Cable vs Direct TV vs Dish Network

[Midrsv]

I've had cable TV service for years and have no experiece at all with satellite systems. Our cable provider, Insight Communications, is switching to a digital system and in doing so it will require a tuner on each TV. No problem I thought. I already had 2 DVR units and they were going to give me 3 mini box tuners for 3 other TVs which left me with needing one more. However, all of my TVs are HD TVs and the mini box tuners do not support HD, only SD. So I called Insight today and was basically told that the only way I could get HD would be to have an HD DVR on each TV for an additional $15/month per TV. I really only need the basic 4 major networks on the 4 additional TVs and today I can get that off of the standard cable using the TV tuners. So, if I want to use my HD TVs to their potential it appears I may have to switch to Direct TV or Dish.

 

To those of you with satellite experience, can you share the pros and cons of the two systems? It seems I'll still need a tuner for each TV but they are only $5/each per month. I would also have to switch my phone and internet to the local phone company. I find all of this really annoying.

 

Dennis

[TEW47]

Had Dish for several years and evertime a cloud came by I lost signal. Now I have Direct and it has to be really bad to lose signal.

 

tew47

[halfwitt]

One reason we cling to cable is for the high speed internet and local news. If we went to satellite, what would we use for an ISP?

[Midrsv]

One reason we cling to cable is for the high speed internet and local news. If we went to satellite, what would we use for an ISP?

 

I could keep the cable for telephone and internet. However, I would probably switch to Windstream for phone and DSL internet. I've tried the DSL at relatives houses and it seems OK.

 

Dennis

[Eck]

Same as tew47...

 

Everytime it rained we would loose the signal..

 

When a storm was approaching, the signal would go out and always left us "in the dark" so to speak as to where the storm was or how bad it was getting..

 

I have cable now...and must also rent the stupid boxes to use it...

 

They are all a scam..

 

[BradT]

Have been using a dish for a little over 10 years with little problems. I bought two of those box's and pay 5 bucks a month for the second signal but both boxes are guaranteed for as long as I own them. They have replaced both units, one was replaced twice.

 

I loose the signal each year at least once, but that wet sticky snow sticks. I take a broom stand on the fence and brush it off, not big deal. Never lost signal because of cloud but may have lost the signal for a few minutes during a real heavy rain once or twice.

 

Brad

[uechi kid]

I had cable for years and their high speed Internet (comcast). I finally got fed up with the lousy service and the fact that they continually raised rates. I made the move to Dish (not HD) and went to DSL for my Internet. I have had almost no problems with either. I'd never go back to Comcast. I don't know if it's offered in your area but AT&t has a new TV, Internet and phone service called U-verse. I know a couple of people that have it and like it a lot.

[Dano]

If all you need on the other TVs is the local 4 majors, stick up a digital aentenna outside pointed at your local big city if you're out in the 'burbs, gettem for free. If you're in town, a small aentenna on each TV might be all you need. If they are HD TVs, then they will already accept a digital signal.

[wes0778]

If you have at&t, you might look at a new service they are starting. It is called "U-Verse" or something like that. I just signed up for it and am gonna drop Comcast for cable TV.

I got to bundle TV (200 channels, including all local stations), Internet(DSL 6mb/s up and down) and phone (unlimited local and long distance) for about $40.00/month less than having at&t and Comcast.

[Flyinfool]

If all you need on the other TVs is the local 4 majors, stick up a digital aentenna outside pointed at your local big city if you're out in the 'burbs, gettem for free. If you're in town, a small aentenna on each TV might be all you need. If they are HD TVs, then they will already accept a digital signal.

 

There is no difference between your old TV antenna and a "new digital" antenna. It is all marketing hype.

Analog vs digital is the same as Spanish vs English, you do not nee a special phone to speak Spanish into it, It is just two different languages.

[davecb]

Dennis, whatever you do...DO NOT get Direct TV. I had them for 1 1/2 years, and all they did was try to screw me over. It took me calling the BBB in California to get them straightened out....

[Midrsv]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I'll check into the AT&T service and the over-the-air antenna idea.

 

Dennis

[bongobobny]

You may also be getting duped by your cable company! Before you do anything rash, just hook your cable directly into the antenna input of your TV and see what happens, Just have your TV do a channel search after you hok the cable directly into the TV, no box between. You may be amazed...

[etcswjoe]

:2cents:Being in the military I liked Dish because it was simple to move and I knew what to expect. I never did care for Direct TV just as a personal opinion; cable has never been kind to me. All the satellite dishes can be blocked out by weather and if they are just a little off angle they will be more susceptible. I like DSl over cable just because of the sharing slows cable at peak periods and most company’s will now sell you dsl even without a home phone.

[Freebird]

I've used Dish for several years and really like it. There are very rare occasions when it will go out, usually in very heavy snow, but it's never out for very long. I have 4 televisions hooked to two dual receivers. It has worked very well for me.

[ahoutzer]

No TV. Life priorities are so much clearer without it.

[etcswjoe]

No TV. Life priorities are so much clearer without it.

 

I would love to get rid of my TV's but I think my wife and daughter would lynch me.

