DirecTV question

[EvilTOJ]

All I gotta say is DirecTV has a lifetime ban from my house. I used to work in their DSL division (they bought an ISP called Telocity) and two weeks before Christmas they killed the network, gathered us all into a huge room, told us they were closing effective immediately and gave us an hour to pack up our stuff and GTFO.

Never. Ever.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I have dish network, and am very happy with it. I have heard some serious horror stories about DirecTV, with their poor service, pushy salespeople, etc. I've never had this problem with Dish. Just my .02

 

[Dude]

I have dish network, and am very happy with it. I have heard some serious horror stories about DirecTV, with their poor service, pushy salespeople, etc. I've never had this problem with Dish. Just my .02

And as soon as Dish offers Sunday Ticket, I'm switching. I hate DirecTV with the white hot fire of 10,000 suns. I've had so many bad experiences with that company, it is ridiculous. But...they have me by the balls. I have to see my Packers.

 

[Evan!]

I have dish network, and am very happy with it. I have heard some serious horror stories about DirecTV, with their poor service, pushy salespeople, etc. I've never had this problem with Dish. Just my .02

I'm right there with you. Dispite the recent install appointment where they gave me a 12-5pm window and the jacklegs didn't get there till 5:30 and weren't out my door until 8pm...at least they were courteous and apologetic. And if HD DVR dual tuning didn't rock so fuggin hard, I might be more peeved, but as it stands, I have trouble complaining about anything while I'm watching NFL Thursday Night Football in HD on my new Aquos, while switching back and forth via PIP to an HD movie I had in the DVR queue. Ya know? Their customer service has always been really helpful and courteous, too...even when they claimed they were going to charge me for service on a dish I don't even own, they ended up letting it go in the end.

 

[Evan!]

And as soon as Dish offers Sunday Ticket, I'm switching. I hate DirecTV with the white hot fire of 10,000 suns. I've had so many bad experiences with that company, it is ridiculous. But...they have me by the balls. I have to see my Packers.

dude, you got HD with DTV?

 

[Dude]

dude, you got HD with DTV?

Yes.

While we are on this...that's another thing that gets my goat...the new HD DVR receiver, doesn't have dual buffers. How stupid is that?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I'm right there with you. Dispite the recent install appointment where they gave me a 12-5pm window and the jacklegs didn't get there till 5:30 and weren't out my door until 8pm...at least they were courteous and apologetic.

That is one problem that plagues both of the satellite companies. They contract out their installations to a bunch of flunkies that both don't have a clue and are so overbooked that they need to get in and out in as big of a hurry as possible. I have a friend that had Dish Network installed and the job was very poorly done. The cables were routed in through window panes, not secured, etc. The installer put it together the quickest way he could, and when my friend complained, he said that it was the only way possible to do it. I went over and fixed it for him. Funny thing is, I know the guy that put it in, so I KNOW he's a moron.

Point is, no matter what company you go with, MAKE SURE you are home when your sevice is installed, and that it is installed exactly how you want it. If the installer says that something can't be done, chances are that he is lying, or is just too stupid to know how.

 

[Ize]

But...they have me by the balls. I have to see my Packers.

That's how it is for me with Insight. I gotta have FSMW for the Redbirds and the little sh!t needs his kiddie channel until he's old enuf to be done with it. So I'll be visiting the cable company to see about a receiver upgrade for HD.

Ize

 

[Evan!]

Yes.

While we are on this...that's another thing that gets my goat...the new HD DVR receiver, doesn't have dual buffers. How stupid is that?

By buffer, you mean a signal buffer? Yeah, that's weird. Do you just have it on one?

I was miffed last night at one issue with my new receiver. So I've got two signals coming into the box which I can switch back and forth on via PIP. I can pause one, flip the other, watch it, pause that, and jump back. Okay. But that PIP box gets annoying sometimes so I like to turn it off. But here's the problem: the paused program that I "hide" by hiding the PIP box happens to be currently recording on the DVR, it will automatically resume playback and push it forward to live TV. What this means is that if I'm watching something that is currently recording and switch to the other signal, I must keep the PIP box open. But if I'm not recording it, it's fine.

