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DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:33 am
by CMB
I am having to switch cable providers and it is looking like I will need to get satellite... now I need to figure out which is better... DirecTV or Dish

Everything I have read says that Dish is cheaper with more channels but all the packages I have seen look fairly similar, few dollars difference here and there and few channels that nobody cares about here and there.

All I really need is to be able to watch football games (college and NFL), a few channels my wife watches and the ones my kids watch. I will need a DVR with capability of playback in other rooms.

Does anybody have either of these and have any input? I had DirecTV back in 2002/03 but have not had it since so I am not real sure. I talked to one guy who has Dish and he didn't like it but did not have a real definitive reason as to why so....

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:37 am
by JustBlues
I had dish when I lived in the country and I liked it. I can't compare it to directtv because I have never had directtv. At the time that I signed up, directtv did not have some channels that I wanted. I am pretty certain that the channels I wanted were later added by directtv, but I had no reason to change because I was happy with dish. I have cable where I live now because in order to have satellite, I'd have to get the antenna installation approved by the HOA and I don't want to go through the hassle.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:45 am
by 1OLEMISSREBEL
Just be aware that Direct TV was recently purchased by AT&T if that makes any difference for you.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:01 am
by CMB
yeah I saw that. I had ATT for my cell service at one time but have since changed to C Spire. I did have Uverse and internet where I used to live - did not really have any issues with them with that but I had all kinds of trouble with my cell phone bill when I was with them.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:01 pm
by Hagar
I have had dish and I love it... I don't care for NFL football at all...Dish is cheaper and offers more channels, bigger selections... direct has NFL packages...Direct is a little more expensive but their customer service is not even close to Dish...the way I look at it the SEC network offers me all the football I want and dish offers it cheaper with better customer service. Dish is a little behind the NFL packages of direct though... you choose.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:35 pm
by bbqit
Been with both. Dish and direct just look over both and choose. They are similar to me which includes customer service. They both are jerks but it's what ya got. I did have to adjust picture size or shape on tv now and then with dish. Never had to with direct.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:05 am
by JustBlues
I only dealt with dish customer service a couple of times in the 18 or so years that I was with them and it was never an unpleasant experience. My problem was solved each time with little hassle. I always had a good picture. I am sure that every experience is different.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:11 am
by lewindha
Just switched from Dish to Charter up here in Cleveland, TN.

No complaints really about Dish. I was just beginning year 2 of a 2 year contract. Price went up and would've gone up again at the end of the 2yr contract.

I had to get internet from Charter and because I didn't bundle tv or phone with it, I didn't get a subsidized price. Charter called and offered me the same price that I am currently paying for BOTH Dish cable and Charter internet to switch to Charter for cable and upgrade to 100mb internet. After a year(the price hike from Dish), I will be paying less.

Only complaint I had with Dish was that my card that they had on file was compromised(someone stole the number and bought a bunch of stuff in Louisiana). My bank cancelled the card and sent me a new. I logged on to my account and changed the card, but for 3 months I kept getting failed payment attempt emails and when I logged back in it had reverted back to my old cancelled card. Not a huge deal, but definitely annoying.

The service was good. Except when weather got bad, but you're gonna get that with DirectTV also.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:38 am
by JustBlues
lewindha wrote:The service was good. Except when weather got bad, but you're gonna get that with DirectTV also.
Contrary to what they'd like for you to believe, cable goes out when there are bad storms as well. I've had more outages due to weather with cable than I ever had with satellite.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:03 pm
by lewindha
JustBlues wrote:
lewindha wrote:The service was good. Except when weather got bad, but you're gonna get that with DirectTV also.
Contrary to what they'd like for you to believe, cable goes out when there are bad storms as well. I've had more outages due to weather with cable than I ever had with satellite.
That's only been my experience with REALLY bad weather. With Dish, sometimes a light rain completely knocked my signal out. Could be an issue with my satellite positioning, IDK.

Re: DirecTV or Dish?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:31 pm
by JustBlues
I only had outages with dish when there were bad storms, same as with cable. If a simple rain knocked it out, the dish was not pointed correctly.