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Old 08-31-2012, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Casa Grande, AZ
8,685 posts, read 16,870,181 times
Reputation: 10335

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We had Direct for years since about 1999, then moved to AK and no Direct so got Dish, then moved to AZ and kept Dish until last spring, got Direct again, bill is less for channel package to get the ones we wanted mid tier rather than upper tier like Dish and we have no premium channels. Still lots of crap bogus pay-commercials and shopper channels....what happened to cable when it started in the late 70s-80s advertising with no commercials
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Old 10-28-2012, 05:27 PM
 
3,328 posts, read 2,277,821 times
Reputation: 3569
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grannysroost View Post
....what happened to cable when it started in the late 70s-80s advertising with no commercials
Remember being surprised by all the commercials the first time I bought 'basic/expanded' Cable in 2000. Sadly, it was no different than network TV.

That's another thing I love about video streaming w/Amazon Prime--NO COMMERCIALS. Hope it stays that way.
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Old 10-28-2012, 06:14 PM
 
1,087 posts, read 3,521,844 times
Reputation: 951
I started with DirecTV when they bought Primestar, which is what I had before. As soon as they bought Primestar, their rates went sky high compared to what I was paying with Primestar, and they had rate increases several times a year, so I switched to Dish. I had Dish for 14 years and was happy with it. They only increased my rate every couple of years and it was usually small increases. I only had basic service. The basic DirecTV package had a couple more channels I liked that weren't included in the basic Dish package, but I didn't want them badly enough to pay that much more to stay with DirecTV.

Now I'm not sure what I want. I think I would still prefer Dish, but the house I'm buying already has a DirecTV dish mounted on the roof, and the Dish people said they can't remove existing dishes, so I would be stuck with 2 dishes on the roof if I went with Dish. I might still do it though, because I really didn't like the frequency of increases with DirecTV.

Is it better to order the service directly from Dish or DirecTV, or from an installer? I went to a home show and there were a zillion installers who had exhibit booths. They all seemed to offer the same deals, so I couldn't figure out what the benefit was. It's been so long ago that I've had service installed that I don't remember how I did it before. All I know is I ended up owning the equipment without it costing a ton of money so I didn't have to pay rent, but I don't know if that was through an installer or directly through Dish.
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Old 10-29-2012, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
3,515 posts, read 3,693,408 times
Reputation: 6403
That's easy, Directv is absolute garbage. I'll never go back to them again. I had Directv for three+ years and that was enough for me.

I switched to Dish, am working on year three with them and have had much better pricing, more channels, more consistent signal, even though as a huge NFL fan for me it was tough to give up Sunday Ticket, I'm still pleased with everything I've seen from Dish, even their customer service is much more accessible, especially if you utilize the chat feature which is wonderfully simple and gets your problems taken care of promptly. The one thing I can say for certain is that Dish's rates have tended to be more reasonable compared to the regular hikes I got with Directv previously.
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Old 10-29-2012, 03:23 PM
 
Location: Hard aground in the Sonoran Desert
4,866 posts, read 11,236,440 times
Reputation: 7128
Quote:
Originally Posted by themudpuppy View Post
I started with DirecTV when they bought Primestar, which is what I had before. As soon as they bought Primestar, their rates went sky high compared to what I was paying with Primestar, and they had rate increases several times a year, so I switched to Dish. I had Dish for 14 years and was happy with it. They only increased my rate every couple of years and it was usually small increases. I only had basic service. The basic DirecTV package had a couple more channels I liked that weren't included in the basic Dish package, but I didn't want them badly enough to pay that much more to stay with DirecTV.

Now I'm not sure what I want. I think I would still prefer Dish, but the house I'm buying already has a DirecTV dish mounted on the roof, and the Dish people said they can't remove existing dishes, so I would be stuck with 2 dishes on the roof if I went with Dish. I might still do it though, because I really didn't like the frequency of increases with DirecTV.

