DirecTV or Comcast?

[Toad_Passenger]

I live in Comcast's backyard (Philly burbs). They were the "go-to" because that's all people around here knew, but they have really taken a hit in our area. Most people now just refer to them as Comcrap, or, simply, the Devil .

When I left Comcast, I chose Dish Network because they offered me the channels I wanted for a price that Comcast couldn't touch, even with their "promos."

I'm now with Verizon FiOS because, again, the price was unbeatable, and I have found their service (picture quality, HD offerings, etc.) heads and tails better than what I had with Dish and Comcast. I'm out of my "promo" period and the price is still nowhere near what Comcast could give me.

Oddly enough when I've talked to people in other parts of the country, the Comcast charges would be significantly less. One would think since I live in their home area they would be trying to keep us as customers, but pretty much everyone on our block now has a Dish on top of their house, or has had the Verizon man at their door.

I would go with DirecTV.

 

[bicker]

Oddly enough when I've talked to people in other parts of the country, the Comcast charges would be significantly less. One would think since I live in their home area they would be trying to keep us as customers

Bad assumption. That's always been one of the more expensive areas that Comcast serves. There's nothing about where a company is based that significantly affects its pricing. Most pharmaceutical companies based in the US charge Americans a lot more for their products than they charge in other countries. Surely not everything works this way, but some do -- again, there is no relationship between where a company is based on its pricing.

 

[RyeCrimsonMoon]

The major problem I've seen with the Dish are these two things:
1. When it rains a little, it goes out. My friends didn't have TV for like 2 days because of the rain. It was kind of annoying.

2. They don't get the basic 4 channels. No ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. Well, the main TV does, but he has to do something weird to get it, and it looks really bad. (And thats REALLY hard, because his TV is HUGE). A lot of the shows I watch are on these channels, so I really want them!

That just may be around here, but they're the major reasons why I'm not getting a Dish.

 

[merlib]

Just bumpin to see if we can get anymore advice! (I'm the "other half").

Merlib OKW '93

 

[ICF]

The major problem I've seen with the Dish are these two things:
1. When it rains a little, it goes out. My friends didn't have TV for like 2 days because of the rain. It was kind of annoying.

Then there is likely either an install problem or something blocking the dish (such as trees / mountains). I've had either Dish or Direct since 1998 and seldom lose the signal. They have to be VERY large storms and when it's out it is typically out for less than 5 minutes.

2. They don't get the basic 4 channels. No ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. Well, the main TV does, but he has to do something weird to get it, and it looks really bad. (And thats REALLY hard, because his TV is HUGE). A lot of the shows I watch are on these channels, so I really want them!

That just may be around here, but they're the major reasons why I'm not getting a Dish.

It must be where you live as both Dish and Direct provide the local broadcast networks to the vast majority of the country.

 

[MickeySP]

I am switching from Verizon back to Comcast, I know my customer service will be beyond reproach. I give birth to it LOL!!

My DS is now a Comcast Team Coach and I know for a fact they are trying to rectify all the bad impressions.

 

[bicker]

It must be where you live as both Dish and Direct provide the local broadcast networks to the vast majority of the country.

That's actually a pretty recent development though. As a matter of fact, before 2007, there was regulation of basic cable service (i.e., the local channels) in practically every town in the country. Now, every week I see about a half-dozen petitions granted by the FCC declaring in each petition between one and twenty different towns now have effective competition for basic cable service, and therefore regulation being lifted in those towns. And in most of those petition, the competition for basic cable service cited is from Dish Network and DirecTV.

Folks would do well to note the impact of this: In some of these communities, cable companies are already doing away with basic service, requiring (as Dish Network and DirecTV do) some higher level of service (i.e., including cable networks like Disney and ESPN) in order to get basic service. Basic service has been a money-loser for a long time, and now that the regulations requiring low-cost basic service are being lifted, there is a trend moving away from providing it at what has been, perhaps, below cost.

 

[Tee it Up]

Just a quick update on my end. After calling both Direct and AT&T yesterday, all I was able to get was $20/mo off on Direct and $5/mo off on AT&T. I thin part of the problem is that Direct is telling me they don't bundle with any of the other carriers in our area so there aren't any promo deals available.