 

[Bobby_M]

Dishnetwork seems to have the better equipment these days (no so much 5 years ago). The 622 receiver is pretty sweet. It's charged as a single receiver but it's a 3 TUNER - two output box. That is, it will record two channels off the sat and one off an HD antenna all at the same time. It also sends a downres'd signal to a second TV and allows the playback of two different DVR programs to each of the TVs. The only complaint I have is that it can't output two HD channels so I'm screwed when I upgrade the bedroom TV.

A cablevision guy recently knocked on my door and we had a good 30 minute conversation. He claimed they recently upgraded to include old Voom channels just like dish and that they're currently testing a server/host whole house solution that will send HD content to any TV or PC with RF remotes. Sounds promising and I'm always willing to switch to the better service/price when the contracts are up. Verizon FIOS (fiber to the home) is nowhere to be seen in my neighborhood.

 

[kinison_fan]

Just so you know. I twill be virtually impossible to watch the same show in the kitchen as the other sets due to different schedules and synch.

Satellite is several seconds slower than OTA and just annoyingly slower than cable. You're going to get an annoying echo at best.

Word that.
My folks just got a dish. Watching an Eagles game (depending on the network), I'll turn the TV volume down and tune in the local radio announcers.
So now the radio is calling the plays and the TV is at least 3 seconds behind.
Radio: "TOUCHDOWN"
TV: They just snapped the ball.
Me: WTF?
unwatchable.

So I went back to the TV's color(less) commentary...

 

[rdwj]

Before switching, I'd suggest complaining and threatening to leave. It's amazing how much free stuff companies are willing to throw at you if they think you've got one foot out the door.

Of course, they may call your bluff, but that's fine too. My cable company did that to me and I switched my internet service to DSL. When the "cancel guy" tried to change my mind, I told him the internet was a done deal, but if he wants to talk cable TV, he best sharpen his pencil because that's going next. Now I have my same cable package for about 25% less than what I was paying before.

 

[the_bird]

We just decided to switch all of our phones and stuff to Time Warner. Moving from DSL to cable, getting our cable upgraded from just basic to digitial cable (getting back a LOT of channels that I've missed since we moved), and having unlimited land-line calling - and saving something like $20 - $30 a month in the process.

So last night, 8:00, we get an overnight package, from Verizon. They must have JUST gotten notice from TW that we were moving, so they sent out a panic-letter saying "we'll give you a package deal for LESS MONEY!"

So, I should call them up and see what kind of deal they will offer (since I'd like to move our cells over to Verizon, as well) - but I hesitate with the DirecTV bit (Verizon's all-in-one package uses them for TV). I've just heard too many bad things, here and elsewhere, while I know that my experience with digital cable for the two years we were living in Greenfield had been generally very positive.

 

[rdwj]

We just decided to switch all of our phones and stuff to Time Warner. Moving from DSL to cable, getting our cable upgraded from just basic to digitial cable (getting back a LOT of channels that I've missed since we moved), and having unlimited land-line calling - and saving something like $20 - $30 a month in the process.

So last night, 8:00, we get an overnight package, from Verizon. They must have JUST gotten notice from TW that we were moving, so they sent out a panic-letter saying "we'll give you a package deal for LESS MONEY!"

So, I should call them up and see what kind of deal they will offer (since I'd like to move our cells over to Verizon, as well) - but I hesitate with the DirecTV bit (Verizon's all-in-one package uses them for TV). I've just heard too many bad things, here and elsewhere, while I know that my experience with digital cable for the two years we were living in Greenfield had been generally very positive.

Find out the offer, and if it's better, tell your existing company that they need to match ir or you're leaving. They'll most likely do it.

 

[srm775]

Not sure if it's really relevant any more, but my experience with Direct TV has been really good.

Besides losing a signal during a storm or something along that line, everything has gone very smoothly, and we've had them for about 6 years now.

Actually, I think I've had the best experience with their customer service than nearly any other customer service ... the key is you just need to say the right things. When we moved, we got them to switch our set-up from rental to owning and got the mover's package for free. And when I upgraded to HD, we got a free upgrade (though the package was only intended for new customers) for free as well (equipment and 3 mo. free).