Direct TV
 

I am about to get rid of Comcast and replacing With Direct TV. Those who have Direct TV..What do you think of it? Do you like it? Are you statisfied? What are any negatives? THanks for taking the time to respond.:clap2:

I like it. I have had them the 4 years since moving to TV. Have lost signal very few times (only lasting a couple minutes or less) even during the worst storms.

I've had Directv since 2008. We have the Premier package, which is everything available outside the sports packages. We've had Century Link phone and internet since 2011 and was considering switching to their Prism TV so we could bundle. However, I'm spoiled by NFL Sunday Ticket and have had that the previous three NFL seasons in Florida. I called to add it again and they said let us put in the Genie for free. We've had the same boxes since the beginning, from 2008 and never had a service call.

The Genie is remarkable. It records up to 5 shows at once, sometimes when you're overlapping programs and movies you can't remember how many are being recorded. Since we have HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz, I have been recording all my favorite movies just to have them and some that I don't have time to see. The Genie makes Directv twice as nice. We have two Genie boxes and can watch any of the recorded shows from either TV. You can pause live TV, or you can start watching a movie in the middle and hit reverse and it will go back to the beginning even if you weren't recording it. We have 10,000 free movies on demand with our internet connection that goes through the router to the Genie. It's night and day from what we were use to, which was great as it was.

We've had Direct since we moved here. We have one of the mid-level packages with none of the add on gee-gaws and have been very happy with what we get. ZERO problems.

What will you do next year if Directv does not have the Sunday Ticket? It is up for grabs in 2015

Had it installed couple of weeks ago, and previously had it 6 years ago. The ONLY reason I switched then was for FIOS service. DirecTV genie is excellent, although the remotes are tiny. If you're a sports fan, there is nothing better. To get full usage you need a good internet connection. I'm coupling it with Xfinity Internet only.

Very happy with Direct TV after almost four years. I am supposed to get a free upgrade to the latest equipment next month.

Make sure you have the account number of a friend when you sign up and you both get a $10 a month discount for ten months. If you don't have a friend with Direct TV, PM me and I will give you mine.

Directv
 

Directv works good for us.We are snowbirds and when we put Directv on vacation there is no monthly charges.
If you decide on Directv,use the refer a friend promotion with our account# 71382469.You and I will save $10 a month for 10 months.

We have had Direct for 2 years. Love it! Only loose signal for a few minutes when it is raining heavy. No big deal. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks
 

Thanks to all who responded to my note. It made the decision much easier. After seeing the responses I went to Direct TV and bought the plan that best fit my wants. Hopefully, more Comcast abused customers will take the action to get rid of them and their disregard for any Customer Service. :clap2:

I changed from Comcast to DirectTV and have no regrets.

Advise
 

What do the ones who do not have Comcast cable TV what do you use for the internet and phone service? When some cancelled Comcast what did you move to for Internet or Phone? Again, thanks for your help.:wave:

We use Comcast for internet. It's pricey, though--$75/month. (Started out at $60.) But dsl is too slow for us. We are awaiting delivery of Comcast's new modem that is supposed to speed things up. For now, our AT&T Hot Spot is many times faster than our Comcast cable, but we think we use more than 5 gigs of data per month, at $50 for five gigs.

We are experimenting with that, though. The hot spot is available at Best Buy for $100, and you can either have a two-year contract or a "pay as you run out" plan that you top up yourself online.

We love DirecTV, never have a billing problem, and their customer service is great. You can move it with you from one place to another, as opposed to having two contracts. And it rarely goes out for more than a few minutes in a storm. We like NFL Ticket and Extra Innings for watching Steelers and Pirates.

Understanding
 

I understood that the Internet (if you own the moden/router) would be 19.99
per month as part of a Comcast bundled Internet/Phone and the phone would be $20.00 for a total of $40.00 per month. Is this wrong? Thanks.:024:

We don't have a phone through Comcast (we use Magic Jack), so we have no bundling. But that cost for internet sounds awfully low. Do you know what speed that is, or if there are any limitations? We were offered a higher speed for $10 more per month. We tried it, but it wasn't noticeably higher speed, so we dropped it.