[SilvrT]

Have been using a dish for a little over 10 years with little problems. I bought two of those box's and pay 5 bucks a month for the second signal but both boxes are guaranteed for as long as I own them. They have replaced both units, one was replaced twice.

 

I loose the signal each year at least once, but that wet sticky snow sticks. I take a broom stand on the fence and brush it off, not big deal. Never lost signal because of cloud but may have lost the signal for a few minutes during a real heavy rain once or twice.

 

Brad

 

Just like Brad ... we're on satellite TV and this is my second "go around" with it as I had it way back in 1998 or so. Our phone and internet is supplied by Telus Communications.

 

Having said that, we are switching to Telus's new offering called "Optik TV". We can get a "package deal" which includes an HD PVR system and a free Xbox 360 for less than we now pay when all 3 services are added up (we currently don't have the PVR system).

 

IMHO, satellite is still a pretty good system tho but I don't think I'd ever use it for my internet.

[SilvrT]

No TV. Life priorities are so much clearer without it.

 

I don't watch a lot of TV ... the news @ dinner time, maybe a 1 hour show after that a couple times a week, a good movie, etc. What I really like about our TV "package" tho is the music channels.

[Sideoftheroad]

We have Dish. Pretty satisifed. Due to a recent issue the phone company (Verizon, now Frontier communication - don't get me started) refuses to fix so we can't get the phone lines that were once hooked up to the satellites. So I called Dish to see what could be done. They sent me for free these wireless boxes. One box hooks up to a working phone line. The other boxes hook up only to the receivers. A wireless signal goes from one box to the others to provide the satellites a phone connection.

 

W/out the receivers hooked up to a working phone line there is a charge. Don't remember how much. Also like what someone said if you have multiple receivers, the 1st fee ($5) for that receiver is waived. Also 1 receiver will control 2 tv's. Not sure if they changed the equipment since we signed up with Dish to be able to do other things or not.

 

Dish recently fought with Fox over rate hikes. As a result we lost National Geographic and FX (no SOA :-() I guess the others reached an agreement or didn't fight as hard as Dish and it seems Dish and Fox reached an agreement because we have both channels back. My brother told me a long time ago Dish will fight against rate hikes and usually the competitors will go up while Dish Network's doesn't or at least doesn't go up as high.

 

I recently looked into Direct TV and cable (Insight - now Comcast) and for what we have it is still cheaper than the others. U-verse isn't available in our area yet.

 

As far as weather, yes we do lose signals in storms. Like someone mentioned it might just be signal alignment. I should call and see if I can get the dish pointed to another satellite to see if that works any better.

[Flyinfool]

I had direct TV for a while many years ago.

At the time you could not get any of the local programing on the sat so I still had to keep the basic cable for the local stuff.

What I did notice in some of the channels that overlapped between the 2 systems is that the sat had a much better picture quality than the cable when compared side by side. I do not know if this is still the case today of if HD has made it a mute point.

 

What I could not deal with on the sat was the fact that My location, very near to an international airport, I would loose signal for a few seconds with every airliner that came in to land. I do not know if this would be true today or not.

[Brenda H]

One reason we cling to cable is for the high speed internet and local news. If we went to satellite, what would we use for an ISP?

 

We've had to use dial up for years as living out in the country makes almost anything else impossible. Well Virgin went to unlimited usage on it Mobile Broadband To Go system for $40 a month. We've bought and use two of the sticks for a total of $80 a month. We're close enough to a major highway here in Texas to pick up the signals off the Sprint cellphone network which is what Virgin uses as it's carrier. I love it. I'm finally able to watch stuff in seconds that would have taken our old dial up forever to download if it was able to do it at all. The Virgin BTG sticks make it possible to go just about anywhere Sprint does without having to worry about finding a wifi hotspot.

 

As for Dish/Direct, we have Dish Network here. We've had it for years and have had no problems with it. Good service and tech support. Signal strength in bad weather depends on your location in regards to the satellite you get your signal off of. We have 2 receivers, one single[his] and one dual[mine], both with HD, and mine has a dual dvr set up so I can record two shows at once which for me can happen quite often with my tastes in tv . BTW Dish Network has an affiliation with the WildBlue satellite broadband system if you'd rather go that way. The Virgin BTG sticks were both cheaper in start up costs [sticks are $80 ea.] as well as monthly fees [$80 for two as opposed to $100+ depending on service] and are portable where the sat broadband is stationary.

[KarlS]

I used Dish Network for over 5 years and only problem with them was signal going out when storms approaching. Had AT&T for phone and internet for over 3 years. Was supposed to have high speed internet thu AT&T and thats why I switched to them. AFTER they hooked me up I was told high speed wasn't available in my area. After over 3 years of being on their "waiting list" and non-stop lies (they will tell you anything to get you off the phone) I switched 2 months ago to Comcast for TV, Phone and Internet. VERY happy with comcast. Note: Everybody I know who used AT&T has dropped them. I was the last one.

[davecb]

Around here, AT+T upload speed is 256k... When I told them that, they disagreed with me, then checked there ads and yup...256k upload..... Talk about 20 years behind....

[CrazyHorse]

Direct Tv for over 10 yrs has been great. I dont remember any channels being taken away. Except for recently G4 has dissapeared but other then that its been great.