The discounts are bringing the two services closer together especially since I think I would need to get boxes for at least 2 of my other TVs. They are older and no doubt not digital. Does anyone know how much per month Comcast charges for them?

 

[bicker]

Comcast includes one STB and two DTAs with every digital package. The STB can get all the channels, while the DTAs generally can only get those in the Digital Starter package ("expanded basic tier").

 

[bumbershoot]

No, it wasn't Adelphia. I'm in CT and we had Tele-Media before Comcast took over.

I was going to say that your customer service might be questionable if you are anywhere BUT the pacific NW. From what I've learned around here, the CS reps we (in WA) call work directly for Comcast and have the ability to change things and help customers. While CS reps in other areas are contractors who don't have the same abilities.

All I know is that we've always had great CS from Comcast, even when we've had to try a few times to get them to fix things...I don't think their internal computer systems are very good, personally, just b/c of the way things have been calculated while we are on the phone with them.


In addition, we don't have phone with them, just cable and internet, but it's in MY name and I think I've called them once in the last several years. Long ago we had me tell them "you have permission to talk to my husband, his name is Robert blah", and that's been on our account ever since! He'll even call them while away on business trips when I have problems and don't want to call (I don't like the phone). Easy peasy.

If these claims were true, why would the new platform be "xfinity by Comcast"?

Well, we *like* Comcast, but we feel strongly that they are starting to move away from the Comcast name and into xfinity. The "by comcast" bit is getting smaller in font and quieter in volume, in the ads we've seen, and we won't be surprised if the company will just be called xfinity in a year or so.


Of course the funny part is that the CS reps messed up and put xfinity on our account...and the moment that happened, my connection time got very very slow. Finally had them take it off, and now my connection time is normal. Not so fast for us!

 

[bicker]

I was going to say that your customer service might be questionable if you are anywhere BUT the pacific NW.

Or the Northeast. Great customer service in the Northeast as well.

Mid-Atlantic, especially around their headquarters -- no-so-much.

 

[bicker]

consistently rated worst in the industry for customer no-service.

Following-up on this point.

Facebook hated as much as airlines, cable companies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38324957/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/​

It just goes to show that often consumers don't dislike businesses for rational reasons, but rather because of how big and influential they are.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We have DirecTV. For the same reason as the OP, we tested a move to Comcast. I kept my DTV subscription but brought in Comcast for a month to see how we liked it. We decided that it was worth the extra money to stay with DTV.

A lot of this debate seems to be about customer service. I had decent service from both companies. I don't use the CS much, but I've never had a problem when I did. The only issue I had with Comcast was when a lightning strike took out my cable modem and they wanted two weeks to replace it. I don't consider two weeks with no internet access resonable, so I switched to DSL.

As for why we opted to stay with DTV over Comcast, it was pretty much all based on the set top boxes. We have two TV's in our house, both with HD DVRs. The problems with the Comcast box were:

1) 7 days of "TV Guide" instead of 14. The biggest problem with this was that, if you watched a show and decided to record more of them, you couldn't. It was already in the past, so you couldn't go back. The next week's episode wasn't on the guide yet, so you couldn't go forward. Instead, you had to wait a day and then remember to record it.

2) You couldn't customize your channel lineup. We watch fewer than 20 channels and have no interest in paging through the others on the guide. With the DTV box, it was easy to create a custom channel guide. With Comcast it wasn't possible. That lead to another problem - Comcast offered "adult" channels that we didn't subscribe to, but which we couldn't remove from the guide. Some of the show titles we rather innappropriate for kids.

3) The Comcast DVR wasn't very reliable. It missed shows for reasons we couldn't understand. When shows shifted in time, it didn't find them. We had more "failure to record" problems in our month with Comcast than we had in years with DTV. That may have been user error, but if so, I'm blaming it on their dreadful user interface.

