DirectTV, Dish or cable?

[Jon99]

We currently pay $82/month for Comcast, gets us their best package, no premiums and Sports Tier... What everyone paying a month?

 

[hsmamato2]

Dishnetwork family plan-,dual dvr box(2 tv's) cost about 37.00 per month total- still way more tv than we'll ever watch.....

 

[WeLubDeeDub]

DirecTV here. Total Choice Plus (all "cable" channels), local channels, HBO package & HD package, 1 dual tuner TIVO, 1 single tuner TIVO, and the HD receiver = $90.95 a month.

 

[disneychrista]

My Comcast bill is about $126. This includes Cable internet, Digital Cable with 1 DVR and one regular reciever.

 

[jtoast]

DTV customer here. I have DirecTV's "Premium" package that includes pretty much everything they offer and have 7 receivers including 2 Dual tuner DVR's and 1 Dual Tuner HD DVR. My bill runs ~$135/mo(includes the HD and DVR fees.)

 

[twinklebug]

My Comcast bill is about $126. This includes Cable internet, Digital Cable with 1 DVR and one regular reciever.

Our cable bill is $95 including taxes and fees. That covers basic plus television and internet. I'd like to take advantage of digital HDTV as we've had a good TV set for 2 years but just can't cough up the extra $$.

xDH was a DirecTV intstaller in a recent former life. Satellite has more problems and your installers are contractors -- not worth the risk to me until they offer internet.

 

[jtoast]

xDH was a DirecTV intstaller in a recent former life. Satellite has more problems and your installers are contractors -- not worth the risk to me until they offer internet.

I was an installer myself and I will agree that unless you get someone who knows what they are doing, you will have problems with a DTV install. I have had really good luck so far though. I have only had one bad installer and I have moved several times since I first signed up back in 1998.

 

[kfeuer]

We have Directv (which I love), extended cable and local channels but no movie channels and we pay $56.99/mth for 1 high-def dual tuner DVR and 1 Tivo dual tuner receiver. We get high-def programming on our local channels but we don't pay for the extra HD channels (like ESPN) simply because they don't have enough programming available right in our opinion. However, they're supposed to be launching a new satellite and will have tons of high-def channels available in the fall.

We've had no problems with our satellite, we only lose our signal in strong electrical storms or total downpours (either way, usually doesn't last long). Our cable used to go out far more often then our satellite ever does.

 

[pyrxtc]

We have Directv (which I love), extended cable and local channels but no movie channels and we pay $56.99/mth for 1 high-def dual tuner DVR and 1 Tivo dual tuner receiver. We get high-def programming on our local channels but we don't pay for the extra HD channels (like ESPN) simply because they don't have enough programming available right in our opinion. However, they're supposed to be launching a new satellite and will have tons of high-def channels available in the fall.

We've had no problems with our satellite, we only lose our signal in strong electrical storms or total downpours (either way, usually doesn't last long). Our cable used to go out far more often then our satellite ever does.

I pay about the same and have the same service except we have one more box. I think it's great and they do reward customers who have been with them a while. Today I called to see what they would ofer me so I don't leave and go to Dish and they gave me an awesome package with a great deal and a fre DVR upgrade. (DVR's were non-existent when we signed up and we own all our equipment due to a buy-out early on in our contract.

 

[mum4jenn]

We are paying DirectTV around $88-89 a month. We have 4 receivers and the choice package I think with HBO and Starz. We also were just approved to get 2 channels each of NBC and FOX as well as PBS so it will go up a bit now.

 

[Jon99]

My Comcast bill is about $126. This includes Cable internet, Digital Cable with 1 DVR and one regular reciever.

Our Comcast bill is about $175, but that is cable, internet and phone.. Would like to get DTV for their Sunday Ticket, but not sure if I want to switch if its not going to save us money...

 

[GoinToDisney]

We had the Direct TV family plan and it is about $35 per month. We only watch local channels, HGTV, DIY, and Disney channel, so it works for us.

 

[jennilouwho]

We tried Comcast for awhile and hated it. Now we are using Dish Network and we are paying $43 a month after taxes for 60 channels and one dual DVR box.

 

[perd]

We have Time Warner cable. Bill is about $148 a month but that includes cable with digital tier, sports tier and speed channel, internet and phone.

Just got TiVO not really knowing if it would be better to go with that or to get the DVR from Time Warner. Still not sure we did the right thing but we have a friend who installs cable for Everest (a competitor of Time Warner) and he said to definitely go with the TiVo as it has many more options.

 

[NMW]

We love Directv. Right now our bill is $180 per month, but that includes $50 extra for the NFL package. DH renews it every year. It's 4 or 5 (I forget which one) monthly payments of 50. We have 6 recievers and that total HD DVR package with HBO and some sports package.

We tried cable once (I tried cable), but the picture isn't all digital and I got so sick of listening to DH complain about the picture quality on some of the non-HD channels. Plus, when football season came he really missed the NFL package. So, we switched back. Considering that we just paid $299 for an HD DVR reciever, I don't think we'll ever switch again.

 

[windi622]

I have Dish Network. Originally, we only got it because cable was not available in our area (a new subdivision in the middle of corn). I pay $79/mo for the cable package with HBO and Starz. I love Dish, and will never return to cable! I am tempted by DTV, because of the Sunday Ticket, as well. If only Dish could get that!

 

[Kies99]

Comcast digital cable + basic. We pay around $27 a month. We get more than enough channels and 5-8 movie channels (Starz, Encore, etc...). Also the 40 or so digital music channels.

 

[deerh]

Go with Direct TV, it is the best thing we did. We pay $85/mo with 4 tv's local tv, and the basic channels. No HBO or anything.... DTV never goes out only in bad T-storms for a few min, then comes right back on...

I installed DTV myself on my house, it is easy- don't need an installer....


DeerH

 

[CarolA]

After spending half an hour on the phone with Comcast, I may change regardless of what it costs.

Cable was out so I called. The girl thinks I have to have a service call. They can come Wed. Well I can't be here on Wed so I ask for Friday. They can't book that FAR in advance. WHAT? Monday night at 7 PM you can't make appointments for THIS FRIDAY??? I spoke to her boss and said, "you need to explain to YOUR bosses that this lack of customer service is going to cost you customers"

The cable came back on by withou thier "assistance" but tomorrow I am drafting a nasty letter asking exactly WHY I pay as much as I do and WHY I shouldn't change to Direct TV. (used them in the past.....)

 

[ericamcl]

I fought and fought with Comcast for several months. Our internet would go out (bad thing for me since I was working from home at the time) and every time I called they said they would "send someone out". After sitting around waiting for their "someone" to show (he never did) I called again. We then started having problems with the cable TV and when their person finally showed he said our "signals" in the lines were fine, he didn't know what we were talking about.

It took a few months of this for DH and I to decide to make some changes.
We now have DirectTV. We haven't had a problem with it so far. Our satellite lost the signal once in a really bad storm but it was back with in minutes.
We have the premier or platinum package (all of the movie channels, etc.) plus their baseball package (DH is from St. Louis and he HAS to watch his Cardinals ) and we pay about $140 a month. That will go down to about $100 a month once the baseball package is paid off (they divide the cost into 4 or 5 payments on your bill). We have only one receiver, but it's a DVR one.

The only problem I personally have with the switch is that I had to learn what channels my shows were on with the new service