[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

How many of you have either Dish Network or Direct TV? How do you like it? Does it go out often when it rains?
Do you have television as well as internet? Is the internet reasonably fast?

I have Comcast and they just raised my monthly bill for cable and internet by $30 a month. I'm tired of the bill creeping up every month and now this nonsense about how I was on a promotional rate. I asked if I canceled and signed up again would I get the promotional rate for two years and I was told yes, but then there was a lot of stuttering and stammering with a lot of double talk about how the new promotional rate would be higher than my new rate.

I know that I can probably call and after complaining for a long time, I might get to speak to a supervisor and maybe something might happen. Or, I might have to go over the supervisors head and then hope that something might happen. Maybe I'm stubborn, but I just don't think that I should have to do that. I just want to call them and explain why I will no longer be doing business with them. But I want to have an option lined up.

I don't think that Verizon Fios or Brighthouse are available in Lady Lake or I would go to that.

It's really a shame that the free market has been tinkered with and these companies don't have to compete for our business.

[SantaClaus]

We had Dish for over a decade and always liked it. It generally takes a pretty good downpour to knock out your signal. We only recently cancelled because we just didn't watch enough of the pay channels to make it worthwhile. Dish is always cheaper than Directv, but the latter has a few more sports options if that's your main interest. If you're mostly interested in changing due to price, call Comcast and tell them you would like to speak to their retention department before you cancel today. They may just make it worth staying for another year.

[gpirate]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

How many of you have either Dish Network or Direct TV? How do you like it? Does it go out often when it rains?
Do you have television as well as internet? Is the internet reasonably fast?

I have Comcast and they just raised my monthly bill for cable and internet by $30 a month. I'm tired of the bill creeping up every month and now this nonsense about how I was on a promotional rate. I asked if I canceled and signed up again would I get the promotional rate for two years and I was told yes, but then there was a lot of stuttering and stammering with a lot of double talk about how the new promotional rate would be higher than my new rate.

I know that I can probably call and after complaining for a long time, I might get to speak to a supervisor and maybe something might happen. Or, I might have to go over the supervisors head and then hope that something might happen. Maybe I'm stubborn, but I just don't think that I should have to do that. I just want to call them and explain why I will no longer be doing business with them. But I want to have an option lined up.

I don't think that Verizon Fios or Brighthouse are available in Lady Lake or I would go to that.

It's really a shame that the free market has been tinkered with and these companies don't have to compete for our business.

If you watch sports Direct TV is the best way to go. I have had it for over 10 years and it takes a heavy rain down pour for it to go out. I would say it happens maybe 6 times a year and usually for only 10 minutes or less.

[OpusX1]

I like direct tv, have had it four years. Doesn't go out very often. Today it was out for maybe 3 minutes during the downpour.

[JMEZARIC3]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

How many of you have either Dish Network or Direct TV? How do you like it? Does it go out often when it rains?
Do you have television as well as internet? Is the internet reasonably fast?

I have Comcast and they just raised my monthly bill for cable and internet by $30 a month. I'm tired of the bill creeping up every month and now this nonsense about how I was on a promotional rate. I asked if I canceled and signed up again would I get the promotional rate for two years and I was told yes, but then there was a lot of stuttering and stammering with a lot of double talk about how the new promotional rate would be higher than my new rate.

I know that I can probably call and after complaining for a long time, I might get to speak to a supervisor and maybe something might happen. Or, I might have to go over the supervisors head and then hope that something might happen. Maybe I'm stubborn, but I just don't think that I should have to do that. I just want to call them and explain why I will no longer be doing business with them. But I want to have an option lined up.

I don't think that Verizon Fios or Brighthouse are available in Lady Lake or I would go to that.

It's really a shame that the free market has been tinkered with and these companies don't have to compete for our business.

Directv works fine.The dvr is better than Comcast.Lost service a few times for a few minutes for during storms.Your choice for internet would be Comcast or DSL from the phone company(CenturyLink).The DSL works with Directv on demand but you do get some buffering.DSl is not as good as Comcast.If you use the internet for movies and TV shows you will not be happy with DSL.But DSL is cheaper than Comcast.

[JP]

We have Dish and really like it. Very little if any problem with weather.

We have Comcast for internet and also like that. Great for Netflix.

I haven't had a bill increase yet but it is probably coming.

All the companies are making record profits while we consumers have basically seen our wages etc. flatline for at least 5 years.

Blah.

[CFrance]

We have had DirecTV both in MI and here, well over a decade total. I agree with others. It goes out briefly during a large downpour like today, but even today that was not even a minute.

We like the ease of the DVR, the channels they offer, NFL Ticket and Extra Innings. Those last two are the reason we would never change. Love. To Watch. Sports.

Comcast for internet.

