Direct tv or Dish Network.

[bj66]

The house is getting closer to being finished out at the farm. I need to make a decision on Direct or Dish. Anybody have any insight as to what you are running now? Pros and cons would be appreciated.

[Freebird]

Well, they are very similar in regards to programming. I actually have both. I have Dish Network in my main house and Direct TV in my guest house. I actually prefer the Dish Network. I like the menus and etc. MUCH better. Now it may just be because I use the Dish Network more and am more familiar with it. As for reception and etc., I think that one is as good as the other.

[GAWildKat]

http://tv.about.com/od/hdtv/ss/TVoverview.htm

[twigg]

Mostly it depends if you want any sports packages.

 

I think Direct TV has NFL ... Look it up.

 

FWIW ... We had Dish Network, and the TV service was fine, until it wasn't when their customer service is appalling. Something else you might want to Google.

 

Also, they both go out fast when the weather turns bad. We live in Oklahoma, and when the weather here is bad, TV helps keep us alive.

 

We have cable now.

[Kuya]

I was going to go with Dish this summer until I found out they were dropping one of the stations that i frequent, AMC. Not sure how Direct TV would work out where I'm located. We just stayed with cable for now.

[van avery]

Dish network screwed my mother ( winter Texan). Told us to set up two different accounts and then put one on Vacation when she went back to Michigan.

After 6 months on Vacation they turned it back on without any notice. I noticed the additional billing when up there last summer and they basically said too bad.

I have Direct at my house and they have been good for about ten years now.

[Rick Haywood]

I have had both at one time or another..............their customer service sucked....did I mention both customer service sucked...............I am now back with cable.

 

Again just my opinion

[dacheedah]

We have had cable, direct and now dish for about. Last 6 yrs. we have upgraded 2 hoppers and 4 joeys and love it. The dish guy told me I could not push my signal from a joey to multiple tvs , he ws wrong, i use a modulator and splitter so I can pull tv to my garage and spare room, works great. Records primetime plus 2 channels on each hopper...

[BuddyRich]

Had Dish, Went to Direct. Going back to Dish. better service I think and like Don The Menu's are easier to use on Dish for us.

[etcswjoe]

We have had Dish since it started and have had a few issues but they were always resolved to my satisfaction, my brother has Direct and I don't like the way you have to navigate the screens but other than that It seemd fine.

[Cougar]

DirecTV = Great programing and Great HD menus PLUS awesome customer service

Dish = Crappy Customer Service- never going back.

IMHO

[Flyinfool]

I just wish I could get satellite.

My ONLY choice is cable, and they know it, and charge accordingly. :mo money:

[Guest tx2sturgis]

If the house is already going to have internet, why not just buy a Roku box?

 

Mostly free programming on Roku that way. Netflix will run about $8 a month.

 

 

[stevej]

Have had Directv for close to 20 years, only way I could get more than the three networks where I live, even though I can see the area UHF antenae from my rooftop.

 

Customer service is fair at best, have only needed them a couple of times since I put the system in, and when I did, I had to threaten to go to Dish to get a response from them. Service techs were good when they finally got out. My inlaws have Dish and have had a lot of problems with billing from them and sounds like they get quite the run around with Dish customer service. For either company, customer service is not very high on their priority list. What I found worked the best was to bypass as much of the lower level customer service reps and get to a supervisors supervisor as quickly as possible

 

Look at the programming packages and see which one fits what you want and go with that one.

[KarlS]

I had dish network for 6 years and except for it going out every time it thinks about raining it was pretty good. The last two years I had it I had a lot of billing "errors" and constant problems. Their customer service went from very good to horrible and all they wanted to do was make $100.00 service calls. They showed up one time when I wasn't home and destroyed a tree in my yard by hacking off all the branches on one side of the tree thinking that somehow this tree moved in the way of the signal. Turned out to be a problem with the receiver on the dish. I switched to comcast, a little more expensive but a lot less trouble.

[Sideoftheroad]

I just wish I could get satellite.

