View Full Version : Dish or DirectTV
Im unhappy with suddenlink cable and am going to go with dish or directtv since uverse isnt available in my area. I have read other boards about comparisons but id like to hear from people who dont spend 20 hours in front of the tv. Which interface do you like better? Who has better CS? Better negotiating results? Any info appreciated. Channel lineup may vary by area, im in texas.
Happy Holidays.
Kentucky Cop
12-27-09, 11:56
We have had Direct now for over a year. The first year sign up and monthly agreement is usually a good deal but after the year is up the price jumps up substantially. The channel selection is really good and I don't care what they say about weather, if you have a monster storm in the area the channels don't work for the duration of the storm. It has to be a real doosy to get it to go blank but why the hell would you want your theater on with the world ending lighting and rain pounding your casa. Anyways, we will be switching to our local provider who is nearly $40 dollars cheaper a month with all the same channels offered....so I was told by the wife. Hope that helps.....
Ky Cop
I'm sure like everything else, CS varies from location to location.
I had DirecTV for about 10 years. I switched to Dish when DTV sent me a receiver I never ordered and billed me for it. The Customer Service manager then informed me that it would be "my responsibility" to return it to them in order to get the amount credited back.
I informed her that is was their screw up and therefore their responsibility to correct it. Would have simply been a matter of issuing a call tag to get the receiver picked up and crediting my account for the amount charged. I also informed her that if she didn't correct "their mistake" that I would cancel my account.
She chose to continue with the "it's my responsibility" policy. I canceled my account the following Monday and had Dish Network installed by the end of the same day. When I called later that day to confirm my account had been canceled another manager tried his best to make things right. Told me that in fact they could easily issue a call tag and credit my account and that he would take care of everything.
Unfortunately for him I told him Dish Network was already installed and that I gave DirecTV plenty of opportunity to make things right and the manager I spoke to earlier wasn't nearly as helpful or as interested in saving my account. I also wrote a letter to corporate explaining exactly what happened and why I am no longer a customer after 10 years giving the "customer service manager" full responsibility for my closed account.
Hopefully she has a new job at McDonalds drive through where she belongs where the most important thing she can screw up is the fries.
We have Dish Network and have had good experiences with it. Direct TV screwed over some friends of ours. We recently had a DVR stop working and had good service from the local dealer.
Unfortunately, I don't think either have a huge leg-up over the other. We currently have DirecTV but previously were with Dish. Our problem with Dish was losing channels that they failed to negotiate new deals with. Lost ABC for the last six months we were with them.
Been on DirecTV since the standard def boxes were $600, and slow as hell. Let's call it 1995.
Storms will put out the signal, but that is to be expected with any dish based provider. If the dish can't "see" the sat, you're not going to see the signal. :p
The only issue I've had with DirecTV is that one of their installers recently chose a very poor installation location on my parent's house for the new HD dish. Why they mounted the damn thing in the center of the roof, I have no idea. The previous SD dish was getting 100% recepetion on nearly all the transponders while mounted to the eve of the roof. Whatever, no big deal now that it's done.
I've never had mysterious charges, or oddball shipments, etc. I don't know if my account longevity or package selection gets me some sort of different group of CS, but my parents, my grandparents and my parents have all been perfectly satisfied for a combined 25+ years of service from them.
I like the HD lineup from DirecTV, I like the channel selection. The DVR's in both HD and SD worked fine over several years, and my installations have all gone smoothly.
My boss' experience with Dish and DirecTV were about the same as mine, but he ultimately switched to cable to package internet and TV in one bill.
We have DTV for the past several years. No issues.
C4
Everyone knows that .45 is better! (juuuuust kidding)
I've got Dish and my folks have Direct. Personally, I like the Dish interface better. There's less button pushing once you find a channel that you want to watch. With Direct, you select the channel, then have to select if you want to "tune" it in or go back to the menu. With Dish, the menu has the listing, which is semi-customizable, with all the shows info and you just press select and bing... it's on. I know it's only a couple of button presses, but Dish's interface just seems a bit "cleaner" than DirectTV's. As far as service, I've had no issues with Dish. We've had to have our box replaced a couple of times(one just quit working and another just wore out), but they're pretty quick about it.
With Direct, you select the channel, then have to select if you want to "tune" it in or go back to the menu. With Dish, the menu has the listing, which is semi-customizable, with all the shows info and you just press select and bing... it's on. I know it's only a couple of button presses, but Dish's interface just seems a bit "cleaner" than DirectTV's.
That sounds like a specific box issue, because each of my DTV boxes has several interfaces that allow you to browse the guide, and select the channel right from the guide and it immediately shows the content. On the full guide, it minimizes the current channel to the upper right corner and shows the guide in the lower half of the screen, about 10 channels worth. In the upper left quadrant it shows the complete show information, run time, rating, and a blurb about the episode or movie.
The mini-guide leaves the screen intact but overlays what looks like a transparent "ticker" over the bottom screen and allows you to navigate through all the channels and see specific show names, select the new channel from the mini-guide and it displays that channels content immediately.
Or you can direct input the channel you'd like to view without seeing the guide at all and it goes directly to that content.
The only "autotune" option that I know of in the DTV menu is if you are browsing to a show that is coming up in the near future and the DTV menu asks if you want to "autotune" to that channel when that specifically selected show starts. Otherwise everything is direct input/select and content is displayed.
Any idea what model box your parent's have?
It's quite possible that theirs is an older box, but the pub I work at on the weekends has the same issue. Perhaps it's in the preferences. I really haven't messed with DTV that much, so if my info is incorrect, my apologies. Just from my experience, the interface seemed clunky. Glad to hear it's customizable to an extent like Dish.
