DISH TV or Direct TV?

[Shooting4Fun]

Starting research on which to get, Direct TV seems to have a bunch of extra lease fees which means they own the equipment, but if it breaks after 90 days you have to pay for repair? What is up with that?

Still digging into Dish TVs fine print.

Are you happy with your service?

 

[BluRaySS]

I don't know much about Direct but we had Dish. The service failed at the slightest weather(even cloudy), and man when you try to end service with them you bank account is their playground!!!!

We fought with them on over $600 worth of BS charges after sending back their stuff in boxes they sent us! We are still working on getting another $200 back. The $200 is for the head on the dish which they said they were coming to get and still have not. This all on the checking account we use for local small purchases and internet stuff. We don't keep much in their in case of fraud. If our bank wasn't great they would have cost us $100's in overdraft fees.
They charge first, and correct later IF you scream loud enough, and you had better have proof of what you are saying. It's up to you to prove them wrong, not them to justify their charges.

 

[cowgirl23]

We have dish. we have never had a problem with them friendly customer service. My parents had direct tv and they didn't like it @ all bill was always changing.

 

[stewartglock]

We switched to Dish from Cox a few months ago and it has been great. Our DVR went fubr and they sent another out with the shipping label to send the old one back, no problem.

The price is what sold me, but to get a few of the extras like free HD and other stuff you have to sign a contract, just FYI.

 

[vicious]

We have dish, and we pay for their service plan. It's $6 / month if I remember correctly. I have had very few issues with them. I have 3 receivers (1 dual tuner DVR) and I had the DVR replaced twice since getting the service. The first time because it broke, and the second time when I upgraded to HD. They charge a rental fee for the equipment which I believe is $5 a month. The biggest problem is that they keep deauthorizing the box that is in my son's room, so I have to call them to turn it back on. At least they are cordial.

My understanding is that you can buy your own box with directv, but cannot with dish. This may have changed since I started looking, but I don't know.

 

[BadgeBunny]

We have directv and really like it. Much better than Cox but if UVerse had been available when Cox pissed me off I would have gone with them.

Am now looking at streaming the net so I can drop everybody. I'm not real keen on paying for 500 channels of infomercials ...

 

[mikeyinokc]

I think it may be like the eternal discussion on which is better, Ford or Chevy.....

Although the two services do have some differences in programming and equipment. Just do your research and decide which is better for you and your viewing habits. We have had Dish for 8 years now, without ANY problems. If a cloudy day will interrupt reception, there is a problem with the dish. Either location, or aiming. I could count on one hand the number of times a heavy rain has interrupted our reception in 8 years.

Dish owns "Sling" so there are some neat applications there if you are into that. Direct has the NFL package if that is of interest to you.

There is a forum "DBSTalk.com" where users from both companies lurk. Also one at "Satellite Guys.

 

[VitruvianDoc]

I finally did Cox $99 bundle + additional $7.95 HD reciever for the bedroom + $6.00 for sports pack. Garanteed monthly bill for one year to be 113.00 + fees and then next year it goes up $10. It requires a 2 year contract, but I was paying $148 + fees a month for this same thing w/o a contract. Saving $35 a month for over $400 the first year and $300 the second year. To break contract is a $250 fee which is payed for in the first 8 months savings if needed.

Cox provides awesome services other than when it comes to customer relations. Dont have any of the weather worries that comes with satellite and also have the fastest internet in the market (AT&T Uverse not available and called them, won't be in the area for ~2-4 more years as they are working on adding infrastructure).

By going under contract, i eliminated the biggest BS of cox and that is the ever increasing bill.

 

[Shadowrider]

Went from Cox (digital and it sucked) to Dish. Had Dish for about 5 years. Was pretty happy with Dish but Uverse made me a smoking deal so I switched and I'm pretty happy with it. The internet is awesome.

Dish's HD picture is the standard by which all others should be judged but the receivers seem to be a little slow, they need more processor or RAM or something. But overall Dish is good. If Uverse is available I'd recommend it too. The way the phone, internet, DVR and TV is all integrated is pretty cool. I can pull up pictures and music files on my computer from my TV. It'll be way cool when you can play your home video that's on your computer on your TV!

 

[VitruvianDoc]

Went from Cox (digital and it sucked) to Dish. Had Dish for about 5 years. Was pretty happy with Dish but Uverse made me a smoking deal so I switched and I'm pretty happy with it. The internet is awesome.

Dish's HD picture is the standard by which all others should be judged but the receivers seem to be a little slow, they need more processor or RAM or something. But overall Dish is good. If Uverse is available I'd recommend it too. The way the phone, internet, DVR and TV is all integrated is pretty cool. I can pull up pictures and music files on my computer from my TV. It'll be way cool when you can play your home video that's on your computer on your TV!

I agree with UVerse being awesome (very cheap in comparison to other services). My choices would be Uverse > Cox > Dish > Direct as far as all bundled services. I don't like satellite because its always during the bad weather you want to have uninterrupted service for safety and for entertainment and satellite will always fall to bad weather. For that sole reason, I will never get it.