCC nor the state public service commission. So, you have no advocate to speak for you.

[cashman]

After 5 years of trouble with Dish I switched to Direct TV and am happy I did.

DIRECT TV IS A BETTER CO, MORE RELIABLE AND HAS A BETTER PICTURE.

[Xavier]

We've had Dish and Directv for about 6 years each. After our switch to Directv in 2003 we found them to be much more focused on customer service. We often lost signal during a storm with Dish and very seldom with Directv. I think we've been told that Dish is a low power satellite and Directv is a high power satellite. Can't remember where I got that information so I guess I can't say it is reliable. We needed to use two different satellites for our programming with Dish.

When we had Directv installed here in The Villages they put in an HD dish even though we don't currently have HD TVs. It's a little bit larger and seems to make our connection stronger. We absolutely love our DVR. We've NEVER had any equipment issues with either provider. With Directv we put our service on vacation when we travel for over a month at no monthly cost. I'm pretty sure Dish used to charge us $5 or $6 a month.

Talk Host: I have a picture of myself that looks very much like yours. We had dark blue gowns. Under my cap was a "butch waxed" flat top haircut!

[redwitch]

The house I'm in came with Dish and I'm not about to pay Comcast installation fees. However, given the fact that even a moderate wind or slightly heavy rain cancels the satellite anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours, I wouldn't recommend the Dish to my worst enemy, let alone a TOTVer. It truly is the most unreliable service going.

[Irishmen]

Usually DTV is pretty good...I like watching my Giants on NFL Ticket

[grayesun]

We'll be newbee Villagers in Dec 09 (Santo Domingo bound) and I'm currently investigating viewing options also, it appears (sounds like) that if you're a football addict, you've got to go with DirectTV to see your home team (NE Patriots) games. Comcast advertises an NFL channel but it sounds like it only shows highlights of all the games; anyone have experience with this deal? Thanks

[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by grayesun

We'll be newbee Villagers in Dec 09 (Santo Domingo bound) and I'm currently investigating viewing options also, it appears (sounds like) that if you're a football addict, you've got to go with DirectTV to see your home team (NE Patriots) games. Comcast advertises an NFL channel but it sounds like it only shows highlights of all the games; anyone have experience with this deal? Thanks

Why spend the money when you can go to Beef O'Bradys for the remaining weeks of the season? The NFL Channel is free on Comcast if you have the digital package. They do broadcast several live games during the year. But it is not a big deal. If you are obsessed with a particular team you can find a local place instead of spending big bucks for the NFL/MLB tickets.

I love the NY Giants but they ain't Worth the price for the few games I do not get on regular TV or via the internet feed.

Just another way Dish/DirectTV sucks you in.

[grayesun]

Thanks for your suggestion zcaveman, we currently have Comcast up here in MA and the NFL channel is extra $; we don't have it, no need as we can watch all Pats games on local channels, but my understanding is the Comcast NFL channel shows only highlights from all games - only a few selected complete games. Being a long-time Pats fan, I look forward to watching their whole game each week, it's a big deal for us. Guess it's time to weigh the costs of the Direct TV NFL package vs the cost an afternoon of food/drinks while watching the game out, hoping the Pats will be on. Typically a Sunday afternoon out watching a football game costs us $30-$40.