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Their service here in North Raleigh has been great since TWC went fiber-optic over 10 years ago. I can't even remember the last time our cable went out.
Only issue I had was the awful HD DVR. so, I gave that back and went back to basic + standard for about $50/month.
Might try digital again when the DVR software is fixed.
Saturnfan, a lot of companies, not just TWC, do this now. It's as if they'll agree to your terms if they can count on your staying on as a customer. When DirectTV upgraded our dish and the receiver for HD on the tv in the family room, I had to agree to stay with them for another two years, or there was a 'termination' fee.
It's all a racket, one way or the other.
I never had a complaint with TWC other than with their Customer Service. I wish my provider offered 'on demand' channels. That WAS n-i-i-i-i-c-e. But, I still go with my DirectTV for prompt attention to a problem, and being able to reach someone by phone. TWC never delivered on that the whole time we were with them. Both my husband and I encountered some incredibly rude TWC folks on the phone when we moved here, and because of that, and them, canceled the service completely and just did without 'extra' TV.
We DID have Discovery HD but it has disappeared sometime in the last couple months. It seems to have been about the same time that they did the big update.
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one...
We had http://libizblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/discoveryhdtheather.jpg (broken link)
So I'm planning an escape to DirecTV. They're running a promo til 6/24 for $50/mo for the HD/DVR package for the first year. Wow.
But here I come with some questions for all you Triangle DirecTV subscribers.
Do you have any reception issues...during storms or what not? I've got a clear line of view towards the southern sky, so I figure I should be ok.
With the KA/KU dish, weather shouldn't effect it too much b/c the dish is larger than your standard dish. Now if you have a really heavy downpour, your signal will go out, but it'll stay out until the heavy part of the storm is done. I have Directv and yesterday when it was raining heavily, the picture only stayed out for 5 mins. Just make sure that when they install your dish, the signals on each satellite are "peaked" as high as the installer can get them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frrrunkis!
How was your experience with these local DirecTV installers? I've heard nightmarish stories from some people across the country and I'm afraid I'm gonna get a lazy installer or one that wants to charge me an arm and a leg. I just plan on having the dish mounted to the side of my house. I understand that they will need to run a second cable line for the DVR. I also want them to run a line into my bedroom. Can they just tap into the existing TWC cable lines...I mean, the dish will only be about 5 feet away from my TWC box outside. I dunno...I just don't want any surprises.
Directv contracts with installers so you don't have to worry about paying them. My install was good, but I was also out there or near the guy when he was doing his job so that he told me exactly what he was doing. I have two dvrs so the extra lines shouldn't be a problem. Some installers will not tap directly into the TWC box and some will. Mine did it without me asking him, but you may want to tell the installer that's what you want. If you don't have a second cable outlet in the room in which the dvr is going, your installer can easily run a second line for you. My installer did that for me in my spare bedroom. He ran the second wire in through the window using what is called a "flat wire". Flat wire keeps the installer from having to drill unless it is necessary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frrrunkis!
What is the best choice for Internet? I currently do not have phone service and am not looking into getting a phone line set up. I'm thinking about going to DSL and maybe even purchasing the 768K plan, but I'm afraid I might lose some speed from the high speed I have now.
You can get DSL without having phone service. I believe it is called "dry-loop" service. AT&T definitely offers it but it's not a service that they advertise heavily.
Last edited by he's so hott; 06-23-2008 at 08:54 AM..
Wow, Frrrunkis, that IS ridiculous. I have DirectTV, and for $110 month, I have two hookups (one in the bedroom, one in the family room), HD hookup on my nicer TV in the family room, and every channel offered, with the exception of the premium sports channels. For no more sports events than what I watch, what I get now is fine.
The nice thing about the HD channels is I have all of them that are offered, and right now, I get like two sets of the same channel -- HD and not HD, which is nice right now for the TV that will be obsolete next year.
The only thing I am disappointed about is that is seems many of the premium movie channels no longer show recent releases on a regular basis......
Yeah, that TWC price is crazy. I have the premium package from Directv and just like you I get all of the movie channels and sports channels and all of the 90 some odd HD channels. I also have HD DVR connected to my tv downstairs and the projector downstairs, one HD receiver connected to the LCD upstairs in the master and one standard def DVR connected to the tv in the spare/office bedroom and my bill is 139 a month with taxes and the protection plan.
Starz, HBO and Cinemax in my opinion do a good job of showing recent releases. I don't go the movies a lot, but every recent release and by recent I mean a movie released in the last year, I've been able to see it in HD between Starz, Cinemax, HBO or Showtime. I record at least 4 recently released movies in HD every weekend from one of the 4 premium movie channels and I watch them on the projector at a later date.
Last edited by he's so hott; 06-23-2008 at 08:55 AM..
I never had a complaint with TWC other than with their Customer Service. I wish my provider offered 'on demand' channels.
