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DirectTV vs. Cable.

maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Broadwell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
75,210
45,643
Any Direct TV customers here?

I've been a Direct TV subscriber for a couple of years but I'm looking to jump ship. I'd like to hear of those who were DirectTV customers who switched and those who are current ones.

The downsides are as I see it are:
When storms come my way, we lose the signal
Pay per View needs a phone line
Cannot split the line to add another TV

The upsides are:
good customer support
Tons of channels
HD is a full 1080p (I don't have a hi-def tv so this is a moot point).

There's a couple of things that are pushing me away, first they advertised that the NFL package is free, but when I called, they stated its free for new subscribers only. They wouldn't even offer a discount, while cable doesn't have NFL package, I see less reason to stick with them.

Secondly We're looking to add a couple of TVs to our house (kitchen/bedroom) and that will cost $$ for them to come out and provide a dish that can handle two more lines
 
I ditched satellite (Dish) a couple of years back for U-Verse. I also got tired of losing the signal whenever it rained/was windy/the humidity was up/whatever. We have full 1080p and everything.

Cable isn't available where we live, for the record, so it's U-Verse or satellite.
 
A while back, I switched from DirecTV to Comcast. It was ok, but they didn't have nearly as many HD channels, and didn't even have a few channels I wanted. I then moved to a location that had Cable One, and it sucked. The picture was highly compressed, and you could tell. I had their top line package, and they still didn't have a lot of channels I watch, like BBC America.

I recently moved again, and I went back to Direct. The picture quality is way better than either cable system I have been on, and I haven't had too many outages. I only lost signal once or twice during tropical storm Lee recently. I remember seeing a commercial recently that no phone line is required for PPV now. They have an app you can use for that now.

Edit: I have a couple of friends who have U-Verse, and they seem to like it. The biggest gripe seems to be if you have a couple of HD streams going and start doing some serious downloading. It's not available where I live, so I don't know. I probably wouldn't get it anyway, because I HATE AT&T.
 
Around this time of year I always consider DTV because of the NFL package. Then I realized that like baseball, games could be blacked out regardless of having the package. I know it's free but I just don't think I want the hassle. My ETF with Time Warner is about $70 now; if I cancel or try to downgrade a package.

Do you still need more than one dish to have TV in more than one room? If so, that means I'll never bother with DTV.

The other issue is that I don't want a 2-year contract with anyone. I think they're BS.
 
maflynn said:
Any Direct TV customers here?

I've been a Direct TV subscriber for a couple of years but I'm looking to jump ship. I'd like to hear of those who were DirectTV customers who switched and those who are current ones.

The downsides are as I see it are:
When storms come my way, we lose the signal
Pay per View needs a phone line
Cannot split the line to add another TV

The upsides are:
good customer support
Tons of channels
HD is a full 1080p (I don't have a hi-def tv so this is a moot point).

There's a couple of things that are pushing me away, first they advertised that the NFL package is free, but when I called, they stated its free for new subscribers only. They wouldn't even offer a discount, while cable doesn't have NFL package, I see less reason to stick with them.

Secondly We're looking to add a couple of TVs to our house (kitchen/bedroom) and that will cost $$ for them to come out and provide a dish that can handle two more lines
Click to expand...

I have DirecTV in my vacation home, and I have Comcast in my primary home. I prefer Comcast because DirecTV sometimes loses the signal with bad whether and it would have to re-boot. There is also an occasional "freeze" of picture, although Comcast has occasional pixelation. In general I prefer cable. I also like the idea of my TV, phone, and internet going the same coaxial connection...
 
jessica. said:
The other issue is that I don't want a 2-year contract with anyone. I think they're BS.
Click to expand...
Agreed, I'm only looking at a package from comcast that won't lock me into a long term contract.

They have a decent one running now for students and they told me that anyone is eligible. Its a no contract, no cancellation cost of 102 for both internet and tv for 9 months and then after that it goes up to 143. That's for the digital preferred package with a DVR unit and a digitial receiver.

I'm tempted by this option but I'll wait to see what the wife wants. I may be able to squeeze a deeper discount from direct-tv as well, if I threaten to cancel
 
I was happy with Direct for years until a row with Fox(?) over Versus channel. Comcast has had my internet for years with good customer service. I finally decided to save about $50/month with Ccast triple play; then Direct got Versus again the next month. Bottom line - I couldn't be happier with Ccast; go for it.
 
I had cable growing up (Adelphia ... ugh what utter crap) and Cox in College (again, garbage). Channels were limited and the quality was okay.

