DirecTV vs Comcast
 

I have been a huge fan of DirecTV. I switched from Comcast about 5 years ago because customer service at Comcast was really, really poor. Also, DirecTV had better equipment, more HD channels and excellent customer service.

However, this week I had a problem with one of my DirecTV receivers. When I called them, I got a runaround reminiscent of my Comcast days. Over two days and several hours, I talked to 6 different techs and customer service people. They sent me equipment I didn't want and set me up with a tech visit for this morning and then cancelled it without telling me. One person told me that customer service hasn't been the same since AT&T took over.

I'm thinking about going back to Comcast but would like some feedback from anyone who made the switch recently or has experienced Comcast customer service whether positive or not. I understand Comcast has made an effort recently to turn around their sub par service. I would love to have Bright House but I'm north of 466A.

I have only used comcast customer service 3 times in 3 years. I've had no problems whatsoever.

I've had directtv for the past 15 yrs and satisfied with service and equipment. However, I've never used their customer service. I'm not so naive as to think it's any better than most customer service experiences these days. All that being said: I would love to continue with DTV once in TV but I've heard rain fade and thunderstorms make satellite dishes almost useless anywhere in FL. Have you had these problems?

I have had Directv since 2008. Do you have the maintenance plan, I believe it's $5.99 per month. I've never had a problem since once in my intial year and they sent a tech right out and gave me a new receiver. In August of 2014 I got the Geni DVR and they sent a tech to hook that up along with my internet connection so I could watch all the ondemand stuff. Everything went smooth and I really like having a 1000 hours I can record, I have so much stuff recorded I can't watch it all. The only other contact I have with Directv is about every six months I call and complain about the rates and they give me a bunch of discounts that last about six months. I have the Premier Package which has almost eveything they offer.

My golfing partner switched from Directv to Century Link about a year ago. He's a big sports fan and he found out they don't have the NBA Network, and is considering switching back. I don't care about basketball but with the NFL, I've had NFL Sunday Ticket every year, just having the Red Zone is not enough for me and I'm not a big fan of going to the bar to watch football with a bunch of yelling drunks. If I was to leave Directv I believe Century Link Prism is the next best system.

The rainy season is May to Oct and it consists mostly of pop-up thunderstorms with enough intensity to knock out the signal for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. If you're familiar with Directv then you know most channels have two versions, the HD and the standard. For example if you watch TNT HD on channel 245, when weather strikes, bring up your menu and select 'all channels', then go the backup channel 245 and in most cases the channel will continue to be viewed but not in HD. When the storm ends, go back to HD. I would say the amount of loss viewing time might amount to an hour for the entire rainy season. It's also a good time to watch recorded programs on your Geni DVR.

We have had Comcast for the 12 years we have been here.

We have never not had them do what they said they were going to do.

And yes one does need to monitor the billing to be sure it matches with what they state when making a change. However I think that is true for most providers.

Their internet is very consistent to the point of not needing to shop for anything any better....if there even is.

Their customer srvice is usually pretty responsive. Every once in a while one might think they just talked to one that had not completed their training.

I would give the a B+ with itermittent A's.

It would be nice to have some cable competition to get the best out of them.

We have Comcast right now, and are looking to drop it due to inconsistent/poor customer service, and trouble with the internet (we are north of 466A). We have been considering DirectTV and had hoped things would get better under AT&T. We do have AT&T U-verse at our home in Michigan and really like it. Excellent customer service, good quality tech support on the phone, and they overnight expressed a new receiver to us at no charge to us when ours went bad. We did the cable route (Charter) and you would think it was Comcast under a different name.

We had Dish TV in PA and have it in The Villages now and we're extremely satisfied!!! Just be sure you go through Dish directly and not a middleman because you want a Dish tech to do your installation. Anyone who has had trouble with Dish in The Villages probably didn't go directly through Dish.

One hour a season isn’t unreasonable, and since I watch too much tv it might be 2 hours for me. Also, I’ve had good luck with Century Link. I use them for landline and their DSL for wifi. I hope to use them in TV. I’ve had good luck with their DSL, reliable and fast.

