DirecTV vs Time Warner (Raleigh: rentals, how much, new home)

[jayvills]

Hey everyone-

I signed up for DirecTV vs. Time Warner Cable for my new home in Raleigh. It'll be my first time with satellite cable- how much does bad weather (storms) affect the reception? My wife and I will be investing in a HD TV and thought DirecTV would be a logical choice b/c it will offer more HD channels in the near future.

Any feedback on DirecTV vs Time Warner Cable?

Thanks much!

Jason

[tlh1005]

Now that TWC added ESPN2HD and The CW-HD we've got a lot less gripes. In the past the cable HD signal has been the better of the two while the standard definition signal was best on Direct TV. I keep reading in Home Theater that Direct TV is getting more sats and better/less compression (This would provide more bandwidth and a better HD signal) but I don't know if that is all in place yet. If all things were equal TWC would still be my preference because I don't like the contracts you sign with sat providers in order to get the equipment cheaper. Yes, I'd rather "rent" the equipment on a monthly basis.

All that said. having TWC I still miss out on Turner South (Braves games when not on TBS), and the NFL package that is exclusive to Direct TV

[xochousewife]

We just got TWC--HD/DVR system 2 weeks ago. We've had 2 outtages, one time the remote wouldn't work, 2 missed recordings (may have been operator error.....ahem), and for the past 2 days the guide hasn't worked. And believe it or not, we don't watch that much TV...Argh! I miss my Dish Satellite! I hope the bugs will work themselves out soon. Good luck to you.

[sls76]

We use Time Warner. My main complaint is it's more expensive than dish in our situation. We have two HD DVRs and it's about $100 per month (although you get a good deal for the first year). We haven't had any service problems. Once FIOS comes Time Warner will have to compete--can't wait.

[steve54]

Originally Posted by sls76

We use Time Warner. My main complaint is it's more expensive than dish in our situation. We have two HD DVRs and it's about $100 per month (although you get a good deal for the first year). We haven't had any service problems. Once FIOS comes Time Warner will have to compete--can't wait.

Call twc up and tell them you are reviewing your finances and doing a comparison of prices. WE have tv and internet and they reduced the price by $25 per month for a year with a quibble

[chemteacher]

I've had both cable and dish and I strongly prefer cable for a few reasons. We tried directv for a year and went back to cable because we missed the on demand option that comes with cable. Yes, we had a dvr but we always forgot to record shows we wanted to watch (usually premium chanel series such as the sopranos). Dish also charged a lot more for the HD DVR but the cable DVR and HD DVR was the same price. As for the HD chanels, to get HD local chanels with dish we had to use an antenna which got finnicky and sometimes we couldn't get good reception for HD NBC or HD ABC. Cable was a little more expensive but worth it. After a year of cable our promotional deal was over (cable-internet-phone) and they raised our bill so my husband called and threatened to switch back to dish and they made our bill $15 less than it was during our promotional year. This made our cable cost the same as the dish! The cable internet was faster than the DSL too.
The only thing we miss about dish was the fact that you don't have to point the remote at the box to change the channel- this makes for easy channel surfing whereever you sit.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by steve54

Call twc up and tell them you are reviewing your finances and doing a comparison of prices. WE have tv and internet and they reduced the price by $25 per month for a year with a quibble

You must be more persuasive than I am because I tried twice and they wouldn't budge which surprised me because when I had a similar situation in Richmond with Comcast they offered me a better price. There just is not enough competition here currently.

[saturnfan]

We've always had Time-Warner.

After North Raleigh was rewired with fiberoptic, reliability went to almost perfect. Only power failures knock them out.

Have basic + mid-tier analog service. No premiums, no box rentals, no high prices - $48.50. Also Roadrunner Lite. Switched from regular to save $20/mo permanently. Slow on downloads, but not a concern to me.

Consider what you really need before buying packages.

Time-Warner has no commitments and will fix any equipment failure free.

[BigHouse9]

I was able to get TWC to reduce the rate $25 per month as well. I find TWC reliability to be mediocre to poor. We did complain as we had so many outages one month that the reduced our bill but we had to bicker with them over it.

[steve54]

Originally Posted by sls76

You must be more persuasive than I am because I tried twice and they wouldn't budge which surprised me because when I had a similar situation in Richmond with Comcast they offered me a better price. There just is not enough competition here currently.

I called on a Sunday afternoon and literally said I was checking my financial options and asked the lady if there were any offers I could take advantage of and she came back straight away with the $25 - no problem.
I was ready for a haggling session but not required - guess I got lucky