Directv, Dish, U-Verse, Cable?

[happybratpack]

What do you have and do you love/hate it??

I'm trying to switch providers and am a bit overwhelmed at all the choices.

 

[MIGrandma]

We've had DirecTV for several years now, I'm going to say 8 or 10, could even be more as time goes so fast anymore.

We are very happy with their service. We pay just under $70/month for the channels we get (most regular channels, and our local ones, but no HBO, Showtime, etc.) and it includes the monthly cost of the DVR.

Anytime we have a problem their customer service is very helpful, and when we upgrade we're always satisfied with the technician that comes to the house and does the work.

The only time there is a problem is when we're having severe weather. It will cut out and sometimes lose the signal completely for a few minutes. And lately we've had things "freeze up" and the system has to re-boot itself but it's always when something is recording and I'm wondering if the DVR box is just wearing out and we're going to be needing a new one. If it continues to happen I'll call about it. But other than those things, we are very happy with DirecTV and don't have any desire to change.

 

[golfgal]

While I prefer cable, we had such major issues with our cable provider that we switched to Dish Network. I do miss the free on-demand movies we had with our cable but we now have Netflix and that is much better. We have 2 receivers and one will go out in storms but the other never does, no idea why. I was concerned about switching from cable internet to DSL but haven't had any issues with DSL and it is actually faster then our cable was because we have a node close by. If another cable company moved into our area I would give them a try but until that happens, I will stick with Dish.

 

[powellrj]

Love, love, love my U-Verse. We have had it for over 2 years now and couldn't be happier. We had cable for over 30 years and once Comcast took over that love affair was over. We switched to U-Verse and have never been happier. Its almost hard to go on vacation because we are so spoiled with our situation at home!

 

[HonnyDipp]

we have digital cable. Cox Cable to be exact. I just recently switched our land line & internet with Verizon to our cable company because I saved $80 a month. We are very impressed with the services so far. Dish Network is also popular in our area, but I REFUSE to sign a contract for this kind of service. Plus one good wind could take the dish completely out. So we are loving our digital cable/DVR boxes. Totally worth it! My only complaint is they need to have more shows available on Demand, but other then that, I'm happy!

 

[Carly_Roach]

LOVE LOVE LOVING our U-Verse! No outages at all (except a blip around 4:20 in the morning for system reset) and I can program it to record a program for me from the internet in case I forget to program a recording at home. This has saved me so many times if/when I hear at work or on the boards here about a Disney program coming up on the Travel Channel or if everyone's talking about last night's Dexter and I forgot to watch it AND set up the DVR for it.

The picture is absolutely fantastic! You can only get that digital picture from Verizon and AT&T. We watched Monsters Inc this past weekend and I'm still marvelling over how I could clearly see the separate purple spots on Sully's back. This picture is SHARP! (on a 10 y/o television no less!)

We've had U-Verse for a few months and so far the honeymoon is still going strong!

 

[ICF]

The picture is absolutely fantastic! You can only get that digital picture from Verizon and AT&T.

What makes you say that "you can only get that digital picture from Verizon & ATT"?

My parents have UVerse and I have Direct and we have roughly the same size and make TV and I'd say the DTV picture is better than Uverse.

 

[MichelleVW]

I wouldn't recommend Dish right now. It's what I have and they have pulled Fox Sports Southwest (Where my Texas Rangers are shown!!) and they are talking about pulling regular Fox from my line up! NOT OK!! If they pull Fox, we are canceling and going with Direct TV now and if they don't get us Fox Sports Southwest by next baseball season we will cancel then for sure.

You know how much I love my Rangers!!

 

[Carly_Roach]

What makes you say that "you can only get that digital picture from Verizon & ATT"?

My parents have UVerse and I have Direct and we have roughly the same size and make TV and I'd say the DTV picture is better than Uverse.

I guess it all depends on the quality of the set. I was told that U-Verse and Verizon are the only ones that send out the picture digitally enhanced or something. And on my old TV I can really tell the difference in picture quality between Dish Network and U-Verse. Same TV, better picture from U-Verse.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We have DirecTV. I don't like that the picture cuts out in bad weather, and I don't like that I don't have a "my channels" filter on my guide (unless I make it myself), but I love NFL Sunday Ticket and just about everything else.

We also have a deal through Verizon where we get one bill for TV, Internet, and phone.

Dish is OK, too, I guess, from my experience.

The local cable company in our area has a crappy Internet service (cable modem, but with upload via phone line).

I have no idea what U-Verse is.

 

[KristaTX]

We LOVE AT&T U-Verse . We DESPISED Charter cable. I'd rather just use rabbit ears than use Charter ever again. They had horrible, terrible, awful customer service. It was problem after problem. They disconnected us when it was really our neighbors who had canceled. And when they built a house next door, Charter hadn't buried the lines deep enough and the work crew putting in the driveway cut through our cable line. It was just problem after problem.

We've never had any big issues with U-Verse, but luckily our house is new and was pre-wired for everything. The only thing I can think of that is slightly disappointing is that we had purchased 2 Tivo machines to use with Charter, but Tivo and U-Verse are not compatible. But then again, we don't have to pay the Tivo fees anymore. And besides, the U-Verse DVR good. Oh, and the other thing is that we can only pause/rewind live TV in the room that has the DVR. The other rooms just have boxes that can access the channels and the DVR, but can't pause/rewind live TV because they aren't actually DVRs.

