Directv, Dish, U-Verse, Cable?

[ThisIsJason]

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

Wanna bet? Because I know plenty of people who still have analog cable.

 

[cglaura]

I'm still on analog / basic Comcast cable, $12.06 per month, with a big ol' 17 year old honkin 35" crt 10,000lb tv . I just can't bring myself to replace something not broken! When I say analog, I mean we don't need any type of digital tv or converter box. The cable just goes right into the tv. Not sure if that is "analog" or what.

I'm hating Comcast more and more. As channels go digital, of course it gets taken away from the basic lineup. I am down to about 10 channels...whereas before the transition I had about 70 or so.

Now I received a notice, we are losing NJN next week, one of the channels we watch most. Because it is going digital I'd need to get a converter box, and upgrade to their lowest tier pkg....an extra $50 or so a month, plus the cost of the box for each set after a year.

I have Netflix now, and am looking into Roku to stream to the TV, and maybe pay the $12 of cancelled Comcast towards the Hulu Plus instead (can view on Roku).

 

[AndyLL]

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!!

Dish is in a contract dispute with fox and the channels will come back.

That said... dish has dropped several other channels we watch and we are considering moving to Direct TV.

I would never go back to cable after satellite

 

[barkley]

you get very spoiled with direct tv once you get used to using all the features-in fact it drives me crazy when we go to a hotel or a relatives without it (love the guide vs cable ones that you have to wait until it reels on to the channel you are wondering about). their customer service is realy good, and despite living in the boondocks we can usualy get a tech out in 48 hours max.

a couple of suggestions if you go with direct tv-

find a friend or family member who has it and do the customer referral program-both you and the person who refers you gets $10 a month off your bill for the next 10 months.

if you live in an area where it snows-try to get the dish installed within relativly easy reach. while we don't have many issues with ours losing the signal during bad weather, for some reason if we get one of those light snows that just stick-the signal can get wonky. we've found that if we use one of those extention dusters they make to clean ceiling fans to brush the snow off the signal comes back fine.

 

[bicker]

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

Well, that's not exactly the mechanics of it (though the end-result is pretty-much the same). The switchover in June of last year was for over-the-air television. There was no requirement for cable channels and/or cable systems to switchover. And there are some low-power over-the-air stations that did not switchover last June. There are lots of equivocations to be made in this regard.

However, like I said, the end-result is pretty-much the same. No cable system of any appreciable size operates as an analog-only system. Indeed, offering analog service is considered a bonus, and consumers and municipal leaders express concern about all the systems, like U-Verse, that went to digital-only service, thereby rendering all the analog televisions out there useless without a converter box. And U-Verse's digital transmission is not superior to that of many other cable companies, especially for the channels that viewers watch most.

There are some good things to say about U-Verse: This isn't one of them.

 

[bicker]

I'm still on analog / basic Comcast cable, $12.06 per month, with a big ol' 17 year old honkin 35" crt 10,000lb tv . I just can't bring myself to replace something not broken! When I say analog, I mean we don't need any type of digital tv or converter box. The cable just goes right into the tv. Not sure if that is "analog" or what.

It is.

I'm hating Comcast more and more. As channels go digital, of course it gets taken away from the basic lineup. I am down to about 10 channels...whereas before the transition I had about 70 or so.

So here you see a consumer "hating" Comcast for being consumer-friendly, by offering analog service, longer than their competitors, such as U-Verse (who actually never offered this service that better fits your needs). With all due respect, that doesn't make sense. There are some good reasons to not like Comcast. This is not one of them.

 

[MichelleVW]

Dish is in a contract dispute with fox and the channels will come back.

That said... dish has dropped several other channels we watch and we are considering moving to Direct TV.

I would never go back to cable after satellite

That really doesn't really help me now when I want to watch "Lunch with the Rangers" and couldn't watch the last few regular season games.

I'm hoping they come back and we don't have to switch, but I wouldn't recommend switching to Dish now.

 

[Rora]

We have DirecTV and like it a lot. We're considering switching to U-Verse but I would totally recommend DirecTV.

 

[Stitchfans]

Since we live in the country now all we can have is Direct Tv so far not impressed or happy at all. Only had them for a little over 2 months and we have had to replace the equipment for the third time now. They keep giving us shoddy, cheap equipment that does not last very long. Due to this we have been without cable for almost a week now. They are suppose to come tomorrow around 4 to 8 in the evening.

 

[daughtersrus]

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.

We've had Dish Network for several years now. Honestly, we've only lost signal a handful of times and that was only for a short time. We lost it more often when we had Comcast Cable.

We thought about switching to UVerse because of the offers but when we realized that we could not pause or rewind live tv (unless you're recording the show) we decided against it. When we first got our DVR with Dish, DH thought that it was a dumb feature. Guess who uses it the most now?!

 

[lemondog]

We've had Dish Network for several years now. Honestly, we've only lost signal a handful of times and that was only for a short time. We lost it more often when we had Comcast Cable.

We thought about switching to UVerse because of the offers but when we realized that we could not pause or rewind live tv (unless you're recording the show) we decided against it. When we first got our DVR with Dish, DH thought that it was a dumb feature. Guess who uses it the most now?!

Actually, you CAN rewind/pause live TV on U-verse, just only on the TV with the main DVR. The other TVs have remote "satellite" units that pull from the main DVR, which is why you can watch anything you record on any TV in the house.

We have had Uverse since January and so far are happy. We switched from analog cable with Comcast. Love the fact that with UVerse you can watch any show you record on any TV. Also love that I can program anything from my iPhone app. We bundle the Uverse with the phone and internet and it's actually a savings over our analog cable + separate phone and internet.