The only advantages, other than price, we found with Comcast were freedom from rain fade (which probably prevents us from watching about 30 minutes a year of TV) and the local PBS channel in HD. The latter problem was solved by DTV last year. The former could be solved by using a bigger dish, but it hasn't been enough of an issue to worry about.

Subsequent to our test, DTV has added a features that we really appreciate. First, we can watch shows recorded on the DVRs on our computers. That has been handy when the kids want to watch different shows but neither wants to go upstairs and watch it in the theater. Second, each DVR can watch what was recorded on the other DVR. I also like the ability to program the DVR from our smartphones. It is possible that Comcast has added these features since our comparison (DTV didn't have them then), but no failure to keep up with technology on Comcast's part would surprise me.

The other difference that was noticeable was in picture quality. It was better on our locals with Comcast, which was most noticeable during sporting events. It was worse on everything else. In neither case was the difference extreme, but it was noticeable. Also, DTV had more HD channels at that time, but both have been adding them, so I don't know that there is a difference now.

We cut our DTV bill by switching to the Family Package. It's siginficantly cheaper, but it has very few channels. We lost ESPN (which I miss, but not that much), the MTV type channels (which I love not having in my house), and a bunch of stuff we never watch. We get all of the locals, Disney, Nick, HGTV, and the Science channel, which covered everything that anyone had recorded on either DVR for a long time. My wife did miss E! and IFC, but she agreed that they weren't worth the cost. I'm tempted to upgrade for ESPN during college football season, but I probably won't bother. Maybe someday when A&M isn't quite so embarrassing to watch.

 

[browneyes106]

I'm a DirecTV customer and have only had a few problems with it. The only times I would lose service during a really bad snow or rain storms. Customer service has been pretty reliable and helpful. I have heard a lot of bad stories about Comcast. My sister is currently a customer with them because she lives in an apartment and due to the location of her apartment she can't get satellite. My sister is buying a home within the next few months and she plans to get DirecTV and has looked into it.

Based on what I have heard and read it Directv seems to be more reliable.

 

[bicker]

Keeping that in perspective ... It is only in very very small portions of Comcast's service area where its service is not more reliable than satellite service.

 

[mrsv98]

We've had comcast cable for 5 years now. We got the triple play incl phone and internet about 2 years ago. Last year the extended the first year deal, and a few weeks ago I called and they again lowered my package price. I had thought about direct TV and Fios but they couldn't beat comcast prices. Our total bill for cable with sho, hbo, starz, and cinemax in 4 rooms with 2 DVRs, wireless internet and unlimited phone is $185/month. I priced the same with Vios and it was closer to $200. Haven't priced direct TV but will get their prices once we move next month and have a place for the dish.

We have had no issues with the phone, very few with the internet service, and I can't think of too many cable issues either. Maybe we are just lucky.

We have almost exactly the same deal and experience. I think Customer Service can be hit or miss depending on where you live but we have been happy with them for over 10 years.

 

[Tee it Up]

Quick update...After getting a couple of small discounts from ATT and DTV, I decided to stay with what I have. I'm wondering now if I made the right choice. I have lost DTV twice in the past week because of weather, both times for about 20 minutes. It's so infuriating Now my DVR is giving me fits. It refuses to record 2 shows at the same time, telling me one conflicts with the other even though it used to do 2 at once. Now I have to hunt around to find the episode at another time. I've been tempted to call Comcast back and see if the old deal is still any good.

 

[bicker]

In the end, perturbations of service are going to happen with all of the providers. I wouldn't make any decisions based on a week's, or even a month's, experience. Things need to be continually going wrong, over a slightly longer period of time, than that, before I'd start making a new decision.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

If UVerse is available, you might look into it. We have had it for over a year and half and love it. We've had very few problems, and when we did, CS was a good and fast help.

You might also end up with a discount because you already have phone and internet with them.

 

[Tee it Up]

If UVerse is available, you might look into it. We have had it for over a year and half and love it. We've had very few problems, and when we did, CS was a good and fast help.

You might also end up with a discount because you already have phone and internet with them.

I've been waiting for U Verse for a while now. Even though the box is at the end of my street ATT tells me it's not available. I'm hoping I can get it soon