Cable Or Satellite In Aubrey? (Waxahachie, Jacksonville: new home, closing, live)

[4114LEANNE]

My husband and I are closing on a new home in Aubrey in a few weeks and I have some questions. Is cable or satellite better there? What is cheaper? Which company is best? Also, we will have CoServ......(no more TXU YEA!!!!) so what is CoServ like? Please help me as you can see I don't have much time to find these things out. Thanks a bunch!

Leanne

[GoPadge]

I've lived in several metro areas in the southeast (Atlanta, Jacksonville, Columbia, SC and DFW) and overall I found cable service to be unreliable. We switched to satellite in 2001 and other than two trial periods of six month each where we went back to cable for financial reasons, we've been drawn back to satellite both times. I've only used Dish network and been very happy with their service.

There are occassional issues with "rain-fade" where the signal is lost due to rain or heavy cloud cover. If you are having issues I recommend spending an hour or two manually adjusting the satellite. (Assuming it's easily reached. Otherwise don't let the installer leave until the signals are very strong.)

In the two homes where I've had satellite service and I did adjust the satellite, I've only had issues with rain-fade during the types of storms where you end up unplugging everything anyway.

My experience with cable here in Texas is limited, our provider was Comcast, and we were the last town serviced by them. The equipment in Waxahachie was outdated and overburdened. (As per a technician.) I am 20 miles south of there and we had issues with a farmer that had a grudge against Comcast. He liked to "accidently" cut the cables, or hit the boxes with his plows.

Costwise cable does have the cheapest offerings. Comcast here offered a "basic" package that was the local channels and a few superstations for $17. I'm paying $30 for Dish for some 80-odd channels and a DVR.

[4114LEANNE]

Thanks for the info! Anyone who lives in the Little Elm/Aubrey area, could you tell me about your experiences with CoServ and also whether reception is better with cable or satellite in that area?

[stargazer]

If you can get verizon fios that is really good. I wish we could have it and would be getting it in a heart beat if my area had it. We are paying way too much for cable and I don't like the Time Warner we have. I also have had direct tv, when it rains, the sattelite goes out and you can't see anything till after the storm has passed. I heard the Verizon cable is 34.99 a month for 180 channels. I am amazed too that they found a way to compete with a monopoly. Glad too. I just hope they get to my neck of the woods soon.

[GoPadge]

Stargazer,

You may want to, or may want to have someone, check and adjust you dish. Properly aimed, you shouldn't have issues with rain, unless it's a very heavy downpour.