Direct TV or DishNetwork ?

Which is better in your area ??

Seems in mine both suck !!

We had DishNetwork for 3 years, when it rains or the wind blows, no service !!. Plus the cost just keeps going up and up and up.

We get DirectTV, have had it for 2 months now.....anyday, anytime, wind or no wind, rain or no rain.......no service !! Geeze this is bad!!

:eek: Wow... sorry you're having such trouble. I've been with DishNetwork for 1.5 years now and love the hell out of it. And I live in the BOOOOOONIES. No cable option whatsoever. DishNet has been fine by us. Wind, rain, doesn't matter. Service is solid!

Maybe you just don't have a good place to place the dish without major interference? I wonder what it could be??? DishNet has always been good about their service, at least with us.

~phos

Comcast digital cable baby!!

I have Direct TV and have had no problems and the service has been great.

I have HD Direct TV...

It has a GREAT picture......

I hate comcast!!! I hate their service and they are ripoffs!!

Just goes to show how one area of the country can experience a totally different relationship with a national company. Unfortunately, unlike Phos's great experience, I signed up with DishNetwork and the nightmare began. I also live in a rural community, in Oregon, however.

The FIRST installer arrived and had "problems" getting everything to work....this was AFTER he drilled 4 holes through my outside walls-in (to allow cable through). He rescheduled for a week later (he was booked up and squeezed me into an evening appt...WHEN IT WAS DARK !!!). So, I had no service for a week (since I canceled my cable subscription to take advantage of this "amazing Dish deal" advertised everywhere).

When he came back and still have trouble because he couldn't SEE in the dark, he said he'd call and reschedule again once he checked his appts. with Dish. Two more weeks went by. I called Dish twice during that time to remind them I needed service because I was paying for it (they automatically charge you from the day the first installer arrives...so if you have problems, you have to request a credit for days you don't have service). They assured me a guy would be out soon to finish the job.

Two days later, a knock on my door....a different installer (#2)....he had no clue what the first guy had done or not done. He was here for 3 hours, but couldn't get my downstairs tv hooked up to the dvr (the ad promised 2 dvr's). He left and said he would reschedule. :mad:

A week later (almost a month now of no-or incomplete-as promised service) a totally different guy (#3) came out. Again, clueless. He didn't finish the job either. I was MAD now...Called Dish the next day and tried to cancel the whole contract because THEY breached it with shoddy work, etc. I was informed by EIGHT TOTAL DishNetwork Reps. on the phone (including 2 supervisors) that they would recind the contract, but I would still be charged the $199 installation/early cancellation fee because I was "electing" to end the contract when they were willing to come back out and "fix" the problems. LAME...I was done...I just wanted my cable back at this point.

They were rude, disorganized and tried to take advantage of me thinking I was naive in business and would just pay the fees or whatever. They were dealing with the wrong person.

I immediately called the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint...signed back up with my cable company who gave me a killer deal for "coming back". :-D

A month later I received a refund check and letter of apology from Dish with a reference to the BBB complaint :rolleyes: .

I'm not kidding...two days after I got the letter a new Dish Network guy came to my door with a clipboard in hand saying he had a work order to finish my Dish installation :eek: . I laughed, "you've got to be kidding, right?"...and told him the whole story, to which he replied, "Ya, everyone, including the employees, knows that Dish's customer service sucks...and so does their communication with their installers...you did know that we are independent contractors, right??"

I had no idea !! So, Dish hires independent installation businesses to put their equipment in YOUR house. No wonder the right hand never knew what the left hand was doing AND no wonder Dish didn't want to refund money to me that they probably already paid out to the independent guys!

Buyer beware, is all I say. Check with local people in your area who have both services and see what their experiences are/were....cuz mine SUCKED big time......and I STILL have 4 holes in my wall that lead to the outside.

*walking to get my CABLE remote which has a MUCH easier "MOXI" dvr feature and set up to run and understand* .

LOL....some funny (well at least now) stories here. I had no real problems with my dish (out in the boonies too - no cable), except the only place I could mount it was on a tree and you can imagine what would happen in a strong wind :eek: . Also, the installer was a private contractor too - and it was fine - he came out on time, installed it quickly even though it was a strange and awkward set-up, and he was super nice.

Anyhow, that was a long time ago...now I have no TV, no dish... :(

have comcast digital cable too, love it! ondemand feature rocks to :p

I have rabbit ears and a butterfly antenna...I guess I find 10 or so channels to be more than enough for my family.

I spend about 2 hours a week watching tv, my kids watch an hour in the early morning of commercial free cartoons and they watch either a DVD or a couple of commercial free cartoons, occasionally, after school.

Seriously, how can anybody find the time to watch 300 channels anyhow? LOL

I have cable and it is very reliable. I did have a test run with Dish and it was okay, as well. My ex is Turkish, so he had a Turkish satellite dish installed. There are only a couple of installers of the DFH dish in our area, despite the fact that we live near some big cities. The guy who came was very professional and finished the job fast. The trick is pointing the dish correctly at the satellite. It is a precise operation. You have to set it to the correct settings and then make sure that it is firmly attached to a strong immoveable support. My ex had tried to do it himself, but couldn't get it tuned in. We rarely had a problem even though the location of the dish is in a violently windy area.

Do what the others said--check with neighbors and friends to see which installer they used. You could also check some dish forums to pick up some installer recommendations.