Direct TV vs. Comcast - which do you prefer?

[Disney93]

3 years ago we got our first HD tv and decided DTV had more to offer than comcast. I placed our order and was told when the installer would be there. I guess the contracted installer was overbooked and didn't make it. I waited another week and finally a guy shows up...4 hours late. Everything worked fine until the first snow and then the problems started. Every few hours I'd be out with my broom cleaning the dish. Then I get my first bill from my credit card. There were all kinds of extra charges and the price wasn't what we ageed to. After many phone calls, they said they would credit my next bill. Guess what, no credit but more strange charges were billed to my credit card even after telling them I wanted a monthly bill. More phone calls and another promise of a credit, next month...no credits. By now I had my fill of DTV and wanted to cancel. Called and was put on hold for over 3 hours before I finally got a real person. Told them I wanted to terminate my contract and the girl said ok. I asked for a cancellation number and she said fine...1234 and hung up. I was more than happy to pay the extra money to dump the dish.

Now my MIL was just put into an assisted living home. We had her set up with DTV because comcast isn't in her area. My MIL has had many strokes and is pretty much disabled. We called this week to cancel DTV and was told we can't terminate the contract, she has to. When WE set this up we explained everything to them about her health issues. They said it would be no problem if she got worse, now she has. I don't know what we are going to do now.

Since going back to comcast, I have no complaints. The monthly rate is high but I've called and got it reduced...twice. No more bad service and my tv works even when it's snowing. I think I'd go to rabbit ears before I'd go back to DTV.

 

[Rafiki31]

Love Love Love DTV. Fios was a second place, Comcast is dead last. Hate them.

 

[Acklander]

We had Direct TV when we lived in the middle of the woods as an only option. Now that we're back in the "real world" we have comcast. I prefer the comcast because the internet is a heck of a lot faster than when we had it with Direct TV.
Now, we've recently swapped to using comcast for internet and basic TV (local channels only) and Net Flix streaming/Hulu plus for everything else. This seems to work best with our lifestyle and wallet

 

[diznygirl]

It must depend on where you live. Around here, Comcast goes out frequently and we don't have problems with our DirecTV. During Hurricane Charlie we turned off the TV before we ever lost the signal. That also can depend on how well you have your dish aligned. Comcast will lose just one channel on a clear day.

And around here when you call for Comcast service, they claim Celebration isn't Comcast territory.

 

[bicker]

It must depend on where you live.

Absolutely. A co-worker of mine lives up in NH, where the original cable company, the one that built and maintained the network for years, went out of business. One of the major cable companies stepped in (might have been Cablevision, or Time Warner, or Comcast - not sure) and was willing to continue operating and maintaining the network up there, in return for also being able to operate the cable system in some other areas as well. However, where my co-worker lives is very clearly not a very affluent area, on average. There are affluent people, sure, but too few to warrant much investment in improving service. So she very often has outages, not just for the television service, but for the telephone and Internet service too (which is a pain, given that she works at home a couple of days per week, and I sometimes cannot reach her when I need to, for something work-related).

As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, one of the promises Comcast is making, in order to secure approval for their purchase of NBC Universal, is that they'll invest millions of dollars in improving rural infrastructure - improving service a little bit, at least, in many of the areas where service is inconsistent today, as is the case for the OP and my co-worker. While there is no guarantees that the investment Comcast will be making in recompense for approval of the NBC Universal acquisition will improve your specific situation, there is a good chance it will.

 

[diznygirl]

Comcast doesn't use it's own lines here. They "rent" the use of the lines put down by the local phone company. So I guess they really aren't to blame, because there is only so much they can do with rented lines. Their contract is up for renewal and we were hoping to get someone else, but they would be in the same boat.

 

[ameraumi]

I have had both and I HATE BOTH! But in choosing, I would say Comcast is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to the channels always working. Plus I do like their internet.

I have been having issues with Comcast since the new digital adapter boxes went into effect. It seems my house is wired with RG59 cable and after 2 service guys they tell me I need the whole house rewired with RG6 and get a booster. They cannot do it because I have a 2 story home and need to hire an electrician to do it! Needless to say, I am doing it myself. It is taking time, but I am saving money. I hope this works.

I had major issues with DirecTv. They like to nickle and dime you over everything, failed to tell me that I was locked into a 2 yr contract when I signed up, send out the wrong boxes with the installer, wanted to charge me more for installation because I needed over 75 ft of cable... the list goes on and on.

 

[goofystitchfan]

We were faithful Direct TV customers for over 10 years. Everytime it rained, snowed or was windy we would lose our signal, sometimes even for days. Once we got HD tv's and wanted to add that to our service. The installer came out (we were told we needed a different satellite) after all of 5 minutes we were told sorry, you won't be able to add that service, can't get a signal for it. Called right away and cancelled. Got a good deal on a bundle package from Comcast and it has never gone out in all this snow we have gotten in the past 2 weeks!

 

[Metro West]

Comcast because of the On Demand.