My ONLY choice is cable, and they know it, and charge accordingly. :mo money:

 

Jeff,

Why can't you get satellite? All you need is a a dish and a space satellite to point it to.

[dacheedah]

I pay dish the $5.00 a month maintenance, never charged for a service call or equipment swap and always out in 24hrs or less.

 

Rain fade, no matter what service you have get the installer to put in a larger dish or grab one out of Canada, bigger dish will take the fade away. Bigger dish with proper aiming will make you happier.

[silent67]

I have had Directv for about 13 years. I plan on canceling at the end of my contract if not before. It renewed when I went HiDef. It just seems like there are way to many commercials and junk on TV these days and have to pay so much. I am going back to the old antenna for local TV and will Netflix, Hulu and VuDu for everything else.

[Skid]

Does anyone have an experience with Shentel?

[Freebird]

I've never heard of them. I Googled them and then entered my zip code. It said "service not available in your area".

[Guest tx2sturgis]

It just seems like there are way to many commercials and junk on TV these days and have to pay so much. I am going back to the old antenna for local TV and will Netflix, Hulu and VuDu for everything else.

 

Amen to that.

 

I have a Roku box for watching Netflix and other online content, and there is a LOT of it...most of it free.

 

I still have a rooftop antenna for watching the local channels, news, weather, etc., but rarely ever use it.

 

 

[Flyinfool]

Jeff,

Why can't you get satellite? All you need is a a dish and a space satellite to point it to.

 

Thats the theory. I had Direct TV for a while. But you must have a clear unobstructed view of that satellite.

I live very near an international airport, The main runway landing pattern is right thru the line from my property to the satellite. Every 90 seconds or so when a plane comes in, the picture pixalates and I get that terrible popping in the audio. I tried moving the antenna to different places on my property but could not find one that worked. The telephone infrastructure is so old in my area that I can not get Uverse or phone line based cable or internet. I have a huge apartment building across the street and do not get good over the air reception either.

[BigLenny]

I'm sure several of you have thought about this already, but for the ones that haven't, heres a suggestion.

 

We live in Arkansas. Each year we get a large number of tornados. We usually rank nationally from 3rd to 5th in the count of tornados. Being able to watch live weather updates is a matter of life and death in this area of the country. So, as you can imagine, having our Dish network go out because of heavy rain at an inopportune time while a tornado is dancing around in a storm heading our way, well, it aint cool. So, by the suggestion of our cable rep, I went to Best Buy and purchased a standard UHF TV antenna and plugged it into the back of our TV. These new antenna's don't look like the old rabbit ears we all used to use. This one looks like a plate. It just sits behind my TV out of site and bingo bango we have free high def service of the local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX channels. When the Dish goes out because of a storm, I just use my handy remote to move to the TV input on my TV, and watch the free channels to keep up to date.

 

Just trying to help.

[MikeM]

The house is getting closer to being finished out at the farm. I need to make a decision on Direct or Dish. Anybody have any insight as to what you are running now? Pros and cons would be appreciated.

Since I moved to the country 20 years ago I've found I enjoy sitting on the porch and talking with friends and family much more than watching some stupid TV show and having commercials rammed down my throat.

I haven't seen anything on TV worth paying for.

Sitting around a fire ring in the evenings,enjoying good conversation with good people and even gazing at the stars and watching/listening to wildlife is not only free but much more entertaining.

Save the $$ and learn just how good life is without the box.

[Squidley]

I know some will disagree, but I wouldn't recommend Direct to anyone

I have had it for 4 months now, billing is still not right, never was from the start. The guy who was selling it reminded me of a used car salesman. I have 4 pages of people that I have talked to trying to get the problem straitened out.

 

I had Charter Communications at the old house and had ZERO issues with them. The price was awesome and like mentioned had no problems. I know your probably out in the boonies and can't get cable, thats the position I'm in also. If Direct keeps screwing me around I simply will cancel it and not bother having tv besides a local antenna....