Why do people still use satelite TV?

[DeviousTrap]

As a bit of a preface, I've had Dish Network for 10+ years. I got them when we bought our first HD TV and they had VOOM, resulting in a larger amount of HD channels.

I live in a city (Boston), so my internet choices either crap Verizon DSL or Comcast cable. No FIOS and no need for the awful satellite stuff.

As much as I hate Comcast, why shouldn't I switch my TV service to them? As it is I already have to pay them $75 a month for internet.

My dish network bill is $146 + taxes for a Dish hopper across 3 TVs and the Top 250 package. Comcast offers a double play bundle for $89 (for 12 months, 120 afterwards, then 140 after 2 years) that basically matches all of the channels.

It seems like a no brainer, why pay two bills when I get just get both from Comcast at a significant discount for the bundle? When I got Dish, Comcast's HD lineup in my area sucked, but I don't think that's an issue anymore with any provider.

 

[smitbret]

As a bit of a preface, I've had Dish Network for 10+ years. I got them when we bought our first HD TV and they had VOOM, resulting in a larger amount of HD channels.

I live in a city (Boston), so my internet choices either crap Verizon DSL or Comcast cable. No FIOS and no need for the awful satellite stuff.

As much as I hate Comcast, why shouldn't I switch my TV service to them? As it is I already have to pay them $75 a month for internet.

My dish network bill is $146 + taxes for a Dish hopper across 3 TVs and the Top 250 package. Comcast offers a double play bundle for $89 (for 12 months, 120 afterwards, then 140 after 2 years) that basically matches all of the channels.

It seems like a no brainer, why pay two bills when I get just get both from Comcast at a significant discount for the bundle? When I got Dish, Comcast's HD lineup in my area sucked, but I don't think that's an issue anymore with any provider.

Because everyone's situation is different than yours.

No two providers have the same channel lineups or even the same picture quality. Not too mention provider exclusives. NFL Sunday Ticket is DirecTV only, but if you want the PAC-12 network on the west coast you'll be out of luck unless you have Dish or Time-Warner. Some people just hate Comcast customer service and will go to great lengths to not use them if there are alternatives.

Your question is odd.

 

[olds]

Comcast in my only choice for home internet.
They screw up my bill on a regular basis.
I dumped them for TV (went with Dish) just so I have less to do with them. As soon as something becomes available for internet, I will dump them again.

 

[Raincity]

Comcast in my only choice for home internet.
They screw up my bill on a regular basis.
I dumped them for TV (went with Dish) just so I have less to do with them. As soon as something becomes available for internet, I will dump them again.

Sounds like Cox. They promise you the moon at a low price. Then bill you at regular price the second month out. Then you have to fight with the CC rep every month to get your bill adjusted to what they promised in the first place. Google fiber please come to Las Vegas.

 

[Adul]

because the HD quality on cox was inferior to what Directv provided to me.

 

[nickbits]

I have directv because I can control their boxes over Ethernet (used to be serial) and I need that for my htpc server.

 

[Railgun]

Or who cares and mind your damn business.

 

[piasabird]

Everything is a choice.

Why do people waste their money on cable TV? I think it is a waste of money. However, if you have money to waste feel free.

 

[mmntech]

We've had Bell ExpressVu satellite going on 13 years now. Back in the early 2000s, our analogue cable service was bad and getting worse. Always had reception issues. Snowy picture, frequent service outages. Satellite was all digital and gave us hundreds of channels.

The local cable company Cogeco was very slow to upgrade their network to digital and HD. Things got reevaluated around 2009 and ExpressVu was still the better service.

Bell's got some new IPTV service out now they're pushing. They call it Fibe, but it's really only fibre to neighbourhood. Comes into the house via copper. Since I have an indie DSL ISP that uses their lines, I don't think it would play nice with my setup. Plus, Bell was supposedly monitoring viewing habits to serve up targeted ads. Can't do that on satellite.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

OP, you're making the mistake of assuming all the content is equally available everywhere. It's not - and you're making a false assumption, based on cultural bias.

Some people come from different backgrounds. Middle Easterners and Asians, for instance, prefer to use satellite TV to watch channels from home. And some of these channels don't even cost anything - you just need to invest upfront in an antenna and a receiver. My Romanian neighbours watch the international channel of the Romanian public television, which is made available for free everywhere on the globe. I'd venture to say most European countries with strong public television programming do the same - the German Deutsche Welle is a perfect example.

 

[Imported]

Sunday Ticket.

 

[LikeLinus]

Because Comcast is the spawn of the devil. It's good until something goes wrong, then you're completely and utterly screwed.

I won't go into details, but I cancelled my cable TV years ago and moved to DirecTV. I kept my Comcast cable because FIOS isn't available here. For EIGHT MONTHS Comcast kept charging me for Cable TV. I would call and they would turn it off, yet again and said it would be removed off my bill. EIGHT MONTHS of back and forth of doing this. Every single month.
None of them could figure out why my cable TV package kept activating and charging. But the problem was they kept adding on to my bill, all the while saying it's ok we will not do anything because it was a fault on their end. So after EIGHT MONTHS, Comcast disconnects my internet for non-payment of a bill for over a $1000. I had this escalated several times to tier 2 and 3 management which no success. Finally a manager found a code on my account (that none of them knew what it was) that was magically turning back on my service, even though it was turned off over 8 times. No one could manage to figure it out for that long. It was the most infuriating dealings I've ever had with a company.

The best part? So they fixed my account and got my internet back up and running. My next bill? They charged me a bunch of late fees and a fucking reconnect fee for having my service disconnected. They also cut my service off at the line, which mean someone couldn't just flip a switch and get me back up and running, they put some GD filter on the line and I had to get a service tech to come turn it back on. *!(@#$&%*!#($.

Worst company ever. W O R S T. Never apologized or offered to do anything...well I mean other than try to charge me more money to fix their problem.

The SECOND Google Fiber gets here (Nashville is one of the lucky cities) or FIOS, I will never use Comcast as long as I live. Period.

I had DirecTV from the early 90's until I switched when we moved a few years back. We never had a single problem with DTV and their customer service was always excellent.

 

[Jumpem]

They live places where satellite TV and internet are the only option.

 

[skriefal]

Dish Network's DVRs are fast and work well. I suspect that the same is true of DirecTV... but I have no recent experience with them. Comcast's equipment and services (DVR, EPG, whole-home) are buggy and about a decade behind the satellite companies. Comcast have a very poor track record in these areas.

 

[ultimatebob]

After having to fight with Comcast customer support annually for seven years in order to keep my cable and internet bill below $200 a month, I'd be willing crawl on my roof and install a Satellite dish myself to avoid suffering through that again.

 

[KeithP]

My dish network bill is $146 + taxes for a Dish hopper across 3 TVs and the Top 250 package. Comcast offers a double play bundle for $89 (for 12 months, 120 afterwards, then 140 after 2 years) that basically matches all of the channels.

I believe that Comcast deal is for a single TV, what is the price after you add service for two additional TVs like your current Dish deal?

Have you tried calling Dish to negotiate a cheaper rate? I am guessing if you let them know you are considering a switch and agree to sign up for two years like Comcast requires you could get a better deal.

-KeithP