 

[daughtersrus]

Actually, you CAN rewind/pause live TV on U-verse, just only on the TV with the main DVR. The other TVs have remote "satellite" units that pull from the main DVR, which is why you can watch anything you record on any TV in the house.

For us, that is a big issue as the tv that DH watches most would not be the one connected to the DVR.

We have had Uverse since January and so far are happy. We switched from analog cable with Comcast. Love the fact that with UVerse you can watch any show you record on any TV.

Our DVR is connected to 2 TVs so we can watch recorded shows on either. Our third TV ( in our bedroom) has it's own receiver but not a DVR. The TVs in DD's rooms are only on an antenna.

Also love that I can program anything from my iPhone app.

There's an app for Dish Network as well. I don't have an iPhone so I don't know exactly how it works.

We bundle the Uverse with the phone and internet and it's actually a savings over our analog cable + separate phone and internet.

Our Dish Network bill is bundled billed with ATT as well. Before they started Uverse, they had a contract with Dish Network. The only thing that we can't get with Dish because of the bundle is the "free HD for life" offer.

 

[bicker]

A note about U-Verse: They're prepping their customers for even more carriage disputes. In addition to the current interruption of Hallmark, they're warning about possible loss of several Scripps networks, such as Food Network and HGTV at the end of the month. The end of next month, FamilyNet's contract is up, as is the contract for Bloomberg.

 

[tvguy]

Well, that's not exactly the mechanics of it (though the end-result is pretty-much the same). The switchover in June of last year was for over-the-air television. There was no requirement for cable channels and/or cable systems to switchover. And there are some low-power over-the-air stations that did not switchover last June. There are lots of equivocations to be made in this regard.

However, like I said, the end-result is pretty-much the same. No cable system of any appreciable size operates as an analog-only system. Indeed, offering analog service is considered a bonus, and consumers and municipal leaders express concern about all the systems, like U-Verse, that went to digital-only service, thereby rendering all the analog televisions out there useless without a converter box. And U-Verse's digital transmission is not superior to that of many other cable companies, especially for the channels that viewers watch most.

There are some good things to say about U-Verse: This isn't one of them.

I'll have to check with our Chief Engineer. I checked a few markets and I can't find a single LPTV stations that isn't digital. Comcast faced a revolt last year, because at least here, they gave customers 90 days notice to come in and exchange their analog cable boxes for digital. They finally extended it by another 30 days, but then they shut off analog altogether. Issue wasn't cost, digital costs the same, what had people up in arms was if you wanted someone to come and install the digital box, there was a $75 service fee.

 

[bicker]

There are indeed a few analog LPTV channels left... but moves are afoot to end that in the next couple of years.

http://www.commlawblog.com/2010/09/articles/broadcast/analog-lptv-the-end-is-near-maybe-really-near/

 

[Poohbear123]

We've had Dish Network for several years now. Honestly, we've only lost signal a handful of times and that was only for a short time. We lost it more often when we had Comcast Cable.

We thought about switching to UVerse because of the offers but when we realized that we could not pause or rewind live tv (unless you're recording the show) we decided against it. When we first got our DVR with Dish, DH thought that it was a dumb feature. Guess who uses it the most now?!

We had(have) Dish for about 3 years now.....my 70 year old DH decided to get U Verse.....what a BIG MISTAKE that was....took 2 weeks to get the lines outside working right, than they install it and our computers were down for 28 hours, and than when that got fixed, HE realized what a BIG mistake U Verse is due to the pause and rewind thing, plus the fact, you can't pre-set a channel to come on like with Dish....so...WE GOT DISH BACK AND WE LOVE IT!!!!!

 

[luvmyfam444]

We are trying to make this decision too - or so I thought. I think dh has already signed on the line with uverse without discussing it with me....

 

[luvmyfam444]

A note about U-Verse: They're prepping their customers for even more carriage disputes. In addition to the current interruption of Hallmark, they're warning about possible loss of several Scripps networks, such as Food Network and HGTV at the end of the month. The end of next month, FamilyNet's contract is up, as is the contract for Bloomberg.

Where can I read the info about the uverse disputes? Food netwrk & HGTV are kinda huge channels here...so that wouldnt do any good.

I hate the idea of going with a new service/program I like to wait for a long while to make sure all the kinks are out & then read the DIS reviews before deciding on it.

 

[luvmyfam444]

As far as your question...we have Direct TV and LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! We've had it this time only about 1 yr - prevously we had it for about 2yrs til dh got some good promotion on local cable then he swapped. And then about 12yrs ago we had it for about 4yrs. We love it so much we keep going back.

I LOVE the fact that if there is a time when you can't afford to pay - or are on vacation,etc then you can put your service on hold for up to 1 year. It's great.

Dh falls for the latests sales calls.....so that's why it keeps getting changed.

We do loose service & its not it the bad storms its just when its a bit windy & rainy. but it usually is for no more than 10mins - if that long.

 

[cglaura]

It is.

So here you see a consumer "hating" Comcast for being consumer-friendly, by offering analog service, longer than their competitors, such as U-Verse (who actually never offered this service that better fits your needs). With all due respect, that doesn't make sense. There are some good reasons to not like Comcast. This is not one of them.

I'm hating them because they've taken away 50-60 of my channels, but they didn't lower my bill. Instead, if I want the channels back, I'd have to pay them $50 more per month. Makes sense to me to not like them anymore. I guess hate isn't the right word. Annoyed. DD would reprimand me for even using the word hate in this house. I can see they took it away b/c they went digital, but you'd think they'd adjust my bill accordingly.