Cable Vs Satellite

[scottmandue]

Time for my Saturday morning question:

I live in a part of Los Angeles that is behind a hill from all the TV station antenna's so if we want any TV we have to go to satellite or cable. For years I had cable but at the time they were the only game in town so the service was kind of spotty but what could you do. Along comes satellite and the are the new game in town so they come to you house, install everything for free, great reception, I have been a happy camper for years. I decide to upgrade to a DVR receiver, they deliver it to my house, set it up for me and leave. Turns out the unit is defective, so I call in (and wait on hold for fifteen minutes) and they inform me that I will have to pay $15 for shipping to get a new working receiver .
Oh and it gets better, now that I have the new receiver it's obvious that the old one was bad when the installed it .
And I had to call three separate times (fifteen minutes on hold each time) before I get someone on the other end of the line competent enough to enable my new receiver.

I have called and emailed to complain to no avail.

Seems Dishnetwork has grown to were they feel they don't need to worry about customer service anymore.

I have heard that the satellite company's have merged so there is only one you can go to now, anyone know if that is true?

I am going to look into cable and see what they are offering... yes I will have to pay a penalty because of the contract but Dishnetwork sucks so bad at this point I think it is the only way for me to register my disappointment with their service (or lack thereof)

[Porsche-O-Phile]

There's nothing you can get on the "rabbit ears" broadcast stations worth watching anyway - unless you speak Spanish.

We went through this dilemma a couple years ago. Up to that point I'd been ardently against the idea of paying for television. I viewed it as a waste of time, brain-rotting activity that yielded a very low return on one's investment (time spent watching it and $$$ cost if you're paying for it). I still believe this to a point.

HOWEVER, when we moved into our place it had a coax. cable running to the box in the wall. I plugged it into the television and whaddya' know?!?! We got free cable. Cool. I didn't ask if this was "included" in our rent and didn't care. It's not like I spliced into the lines to steal it - they were just giving it to us. Fine. Whatever. I still didn't watch all that much but did enjoy a few programs on Discovery, Science Channel, National Geographic, etc. as well as some sports events occasionally.

Then someone got wise and pulled the plug. Dilemma ensued.

I talked to the wife about it and we decided that as much as I had a moral objection to having to pay for television, we actually did get an amount of enjoyment out of watching the stuff we'd been watching for free to the point we'd be willing to pay a reasonable rate for it. Plus the World Series was approaching and I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan. So I decided to look at the options. Option #1 was cable. They'd need to send out a technician (why I have no idea) and it would take 1-2 weeks. Option #2 was to get satellite.

We went down to Best Buy, found a decent satellite setup with Tivo and bought it for about $200. Within two hours of having it unpacked at home we were up and running. That easy. I rigged up a bracket in an existing window so we didn't have to be crawling around on a rooftop or anything or have a tech. come out (in 1-2 weeks) which would have required all sorts of B.S. approval from our landlord, etc. I simply removed one screen from an existing window, replaced it with a same-sized piece of plywood with the bracket for the dish already attached to it (took about 15 minutes with a drill, saw and some bolts). I then placed the plywood into the particular window panel, aimed the dish and voila! It actually looks halfway decent too. The window in question doesn't really face anything other than an alley and it's surruptitious and not subject to getting knocked out of whack by maintenance dudes messing around on the roof or whatever. Obviously this may or may not be required in your case depending on whether you own or not and what the orientation of your place is.

Long story short we pay about $50 a month for pretty much everything I have any interest in - gives the local channels (can't think of when the last time I watched one is though), the "basic" stuff like ESPN, Discovery, etc. and the Tivo service. It ain't bad. Tivo is a godsend. You simply tell it what you want to watch and it'll record it and you watch it whenever you have the time or inclination.

I still have a bit of a problem paying for television that has commercial advertising, but there really isn't any way around it until "on demand" stuff becomes available. For now it's fine. If they ever raised the rates any I'd probably cancel it.

If you get it, be VERY careful of not getting suckered by "add-on" crap like the "premium packages". Stick with the basic unless you actually have a need for it. I'm more than happy with what I get for my 5-hours-a-week worth of watching or whatever it is. At least I get to do it on my own time and it's stuff that I actually enjoy.

So +1 for satellite. Works for me anyway.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

BTW our service is with Direct TV, not Dish Network. We looked at both and at the time DTV looked better. Perhaps simply switching providers would yield better results for you?

[Joeaksa]

Did not know that the two sat companies had merged. Do not like Dish network but thats just me.

Had very good service with DirectTV and if I was not with cable now would be using it. For many years my boss paid for my high speed internet and so it was cheaper. Now its just not worth the hassle to switch unless the price was vastly different.