[NottaVillager]

ANY home satellite dish is affected by the weather. The older 6-8 foot wide Ku-band home dishes rarely went out unless they were filled with snow. These new dishes that are provided by Dish Network & Direct-TV are not wide enough to get enough signal in a driving rainstorm. Virtually ALL TV transmissions these days come off the bird. If you see the head end of a cable company you will see huge, wide dishes that look as though they are tracking missiles. That's how they are receiving their programming. The same goes if you were to go to a local TV station where you would find that same huge dishe downloading ABC, NBC or CBS.

We have Direct and it rarely gets swamped out. Once in a great while but not very often.

Regarding Verizon FIOS. I feel your pain, but no matter how much you wish for FIOS to show up anywhere near The Villages, it's not going to happen. The cost for Verizon to roll out FIOS is so large that the company has said that they will only offer it in the largest US markets. It's in Tampa, but it's (sadly) never going to be in The Villages.

[Buffalo Jim]

I gave up on Comcast a year ago . Just constant problems and nonexistent service .
I moved to DirectTV and will stay with it . It`s a very rare event to have the signal blocked by weather . Perhaps for a minute or two about twice in the past year .
If you enjoy watching sports it can`t be beat . The Masters was featured on about 6 different channels which each covered a different hole . Almost as good as being there .
You can easily follow your favorite college teams , NFL , NHL , Baseball and NBA . It`s as if you were back in your home city watching not only your team but the home team broadcast .
I use Comcast for high speed Internet . I tried using Century Link for a while but gave up on them . I also dropped my landline and just use my cell . Good luck to you !

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Jim

I gave up on Comcast a year ago . Just constant problems and nonexistent service .
I moved to DirectTV and will stay with it . It`s a very rare event to have the signal blocked by weather . Perhaps for a minute or two about twice in the past year .
If you enjoy watching sports it can`t be beat . The Masters was featured on about 6 different channels which each covered a different hole . Almost as good as being there .
You can easily follow your favorite college teams , NFL , NHL , Baseball and NBA . It`s as if you were back in your home city watching not only your team but the home team broadcast .
I use Comcast for high speed Internet . I tried using Century Link for a while but gave up on them . I also dropped my landline and just use my cell . Good luck to you !

I agree with everything you said. I would add that when we dropped our land line, we hooked up with Magic Jack, the kind that hooks to your modem, not your computer, and enables you to use your old land line cordless phones. It works just like a land line and costs around $40 per year. There are other systems like Magic Jack that people like better, but we've had them for years with no problem.

If Brighthouse were available north of 466A, we would use them for internet instead of Comcast. We used them in Bradenton and were quite happy with their service.

[ahockeynut]

We have direct tv and has only gone out once for a few minutes in the last 3 months. What I like about it is the ability to get big10 network and local fox sports packages from most cities so you can watch your favorite teams.
comcast for internet, with ooma house phone (we give that number to the various delivery places so all the crank calls go to the home phone, not our cell).

[scarecrow1]

Direct tv,Verizon for cell phones and Verizon MiFi for internet. You pay for the amount of gigs you think you'll be using for the internet. I don't do movies. You can get movies with a play station if you have it for yourself or grandchildren.

[HJM284]

I switched from Comcast to Direct TV and I like it alot. It doesn't go out much but it will if it's raining hard. Their Customer Support has always been easy to deal with. I have my TV with Direct & internet and landline with Verizon. These bills are bundled together and it's cheaper that way. My internet speed is not super fast but it's OK for my uses, I don't have FIOs either.

[TennDrifter]

I don't think that Verizon Fios or Brighthouse are available in Lady Lake or I would go to that.

It's really a shame that the free market has been tinkered with and these companies don't have to compete for our business.[/QUOTE]

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I too question how we have no one to "compare" our competition with another company. I called a couple different companies and were told they were not allowed in our neighborhood. I called to cancel my Internet service when the bill jumped by 50% and I continued to pay it not knowing (until I tried to cancel) that if I "re-started" another 12 month contract that it would drop "back" to my "original" statement.

Are The Villages getting some type of kickback for NOT allowing others to compete? Just be sure to check our bill as you can bet you won't hear a word about the "price increase" UNTIL to call to cancel!

[rubicon]

The pivotal points for which service a family chooses can be different price value, service, technology etc.

I am a Comcast customer. I like their product. I like their service. I like their technology. I like their future plans of adding their own WIFi so a customer can bundle TV, Internet, Home Phone and Cell Phone.

I question their system of TV bundling in that many stations I pay for I do not want. I question the fact of paying rent on their DVR, Modems, etc when i believe it should be their cost of doing business.

I believe the federal regulators are focused on he wrong things as they interfere with broadband progression instead of focusing on pricing practices

When all is said and done I would still choose Comcast