*Poll* Direct TV vs. Dish Network - Educated Votes Only

[godspeedx]

We're going to either Dish Network or Direct TV soon. My friend has Dish but says that it bogs down in storms a lot, but has really nice channels. He recommended Direct if it's about the same price and said that it doesn't go down in storms as much.

I'm looking for opinions from people who have either used one or the other, or is knowledgeable on the subject.

Thanks A Lot!

 

[Ameesh]

i dont watch much sports so i had dish network and when i had i liked it, now that comcast offers HD Channels i switched to them

 

[Pliablemoose]

Honestly it's a toss up, about the same price/programming, I've had both, currently have DISH cuz I have a PVR IRD from them...

The signal thing is BS, they both lose signal in heavy weather, an a virtually identical fashon. If you want tv during bad weather, just have rabbit ears as a back up for locals to track the storms/tornados.

 

[JACKHAMMER]

It is a toss up. Depends on the content u watch, DTV has more sports. And the TIVO is just awesome. However Dish is getting PVR (really has, but not as good as TIVO IMo)

 

[olds]

I have had both. I voted DTV.
I am on cable now and may go back to satellite. When I looked a month or so ago, it seemed that DTV had better pricing for the packages.

 

[isekii]

I have dish network.
It doesn't bog down at all even during the severe storms.
His dish must either be installed incorrectly, his antenna needs replacement ( the thing in the center of the dish ) or it needs to be realigned.

Mine was acting up funny at first, only to find out that the installer ahole dropped it from the roof onto concrete, and put it in anyways. After the replacement center piece I haven't lost tv signal since.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Had both and vote Dish. In the end you'll get basically the same thing as far as price and programing go, although I actually believe Dish is a bit cheaper.

What it came down to for me is customer service. Directv has the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced, anywhere, hands down. Have a problem with your receiver? Tough sh!t. Call the manufacturer, etc. They really don't give a rats ass from my experience. Dish on the other hand is wonderful in that area.

Again, I'm basing my vote on that alone since I believe most other aspects of their service are fairly equal. Well, except for NFL Sunday Ticket. That's the one thing that bugs me about Dish.

Edit for tag snafu

 

[rudeguy]

I sell both.

Dish has a)cheaper equipment b)cheaper programming and c)better quality signal

this is just my opinion...but like I said, I sell this stuff everyday, and if I were going to go satelite (I cant at the apartment I live in) I would get Dish

 

[konichiwa]

Not sure about DTV vs. Dish by themselves, but DirecTivo is supposed to be awesome and the Dish PVR is just a ripoff.

 

[FoBoT]

i thought it was

sports == direct tv
movies == dish

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
Had both and vote Dish. In the end you'll get basically the same thing as far as price and programing go, although I actually believe Dish is a bit cheaper.

What it came down to for me is customer service. Directv has the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced, anywhere, hands down. Have a problem with your receiver? Tough sh!t. Call the manufacturer, etc. They really don't give a rats ass from my experience. Dish on the other hand is wonderful in that area.

Again, I'm basing my vote on that alone since I believe most other aspects of their service are fairly equal. Well, except for NFL Sunday Ticket. That's the one thing that bugs me about Dish.

Edit for tag snafu

The reason DTV won't help you with your reciever is because they didn't make it and you own it. Dish, on the other hand, leases their equipment to you, so it's their equipment and they're forced to help you.

I have DirecTV, had an access card go south on me. I called them up and had a new card overnighted to me the next day. I'd say that's pretty good customer service.

I've had both systems and like DirecTV better because of the sports options and the DirecTivo.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
I sell both.

Dish has a)cheaper equipment b)cheaper programming and c)better quality signal

this is just my opinion...but like I said, I sell this stuff everyday, and if I were going to go satelite (I cant at the apartment I live in) I would get Dish

Are you sure you can't? A few months ago they had a sat install guy on a sports radio show I listen to sometimes and iirc, he said there was some legal reason that you could not be bared from having sat service in an apartment. As in, the landlord had to allow you to have a dish if you wanted one. It probably varies by area but it's worth looking into

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
Had both and vote Dish. In the end you'll get basically the same thing as far as price and programing go, although I actually believe Dish is a bit cheaper.

What it came down to for me is customer service. Directv has the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced, anywhere, hands down. Have a problem with your receiver? Tough sh!t. Call the manufacturer, etc. They really don't give a rats ass from my experience. Dish on the other hand is wonderful in that area.

Again, I'm basing my vote on that alone since I believe most other aspects of their service are fairly equal. Well, except for NFL Sunday Ticket. That's the one thing that bugs me about Dish.

Edit for tag snafu

The reason DTV won't help you with your reciever is because they didn't make it and you own it. Dish, on the other hand, leases their equipment to you, so it's their equipment and they're forced to help you.