Hopefully, someone who has those two will reply on costs.

We brought DirecTV down with us from NYC and switched to Century Link/Prism 5 months later because we couldn't "bundle" our services for some reason. Moving back to DirecTV Premier Package on Thursday. Hubby is not a football fan but is a huge NBA fan, so now he'll bet both NBA TV and MSG Network! Anyway, He's a happy camper!

Dish Mount?
 

I am a satified DirecTV customer moving to The Villages early next year, and plan to move it with me.

Will the DirecTV installer put up a pole to mount the dish (rather than on the roof), or do you have to have that done yourself, if that is what you want?

Thanks!

With that said..what do you do for internet service once you drop ComCast? We have Direct and are very happy with the service but that leaves us with Century Link's turtle slow perfectly putrid internet. What will/did you choose to replace your ComCast internet?

It is my understanding that they prefer to put it on a pole in the ground. If you want them to put it on the roof, they will, but may charge extra.

Where Dish,
 

It was free if installed on roof and $50 if on the ground?:024:

Thanks! I read on TOTV that if you put it on the roof, it voids the roof warranty. So mine is going on a pole regardless. I was just curious if I had to get a separate contractor.

Our house is a block stucco. DTV wanted to do either the roof or sidewall mount. I wouldn't let them, per per roof warranty and/or stucco damage. My rate was $75 for a pole.

Something to think about in a new home, the recabling is there to 5-10 outlets depending on the home, all home run routes to your electrical panel. Have them terminate the panel ends of the ones you aren't using so they're available if you want to move your TVs around.

Great idea, thanks!

I had Comcast for 1 month and it was a total disaster. Have had DirecTV for 11 months and could not be happier. Love the ability to record 5 shows at once. Have had very few problems during storms, and never for long. Highly recommend DirecTV.

We had Comcast in Pennsylvania for 20 plus years before coming to TV and were happy with it. After reading posts on TOTV we went with Direct TV May 2013. For us it has been horrible. Shows on demand have to be downloaded in advance or are not watchable. Reception stops at even the hint of a storm. Many recorded shows have come out jumbled and not watchable. We have reported our problems to Direct TV with no satisfaction. We wil drop Direct TV at the end of our 2 year commitment.

I wonder if location has anything to do with it. We have not had those problems.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I was out of town. That's why I resisted getting the Genie before because I knew it would obligate me to stay with Directv for two years. I've been reading a lot about NFL Sunday Ticket and what it means to Directv. They say that Directv would lose 2 million subscribers if that was the case and they can't foresee that happening. I often see movies I want listed but like at 2am, so I've been wanting a DVR for quite sometime, and went with the flow. It's better than I've ever thought.

The poster that said they had problems with Directv reception and their DVR, do you have the Genie? When I go to search and find a movie listed 'Ondemand" and it has to be recorded, in most cases that only takes my unit about 30 seconds and then the movie begins. I've had no problems like the ones you mentioned. You need to do some troubleshooting before hanging up your service. Definitely call customer service, they are the best ever and have a tech come to the house. Are you paying the $5.99 per month for maintenance? It is well worth it.

I too have had Direct TV for 4 years. I called for the free update and was rold it will be done IF my receivers break down. Bummee.

We have the Genie and the protection package. It was Direct TV customer service that instructed us to download our on demand ahead of time. We have spoken to Direct TV customer service many times and they refer to their notes and see we are not satisfied but never offer to make a service call. I will call them and insist on one.

We brought our existing DirecTV account with us when we moved here last year. Installer wanted to put dish on roof and I refused. He installed a pole for it in the ground at no extra charge.

