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Switched from dish to directv

pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
Switched today and already feeling buyer's remorse. install started yesterday and was a huge pain. Had to do non standard install which cost me $100 and had to cut down a tree. Should have backed out at the $100 part.

My dad had done the same switch like 2weeks ago and he really liked his service. I noticed a huge difference in quality at his house. Part of reason i switched plus being able to record 5 shows at once instead of 3 was nice. Going to be cheaper the 1st year than dish and justa little more expensive during the 2nd year.

Dad was told dish was 720p and directv was 1080. Dunno if true but i saw improvement in quality at his house. I dont see much if any improvement here. Dish rep says they are 1080p too.
I have to learn a whole new system and channels as well as reset up my shows to record.

Called dish to talk about whats needed when cancelling and they are trying hard to keep me. Saying they can lower my bill by half for 12 months plus give me free premium channels for 3 months.

Only other consolation with directv is i got it through costco and they are giving me a $200 costco gift card.

Either way i feel both companies are screwing us with the prices, especially if dish can cut my bill in half.
 
After watching my FIOS triple play bill rising for two years, I decided to switch to Time Warner's lowest Roadrunner package. 3 down, 1 up is all I need. $15 flat a month with no fees (including rental,) surcharges or contract is nice compared to $150 a month. I don't watch much tv and VoIP is dirt cheap.

If you have the courage to switch providers, the next step is now to completely cut the cord. Send these monopolistic fers a message.
 
I did the opposite last week.

I switched from DirecTV to DISH......It took literally 24 hrs to switch from one to the other......Called DTV retentions. Call failed. Called DISH to sign up, was there the next day!

I've had both services over the past 10 years and couldn't complain with either.....BUT....there comes a time when retentions get stupid greedy and fuck you over on the constant month to month rate creeps (ala Comcast). So you have to eventually switch if you're smart with your money.

I received a $200 GC with DISH, and more channels that matter to me (Pac12 Network and Palladia) on top of what I believe is the best/largest DVR system in the business. Being able to stream Hopper overseas on my Ipad is awesome!

As to the quality of transmission, I'd say DISH is better. I was informed that on the West Coast, DTV has to lease their signal from DISH's sats. So it would make sense to me that the bandwidth transmission is reserved/higher for DISH than DTV. Regardless, it's splitting peas as the picture is good enough with either.....My monthly bill matters more.

Hopefully in the next couple of years APPLETV or someone else comes out with a viable ala carte solution for picking channels that matters to the user.
 
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pontifex said:
Switched today and already feeling buyer's remorse. install started yesterday and was a huge pain. Had to do non standard install which cost me $100 and had to cut down a tree. Should have backed out at the $100 part
Click to expand...

what made your installation non-standard? set your box(es) to output 1080i. 1080p is available for ppv if your tv supports it. also, set your genie remote to use rf. (these should have been done as part of the installation)

dr150 said:
I was informed that on the West Coast, DTV has to lease their signal from DISH's sats.
Click to expand...

i don't know who told you that, but they lied. all dish content is on the same 5 satellites that every hd customer receives.

dish has the best picture quality in north america, after OTA broadcast.
 
I've had both. I like DirecTV's sunday ticket football programming, but otherwise, Dish (IMO) is slightly better.
Where I'm currently living, DirecTV wasn't available because of trees. (not mine, can't cut them down) Apparently, from one side of my house, they could get 2 out of the 3 satellites, from the other side, they could get 2 of the 3...but not all three at any one place. BUT, Dish offered me the option of installing two separate dishes and getting all three satellites. I went with Dish.

I DO however, agree that both companies bend their customers over and ass-rape us for the shitty programming. WAY TOO MANY bullshit "home shopping channels," religious channels, and shitty infomercial channels. THOSE kinds of channels should be strictly "add-on" programming...and the user's request.
 
Puppies04 said:
You have a 720P TV.

You're welcome.
Click to expand...

Yeah hardware has a lot of impact. When I lived in Hawaii there was only one option for cable. My buddy's TV looked way better than mine. I'm too cheap to buy a new TV because I rarely watch it.

I'm probably going to cut the cord all together when August rolls around. Already pay for Netflix and prime. So... my family can go outside and all I need is the interwebs. Suck it DirecTV!
 
The Boston Dangler said:
what made your installation non-standard? set your box(es) to output 1080i. 1080p is available for ppv if your tv supports it. also, set your genie remote to use rf. (these should have been done as part of the installation)



i don't know who told you that, but they lied. all dish content is on the same 5 satellites that every hd customer receives.

dish has the best picture quality in north america, after OTA broadcast.
Click to expand...
They had to install it on a pole in the back yard.
 
Direct TV just plain stinks. Dish has the best equipment available right now IMO. Their Hopper system rocks!
 
pontifex said:
Switched today and already feeling buyer's remorse. install started yesterday and was a huge pain. Had to do non standard install which cost me $100 and had to cut down a tree. Should have backed out at the $100 part.

My dad had done the same switch like 2weeks ago and he really liked his service. I noticed a huge difference in quality at his house. Part of reason i switched plus being able to record 5 shows at once instead of 3 was nice. Going to be cheaper the 1st year than dish and justa little more expensive during the 2nd year.

