Dish Network or DirecTV?

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by FlyingDoc

not to hijack the thread but i was hoping someone could also provide a comparison with FiOS from verizon. I put a premium on image quality and also ideally want to continue using firewire capture. Is FiOS any better or worse than the dish options wrt image quality and does anyone know if the FiOS channels are 5C'd. My location is (will be) Huntington Beach CA.

Thanks in advance

I have FIOS and imo it is by far the best picture I have seen, I cant comment beyond that for setup with Sage as I just havent had the time to go beyond using my OTA on Sage, eventually I hope to though, just need more time in a day.

[davephan]

I switch between Comcast, Dish Network, and DirecTV periodically. We had a problem with Dish Network. The bill was not on automatic pay and it was forgotten. We received pop-up messages on the screen, and we paid the bill. Dish Network then refused to remove the periodic pop up messages or could not remove them. This was very annoying to receive messages like this that destroys recordings since the pop up messages are removed by clicking OK manually.

We also had DirecTV. One of our receivers went bad. I called and they said that the receiver would be replaced at no charge and the contract would not be extended. There was a few months left on the contract, and we were planning on switching to cable TV after the contract expired. They replaced the receiver. I then switched to cable TV a few months later. I was then charge a couple hundred dollars for early termination. DirecTV had extended the contract without my knowledge or consent. I finally did some of the money returned after calling many times and talking to different people. It also helped to record the telephone conversations with them since some agents would deny that previous conversations occurred even though the previous agent said that they would document the information. When the agents knew that the previous conversation was recorded, they backed down.

My brother in law had a bad experience with Dish Network. This could have been a bad installer problem. After the install, the installer wanted my brother in law to sign a contact agreeing to a contract with an early termination fee. My brother in law refused to sign the contract because he was told by an agent that there would not be an early termination fee. My brother in law did not like the service and cancelled soon after that. He was then charged with an early termination fee. My brother in law discovered that his signature was forged, maybe by the installer. The brother in law threatened Dish Network to take the matter to the state attorney general's office. Dish Network backed down and reversed the early termination fee.

So you can have problems with both Dish Network and DirecTV. I recommend that you record all telephone conversations with them since you cannot trust them.

I have also found that with all three service providers that if you are near the end of a contract or the contract has ended that you can call the 'customer retention' or 'loyalty' department and tell them you want to switch. They will reduce your rates a bit, throw in something free like a movie channel, or both. If you don't call, you will never be offered the reduced price or improved service. Be sure to record the offer since another agent might deny that the offer was ever made. If you have a recording the other agent will back down. I have never had to prove I had the recording, just the threat always worked.

The same thing works with cellphone companies. There's a lot of competition for both TV and cellphones. The companies will give the people reduced rates or improved no cost extra service if you demand it. If you don't they will be happy to charge you more or withhold the extra free service.


Dave

[panteragstk]

Hijack refused as I'm jealous that I can't get FIOS. I'd use cablecard if I could have FIOS.

[texneus]

Ditto that, FiOS is wonderful as long as you don't have to deal with tech support (at which time you are reminded this is still the phone company). I don't think FiOS re-compresses any of their channels, and the PQ is indeed superb. I had DiSH for ~10 years before FiOS moved in and I couldn't wait to drop DiSH. They compress the living daylights out of everything. Very soft picture and loads of artifacts. It wasn't bad initially, but progressively got worse and worse as they crammed more and more channels into the system. I tried to explain this to them when they asked why I was leaving, but the CSR didn't seem to comprehend the issue. Ultimately they offered to up me to an HD package, and I laughed and said they couldn't seem to do lowly SD right so why would I try HD? I honestly don't know if they've improved at all in the last 3-4 years, but I suppose they could have.

DirecTV, from what I've seen, doesn't seem as bad, although it's been some time since I compared the two systems directly.

The one thing that bugs me about FiOS is typically when they add channels they create a new tier. So for instance, even though the tier I have included "everything", it doesn't any more. Infact, some of my channels were taken away and moved to the new tier last year. Now for "everything" I need to upgrade and spend a good chunk more. By contrast, Dish never did this, and when you got the package with "everything", it stayed that way.

[CollinR]

Got Dish, good bang:buck did my own install with my own equipment. I used 1 meter dishes for each orbital and rarely lose signal even in blizzard conditions. Since I have a dish per orbital it's cake to repoint or peak them from time to time.