Couple of Points
 

A couple of points regarding Comcast and Direct TV. If the change is to save money, it will not happen. We had Comcast and became sick of arguing each month regarding ghost charges, increases etc. so we switched to Direct TV and
have been very happy BUT we are not saving money as if you add up the charges Direct TV, plus expense to get the internet (Comcast costs $39.99) and the AT&T charge to hook up a box to your cell line (with a separate number) costs $20.00 we are just about at the old Comcast charges. The differences is that we get more from Direct TV than Comcast offers. Yes it can go out for 2-3 minutes every other month but we never notice that. All in all we like Direct TV much more than Comcast (we had Comcast for many many years). Just one experience.:wave:

Just come comments on Comcast: I think they are the only provider of VNN, The Villages TV station #2 and the Villages radio station # 99 although doesn't seem to be working at the moment. (I wonder if its been removed). Also, I love the remote Comcast App for iPhone.

I am flipping through channels 2, 99, and 101 right now on Comcast. No problems up north.

Had Comcast, switched to DirecTV. Will never go back.

I am no fan of Comcast. I have it, though, and I will say the customer service has improved over the past year.

Mike,
Lost signal doesn’t seem to be a big problem for others. How about you, rain fade and thunderstorms not a big problem with DTV?

We had Centurylong for a little over a year, and got tired of the monthly price increase on the bills, less than stellar picture quality, and frequent resets of the STB. Switched to Comcast, and couldn't be happier. As an unexpected and added bonus, they offer more OnDemand shows, and faster internet speed. I'll never go back to Centurylink, and would never consider satellite tv.

I have the maintenance plan and I got a service tech to come out. My appointment was supposed to be between 8 am and noon. At 12:30 I called and found out my appointment was cancelled. They finally showed up at 3:30 pm. The biggest problem was the 2 hour runaround to get support.

Like I said, I've been a big fan of DirecTV. I got the free Genie upgrade right after the equipment was released. I've had a receiver and two remotes replaced with no problem. Customer service in the past as always pleasant and responsive. However, this was my first call since AT&T took over. Of the 6 people I talked to, only one seemed to care or even try to sound professional. It was just a totally different experience from pre-AT&T. In fact, even Comcast would give a credit on your bill for a missed appointment. DirecTV won't offer any compensation.

By the way, losing signal during thunderstorms is not a big issue. HD might go out once in a while but rarely longer than 5 minutes. SD almost never goes out. I don't even notice because I watch everything time delayed so I can skip commercials. In fact, I might consider switching to Dish.

I have found a new idea for watching all the sports,moves you want, its called Vstream2TV. I can't believe what you can watch, if you have any question give me a call. 352-430-8434 or visit their site for a short video https://vimeo.com/154599912

Let me guess...
 

are you trying to enroll new "distributors"?

Let's make this short and sweet: There's no legal way to watch movies or other copyrighted material without proper licensing. Legal means pay-per-view, cable/satellite subscription, Netflix/Amazon, buying a movie ticket or sports event ticket, etc.

There's no free lunch, and the price you might have to pay - should you ever be identified as someone accessing copyrighted material in this way - could be quite costly. If someone tries to tell you that you can remain completely anonymous online (and that's where these "services" are coming from), don't believe them. Will you get caught? Maybe not. Lots of people use "torrenting" or software like Kodi with "repositories/plugins" on hardware such as being described in the video to access first-run movies and sports events and may never get caught.

But does anyone think it makes sense that you can buy a box for a one-time fee and watch first-run/in-theater movies on it legally?

I decided to go with Dish. I've only had it for a few days now and I'm very pleased. They installed their newest DVR (Hopper 3) that was released just last month. 16 tuners, 2 TB hard drive, auto prime time recording with auto commercial skip, free whole home and HD service and free one year Netflix. Nothing that DirecTV or Comcast offers comes close and it's $50 a month cheaper than what I was paying DirecTV. And my service price is locked in for 3 years. After that, my plan only goes up $20 a month. I'm glad DirecTV screwed me over last week. I wound up with a much better system and saving quite a bit each month.

Lets hope
 

you're just as happy when the thunderstorms come.

I have been a happy dish customer for sometime, if anybody is thinking of going with dish send me a message for a referral code where we will both get a $50 bill credit.

I switched from Directv to DISH as i got tired of their price variances from month to month. Most of their service reps are just warming a chair as they don't know their product very well and I informed their manager they need to be sent for more training, as they were a storehouse of misinformation.

I have had Dish for a year and no complaints with their service or product. I love their Hopper recording device as it is easy to use.

If switching to DISH, I would recommend going to their store on 441, across the street from Walmart, in the shopping plaza. Their reps are pleasant and you can always go to them with any problems instead of dialing an 800 jerk you around phone number.