Is it better to order the service directly from Dish or DirecTV, or from an installer? I went to a home show and there were a zillion installers who had exhibit booths. They all seemed to offer the same deals, so I couldn't figure out what the benefit was. It's been so long ago that I've had service installed that I don't remember how I did it before. All I know is I ended up owning the equipment without it costing a ton of money so I didn't have to pay rent, but I don't know if that was through an installer or directly through Dish.
Don't remove the DirectTV dish mount, just remove the actual "dish" and use the mount for the Dish Network dish. The guy that installed Dish for me was going to use my DirecTV mount but unfortunately my neighbors house wouldn't allow the location (mounted on the block wall) to view the Dish Network Satellites. On the roof you should be able to see them both from the same location.
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Old 10-29-2012, 05:26 PM
 
1,087 posts, read 3,521,844 times
Reputation: 951
Quote:
Originally Posted by LBTRS View Post
Don't remove the DirectTV dish mount, just remove the actual "dish" and use the mount for the Dish Network dish. The guy that installed Dish for me was going to use my DirecTV mount but unfortunately my neighbors house wouldn't allow the location (mounted on the block wall) to view the Dish Network Satellites. On the roof you should be able to see them both from the same location.
The installers I talked with at the home show said they can't use the same mount for Dish. They said Dish and DirecTV point in different directions so the mount won't work, even if it's on the roof. I wish they could, as I really don't want 2 dishes up there. They told me that what people sometimes do is leave both dishes up and when the promotional period of one service ends, they switch to the other service and go back and forth every couple of years to keep the price low. It's an idea, but I don't think I want to hassle with switching services every couple of years, so I only want one dish on the roof.
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Old 10-29-2012, 05:44 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin's great north woods
1,240 posts, read 2,241,231 times
Reputation: 1195
It's not the direction of the point, it's the size of the mount. Direct uses 2" masts and Dish uses 1 5/8" masts. The difference between pointing is only about 20 degrees.
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Old 10-29-2012, 06:43 PM
 
1,087 posts, read 3,521,844 times
Reputation: 951
Quote:
Originally Posted by dookieboy View Post
It's not the direction of the point, it's the size of the mount. Direct uses 2" masts and Dish uses 1 5/8" masts. The difference between pointing is only about 20 degrees.
Thanks. You'd think the installers would know that, but they told me it was the direction.

Did those of you who have Dish or DirecTV order your service from an independent installer, or did you go through the main company?
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Old 10-29-2012, 06:50 PM
 
Location: AZ
9 posts, read 21,941 times
Reputation: 50
Default true story

DirecTV is far superior in my opinion. I had Dish 2 years ago. The storm interruption in the midwest was insane, and I didn't care for the equipment, but that may have changed. I will say that they have equally horrible. I had the typical problems with Dish. Billing screw ups, etc. I loved DirecTV, untill August when I moved here to AZ. I packed my receivers and remotes like they said, and thought its was all good, especially since my new rental house had a BRAND NEW DirecTV dish! Score, no problem right? WRONG. I called DTV, and low and behold, my BRAND NEW dish wasn't good enough to receive an hd signal. When I asked why not
(the fing thing said HD right on it), she said it needed to be upgraded, no if's, and's or butt's. Oh yeah and the whole move for free thing? I had been a customer for almost 2 years, and decided I would get the retention department on the phone. DIRECTV is good about cutting deals when your near the end of a contract. But guess what? I wasn't at the end of my contract. Come to find out, 3 months earlier when I called to add chanels, the rep renewed my contract. WTF? So now, instead of me coming in with some leverage and getting a sweet NFL deal, I get told it's gonna cost me 199.99 just to move the service when, 1. no service guy had to come out(remember my pristine new dish?)
2. I moved their s*** myself, in my own moving boxes.

Nope no deal. I said cancel it. She said I was gonna end up paying out the wazoo for early cancellation. Guess what? When I signed up I paid 99 dollars extra to cancel early with no penalty, because i HATE CONTRACTS! So I paid 99 bucks and cancelled. Then my wife called, put it in her name and got free movie channels for three months and free NFL SUNDAY TICKET.

I hate them both. True story. So, that day DISH could have got at least $199 from me for Sunday ticket, my debit card was in my hand. Instead they decided to screw me, even though I never had a problem before, and talk themselves out of money. Only in America..........

P.S. The dish that was a POS and wouldn't work for some odd reason? It seem's to work just fine now with my wifes new contract. Weird huh? But guess what else? Every Sunday since I've been in AZ, I get my PACKERS games, FOR FREE! Thanks DIRECTV, your the best!
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Old 10-29-2012, 10:48 PM
 
Location: Hyrule
8,390 posts, read 11,617,818 times
Reputation: 7544
Roku
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