Directv? Anyone have this?

[palmtreegirl]

Since the cable company has now missed 2 appointments we had scheduled for installation I think we're going to tell them to forget it. Does anyone have Directv? How do you like it?

How's the cost versus cable?

Thanks!

 

[Hillbeans]

Hi - we have DTV - my Husband needs it to get all of his Steelers games in the fall.

I found the cost to be comparable as long as we didn't have any of the "premium" channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. I think we pay about $55 a month for the DTV except for the $200 package for the football games. It may have gone up a few dollars since I last looked at our bill.

The only negative was when we have bad thunderstorms the units go out until the storms blow through.

 

[anewvance]

The cost is quite comparable to cable. We really like our direct tv. The only real negative about it as with all satalite tv, whenever it rains or the wind is blowing, the direct tv goes out. It usually doesn't go out long but it gets annoying if you are watching something that you want to know what happens.

I think all in all direct tv is better then cable... but that's just our opinion.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Losing the satellite in a storm is not a given. Some people say it happens to them, while others, like me can say we have been through some pretty good storms the past few months, and the DirectTV held up fine. We just had a pretty good Nor'Easter and never lost the TV.

 

[Brianne]

Let's put it this way: we just went back to Directv a couple weeks ago after having cable for over a year. The cable-supplied DVR unit was awful, deleting programs for no rhyme or reason, cancelling season passes out of the blue, etc. The picture was ok but the HD channels were still a bit off---never mind the fact that it took us weeks to get them to fix it to where we could view the HD channels!

It's about the same price but I don't like how Bright House holds the monopoly here. Once Verizon gets their fiber optic lines to our house, we might consider looking into them since they seem to be cheaper according to the local papers but until then we'll stick with satellite.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Since the cable company has now missed 2 appointments we had scheduled for installation I think we're going to tell them to forget it. Does anyone have Directv? How do you like it?

How's the cost versus cable?

Thanks!

Well Palm Tree Girl, I see we are neighbors as I live in West Orange County!
We have had Direct TV for 9 years and LOVE them!!! Our bill is $146 per month but we get EVERY channel they offer including the west coast networks ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX and the NYC affiliates as well.

We hardly ever have lost the signal during storms. The TV will say searching for satellite signal on Satellite #1 or #2 and within a couple minutes, the signal is back.
Our friends across the street have had the DISH network and they were constantly losing their signal for some reason. They ended up switching to Direct TV and are very pleased as well.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Well Palm Tree Girl, I see we are neighbors as I live in West Orange County!
We have had Direct TV for 9 years and LOVE them!!! Our bill is $146 per month but we get EVERY channel they offer including the west coast networks ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX and the NYC affiliates as well.

We hardly ever have lost the signal during storms. The TV will say searching for satellite signal on Satellite #1 or #2 and within a couple minutes, the signal is back.
Our friends across the street have had the DISH network and they were constantly losing their signal for some reason. They ended up switching to Direct TV and are very pleased as well.

Hi neighbor!

Where did you get the Directv? Did you buy the unit at a store or did they come out and install it for you? Also do you know how it works if you'd like to have two DVR's? Thanks for the help.

 

[Tina]

We've been with Directv for more than 10 years now and couldn't be happier. We rarely have an outage due to weather. I don't even know what cable costs anymore, but we're very happy with what we get for our $$ at Directv. One thing to remember with satellite that is different from cable is the cabling itself. For each tv, you must have a receiver and each receiver must have a direct line from the dish. Before we finished our basement, we upgraded out dish to a 4-line, then installed a splitter that doubled that capacity. Of course, we don't have 8 tvs in our house, but we're now well-wired for whatever we want, wherever we want. The Directivo takes 2 lines, HD takes 2 lines, etc. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[disneyatl]

Include us in the "happy to be with Directv" group. We switched 7 years ago when we moved. We had constant problems with cable going out. We had never regreted our decision to switch. Many people talk about losing tv in a storm but it rarely happens to us. It has to be raining really hard before our signal is lost. We also have the tivo with Directv - LOVE IT!!! You won't be disappointed with Directv.

 

[porterbl1]

I have had all three; cable, DirectTV, and Dish Network. DN wins hands down.

*Dish Network came out and hooked up four rooms themselves for free.

*Dish Network offered free local channels. Really important to me.

*Dish Network was cheaper. I believe the smallest plan costs 29.99. Ours is 85-90 and we get every channel. It is called the everything package. All the Hbos, starz, etc. As well as FX and various other favorites.