Is this a "Dish" store or a third party run store?

Also is at the Walmart north of Spanish Springs near the Comcast office or the Walmart south of 466a

I've had DirecTV for the past 5 years and Dish should be no different during thunderstorms. I've rarely lost SD service and HD usually only goes out for 5-10 minutes at a time. I watch everything time delayed so I don't really notice the outages.

By the way, someone sent me a PM asking about Dish fees and phone/internet service. This is how I responded in case anyone else is interested:

Dish has several packages starting at $65 per month for 190 channels that they call Top 120. The Everything package is $140 for 330 channels and there are several options in between. You can see the channels on their website.

I got the Top 120 promo for $50 per month with a 3 year price guarantee in return for a 2 year commitment. The other packages were also available for $20 off the regular price. DVR service is $15 and second TV is $7. Taxes bring the monthly to just under $80. No deposits and free installation. No other charges for HD and whole home. They are sending me a $25 gift card for signing up for auto pay. I have the movie package (HBO, Max, Showtime, Starz and Epix) free for 3 months. Netflix is free for a year. The Hopper 3 DVR is amazing. I can record 16 shows at once - assuming there is ever that many good shows on at the same time. It has Bluetooth for my headphones and it links up to my tablet so I can bring prerecorded shows out of the house.

Internet is Comcast. I hate them but they have the best internet service. $40 per month for 75 Mbps (usually runs closer to 90). Cell phone is Tracfone at about $6 per month. Home phone is Ooma at $4 per month.

Dish has a Refer a Friend program were you and I each get $50 off - $5 per month off the bill for 10 months. If you are interested in doing this, send me your email address via PM.

Just get the best deal you can for now - Comcast, Dish, Brighthouse, etc will all be obsolete in a couple of years from now, when you will be able to get anything you want over the internet. For me, it's the $19.95 Comcast internet deal with a Roku and Fire TV streaming boxes. More stuff than I can watch in a day. Put up an antenna and get all the local networks from Orlando. I don't know why anybody pays these guys for internet and TV. All you need is a good internet connection, a couple of streaming boxes, and an antenna. Save your money for better things.

[QUOTE=UpNorth;1188502]Just get the best deal you can for now - Comcast, Dish, Brighthouse, etc will all be obsolete in a couple of years from now, when you will be able to get anything you want over the internet. For me, it's the $19.95 Comcast internet deal with a Roku and Fire TV streaming boxes. More stuff than I can watch in a day. Put up an antenna and get all the local networks from Orlando. I don't know why anybody pays these guys for internet and TV. All you need is a good internet connection, a couple of streaming boxes, and an antenna. Save your money for better things.[/

I am overall very happy with Comcast
 

I had used DirectTV for many years, and was generally happy with the service, but not happy seeing my rates go up and up to over $120, and this was while I was in my two year contract stage. I called them several times to try and get the rate reduced, but they said there was nothing they could do. Of course, once I did cancel, they tried to talk me out of it, and I got at least 20 calls subsequently trying to get me to switch back in spite of my asking them to not keep calling me.

I am now paying around $100 on a two year contract for at least as many channels I was getting before on two TVs, plus HBO which I didn't ask for but was part of their package, plus very high speed internet, which I really like as I am doing more streaming now and do a lot on the Internet with all our devices and PCs. Their Blast high speed internet is rated at 75MBps but it is more often closer to 90, like one of the other posts indicated. I do provide my own modem, which I recommend. I did have one outage where they could not fix it, and said it must be my modem, but I just waited overnight and the next day it was fine, so not a modem problem. They had installed their rental modem, as I wanted to add the phone service, but was not getting anywhere close to the 75 MBps speed (was more like 25), so I switched to my own modem and all was fine with the speed, and I save the modem rental fee.

I really like the bundled price, high speed internet, access to all the channels I need, plus their apps which allow you to watch channels and recordings remotely. We go away in the summer, so I can now access these through my Apple TV. I also have the voice search capability on the main TV which is a really nice feature. No more trying to remember or look up the channel numbers.

If you would like to see it all working for yourself, please PM me.

:agree:

I've had Comcast for the past 6 years. We feel that their service had greatly improved. We had Direct TV previous to that and had an incident with them that eventually cost me $275.00. Yes, I walked away from the contract after two days of a Direct TV upgrade to HD. Both of days were weekend days when I couldn't get anyone to discuss my serious problem. I paid them and tell the story to anyone who'd listen. We'll never see them again in my home. They got nasty. Go with Comcast you'll really enjoy their true On Demand feature. We currently have Comcast's triple play. TV, Internet and phone.