Hi friend. Directv has slightly different form of on-demand which I enjoy. It is called Directv on Demand. Basically, you need one of their HD-DVRs and you connect your ethernet cable to the ethernet jack of the back of the HD-DVR. You can then go into the On-Demand menu and search for a movie or tv show that you like. You select the program and it begins to download. Depending on fast of a internet connect you have, you can start downloading a standard definition program or movie and start watching right away. I've seen people whom have had Comcast On-Demand and now use Directv On-Demand and they say that it's similar in the programming that is offered. Directv On-Demand just got all of the NBC On-Demand programming in HD and SD but you have to pay a fee for the programming (NBC's deal with Directv call for a fee). All of the other programming for on-demand is free, except for movies.
I download new episodes of Reno 911! every week from the Comedy Central on-demand channels. It's great.
Yes, and that new update is horrible. The guide is so much slower than before and the rewind / ffwd options on the DVR are all messed up. Very disappointed and wish we could go back to the old system.
There is one thing I absolutely despise with their newest update. In order to find something I want to watch, I use the guide. When I find something interesting, I press "Select" to go to that channel. Not anymore. After pressing Select, I now get the option to Record that channel and a bunch of other options not including "Go To Channel". So I have to now memorize the channel I want to go to, exit the guide, then type the channel in. The interface is so slow, that this does take a little time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturnfan
Never heard of a termination fee with TWC.
Luckily I had asked about terms, including cancellation, when the TWC guy offered me this $10 off/mo deal. He called this plan, something like a "Special Saver Plan" or something like that, and I'm sure it's offered to the people threatening to leave.
Upon telling him that I wanted to switch to satellite, of course he started reading the "What satellite cons to tell irate customers" sheet. He mentioned that I'll get charged a fee whenever I have someone come out and troubleshoot issues. And that many have actually cancelled satellite service because the signal is so bad...acting like it's 1995 or something. And he added, "Well, what are you going to do for high speed internet?", acting like TWC is the only option for internet. He didn't have a very good answer when I told him that I'm sick and tired of paying over $100/mo for service that includes maybe a dozen HD channels and no premium channels when their competitor is offering close to 100 HD channels and HBO, Showtime, and Starz free for 3 months...all for $30/mo cheaper. I then thru in the fact that DirecTV's NHL Center Ice subscription includes home and away feeds and XM satellite radio. There is just no answer to that whatsoever.
As for the whole, Discovery HD/HD Theater thing, do we even get HD Theater or is that part of the $7/mo "lump all the worthless HD channels and put them into a package" package? I don't remember seeing that channel. But all I know is that I wanted to watch "When We Left Earth", and I couldn't find it in HD anywhere, confirming that Discovery HD is gone.
But I'm sure it comes in crystal clear on DirecTV.
TWC decided today to abruptly pull the plug on newsgroup service! $&$&%* .. they say due to low subscriber usage .. that's crap .. i'll tell you the reason, because they are passing the cost along to their subscribers who will now have to have yet another monthly bill if they want Usenet by getting it from a third party provider.
So we are new to Chapel Hill and my girlfriend just signed us up for TWC last week. The nightmare began when they said our address isn't listed, then our address probably isn't serviceable (TWC was just canceled at the address a couple weeks before!) Finally after the 4th phone call they agreed to send a tech out. I met the installer and everything seemed fine until we looked at the bill. She signed up for a cable package and DVR along with .768 roadrunner internet for $64.90 (+taxes) yet somehow our monthly bill is for over $110 before taxes. The bill is screwed up and we are getting some package she didn't ask for and being billed for a second box that we don't have. Then she finds out that the channel Bravo she wants isn't included or even available. So I called a buddy and he said I was crazy to go with TWC and just to call DirecTV like he ended up doing and save a bunch of trouble. Well Direct TV is coming out this week now and we are getting the 150 channel package and the dry bellsouth DSL line for internet. It comes out to around $65 for 150 channels, DVR service with free receiver and (supposedly) faster 1.5 internet speeds. We'll see what heppens. Please tell me TWC isn't going to expect us to pay cancellation fees?
BTW: on a side note our cable and internet were out all night two nights ago. I called and they said it would be on by 10:45 pm, it was around 8:30pm at the time. At midnight we had nothing. I plugged my phone number in to supposedly get a call as soon as service was restored, never got a call. I have no idea if that is a normal occurrence but it was our first week with TWC.
Last edited by banditbasser; 06-23-2008 at 01:38 PM..
Reason: add
As for the whole, Discovery HD/HD Theater thing, do we even get HD Theater or is that part of the $7/mo "lump all the worthless HD channels and put them into a package" package?
HD Theater is not in the separately priced "HD tier". It is included with regular digital cable.
Those HD Tier channels, for the record, are MojoHD, MHD (MTV), HDNet, HDNet Movies, and UniversalHD.
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