[bren566]

I've had enough BS from my cable company and need to make a switch to satellite tv. I've done some research and Dish and Direct TV are about equal in price and complaints. I'm looking for some real opinions from people who use them to help sway my decision.

[nonnova]

After having enough of Comcast cable, I went with Dish network about 2 years ago. I haven't had any major complaints yet and it doesn't "go out" as often as I thought it would after having cable forever. I've never had it go out for an extended period and only occasionally does it go out momentarily (heavy rain/snow etc..).

[uforacing]

Had Dish for years.Not the greatest but not bad.

[Probird]

I started with Direct TV and then switched to Dish Network. In my opinion I like Dish Network much better.

[tripower]

Have had Comcast, Dish Network and now have AT&T UVerse. If I could go back DN, I would, but not possible until the neighboors tree gets cut down.

[garlanka]

I have had Directv for close to 4 years, very happy. Plus, if you like sports it is the best option for you. You can purchase a ton of sports packages out there. I tell you what, if you decide to go Directv I can give you my account number which will save both of us $100 each on our bill for a year.

[Norwood]

ComCast NEVER.....

I have had both Dish and Direct. I was happy with Dish and waited 3 years for them to add MLB network but it never happened. That is why I switched to Direct..... not the service

[bren566]

I appreciate the responses and your offer garlanka. At the moment I'm leaning toward Dish simply due to the high pressure sell Directv layed on me last night when I was asking some questions. Nothing irritates more than that! When I talked to Dish, they answered my questions and didn't try to force a decision.

[garlanka]

I can't blame you there, I hate to feel pressured when dealing with with sales people.

[Sirrotica]

I've had Direct, Dish, and Time Warner, Direct has the best overall deal in my opinion. Sorry you had a bad experience with their sales staff, but I like Direct much better than either of the other 2 I've used.

[fiedlerh]

With any of the services watch the hidden charges and extra-cost add-ons like in-home service or channels you dont really want. Some of these are automatically added on to your account for free when you sign up, and at some future date they start charging you.

[wytnyt]

Originally Posted by fiedlerh

With any of the services watch the hidden charges and extra-cost add-ons like in-home service or channels you dont really want. Some of these are automatically added on to your account for free when you sign up, and at some future date they start charging you.

yes,unfortunately they do
like all the extra phone charges

[Jerry H.]

After my experience with Direct TV, I would NEVER do business with them again. Just FYI, even if you called what you think is their direct 800 line, you are NOT dealing directly with Direct TV. You are dealing with one of their contractors. You will be giving your cc # to a third party and they can charge it with whatever they choose and it is a nightmare to get it off!

[PONTIAC-ONE]

I miss the good old days here (late 90's...early 2000's) when we had Direct TV with an "open" card that gave us every channel & PPV. I had mine working for 5-6 years before they came out with new cards that couldn't be programmed. It wasn't illegal to buy and set up the system but apparently the "grey area" for the guys selling the open programmed cards was no longer grey and people were being charged & arrested. It was great while it lasted.

[70KGOLD]

I have Dish, its ok but storms and heavy clouds cut me off.

[1971WARBIRD]

only problems i have had with Dish are;

you don't work with dish most of the time, you are working with subcontractors who make up thier own rules as they go.

with in a year my 45.00 bill went up to 60 with no explaination except bills go up.

they do not live up to there agreement to give a discount if you get someone to sign up. had this happen twice. all we got was a runaround.

i am military and will be leaving the country for awhile. i have to either cancel my account or pay while i am gone. they will put it on hold for a max 6 months for a 5.00 fee, then the bill goes back up to the full amount. i can't cancel because no one is at home to return the equipment, we left with a 3 day notice and had other things on my mind. when i left in 2004 direct tv gave me no problems at all.one phone call was all it took to settle things.

i do like the free HD for life, so when i come home on leave i will cancel and hope i can get the same deal when i get back.

[sixgunsblazing]

I had Dish for about 8 years, then switched to DirectV for 2. Going back to Dish. Dish had better equipment, and the price seems a bit cheaper.

[rexus31]

Originally Posted by bren566

I appreciate the responses and your offer garlanka. At the moment I'm leaning toward Dish simply due to the high pressure sell Directv layed on me last night when I was asking some questions. Nothing irritates more than that! When I talked to Dish, they answered my questions and didn't try to force a decision.

Look in your local paper or yellow pages and contact a local DirecTV retailer. They will not be able to give you a better deal price wise per month but they will definitely give you better customer service and they will be able to install you quicker. Look for local phone numbers and try to avoid 800 numbers.

[BruceWilkie]

I've had Time Warner, Comcast, Direct TV, and Dish.
Comcast is fine 1st year then you are stuck. Time Warner was the same way. Both did have very good reception and few outages. Direct was a nitemare and was 1/2 a mile away. Reception issues, service issues, billing issues.

Dish has been quite good, only a few outages great service fair prices. Only catch with Dish is making sure any free trial stuff gets canceled prior to the end of the free trial. All thats needed is to go online check your options and uncheck those you dont want to pay for. No phone call needed. You can schedule when you want an option to end.

When I had had enough of Comcast, this last switchover I called both Dish and Direct TV. DirectTV dodged questions and tried to hard sell. By the 3rd dodged question I just told them to forget it. Called Dish back and signed up. I'm satisfied and like the equipment too.

BTW ATT uverse was an option I explored. I'll wait till I here more feedback.

[BVR421]

Dish is low key sales which means instead of begging and pushing they just tack on an extra $5.95 a month every few months when you arent paying attention and without notice or your consent until your bill is about $50 higher than when it started. Then you finally notice a bunch of $5.95-$10.95 options no one can explain.
It takes a lot of phone time and threatening to cancel to get them to remove that crap and then a few months later they magically begin to reappear on your bill.

Consider: Basic Dish (and cable) is about 60 a month for 125+ channels. Sounds good right? About 50 cents per channel per month. Now check the channels. Religious channels about 17 depending on how well they get contributions from your area. Or include them along with the other 93 high pressure infomercial channels. A couple weather channels, always a fave. 3-4 screaming headline news channels making must ado about absolutely nothing. All day reruns of the same misinformation.
For the more intellectual among you there is 'Ice Road Dumbasses', 'Spoiled Bitches suffering from bad makeovers' and the ever popular Oprah channel. Then the History channel which is about as close to real history as Americans seem to demand. Several kids channels. For those who speak Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese or hiphop there are several pretty good channels. Work swing shift and get off at Midnight? You are so screwed, all channels that had any kind of semi real content in the day switch to infomercials all night. Yes indeed how can you go wrong with 100s of channels. Something for everyone.
When I left my ex wife's house last year I left behind my TV and the associated bills for it.
I figured if I could quit smoking I could quit TV. I quickly discovered at least 95% of anything I really wanted to watch is free on the internet.