Done
 

To close out..Had Direct TV installed yesterday and the picture is much better than what I had with Comcast. It was relief to deal with the people at Direct TV who were excellent! Had the Disk placed on a pole in the yard out of sight because of the comment one TOTV made regarding the roof warranty. Genie looks to be a great advantage. Only negative is that we now have to look for our shows on different channels and that will take time. Returned Comcast equipment and received a confirmation of return BUT person said I could not get a confirmation for cancellation of service. Called up Comcast and they said they will cancel. Looks like the decision was right and overdue.:bowdown:

The first thing you'll want to do is set up the on-screen guide eliminating all the 'for sale' channels. Name it something like 'My List' or similar. Don't hide the SD channels but don't put them in your list, the reason being if there is a storm you'll want to pull up the SD duplicates quickly by keying in 'All Channels' and bring them up in the guide and then you can see the ending of a show. They'll be some channels that don't have an SD copy, such as those in the HD Tier package. If that's the case, in a storm you won't have the option. I've had that happen once in six years, I was watching a Jackson Browne concert on the Palladia channel with is HD only, so when the storm hit I lost the channel for the duration.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....vgenie11md.jpg

After you've made your list, the channel guide should look like below. Just one HD choice for each channel number. Some of the alternate sports channels you might leave out because they are very seldom in use. The alternate MLB channel is the only one I currently show, they do have games on there frequently. When college football season starts you can bring up the alternate ESPN channels because they stick games on those channels. The on screen score guide that comes up with the red button is really handy also, and it will list the games on those alternate channels when they are used. Good Luck and enjoy your system.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....vgenie13md.jpg

Direct TV - I now have at all 3 rental homes!
 

Let me help SAVE everyone who reads this post some BIG $ on cable & Internet.

I’m a teacher and live in RI but have 3 rental homes in The Villages. A tip here on TOTV led me to save big $. All as of last month now have Direct TV. See below.

1. Call Select Choice TV in Summerfield (third party broker for all providers) at 352-553-4921. I kept their ad from a Villages magazine in April and got Heba, (she has been great) but anyone can help. Her e-mail: hrobinson@selectchoicetv.com Get DIRECT TV. Free installation. It took less than 2 hours to get done. $24.99/mo for a year for the basic SELECT package (that’s 130 channels & free movie channels for 3 mo). I added HD (high def) at my 3br because I’ll be moving there in a year or so. That’s $10/mo more. Each additional TV is $6/mo.

2. For INTERNET go with Comcast for $19.99/mo. Call 1-800-COMCAST. I was already a subscriber for cable and Internet. Their $19.99 rate is good for a year, and they gave me that rate no problem to keep me (normally just for new folks). It appears to be the cheapest of all providers. I have my own modem and Wifi device at all homes (they’re cheap at Wal-Mart; don’t rent).

3. PHONE is up to you. I have rentals and so don’t have phones. But I did buy MagicJack on Heba’s recommendation so I have a phone now at my 3br. The device costs $50 one time fee and it’s $20/yr for service. Note, that’s PER YEAR, not per month like the local phone companies. But for older folks, it takes being a bit computer savvy to get it all done. Other options are to ask your provider for a special low introductory rate. magicjack.com

4. No, I’m not a salesman, but if you switch and say I referred you, [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]you get $10 off per month for 10 months[/COLOR]. I used a lady’s account number from TOTV to get that. You too can have a bill for just $18.00 with taxes like I do at my villa (one TV, no HD). Use acct # 14118982 to get $10/mo off when you call Select Choice TV.

E-mail me with any questions. I’m glad I switched. Picture is beautiful (even on non-HD TVs at my 2br homes). Enjoy the savings.
Jszyman806@aol.com - Jeff

Sounds Good
 

Snowbird921, Thanks for the input. I switched from Comcast to Direct TV, signed up to AT&T offer for their $20 a month for phone that included long distance and local, (Note: Magic Jack is not available in The Villages, etc.)
Am going to keep the Internet with Comcast but believe mine will be at 29.99?
Have people coming today to hook up the new modem/router combination that I purchased since I don't want to pay Comcast a "rental" for theirs. TOTV really is informative and helpful..:wave:

I think you might be confusing Magic Jack with someone else. Magic Jack is available everywhere. We brought ours down from MI and got a 352 number. We use the unit that plugs directly into the router so that we don't have to put it into a computer. (We only have laptops.)