satellite tv

[davidpizzica]

I'm considering going with a satellite tv system. I'm getting tired of paying $52 a month for limited channels and rate hikes when they feel like it! What are your thoughts on the advantages or disavantages of having one?

[Grace]

We had satellite for about 5 years. You're going to get rate hikes with them, same as with cable.

We went to DISH because of the poor customer service from our local cable company. This past January we went back to cable for the same reason - the customer service with satellite was getting worse by the minute.

We got a great deal with cable: HSI, HD channels, all the movies for less than we would have paid using DISH for TV and cable for HSI combined.

That's not to say I wouldn't switch again in the future, but I would try DirecTV.

I'm sure everyone has a story to tell.

[king2005]

Never used a Dish, but I like Digital Cable with Rogers. Sure Rogers can be a pain in the BUTT, but if you get angry on the phone they solve your problems!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I would recommend DirecTV. We use them for TV in the motorhome. You will also encounter bad service and rate hikes, and also, you will most likely loose TV reception during bad thunderstorms. The satellite signal just can't make it through those big thunder clouds. However, plain old rainy days are no problem and in general reception is pretty good. For us, the biggest challenge was getting everything set up with DirecTV. Once our account was set up and everything was working, we really haven't had many problems at all.

[catlover4ever]

We have DirecTv at the house and love it. We have had our account for 3 years and no rate hikes yet (knock on wood). You will have a problem with heavy rain and thunder storms like Debbie said and you may have a problem with it if you get a lot of snow on the receive...then you have to go outside and clean the snow off...but all in all we love it.

[catnapper]

We just got rid of Dish Newtork. NEVER AGAIN!

The wind blew, the TV went out.

It drizzled, the TV went out

It stormed 3 counties away, TV went out.

A plane flew overhead, TV went out.

The dish was off more than it was on. When it was "working" we'd get flashes where it would go off for a moment or two (ALWAYS in the middle of a crucial moment in whatever show we were watching)

We couldn't wait to get rid of them. And trust us, their rate hikes were just as murderous as cable's. We're back to cable, only now have the digital cable. I like it, mainly because I've become addicted to the OnDemand part where I can watch tv shows without commercials and movies whenever I have free times instead of walking in on a moive halfway through. I didn't have OnDemand with Dish Network. We pay $20 less a month for cable than we did for Dish, but after a year it'll go back up.... so iun one year's time we'll be hunting for a new provider. I told both Dish and Comcast that they are only happy to bribe new customer but won't reward good customer with anything except rate hikes.

[Grace]

I told both Dish and Comcast that they are only happy to bribe new customer but won't reward good customer with anything except rate hikes.

Isn't that the truth! We have a friend in Arizona who had DISH. All the attractive offers, and no, they wouldn't give any to her because she was already a customer.

So she told them Bye-Bye, and switched to DirecTV. Then DISH was all over her - offering her every deal they had - just to get her to stay. She's staying with DirecTV - for now. When they refuse to give her good deals, in a few years, she'll change again. http://bestsmileys.com/lol/1.gif

[Pawsitive Thinking]

A variety of weird and wonderful sports..................

Absolutely no control of the remote...............

Never get to watch an entire programme all the way through..............

There are nights when even with all those channels there is actually still nothing worth watching...............

and, my particular favourite, never getting to watch anything on the movie channel although it was added to the package especially for me :D

[jazzcat]

We had Dishnetwork since 1996 and just this past Feb. we switched to DirecTV. It's been the best decision. They're customer service is great (Dish's was non-existent) and I've loved all the extra's DirecTV has given us plus we don't lose reception everytime it rains. Dish never gave us a thing! Even when I told them we were switching they didn't even try to keep us. The big plus is I love Tivo and with DirecTV I can have a two tuner Tivo which means it can record two programs at once. I can't do that with my stand alone Tivo.

I would NEVER consider going back to cable after having satellite.

[smokey the elder]

I bought DirecTV specifically for NFL Sunday Ticket so I could get the Packers games. I really like it. I think I can count on one hand the times I've lost signal in six years. Customer service has been really good, too.

[Glacier]

We have a Star Choice dish. Had it for years. Love it. I really like the guide. I hate the channel guide on the local cable. The only time we've had trouble with loosing service is when we get huge dumps of snow! After about a foot of snow, Stuart has to go up on the roof and brush the dish off! Doesn't happen very often though. Never had any trouble with it for other reasons. We just added a second receiver so Stuart can have his music in the shop and I don't have to listen to "classic rock" all day in the house too! There's a huge selection of digital music channels that we use a lot!

We pay about the same as cable would cost, but we have one of the biggest packages including all the movie channels. I love pay-per-view. It's actually cheaper for us than driving into town and renting a movie.

[PinkSunshine]

We have Dish Network (and have for 4 years now) and absolutely love it. NOT ONE SINGLE PROBLEM since we've had it. Never lost reception (although we do live in Ca and 'storms' aren't really a problem here) and love our DVR. (And with the DVR that came with our dish, we can record 3 programs at the same time!) I wouldn't be able to live without it now. I love not having to watch commercials anymore. We get something like 700 channels (all the movie channels as well) and pay something like $150/month for it. Sooo worth it.