I have DirecTV, had an access card go south on me. I called them up and had a new card overnighted to me the next day. I'd say that's pretty good customer service.

I've had both systems and like DirecTV better because of the sports options and the DirecTivo.

Dish gives you one of three options right now for equipment,
1. free 3 room system
2. free dvr +2 boxes
3. free hd box +2 boxes

plus no contract, and no credit card or deposit needed to buy the thing

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: rudeguy
I sell both.

Dish has a)cheaper equipment b)cheaper programming and c)better quality signal

this is just my opinion...but like I said, I sell this stuff everyday, and if I were going to go satelite (I cant at the apartment I live in) I would get Dish

Are you sure you can't? A few months ago they had a sat install guy on a sports radio show I listen to sometimes and iirc, he said there was some legal reason that you could not be bared from having sat service in an apartment. As in, the landlord had to allow you to have a dish if you wanted one. It probably varies by area but it's worth looking into

its called an 8 story cement wall blocking my southern view

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
Had both and vote Dish. In the end you'll get basically the same thing as far as price and programing go, although I actually believe Dish is a bit cheaper.

What it came down to for me is customer service. Directv has the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced, anywhere, hands down. Have a problem with your receiver? Tough sh!t. Call the manufacturer, etc. They really don't give a rats ass from my experience. Dish on the other hand is wonderful in that area.

Again, I'm basing my vote on that alone since I believe most other aspects of their service are fairly equal. Well, except for NFL Sunday Ticket. That's the one thing that bugs me about Dish.

Edit for tag snafu

The reason DTV won't help you with your reciever is because they didn't make it and you own it. Dish, on the other hand, leases their equipment to you, so it's their equipment and they're forced to help you.

I have DirecTV, had an access card go south on me. I called them up and had a new card overnighted to me the next day. I'd say that's pretty good customer service.

I've had both systems and like DirecTV better because of the sports options and the DirecTivo.

Dish leases their equipment to you? News to me. I was almost positive that I've bought all my receivers

As far as the service you got I guess it varies on who you talk to. All I know is I talked to about 5 people and what they gave me was basically the semi-polite equivalent of "go fvck yourself. I don't care". I should also mention that I was completely polite to them. It could be better now but that was my experience.

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: rudeguy


Dish gives you one of three options right now for equipment,
1. free 3 room system
2. free dvr +2 boxes
3. free hd box +2 boxes

plus no contract, and no credit card or deposit needed to buy the thing

1. At expert satellite, you can get up to a five room system for free, yes you do need a 1 year contract though.

2. I also don't think Dish's dvr is anywhere near as good as DirecTV's with the Tivo service.

3. Yeah, that's a good deal .

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Dish leases their equipment to you? News to me. I was almost positive that I've bought all my receivers

As far as the service you got I guess it varies on who you talk to. All I know is I talked to about 5 people and what they gave me was basically the semi-polite equivalent of "go fvck yourself. I don't care". I should also mention that I was completely polite to them. It could be better now but that was my experience.

When I had Dish (2 years ago) all the equipment was leased.

 

[IamElectro]

I have had both systems/
DTV is the way to go.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Dish leases their equipment to you? News to me. I was almost positive that I've bought all my receivers

As far as the service you got I guess it varies on who you talk to. All I know is I talked to about 5 people and what they gave me was basically the semi-polite equivalent of "go fvck yourself. I don't care". I should also mention that I was completely polite to them. It could be better now but that was my experience.

When I had Dish (2 years ago) all the equipment was leased.

*shrugs*. I've had Dish since about 2000 and I've never leased anything.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Dish leases their equipment to you? News to me. I was almost positive that I've bought all my receivers

As far as the service you got I guess it varies on who you talk to. All I know is I talked to about 5 people and what they gave me was basically the semi-polite equivalent of "go fvck yourself. I don't care". I should also mention that I was completely polite to them. It could be better now but that was my experience.

When I had Dish (2 years ago) all the equipment was leased.

*shrugs*. I've had Dish since about 2000 and I've never leased anything.

whats wrong with leasing anyways...that just means that if something breaks, they have to fix it and not you

 

[KarenMarie]

I have direcTv and love it. my neighbor has both, and likes the directv bette but his mother in law likes a few channels on dish, so they keep that, too.

 

[WTT0001]

Note: I am a DTV / Dish Network / Direcway installer

In our area Dish has locals and DTV doesn't yet so the choice is fairly easy, that being said:

I would personally go with DTV because of the TIVO service (it is a real TIVO where Dish's free DVR is a DVR in that it can pause, FF, Rew, but cannot record one show while you are watching another).

Dish on the other hand has a better deal equipment wise (either 3 rooms free w/12 month commitment or 2 rooms + either a DVR or HiDef receiver (3 total) w/24 month commitment) and cheaper Programming (sort-of, they have an extra package that only has 63 channels (I think don't quote me on that #) (Top50 @ $25 a month).