I've had DTV for 7-8 years, my wife for 13ish? CS is varied. A huge tip, call during EST biz hours and you might get an american, if you call after hours good luck. I've called before after hours and the person asked me if I had the manual, because he did not. I hung up and called the next day and spoke with an american and the problem was solved in seconds.
With regards to storms, we're in Austin so we have our fair share. In standard def, only worst of the worst would cause interruption but HD is a different beast. It will go out from time to time, but we just watch whats on the DVR.
I have used Dish before at friends/family homes. I hated the the operating system on their units, very slow and clunky. (but this was 5+ years ago).
In our area we only have Time Warner as an alternative. Their DVR's are terrible, but the VOD thing is really cool on cable. The DTV VOD is slower as expected.
All in all I'm a Happy DTV customer. If i could have my cake and eat it to I would have a Tivo box w/ the cable cards and somehow get TW to get nfl ticket and I would be in hog heaven. Tivo OS, cable reliability, and my eagles on sunday. But that is a pipe dream.
My girlfriend and I wanted to get DirectTV for the football package. They charged her card for setup. The installers couldn't get it to work due to the lack of line-of-sight. Then the fun begins...
They are making it incredibly difficult to get her money refunded. They say it takes 6-8 weeks to get a check sent out. When she calls to check on its status, they give her the runaround. First, they say she doesn't have a refund coming (gets her fired up), then it gets escalated, then she talks to a supervisor that starts the whole process over again. She has gone through this cycle several times (3months and counting). She has been doing some research on DTV and has found similar stories and law suits. Her experience has made me grateful for the comparatively good service I receive from Cox. FWIW, YMMV, etc, blah.
Ive had bad experiences with both, so now I do not pay for or receive an external TV signal. I run Hulu and Netflix on my laptop plugged into the TV and that meets all of my needs.
I've had Direct since they bought out Primestar 10 years ago (had Primestar for 5 years living in the boonies) and have had very good service with them the entire time. Sister-in law has Coxcable, I'll take DTV going out during a bad storm over Cox ANYDAY.
I've had both and currently have Dish.
I prefer DirectTV, but they don't have a local bundle.
Dish seems cheaper, but in my experience with the two, you get what you pay for. Or don't as the case may be.
-RD62
twodollarbill
12-28-09, 16:05
I have switched between Dish and DTV every 2 years when my contracts run out.
I have been with Dish for the last 6 months and now DTV has been mailing and emailing me offers to
switch back to them and they will pay all early cancellation fees with Dish, up to $300.
Plus get the $60 programing for $25 for 12 months and 6 months of movies channels.
Are these guys nuts!!!!!
Don't they look at my past account info......I'll leave them again in 2 years.
They are making it incredibly difficult to get her money refunded. They say it takes 6-8 weeks to get a check sent out. When she calls to check on its status, they give her the runaround. First, they say she doesn't have a refund coming (gets her fired up), then it gets escalated, then she talks to a supervisor that starts the whole process over again. She has gone through this cycle several times (3months and counting). She has been doing some research on DTV and has found similar stories and law suits. Her experience has made me grateful for the comparatively good service I receive from Cox. FWIW, YMMV, etc, blah.
This is when you call up the card company and dispute the charge. (Or the bill -- these are technically different and have different time periods etc that you can do it.)
Depending on who your cable provider is you may get better service.
We don't watch much TV and just have the basic TV package added to the internet as it is almost "free" compared to the non bundled internet only price with Comcast. But storms and bad weather do not affect our TV and it just works.
Belmont31R
12-28-09, 16:39
I used to work for a Dish contractor (all we did was Dish for this area).
They liked to take advantage of people who didn't speak English very well (if at all) but anyone was fair game it seemed. They'd promise them a certain install package, and then Id get there and the service order was different than what the customer was expecting. Then Id get on the phone, and they'd suddenly want to charge the customer hundreds more for the service they thought they were getting in the first place. Things like DVR in each room, HD, movie packages, sports channels, etc.
They were cheap, and would want us to use 2 cheap dishes if the customer wanted HD. You can get HD + regular channels on one dish but its a lot more expensive dish setup that uses a different HD satellite. Most of the receivers are refurbs, and that is why customers go through them like candy.
As far as the signal goes a dish properly aligned shouldnt have reception issues. It takes a pretty good storm to block the signal. If the channels go out and in without any weather issues the dish is probably aligned right on the threshold, and a bit of wind will cause it to go out. The bolts maybe were not tightened down good, and over time it will cause the dish to shift. You can check your signal strength through the receiver...
If you choose to go with sat tv make sure you put the order in through the company directly by going to their website, and dialing the 800 number. These companies authorize vendors to use their name and equipment but they are a 2nd company, and the techs are different. They usually do a crappy job because any mistakes become the parent companies problem later on. They just sell the service, and install the equipment. In fact the company I worked for had us put stickers over the Dish phone numbers in the paperwork so they would call our tech line and not Dish.
I quit that job after I went to do a job, and it was full of hispanics smoking pot hotboxing their house. I called the manager, told him what was up, and he said "we dont care what our customers do. Just finish the job." I loaded up my shit, told the customer the job would have to be finished tomorrow (already late at this point), and sent a resignation email that night. Boss came and got the van the next day. No job is worth being stuck inside a pot smoke filled house....dumb thing was I had to take a piss test to get the job, and then they expect their employees to work in the same room as people smoking pot. Other issues too mentioned above contributed to my pay because I was paid per job. Every customer who they tried to extort for more money at install time who said no took my time I didnt get paid for. It wasnt unusual to have 3 jobs per day lined up, and then end up only getting paid for one. Worked out to less than minimum wage often if you count all the hours I was out.
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