Comcast vs DirectTV vs. Dishnetwork

[MACH1]

Originally Posted by Hammer67

Sounds like a Tivo rep just being a Tivo rep. their newer DVR service is just fine...make sure you have the newer box.

Only thing I miss from cable is the On Demand services.

If you have Dtv their going to enable VOD.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by stillhead

i hear yah. we enjoyed the dish when it worked. the bad part for me is the trees/woods behind our house don't belong to us or i would top them off, cut 'em down. i am going to try and convince the wife to get direct tv, at least try it. if you think comcast is bad, be happy you don't have time-warner. friggin crooks. i was hoping we would get comcast, how bad is that?

Sounds like probelms with the installers. In my experiences, I have had terrible support from the on site reps. The DTV companies subcontract out their installation and local support to local companies with varying degrees of quality and ability. Mine was terrible. Once the dish finally went up, no problems.

I have a handy tip for you during the winter though...for snow buildup on your dish.

Cooking spray. Spray the dish, snow slips off.

[MACH1]

Originally Posted by Hammer67

Sounds like probelms with the installers. In my experiences, I have had terrible supprot from the on site reps. The DTV companies subcontract out their installation and local support to local ompanies with varying degrees of quality and ability. Mine was terrible. Once the dish finally went up, no problems.

I have a handy tip for you during the winter though...for snow buildup on your dish.

Cooking spray. Spray the dish, snow slips off.

There's little snap on heaters for dish's also.

And yes the dtv companies need to screen their installers a little better. They get some real morons sometimes. I had one show up that couldnt speak a lick of english, and I had to tell this guy where to put the dish. I basically ended up doing the whole install myself.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by MACH1

There's little snap on heaters for dish's also.

And yes the dtv companies need to screen their installers a little better. They get some real morons sometimes. I had one show up that couldnt speak a lick of english, and I had to tell this guy where to put the dish. I basically ended up doing the whole install myself.

I had a hell of a time with our local DTV installers in Michigan. I would call DTV to schedule an install date, confirm it only to find out their local installers would show up whenever they wanted to, were of the Jerry Springer variety types of people and would just leave if they didn't want to do the install. I lost two vacation days because of missed appointments. it got to the point where the national DTV support operator would get online with the local comapny to yell at them. The local company did not want to run my dish as it was on a pole and wanted to charge for it but corporate told them they had to. It was kind of funny looking in from the outside. But still, they need a lot of work on the installation coordination side of things.

I heard it is best to have DTV ship you the equipment and then either do it yourself or hire a private installer to do the work. You pay more but get a better experience.

[MACH1]

Originally Posted by Hammer67

I heard it is best to have DTV ship you the equipment and then either do it yourself or hire a private installer to do the work. You pay more but get a better experience.

It is if you can get them to send the equipment, but with their new lease policy I dont think they do anymore. The installer brings it with them. Besides those 5 lnb dishs (HD) are a real mother to aim right if you dont have the right meter. The old 3 lnb are a piece of cake a blind man could do.

[spooky]

MACH1 -

Thank you for the information. (I couldn't PM you because I haven't posted enough messages!)

That web site was very valuable in my research, thank you so much for that! After more reading there, we decided to give DirecTV one more call. (I called yesterday and got two reps that were not very helpful.) I took the recommendation of some people on one of the forums there and called to say that I wanted to cancel. We only have Sunday Ticket but have been customers for many years, so I was hoping they would try to keep me. I got a wonderful CSR in the retention dept. I assume.

He agreed to upgrade me to Superfan for free, send a free HD receiver and DVR, as well as two additional receivers for the other TVs (non-HD). He also gave me HBO, Showtime and Starz free for six months as well as 6 months of HD programming for free.

Our install is Friday. (Let's hope that goes well!) I'll have to become a registered user now to read the CE forum.

Thanks again!!

[revefsreleets]

Well, I don't know anything about Comcast, but I know this: I've had Direct TV and I've had TWC, and I've used just about every kind of service they both offer at one time or another. After comparing cost and service and reliability, I'm currently a TWC customer, but if they don't fix this Big Ten Network and NFL Network problem, I'm going to give ATT a call about U-verse.

[MACH1]

Originally Posted by spooky

MACH1 -

Thank you for the information. (I couldn't PM you because I haven't posted enough messages!)

That web site was very valuable in my research, thank you so much for that! After more reading there, we decided to give DirecTV one more call. (I called yesterday and got two reps that were not very helpful.) I took the recommendation of some people on one of the forums there and called to say that I wanted to cancel. We only have Sunday Ticket but have been customers for many years, so I was hoping they would try to keep me. I got a wonderful CSR in the retention dept. I assume.

He agreed to upgrade me to Superfan for free, send a free HD receiver and DVR, as well as two additional receivers for the other TVs (non-HD). He also gave me HBO, Showtime and Starz free for six months as well as 6 months of HD programming for free.

Our install is Friday. (Let's hope that goes well!) I'll have to become a registered user now to read the CE forum.


Thanks again!!

Nice deal.....Good luck with the install.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by MACH1

If you have Dtv their going to enable VOD.

That would make me miss cable even less....