Dish or Direct Tv?

[Pembo]

Our cable company keeps raising the rates and we keep losing channels...so I'm looking into other options.

Any opinions on Dish or Direct TV???

 

[golfgal]

We switched to Dish Network after major issues with our cable company and haven't had any complaints at all.

 

[TB'sWidow]

We just switched to directtv after issues with our cable company. Best decision I ever made wish I would have done it sooner. Mary

 

[dizluvah]

We have been Directv lovers for 12 years - decision is easy for us - we like NFL football and you can only get all the NFL games (buying extra package) on Directv...

 

[Planogirl]

We have Dish and like it just fine. In fact I refused to think about an AT&T bundle when we switched to AT&T DSL because I saw no need to fool with a good thing.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

We have DirectTV and we love it Having the same options and features on the Dish network would have cost us a fortune

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

We had Dish for a while and refuse to ever get it again. It would lose all of it's program information about once a week so it would then not DVR anything I needed it to. They've had to come and fix our equipment a lot at no fault of our own but we still had to pay for new stuff.

Also, a snow storm one year completely wiped our TV out for 2 weeks before they got around to fixing it... the problem wasn't even at our house. Funny enough, we were still charged for the full bill that month.

Right after that we switched it to Comcast and have been insanely happy with them. They're really the best.

 

[golfgal]

We have DirectTV and we love it Having the same options and features on the Dish network would have cost us a fortune

I just priced out switching to Direct TV to see if we could save money, the first 3 months ok, but after that it is about $10/month MORE than Dish, bummer.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

I have had both...I really truly like Dish much better! better channels choice and better customer service!

 

[iwrbnd]

We've had Direct TV for many years. We love it. Their customer service has been excellent!

 

[DVCMikey]

Direct TV, only one dish needed for the entire house...i think you can have up to 7 receivers, which is more.

they have more channels. and the DVR is way better.

 

[crz4mm2]

We had Directv out here in the boondocks for YEARS, then I got a wild hair and switched to DISH.
As soon as I could, I switched BACK to Directv.

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

I love my DirecTV, especially the 101 DirecTV channel which Dish does not have. We've been with DirecTV for 12 years now. Once you've been a customer for a couple of years, you will have bargaining power and they will give you freebies if you threaten to switch to Dish. Right now I am getting $10 off my bill for a year, six months free Showtime and Starz, three months free extra HD channels (ten channels, I think) and something else "free" that I can't remember right now. They always give me something each year as a freebie on my anniversary date, such as free Showtime or free sports channels for six months. I am very happy with DirecTV.

 

[holycow]

We just got Dish in Feb. and wish we had done it sooner. So far no issues and lots of channels!

 

[ntsammy5]

Have DirectTv and love it - 10 years now. Would never go back to cable.

 

[iheartjacksparrow]

I love my DirecTV, especially the 101 DirecTV channel which Dish does not have. We've been with DirecTV for 12 years now. Once you've been a customer for a couple of years, you will have bargaining power and they will give you freebies if you threaten to switch to Dish. Right now I am getting $10 off my bill for a year, six months free Showtime and Starz, three months free extra HD channels (ten channels, I think) and something else "free" that I can't remember right now. They always give me something each year as a freebie on my anniversary date, such as free Showtime or free sports channels for six months. I am very happy with DirecTV.

Wow that's interesting! We have Directtv and love it! We haven't had it for a year yet, but i'll be sure to try this out!

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

OP I see you are in Ohio do you have Time Warner? Ours has been stuttering/pausing latley and our dvr gets full quickly.We (mostly DH) have also been thinking about swithcing to Dish or Direct TV. We have also considered ATT Uvirse (sp) but do not know much about it. We have our cable, dsl and home phone all through different providers. I am interested to see the responses.

 

[Pembo]

Familyof4 - We are in Ohio and have Time Warner. We have the basic cable and the rates keep going up, a $1 or $2/month and in the last few months we've lost a few channels including Style and Nick.

 

[Kitty 34]

Got DISH last summer and haven't regretted a day with it.

 

[bicker]

Our cable company keeps raising the rates and we keep losing channels...so I'm looking into other options.

I keep a pretty close eye on the industry (as a lot of folks here can attest to), and generally, everyone raises rates. And you're not losing channels, but rather, cable companies are adopting the satellite service's model of requiring a converter box for higher levels of service. Those channels are still there -- you just have to pay more and deal with a box to get them. But that's always been true of the satellite services. In essence, the satellite services, by engaging in this "more HD channels" war, have forced the cable companies to become just like the satellite services.

So if you'd like a change to satisfy personal frustrations, then surely switching to satellite is a good move. However, overall, and in the long run, there won't be a significant difference in your experience, on average. You'll just have someone else's systems and processes to learn.

That's not the say that specific individuals wouldn't be better off with one service versus another. Rather, just that overall, the services on average are comparable to each other, for the price each charges. So to determine whether satellite would be better for you, you need to solicit advice from people who are just like you. Otherwise, you're getting advice from people who may be better off with satellite, even though you wouldn't be.