My parents used to have Direct TV, and they were pleased for years and years. My dad switched them over to DISH a while back just to try it, and my mom doesn't like it at all. When I'm over there watching TV, I don't like trying to use their menus, guides, etc. It just doesn't seem user friendly. In fact now that I think about it, my in-laws went through this same thing - switching from Direct TV to DISH and being disappointed.

 

[KristaTX]

I wouldn't recommend Dish right now. It's what I have and they have pulled Fox Sports Southwest (Where my Texas Rangers are shown!!) and they are talking about pulling regular Fox from my line up!

Oh yeah. That's another reason that my mom doesn't like DISH. She mentioned that the other day.

 

[C.Ann]

I only have one choice here - cable - and only one company I can get it through..

The thing I dislike is the price - and that they keep raising it every year.. I have a "step up" from the basic service to the standard service - only because I can't get the Weather Channel on the basic.. I really could live without the rest if I needed to - but being where I am, the Weather Channel is crucial (for the weather part) and I do enjoy the "Storm Stories" and such..
Sure - I'd miss a bunch of other stuff: History Channel; A&E; Discovery Channel; - but I could "live" without it if it were going to save me a significant amount of money..

The thing I like about it (I get my interenet through them too) is that for the most part it's pretty reliable - rarely goes out - and when it does, I just call and ask for a credit (which they give me).. Also, when I leave, I can switch to the seasonal rate of $9 or so a month while I'm gone rather than going through connect and disconnect charges every single year..

I kind of wish I could just pay for ONLY the channels that I want (if it came out to be less costly), but I doubt that will ever happen here..

So - other than the price, I guess I'm more "happy" than "not"..

 

[Carly_Roach]

We had Dish Network for two years and were pretty happy with them. The only complaint I had (if you could call it that) was that during downpours we'd lose the signal for a few minutes. But that didn't happen very often at all. Their customer service was great, no issues, I enjoyed their programming and was able to use their user screens easily.

Unfortunately, Dish Network was bundled with our AT&T internet and home phone. When the contract was up in September we would have had to pay two bills - one to the phone company and one to Dish Network. I wanted to check out U-Verse since I'd heard so many good things about it so we changed over to U-Verse.

NOW I'm having trouble with Dish Network sending me their boxes so I can return their equipment. The contract should have ended on 9/11, I called on 9/10 to tell them I was cancelling and they said the signal was already shut off and they were sending the boxes out to me. I called them on 9/29 to say I still hadn't received the boxes yet and they said they had no record of my phone call and that I'd been getting their signal all month so I owed them a month's bill which I received on the 6th. They said again that they were sending the boxes on 9/29 and I got a confirming robot call on the 5th telling me I had to send their equipment into them, but guess what? Still no boxes.

I'm not worried about them charging for the equipment and services, though. The credit card we used two years ago to start the account was closed last year. They can try to charge it for their equipment but they won't get anywhere. And they can't charge our checking account because that's not the number on file for the equipment.

Wish they'd send the dang boxes out, though. DH has the dish pulled down but I want to get this equipment out of our house.

 

[bicker]

All the various options have their strengths and their weaknesses. No option is the best option for everyone. In some areas, cable is a lot more reliable than satellite; in a few places that's not the case. In some areas, cable has picture quality as good as satellite; in a few areas, that's not the case. U-verse, specifically, tends to be known for over-compression, and for being more restrictive about how many video feeds they'll support into your home. They also tend to run a little less expensive than the alternatives, as a result. Billing problems, and weather-related inconsistency, tend to be most noticeable with the satellite services, while high prices tend to be a pet peeve of a lot of cable customers. And so on. And very often the same supplier will be considered great by some customers and poor by others, for reasons that have little to do with how well they do what they say they're going to do.

Perhaps start at the beginning: Why are you looking to switch providers? What do you have to improve by making the move?

 

[mamacatnv]

U-Verse the past 1.5 years - love it
Prior to that we had Dish which except for weather outages we also really liked.

 

[MIGrandma]

My parents used to have Direct TV, and they were pleased for years and years. My dad switched them over to DISH a while back just to try it, and my mom doesn't like it at all. When I'm over there watching TV, I don't like trying to use their menus, guides, etc. It just doesn't seem user friendly. In fact now that I think about it, my in-laws went through this same thing - switching from Direct TV to DISH and being disappointed.

We rented a cabin in the UP for a week this summer, and the cabin had Dish Network. I felt the same as you about their guide, and it not being very user friendly.

 

[tvguy]

The picture is absolutely fantastic! You can only get that digital picture from Verizon and AT&T. !

Actually, since the digital switch in June of last year, everything is digital, even off air. Nothing on any system is analog anymore.

 

[quadwriter85]

We have DirecTV and have no major problems with our service other weather related problems which clear up after awhile. The customer service is pretty good as far I can my parents and I have never had any issues.

 

[dislaney]

We had cable for years and recently made the switch to DirectTV. So far we are very happy with the switch. The customer service is so much better than cable ever was.