The new home I purchased doesn't have any sort of cable or dish connected to it. I am debating whether to have Comcast install a line to the house or opt for the "DirectTV" sort of dish. Any comments? Recommendations? Negative feedback is also appreciated.
Does the DirectTV work reliably in storms and inclement weather?
Cindy
I just switched from cable, which has a monopoly in our Southern California area, to DISH Satellite. I have a better selection of channels, am paying less money and so far have been pleased. With regard to the weather, we had no problem with the heavy rains and winds we experienced this year. Regarding snow, that I cannot address. (05/23/2005)
By Angelina
I have been pleased with DISH network. In our area, you can even get local channels. The cost is much less than cable, and the channel selection is awesome.
We had DirectTV a few years ago, and it was OK, but DISH is a lot better. DirectTV went out a lot, due to weather, etc., but we really haven't had that much trouble with Dish. (05/23/2005)
By Cassie
I am not able to get cable, but I had a large dish and tore it down because of the expense and went to DISH. Where I live in Arkansas I get severe weather and it will go out because of the wind or lighting. I just turn to the local channels. DISH is great, the movies are cheaper and no hassle on your billing. (05/24/2005)
By jeff burnett
We had Comcast and the cable was on and off all the time. We switched to Direct TV and we have never experienced interruption. (2 years and counting!) (05/24/2005)
By Tedebear
I love DISH mostly because of the channel guides. Don't forget to program in your favorite channels. Take the time to follow the directions at the menu site, it's worth it otherwise you have to page through way too many channels you never ever watch. Cable has this, but only on their expensive packages. (05/24/2005)
By Jeneene
I've had DirectTV for 2 years and never once has there been a problem. I find it rather expensive. Just the basic package, plus HBO is 76.96 a month. (05/24/2005)
By Annie
We switched from cable to Dish Network because cable kept going up in price.
It does lose it's satellite connection when the weather acts up, rain, storms, etc., but for the difference in money we accept that. (05/24/2005)
By Beverly in TN
We have DirectTVv and we love it. We just weathered 4 hurricanes last summer in Florida. Our area was directly hit by 3 of them. Our DirectTV never missed a beat. We were without power for almost 3 weeks after one of the storms and we used our generator to hook up our DirectTV. My mother had cable TV and lost reception during three of the storms. It will always be DirectTV for me. (05/24/2005)
By Klr2080
I had DirectTV, for about eight years. It was wonderful, in the beginning. The price soon went up, and then I started having a totally blank screens. They said it was from the sun. Then I started having blank screens in the winter. They said it was the snow. No compensation on my bill, for all the days lost to blank or still picture screens. So, I finally got fed up and said cancel my account. I will be trying Dish Network, next. As far as DirectTV, I would never sign on with them again! (05/25/2005)
By Maynette
I have DirectTV for 5 years and like it. Whenever I called customer support for the few problems, they were very helpful. The only time I lost the reception was in a very hard rainstorm and this was for only an hour or so.
Christy (05/30/2005)
By Christy
If you live in an area with a lot of cities nearby, such as New Jersey, you should get DirectTV. If you live in an area without much people, such as Alaska, you should get Comcast. The reason: DirectTV is cheaper and the better choice overall, but they don't send as powerful signals from their satellites to rural areas. (08/29/2005)
By Smwbigboss
Wait for Verizon TV over an all fiber network. Cheap and reliable. (07/13/2006)
By Mendez212
I tried Comcast's Triple Play, and what a headache it was. My voice was always sounding like a robot. I was constantly resetting the reset button on the modem. My internet would either quit totally or freeze. If I turned on the HDTV and computer at the same time, the picture would not work correctly neither would the computer. Comcast should stick to cable only! (08/27/2007)
By Unsatisfied with Cable
Satellite offers superior picture quality over cable. Sure, a heavy rain storm can degrade the picture, but this happens rarely and it's only temporary. The bigger issue for reliability is with cable service. I had cable for several years before switching to DirectTV. Cable was always the first utility to go out and the last to come back on when a wind storm hit and caused our lights to flicker. If you don't believe me just ask anyone who is using VOIP with cable Internet service. Try not having phone service for several days after a wind storm. The infrastructure for cable is extremely fragile and don't be fooled there's plenty of places where the cable in the ground and in your home will lose signal strength and degrade picture quality. I had both cable and Direct TV connected into my TV at one time before switching to DirectTV. The picture quality was clearly better with DirectTV.
As for the people complaining about their installation not being done right and the dish moving in the wind, you can tighten the screws yourself. (09/05/2007)
By Patrick
DirectTV in my opinion is a company that has horrible customer service, questionable business practices and are in to turning customers over to collections instead of solving a problem. I was a customer for 10 years and had recently received a new box from DirectTV tech support to solve an ongoing problem with not being able to view two different channels at the same time. The new box did not solve the problem. I sent the box back to them and canceled the Direct service now they are charging me a large early cancellation fee after 10 years of having their service. I would recommend getting anything, but DirectTV. (06/26/2008)
By Rob
I just changed to DirectTV and let me tell you there's a big difference. DISH is 100 percent better then DirectTV. (07/02/2008)
By Rosa
Warning! I tired DirectTV as a new customer and had nothing but trouble, the signal goes out constantly, trouble shooting by phone is ineffective, unreasonable service response time (over 1 week to get service tech appointment date). I tried to cancel after 5 weeks of continual frustration and got stuck with a $482 cancellation fee! DirectTV provides poor service and unethical business practices.
Bob
(10/01/2010)
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