Direct TV??

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
Anyone ever use or subscribe to Direct TV?
Cable here stinks and I got a offer in the mail from Direct TV that sounds pretty good but I've always shied away from satellite discs. Figured this would be a good place to get some info on it.
 
I subscribed to DirectTV. Had them for about 5 years. After the first 12 month contract ran out, their customer service disappeared also. I now have Dish Network. I'll bet that if you call DISH, tell them you have cable and a DTV offer, they cut you a sweet deal.

Main problem with satellite is that in every heavy rainstorm you will lsoe signal.
 
I did, they were fine. I was a subscriber for several years.

But as Fujimo said, in heavy rains - especially with lots of wind - you'll lose the signal for a while.
 
rifon2 said:
But as Fujimo said, in heavy rains - especially with lots of wind - you'll lose the signal for a while.
Click to expand...
Not only that, but sometimes a strong wind will knock the dish out of alignment. If that happens expect to be without tv for a couple of days until the DirecTV guy comes. And when he does, you will be charged ~ $75 for him to align your dish again. Something to consider given that you live in hurricane country.
 
i had dish for 4 weeks-it never worked worth a dam,between 2 bad box's ,rain,clouds ,birds, locomotives in other states, and moon fairies it may have worked a total of 5 hours over that time period - service was horrid and i received no credit for the time it was down-
i went back to cable and got a sweet deal-
 
i have it and love it. its a heck of a lot better than cable is around here. but like the others said, sometimes during a heavy rainstorm you may loose signal for a while. usually nor more that 30 minutes or so. but around here the same storm would knock the cable out and it would take days for the company to repair the damages and get the cable back operating so waiting 30 min or so is no big deal for me. i have never had my dish blown out of allignment and i have mine for approx 7 yrs.,,,VWB.
 
another vote for DirecTV. no system is perfect, and if you did deep enough, you'll find just as many people hate their cable systems.

I've been a subscriber for over 10 yrs, and in all that time my dish has only been blown out of alignment ONCE!

I'm in sunny southern kalifornia, and it doesn't rain all that much anyway, so signal loss has been minimal, and when it's happened, there's always a dvd I never got around to watching.

Plus, I can see the HBO east coast version, so got to watch the early time slot from some of my then favorite shows, such as Deadwood, or Sopranos.

You always pick you poison with any form of broadcast TV. depends on how much weather you get, and making sure you're gear gets installed right the first time.

- Paul
 
We have subscribed to DirecTV for many years, initially because we were located too far for the cable company to run a cable to our house.

For the most part, DirecTV has been good. As others have mentioned, storms can block reception and dish antenna placement is critical.

My biggest complaint is that the number of commercial interruptions during each program has skyrocketed since we first subscribed.

The amount of new programming is a lot less that the capacity of the system. Though there are a huge number of channels, many channels broadcast only infomercials after 1 or 2 AM. The same shows are repeated two, three, or more times in a day, then repeated later in the week.

Perhaps these problems are due to the cable/satellite network companies instead of DirecTV, but they are annoying enough so I would be willing to discontinue DirecTV if I could convince the wife (and I cannot).
 
I just switched over from Communistcast to ATT / DishNetwork. Also went to ATT DSL.

I got 2 months DSL free. Also $35 a month off the satellite package for a year, plus an additional $10 a month off for 10 months.

Picture is great, no pixeling at all so far.
 
I have had Direct TV, just about since its inception, had to bug them a couple of times to make them equal the offers from cable and Dish, but they always have, Got 2 FREE HDTV receivers a while back, and 2 newer models of the regular PVR's. I also get a discount on my ATT phone bill, they have an agreement to give discount on your Direct TV bill if you use ATT. BUT you have to ask for it from Direct TV, they don't tell you, but will do it if asked. Be sure and take out the insurance, it is well worth it, covers all parts and labor should anything go wrong with system. Storms do knock them out sometimes, but I can usually record it later with the west coast stations if the early one gets rained out.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
I have Direct TV at home, and Dish Network at my camp. I'll take Dish anytime. To me, its much more user friendly. Any time I had to have either serviced, a separate (same) private contractor did the work. Good service each time. I'd drop Direct TV in a heartbeat, but the wife prefers it, so we compromise.
 
with no real complaints. I live in SoCal, where the rain and wind aren't too severe. But last year we did have a short run of 60-70mph winds and it never lost signal for more than a few minutes at a time.

Frank
 
Thanks for the information guys!!! I think I'm gonna give it a try. The weather down here isn't very bad over all.
Why can't you adjust the dish yourself when it's out of alignment?
Are they motorized or do you climb up on the roof and move them by hand?
One of my neighbors has a disc on a pole about 3 foot off the ground beside his garage. I thought that was odd, thought they had to be on the roof.
 
L6steel said:
Thanks for the information guys!!! I think I'm gonna give it a try. The weather down here isn't very bad over all.
Why can't you adjust the dish yourself when it's out of alignment?
Are they motorized or do you climb up on the roof and move them by hand?
One of my neighbors has a disc on a pole about 3 foot off the ground beside his garage. I thought that was odd, thought they had to be on the roof.
Click to expand...

They now do not mount on roofs, walls only, a change in policy because of liability when installers get on roofs, fall danger to installers, and leak potential to homeowners, thus lawsuits either way, So in Down here in Alabama, Wall mounts only or pole in yard.

You can readjust yourself, if someone is watching tv for best picture, but tricky at best. With insurance, I think readjustment of dish is covered, not sure though, just ask before signing up.
 
It's not even an option for me since my house sits under oak trees well over 100 feet tall. My neighbor is a satellite tech and we used a receiver he had to try to sniff out a spot with a decent signal. Didn't find one, which is what we expected.
 
Direct TV is the worst bunch of A$$holes I have ever dealt with. Damaged my home during the install, service never worked for the month I tried to let them fix it and then they have the Ba11s to send me bills and to collections. Screw 'em
 
I had to sign off on the installation that everything was working and EVERYTHING was done to my satisfaction, then the installer had to call his supervisor and I had to talk to him and he asked a whole bunch of questions to make sure the installation and all equipment was in perfect order. The installer did not get to leave the job site until the call was made. So, that would not have happened down here, or your situation made them change installation procedures, requiring signatures and phone calls to Supervisors over installs. Sorry about your problems, if they hurt your credit, make them pay, unjust collections are not right.
 
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