*Dish network Very rarely goes out. In the last 2-3 years, it has gone out 4-5 times. Only for short periods of time.

*I never have any trouble with the company. I have it automatically debited, I never even think about it.

Okay I promise I am not in any way affiliated with Dish Network. I am just a country girl who wants good TV .

If anyone happens to sign up for Dish Network, Please feel free to tell them my name. I rave about them all the time but noone ever remembers to tell them I refered them.

Becca Porter
Eros, Louisiana

 

[pumba]

we have had directv for 7 or so years......three units and we pay about 55 a month also. We have plenty of ice and snowstorms and I think I can count on one hand the number of times we have lost a signal and that was not for long. We remember cable going off the air for hours on hours.......geesh what to do with kids that were watching sesame street or the other good shows.....

 

[bobcat]

Love, love, love my Direct TV! Don't know why I didn't switch from cable sooner. We usually only lose our signal for a minute or so and that is during really bad weather.

 

[bobcat]

Love, love, love my Direct TV! Don't know why I didn't switch from cable sooner. We usually only lose our signal for a minute or so and that is during really bad weather.

If you know someone who has it use them as a referal as they will get a free month of service when you sign up. Nice little bonus for a friend.

 

[MoniqueU]

I have had all three and I like Direct tv the best so it really is a matter of opinion. I like the dual line and soon to come out triple line dvr. And I love NFL sunday ticket. The only time I lost picture was really with cable and rarely with Dish.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Hi neighbor!

Where did you get the Directv? Did you buy the unit at a store or did they come out and install it for you? Also do you know how it works if you'd like to have two DVR's? Thanks for the help.

we have 3 DVR's and the rest are just regular boxes for the rest of the house.

We originally bought Direct TV through Best Buy but you can just call them and ask for their service. I can give you the name of the installer they sent out to me. He was very professional and actually went out of his way to put the dish and the boxes exactly where I wanted them in the house.
You will LOVE your Direct TV!!!
When we moved from one house to another, they even came out and re installed the service at no moving charge.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

We have had Direct TV for about 6 years now. Our Dish is installed on the side of our house. We very rarely get service interruption during storms - once or twice a year we will lose reception for 5 to 10 minutes during a heavy snowfall...that is about it.

And yeah, we have to get NFL Sunday Ticket for the Broncos games.

 

[hlbtimes2]

We have Directv. We've had it over 10 years (3 different houses). We love them. We spend about $80 per month. We have 3 tv's all with tivo, one with HD tivo.

By the way, they offer a $50 referal credit, so if you know someone with their service be sure to mention it. If you dont know someone, I would be more then happy to send you my account number.

 

[PenskeSth1]

We've had our Directv since it came out. We did go to cable for a year, and then missed DTV so went back to them. We hooked ours up by ourselves so can't comment on them installing it. We will "Never" go back to cable. We pay around 69.00 a month.

 

[Disneyrsh]

We've had directv since 1996-we have some really old boxes in storage now! Directv has an agreement with Tivo and their DVR is sooooo much better than cable (had one house where we just couldn't get a good signal and had to suffer with cable). We also have three standalone tivo boxes that work with the directv box.

A couple things, the quality of the install can vary widely, from wonderful professionals who wire everything perfectly and don't quit until you have a 100% signal to complete idiots who pull your phone wire from the exterior wall and steal beers from your fridge.

I kid you not; I've had both experiences with the mover's package. So, when you call up to purchase it, tell them that you've heard horror stories about bad installers and you want them to send you the best.

Then, when they show up at your house, make sure they're putting the dish where you want it (one idiot put it smack dab on the middle front of my house!), and that the wires are run how YOU want them, not what's easiest for them.

Follow them around and watch them do everything.

Be demanding, be firm, and if you have to, call Directv when the guy is there and tell them that the guy is:
A. Trying to charge you for a free service (this happened twice)
B. Running wires across your kitchen floor because he's too lazy to go up in the attic (happened once)
C. Has bolted the dish to the front of your house because he doesn't want to be bothered to get up on the ladder (happened twice).

Directv's really, really good about helping you out should you run into problems during your install.

All said, it's definitely worth it.

 

[doxdogy]

Another one that loves Directv. We will lose our signal during heavy thunderstorms. When that does happen, I just switch over to Tivo until we get our signal back.