Anyway, PM me if you have any ???'s

WTT

Edit:

(1) Technically Dish would have a better chance of staying up in a storm due to the bigger dish (SuperDish), Not sure on the real-world stats on that though.
(2) DTV is better for sports
(3) The Leasing of the equipment with Dish Network is a particular plan (The Digital Home Plan)
(4) Don't order from Expert Satellite, The CS is non-existent, call your local Satellite company and order from them, they get a bit more from it then

 

[Dead3ye]

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
Had both and vote Dish. In the end you'll get basically the same thing as far as price and programing go, although I actually believe Dish is a bit cheaper.

What it came down to for me is customer service. Directv has the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced, anywhere, hands down. Have a problem with your receiver? Tough sh!t. Call the manufacturer, etc. They really don't give a rats ass from my experience. Dish on the other hand is wonderful in that area.

Again, I'm basing my vote on that alone since I believe most other aspects of their service are fairly equal. Well, except for NFL Sunday Ticket. That's the one thing that bugs me about Dish.

Edit for tag snafu

The reason DTV won't help you with your reciever is because they didn't make it and you own it. Dish, on the other hand, leases their equipment to you, so it's their equipment and they're forced to help you.

I have DirecTV, had an access card go south on me. I called them up and had a new card overnighted to me the next day. I'd say that's pretty good customer service.

I've had both systems and like DirecTV better because of the sports options and the DirecTivo.

Wrong. Dish isn't forced to help me. I own both of my receivers. Anytime I had questions or needed help, I never waited on the phone for more than a minute, and always received a helpful answer.

Dish gives you the option of leasing or buying. I don't know why you would lease other than the fact that if it breaks, they'll replace it for free, but it will cost you more per month to lease. You get all the equipment for free if you get a package that gives you all the equipment. In the long run owning is better because the lease payment will add up over time to the cost of a receiver or maybe more. I've had one of mine for 6+ years and have had zero problems.

I upgraded from the Dish 300 to the Dish 500. I wanted upgraded one day, they came the next and installed it, free.

I upgraded to a DVR with the UHF remote for free. Well not free, I had to send in one of my old receivers (which they paid for). Of course I sent the lowest model I had which might have been worth $50 with the crappy IR remote. It might not be Tivo feature rich, but they gave it to me. I'll take that.

I don't know about you, but that's amazing service to me.

BTW, in the 6+ years I've had DN, the total downtime for anything (storm, snow, technical difficulties, whatever) maybe has be an hour or two. With my cable, I was down for hours in a day before.

I vote Dish Network.

 

[blurredvision]

I voted DirecTV, just because I like the options better. However, people can tell their good stories and horror stories all day, but the end result is that your mileage WILL differ. You never know what you're gonna run into.

You hafta compare the pros and cons. I'm not the most knowledgeable about Dish, but here are some pros for DirecTV:

Pros:
- Cheapest deal right now can be found at Value Electronics, and for only $39, you get a regular dish, one 40GB TiVo unit, and 2 extra receivers. Options vary, including only $20 for an elliptical dish, needed for most new locals being added in late March, early April this year.
- The supplied DVR, a TiVo, is dual-tuner. Arguably has better features than Dish's standard, single-tuner DVR. Dish requires a lease (or about $400-$500 outright to purchase) on their entry level dual-tuner.
- NFL Sunday Ticket

Cons:
- Packages are more expensive than Dish (although both are raising prices within the next 2 months)


Please, someone add to this list, and we'll make a comparison .

 

[godspeedx]

Originally posted by: WTT0001
Note: I am a DTV / Dish Network / Direcway installer

In our area Dish has locals and DTV doesn't yet so the choice is fairly easy, that being said:

I would personally go with DTV because of the TIVO service (it is a real TIVO where Dish's free DVR is a DVR in that it can pause, FF, Rew, but cannot record one show while you are watching another).

Dish on the other hand has a better deal equipment wise (either 3 rooms free w/12 month commitment or 2 rooms + either a DVR or HiDef receiver (3 total) w/24 month commitment) and cheaper Programming (sort-of, they have an extra package that only has 63 channels (I think don't quote me on that #) (Top50 @ $25 a month).

Anyway, PM me if you have any ???'s

WTT

Edit:

(1) Technically Dish would have a better chance of staying up in a storm due to the bigger dish (SuperDish), Not sure on the real-world stats on that though.
(2) DTV is better for sports
(3) The Leasing of the equipment with Dish Network is a particular plan (The Digital Home Plan)
(4) Don't order from Expert Satellite, The CS is non-existent, call your local Satellite company and order from them, they get a bit more from it then

Thanks everyone for all your help, and a special thanks to WTT for his unique insight into the matter.

I will be sure and PM you if I come up with questions.