Direct TV or Dish Network? (credit, transfer, buy)

[droobie]

Originally Posted by BrokenTap

It is a moot point anyway...Dish and Direct TV are owned by the same company so the rivalry you would think would be there, really isn't. I have Direct TV, and my parent have Dish...both are good.

Incorrect. Dish Network was going to acquire DirecTV but it never happened (they didn't think it'd pass monopoly rules, amongst other things). Dish is owned by Echostar, DirecTV is owned majority by Liberty Media. They're very much competitors.

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With that said, I was a DirecTV customer for several years but have a personal reason for why I'm no longer their customer. I've been a Dish customer since (probably 5 or 6 years now) and I'm a very happy Dish customer.

For Internet I use Great Works Internet DSL.

[droobie]

Originally Posted by AustinB

DSL with Fairpoint. Here, we don't have a choice. DSL or dial up.

Premium Choice Broadband serves wireless Internet in some of that (Penobscot, Brooksville, Deer Isle, Blue Hill, Bucks Harbor, and some others). I only know because I do work for them. I believe they also serve (at least parts) of Brooklin.

[Sunday1]

One thing I don't like about Dish is that they don't do a thorough job with thier phone sales. I had no idea that I'd agreed to a 2 year contract until I called with a follow-up question. Made me angry - the cable companies like Comcast don't require contracts and we'd never had one before for television in three different regions (all cable companies-no satellites) over the past 10 years. Dish Network needs to be absolutely sure that this info is covered by the person who takes the order. The installation person doesn't mention it at all eitehr. I would not do business with them again for this reason. We're probably moving in a year and have to take the *#xx*@ dish wish us - and continue to pay even if we don't need or want the service next year. I plan to take this issue to higher levels at Dish and we'll see what happens.

[mollysmiles]

I wouldn't appreciate having to continue to pay if I were moving either! I think you're certainly in a position to pursue that and see what can be done.

We have Dish now, and we've been very happy with them. We rarely lose service, even in the worst storms. We are looking into bundling though as we have phone and internet through Time Warner. We've been customers long enough that we've fulfilled our contract, so we don't anticipate a problem. The move would be purely to save money, but there is also the consideration that at a certain point the hassle of changing is not worth the money saved. We'll see what happens.

[msina]

I wish we had cable here, the internet service is great. We had it in Milford. Here we have Dish Network (it does include FOX NMLM ) and the internet is through Fairpoint.

[droobie]

Originally Posted by Sunday1

One thing I don't like about Dish is that they don't do a thorough job with thier phone sales.

Both DirecTV and Dish have contracts. However, for 50$ (I think it is), you can avoid the contract with Dish. Keep in mind that the installer has to make you physically sign a contract. Whether they told you that's what it was, I've no idea, but it is part of the process or they can't leave. Dish should have a copy of this contract on file too.

DirecTV's startup cost, especially for HD, is usually more money. Dish has a very low startup cost.

you don't have to physically take the dish with you. You can use Dishmover to have them move it all for you.

Cable companies also have contracts (at least a year usually) for all of their promotional pricing. The problem I have with the cable companies is that they don't tend to tell you what the 'after promotion' pricing is.

You can e-mail ceo(at)dishetwork.com to get someone in Executive CS. Those people are super helpful, they're in Colorado, and they can get things done. They were able to override my account so I could get more HD receivers back last year.

[droobie]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I wouldn't appreciate having to continue to pay if I were moving either! I think you're certainly in a position to pursue that and see what can be done.

You can move it for free/cheap using Dish Mover. The contract is optional with Dish, you can just play more to not have one. However, installers and phone CSRs probably do not tell people this.

We are looking into bundling though as we have phone and internet through Time Warner.

Hopefully you have a better experience than me. I live IN Bangor and their 89.95/mo business service was slower than my 5/1 DSL from Great Works that costs me like 29.95 a month (plus I have phone with GWI too).

Needless to say the 2 year contract made me disinterested in working with them on their crappy network.

[Sunday1]

Originally Posted by droobie

Cable companies also have contracts (at least a year usually) for all of their promotional pricing.
You can e-mail ceo(at)dishetwork.com to get someone in Executive CS. Those people are super helpful, they're in Colorado, and they can get things done. They were able to override my account so I could get more HD receivers back last year.

Thanks; I'll check out that e-mail address. Comcast does not use contracts - at least not in Illinois. We had them for television cable (bundled along with digital phone and internet) for several years and never had a contract, which was great.

The paperwork provided for the installer was represented as as something that needed to be "initialed that we were here and installed the equipment". I perused it and am pretty sure it said nothing about a 24 month contract.

Thanks also, Mollysmiles- I will most definitely follow this up. It's a matter of principle as well as money.

[droobie]

Originally Posted by Sunday1

Thanks; I'll check out that e-mail address. Comcast does not use contracts - at least not in Illinois. We had them for television cable (bundled along with digital phone and internet) for several years and never had a contract, which was great.

Here most of the promo deals (like triple play 89.95) involve a commitment of some sort (I think usually it's a year). Unfortunately they're not so great about what the price is after that.

TW represents 85+% of the state cable (which only covers something like 60% of the populated areas in the state). I do believe Comcast does the same thing here for these special deals, but not completely sure. I do know a friend of mine in NJ on Comcast had to agree to a year contract.

The paperwork provided for the installer was represented as as something that needed to be "initialed that we were here and installed the equipment". I perused it and am pretty sure it said nothing about a 24 month contract.

The contract may be on the back. If you didn't sign a contract, the Dish office should have proof that you did or didn't. Few people know that it's really cheap to not take the contract usually. I took the contract since I had no intention whatsoever of going to DirecTV (I'd rather go without TV first) and I really didn't want to go back to the few-hd-channel world of TW.

I completely get the principle of it. Hopefully they find some way to make 'good' on the situation. The CEOs office is usually awesome, it's a shame that one has to go that route sometimes but I'm glad it's there.

[corgis]

I prefer DirectTV - it's cheaper than Dish and more reliable - but that's just what I prefer