Could not put up with either no TV or rabbit ears, especially during formula one season...

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
BTW our service is with Direct TV, not Dish Network. We looked at both and at the time DTV looked better. Perhaps simply switching providers would yield better results for you?

Do you get speed with the minimum package?

I don't get any movie packages and what burns me even more is they are hitting me with a $5 leasing fee that they put in the small print after giving me the impression the DVR receiver was a freebie.

FWIW I hate paying for TV also.

[scottmandue]

Just went to the DTV site, looks like you do get speed with the minimum package and $5 for DVR.

Now I just need to check and see how much DNW is going to screw me for backing out of my contract.

I am going to presume that they may even be able to use the old dish on the roof.

[Halm]

The 2 companies wanted to merge but the SEC said "no". That was a couple of years ago.

We have DTV and really like it. We have one HD receiver pushing a plasma EDTV and the picture is better than our son's HDTV with cable HD feed.

[Joeaksa]

Scott,

You can find places that will sell you the equipment for next to nothing. Old dish will not work with DTV, different LNB I believe.

[Seahawk]

I have been a DTV user for almost eleven years. There have been some issues, none too vexing. Since I live in the country, we went to Direcway internet six years ago and have loved it. One dish, two services.

Edit: Direcway is now Hughesnet...better interfaces.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea, I get speed & fuel both.

[scottmandue]

Cool, DTV here I come.

Thanks guys

[fastpat]

We went to sat TV about three years ago, we'll never go back to cable TV as far as we're concerned, even if cable was available here. When we moved from CA to SC, they moved our service for us, and installed new equipment here. When the equipment was lightning damaged, they sent out a tech who rewired quite a bit and gave us two new receivers. For us, service has been excellent, way better than cable ever was.

We also went to TiVo when we went to Sat TV and recommend it for everyone as well.

[nota]

no SPEED on local cable
so no F-1

so we went with sat
free boxs [2 for 4 tvs] inc a DVR and free install
rain sucks loss of signal every hard rain

[fastpat]

Originally posted by nota

rain sucks loss of signal every hard rain

Somethings up with your equipment then, or your view of the sky is not optimal; we've never had that issue.

[Moses]

I have DirecTv with Tivo built in to the DirecTv reciever. LOVE it
. DirecTv's service has been flawless for 10+ years. During a torrential downpour, the picture will pixellate for 5 seconds or so. Happens once or twice every other year. No big deal.

I wouldn't watch TV without Tivo.

[scottmandue]

Checked local cable company website, they want $20-$30 more a month and provide fewer channels (they start a $68)... that was the whole reason I went to satellite in the first place, don't know how they stay in business.

I need to find out how much the penalty for backing out of my Dishnetwork contract early is however DirectTV has a free install offer, free receiver, a free iPod, and they are about $10-$15 less a month... seems like a no brainier.

Even if Squishnetwork dings me $100 for cutting them loose I will save more than that in a year.

[Moneyguy1]

Pictures can pixellate with cable as well, and signal strength varies from "channel" to "channel" (-14db to +3db on adjacent stations).

Service is provided by folks who, charitibly, can be considered "untrained". (One "solving" a problem by removing the HDMI cable on a hidef tv and replacing it with 75 ohm coax).

The only reason I have not switched to satellite is their insistence on a direct phone connection. We use the "land line" strictly for local calls and cell (Verizon) for on-the-road and long distance.

Our local cable provider is COX and many people who fall for their inflated tier offerings are jokingly referred to as COX suckers. Conversations with the local Attorney General garnered me the address of the City/County contact that is in charge of reveiewing the renewal of the cable contract. Seems as it there are a considerable number of unhappy campers.

BTW...Do all satellite companies charge the $4.99 for each set's converter box?

[scottmandue]

Ditto on the Tivo (DVR), out of habit I still go through the hundred some channels when I get home from work only to find ca-ca... then I go to my recordings and see it has picked up a couple of shows I like while I was at work or in the middle of the night.

I am looking forward to calling Squishnetwork:
Hello I would like to cancel my service.
But sir you will have to pay a penalty to end your contract.
Yes, I know but your company sucks so bad it's worth it.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
BTW...Do all satellite companies charge the $4.99 for each set's converter box?

Before I upgraded to the DVR box there was no charge for the old receiver,I am going to go back to the DTV website but I don't think they charge for receiver either. Got to check the small print:

FREE INSTALLATION AND RECEIVER
for the first three months

However both satellite companies and COX charge around $5 monthly for Tivo (DVR) service.

[fintstone]

I had cable for years and switched to Dish. Dish was much better and less expensive at the time. After many years I switched back to cable. I now like it better. The bonus is the low cost, high speed internet that one can get via cable.