When I got married my wife and I got DirecTV because of a bundled discount with Qwest (now CenturyLink). The quality was immediately distinguishably better and their DVR was much better organized than the cable offerings I was used to (including Comcast's). We got an HD DVR a year ago and the quality is easily the best out there. I will say that I haven't seen HD on fiber anywhere so that might be the exception. Anyway, DirecTV's picture quality is very good.

As far as the storms knocking out the signal every once in a while, we don't have a big issue here in Colorado even with the heavy snow (we're over a mile higher in the sky though). I'd say that I remember cable going out far more frequently than storms have caused the satellite's signal to fail.

These days, only one dish is required for any number of rooms in the house and even for those with HD DVR's. Multi-dish setups are long gone.

Having lived with both cable and satellite I'd still go with satellite.
 
x986 said:
Bottom line - I couldn't be happier with Ccast; go for it.
Click to expand...
I went with comcast and so far I'm happy. I did not opt for the triple play and so my landline is still with verizon, though I think I'm nearly finished convincing the wife that we can actually lose the land line and save 65 bucks a month.
 
maflynn said:
The downsides are as I see it are:
When storms come my way, we lose the signal
Pay per View needs a phone line
Cannot split the line to add another TV
/QUOTE]

I actually switched from Comcast (Xfinity) to DirecTV a few years back. Comcast customer service was absolutely dreadful, and they kept billing me for equipment I didn't have. I had to get the BBB involved to get their billing straightened out, and left them right after. I can't say I miss them in the least.

I haven't ever tried to spit a line to add another TV, so I can't comment on that. I only have it hooked up to the one TV. I have never lost signal though, even in the heaviest of snow storms we have had. Maybe dish location effects this, I am not sure.

As far as Pay per View, you don't need a phone line. We have the DirecTV Cinema connection kit, which allows you to connect wirelessly through your router.

Which one is better than the other may depend on the part of the country you live in, but Xfinity here is.. or at least was... horrid. Maybe they have improved since then, but I am not sure I would want to take the chance.
Click to expand...
 
I had Dish a few years back and I hated losing signal during storms. So I switched to my local cable and they also have faster internet. :)
 
The last time I checked Direct TV, the intro prices were great, but once they were over, the prices were ballpark with cable. It's not enough to get me to switch. I'm currently with my cable provider Suddenlink. Regarding storms, there is usually no interference when a storm rolls through unless we lose power, which happens quite often.
 
DirectTV is by far the worst business/corporate relationship I have ever had.

I'm surprised you tout good customer support as a plus; their usual bait and switch, user agreement (have you read it closely?) and dubious offers ("new customers only") told me otherwise.

I have never been happier to leave a business.
 
I'm not sure what you mean about the games being blacked out. I've never had one blacked out. Direct simply won't have games that are on your local channel. You just switch to the local channel or ESPN to watch those. You only need 1 dish to get local, HD, movie and everything. I have tv's in 2 rooms at the moment and planning on adding a few more. The contract isn't really a big deal to me personally. 2 years equals my lease term so it's all good. In regards to storms, I've lost service once during a storm and it was a particularly bad one. I'm not really sure why other people seem to lose it all the time. Maybe trees or something swaying into the signal pat, or an old dish.


jessica. said:
Around this time of year I always consider DTV because of the NFL package. Then I realized that like baseball, games could be blacked out regardless of having the package. I know it's free but I just don't think I want the hassle. My ETF with Time Warner is about $70 now; if I cancel or try to downgrade a package.

Do you still need more than one dish to have TV in more than one room? If so, that means I'll never bother with DTV.

The other issue is that I don't want a 2-year contract with anyone. I think they're BS.
Click to expand...
 
I was with Dish for about 10 years. The prices kept going up and the fact we were facing losing one of my favorite channels was enough to switch over to Verizon Fios. Never looked back. The only thing I miss is the DVR. So far their DVR is by far the best I have had. I have had fios and also tivo. Loved Dish the best. I know this was directed towards Direct TV owners but to me Dish and Direct are almost in the same boat with pricing and features.

The picture has been about the same but I do get a few more HD channels with Fios.

My mom was a Direct tv subscriber for years and finally went over to Verizon Fios also. Hasn't looked back.
 
acquiring signal....

rhett7660 said:
I was with Dish for about 10 years. The prices kept going up and the fact we were facing losing one of my favorite channels was enough to switch...

The only thing I miss is the DVR. So far their DVR is by far the best I have had...
Click to expand...


me also. dish forever, then they killed my 721 with no 'dvr fees' and tried to get me upgrade for 'free' with a monthly equipment fee. :mad:

went with comcast which sucks, but it sucks way (WAY!) less than dish, got really tired of loosing signal/shows every time it rained or snowed hard, and don't need to 'adjust' the dish everytime the wind blows really hard now... sweet upgrade! :)
 
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