Dad was told dish was 720p and directv was 1080. Dunno if true but i saw improvement in quality at his house. I dont see much if any improvement here. Dish rep says they are 1080p too.
I have to learn a whole new system and channels as well as reset up my shows to record.

Called dish to talk about whats needed when cancelling and they are trying hard to keep me. Saying they can lower my bill by half for 12 months plus give me free premium channels for 3 months.

Only other consolation with directv is i got it through costco and they are giving me a $200 costco gift card.

Either way i feel both companies are screwing us with the prices, especially if dish can cut my bill in half.
Click to expand...

I got rid of DirecTV and feel pretty good about it. By the time I was at the end of 2 years my bill was double what it started at, and was about to go up again. When I called to cancel they said "well we can give you $10 off but that's it" so I cancelled. After I packed up the DVR in the box I got another call saying they'd give me a free year of Sunday ticket and drop my bill by more. It would almost have got me to stick around, but they waited until I disconnected all their hardware to offer it so they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck
 
Been with DirecTV for 15+ years. Love the service. Also, as long as they are the exclusive provider of NFL Sunday Ticket I will never switch.
 
Eh, I've had DirecTV for around a year now and don't have any major complaints. We've only had service interruption in one of the super, super severe storms we've had recently.

I will say, I'd rather them offer just basic cable options...satellite is our only option currently, and I'd prefer to just have basic cable + sling 🙁
 
Ok if recording THREE shows at once isn't enough for you maybe you need a healthier hobby. Have you truly thought about how much tv you watch and whether maybe you should watch less?

Agree above about cutting the cord. Cut directv a couple years ago and it was a super awesome decision.
 
Blanky said:
Ok if recording THREE shows at once isn't enough for you maybe you need a healthier hobby. Have you truly thought about how much tv you watch and whether maybe you should watch less?

Agree above about cutting the cord. Cut directv a couple years ago and it was a super awesome decision.
Click to expand...

That's all good and well, unless you're surrounded by a forest of 100ft. pine trees 🙁
 
pontifex said:
Dad was told dish was 720p and directv was 1080. Dunno if true but i saw improvement in quality at his house. I dont see much if any improvement here. Dish rep says they are 1080p too.
Click to expand...

That's entirely dependent on the broadcaster and not the carrier. Most stations air at 1080i while some air at 720p. You'll only see 1080p on pay-per-view movie channels.
 
dr150 said:
I was informed that on the West Coast, DTV has to lease their signal from DISH's sats. So it would make sense to me that the bandwidth transmission is reserved/higher for DISH than DTV.
Click to expand...

Whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about. 😀

DirecTV has a larger fleet than Dish.
 
The Boston Dangler said:
what made your installation non-standard? set your box(es) to output 1080i. 1080p is available for ppv if your tv supports it. also, set your genie remote to use rf. (these should have been done as part of the installation)



i don't know who told you that, but they lied. all dish content is on the same 5 satellites that every hd customer receives.

dish has the best picture quality in north america, after OTA broadcast.
Click to expand...
Dish HD service is mirrored on 2 satellite fleets, an Eastern Arc and a Western arc
You will notice most channels are on 2 different satellite/transponders:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?page=dishnetworksatellitemap

DirecTv has most of its content in between Dish's locations, but (I think) both companies still have licenses in some locations like 110. Each satellite location in space is large enough that multiple physical satellites can share the same "spot" as long as they do not overlap frequencies.

FYI, dish HD is 1440x1080i while DirecTv maintains the orginal 1920x1080i (when available). Both providers compress the source feed with MPEG4 so resolution isn't the only measure of image quality.
 
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Drako said:
Whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about. 😀

DirecTV has a larger fleet than Dish.
Click to expand...

I think DirecTv owns more satellites but it may be possible Dish's owned + leased satellite total is greater considering they have "mirrored" eastern and western arc service.
 
NoTine42 said:
Dish HD service is mirrored on 2 satellite fleets, an Eastern Arc and a Western arc
You will notice most channels are on 2 different satellite/transponders:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?page=dishnetworksatellitemap

DirecTv has most of its content in between Dish's locations, but (I think) both companies still have licenses in some locations like 110. Each satellite location in space is large enough that multiple physical satellites can share the same "spot" as long as they do not overlap frequencies.
Click to expand...

110 is a possibility, since directv reallocated its 110 from n. america to puerto rico only.
 
gorcorps said:
I got rid of DirecTV and feel pretty good about it. By the time I was at the end of 2 years my bill was double what it started at, and was about to go up again. When I called to cancel they said "well we can give you $10 off but that's it" so I cancelled. After I packed up the DVR in the box I got another call saying they'd give me a free year of Sunday ticket and drop my bill by more. It would almost have got me to stick around, but they waited until I disconnected all their hardware to offer it so they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Same here.

DirecTV rententions is starting to suck an egg in "generosity"......and WHEN you DO cancel and the cardboard boxes have been sent in the mail to pack up the equipment, you get a deluge of calls, emails from DTV to stay, giving you better deals (not good enough to change your mind....those $200 GCs are impossible to price match).

Don't these idiots know that by the time a customer cancels, they've already INSTALLED another system? :colbert:
 
I've got the wired Genie and like it pretty well. I've not got a lot of complaints about DirecTV except the cost. It's expensive entertainment, but the quality of the equipment and convenience of being able to watch recorded tv in every room of the house is nice too...I've got like 4 TVs on mine.
 
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