We moved to TV about 6 months ago and after all the horror stories about Comcast I was reluctant to sign up but I didn't want a dish antenna on our roof and I was having increasing issues with DirecTV back in Michigan over the last few years of our 20+ year relationship, with bogus charges I couldn't get rid of and multiple stupid policies that made no sense except to dissuade customer loyalty.

After signing up with Comcast I was VERY impressed with their customer service, and have had zero problems. The several times I called to get our service going (TV/Internet) their phones were answered immediately and the Reps were helpful and courteous.

Comcast's Internet speed is BETTER than my home wi-fi network. I'm getting about 80Mb/sec !!. I have never seen anything so fast.

Their Tele lineup is pretty similar to DirecTV with the exception that Comcast does not include the Science channel with their standard package.

A special NOTE. You do NOT have to purchase the Comcast gear and be subject to a monthly equipment rental fee!!! Check out TiVo (which has a much higher satisfaction rating for their set top box that any cable vendor. The TiVo one time equipment cost will be paid for in a little over one year, by the savings in Comcast rental fees.

I wish I could tell you more about Dish or Comcast but what I didn't like about Dish was they advertise the first 12 months is something like 20 or $30. Then after 12 months it's retail price, but they won't tell you what retail price is because they want to tell you, you might want premium channels, I tell them I want the same as I had the first 12 months that I got at a discount, they still won't tell you. To me that's telling me they scare to many people off. Can anyone tell me what the least you can get & the most you'll have to pay? I went to BrightHouse which I like because they have super good service but one thing I don't like is they never ever told me when we got it that they were giving us the introductory price. I was paying I think $80. a month 4 yrs. ago & each yr. it's been going up a LITTLE, now this month they raised it to $125.12 a month for the next yr. it's not bad. I get 200 channels, but about half of them are music channels. Overall I happy for now, maybe next yr. I won't be. Hope this helps answer your question!

I just started using a product called Vstream2TV, it runs off the INTERNET and once you buy the box you don't have any other fees. You can get any sports you want live, (FOOTBALL, BASEBALL, HOCKEY, BASKETBALL, SOCCER from around the world, any sports) any movie you want to watch including movies that are playing now and old move going back 15 years ago. Checkout this web site.... type this address in the address bar not in the search bar. VStream TV

Comcast is OK IF you have no problems or issues. I moved within TV in October and have not had a correct bill since I moved. They disconnected me 2 weeks early and it went down hill from there. The icing on the cake was when they turned me over to a collectio agency for money I never owed them Talking to customer service is like talking to a wall and God help you if you get their overseas people. A complaint to the Better Business solved my problem very quickly but the frustration was totally uncalled for. I think they are all the same and unfortunately we are at their mercy.

Besides the fact that it has a camera, it looks essentially like a Roku, AppleTV, Chromecast, or one of the other streaming boxes but appears to have much higher cost. Can you expand on the differences?

North of Spanish Springs. This is a DISH store in addition to handling DirectV.

All reps are knowledgeable with the DISH product.

I used to have Direct TV -- after Comcast. I switched 2 years ago to Dish. I'm very satisfied. I hear that Century is quite good, also. They use fiber optics in parts of the Villages.
Fred

I used to have Direct TV -- after Comcast. I switched 2 years ago to Dish. I'm very satisfied. I hear that Century is quite good, also. They use fiber optics in parts of the Villages.
Fred

I have had both within the past year. Att/Direct TV customer service is very deceptive and try to trick you into different things. Comcast customer service is just incompetent. Equipment and the X1 platform from Comcast is great. I prefer Comcast strictly for equipment and programming features.

Comcast has gotten better, but not perfect
 

We had Comcast when we first moved here almost 11 years ago. We switched to Dish, due to a rash of outages and poor customer service (last straw was a 3 day total outage and their refusal to credit us for the lost time). After a few years with Dish and their satellite internet, we have dropped them and returned, reluctantly, to Comcast. Dish had too many weather related outages, too many equipment failures and lousy internet service. I will say that having gone back to Comcast, their cable TV and internet service is much improved over our last experience. Their customer service is also much improved. We had the remote that controls the DVR go belly up on a Friday evening and it was replaced with no questions Saturday morning. Hopefully, this will continue, as I have heard bad things about all the different providers here in The Villages.