DirecTV

[Obsessed]

If you have DirecTV, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion of the service. I'm growing increasing disgruntled with my cable provider (Cablevision/Optimum) and am looking for an alternative. FIOS is not going to be available in my town in the foreseeable future, so DirecTV seems like a logical choice to explore. The issue that most concerns me, though, is the potential to lose service in bad weather.

Thanks for any input.

 

[perry]

We've had a few storms here the past few days and one of my friends was asking me about my cable service because his satellite service has fritzed out a few times and the kids were screaming. I'm sure that's not indicative of everyone's experience, just a little ironic given your question.

 

[cleancut]

We had DirectTV 5 or 6 years ago and discontinued it because every time there was a thunderstorm we'd lose our signal. Granted, we live in the "lightning capital of the world" (Tampabay), but it became extremely annoying. I've heard that they've improved this but I'd check with someone in your area first before I'd commit to switching over.

 

[Sid Vicious]

My cable internet was lousy so I went with DSL and Directv. At the end of my 2 year contract I wanted a HD DVR and Direct wouldn't give me one, but Dishnetwork was more than happy to do so.

Overall I prefer Direct and will probably change back when this contract is up. You can get all of the NFL at DTV and the packages with Dish can be a little odd.

I live in Mississippi, so I like to keep abreast of the weather so I have a $50 Radio Shack antenna in my attic. It incorporates right into the channel guideand the service was free with DTV. You have to pay for locals to get the channel guide with Dish, even if you have the antenna. The alternative is not to know what is on at any given time. This antenna is HD and the picture is beautiful. The satellite only goes out with really strong storms and usually for just a couple of minutes, usually in the last few seconds of a close game.

To sum it up--I prefer Direct over Dish over cable. FIOS was too much for my simple needs in my area, but I think the future may lie here.

 

[texasPI]

Well, I've had Dish and currently have Directv. Loss of signal dpends largely on how sturdy the installation of the dish is. I very rarely lose signal and mostly during heavy rain but it's only for a brief moment. One thing that I absolutely hate about Directv is how laggy the guide interface is. I never had that issue with Dish.

You should also make sure whether local channels are included if you're interested in recording with a DVR. I moved to an area where they did not offer them and they sent me an OTA tuner that plugs into the back of my receiver but it sucks. Sure, I can watch locals OTA directly on the TV but if I want to DVR, well, it just does not work. If you have a smartphone, the directv app/mobile website is nice to set the receiver to record when you're not home. In fact, the iphone and android apps work alot faster than the on screen guide that I mostly use them instead of the guide.

 

[jrowen]

We've had DirecTv for several years, with DSL. We recently upgraded to an HD-DVR, and received a loyalty credit, though it wasn't free. WAY more HD than our local cable provider, and better channels. We get almost everything we really like in HD, including locals. We had some issues with rain fade before the upgrade to DVR, but they adjusted our parabolic and put a new switch box in, and we've NO issues since. I won't say its been perfect, but I'm not going to go back.

- Jason

 

[jlanger]

I've had directv for nearly 10 years now. You gotta have it well positioned (facing south btw) or it will be very sensitive to storms. In the most severe storms it will go out, generally for only a little bit until it passes, but in my area I found my cable went out actually more often during these types of events so I just stuck with it. I always make sure I have an extra Antenna hooked up to get over the air broadcasts just in case, which I would have for cable too.

I've really liked my service over the years but some things have changed that I'm not quite liking, though honestly cable is still worse IMO.

Plusses: Still able to install the entire setup myself if I should so choose. Directv doesn't care where I put my cable, weather or not I redo my entire line from the dish to the TV if I want, etc. An example of this was one of my original tuners stopped working, my inlaws had an extra tuner that was replaced by an HD box, I put the card from my original box into this box, called directv and told them what I was doing, and 5 minutes later it was working. If I'd had this problem with cable I'd have to either have someone come out or I'd have to go to the office and get a new box which would have been more of a hassle IMO.

More channels/for a better price, from what I can compare in my local area directv still has more channels for a better deal then the other options. Mind you with bundling, i.e. phone, internet you might save more.

After ten years of being with them I get free showtime, and my package which includes a DVR, extra tuner, all the non premium channells, HBO, Starz/encore is right around $100.

Minuses: In heavy weather it will stop working. Especially if it's not mounted correctly or is not aimed quite right. (which is why I like to do it myself)

You need a clear south facing spot. If you live in an apartment that faces North don't get it.

You have to buy your equipment, then they charge you a "rental fee" for extra boxes/dvr. You get one box free but if you go with a dvr, or have another tuner, it costs you. I know it's pretty standard procedure but still annoying.

Tivo is tough to get for it these days, we originally had a Directv Tivo box which we absolutely loved, unfortunately the tuner in it died after about 4-5 years and we've had to deal with the Hughes branded dvr's which really aren't as good. Hopefully Tivo will eventually come back, but I'm not holding my breath for too long.

All in all I've been pretty happy with my service. I'd recommend it over most cable, though I'm intrigued and have heard very good things about Fios, which isn't available here.

 

[BCP]

Dear sir, I have DirecTV and will be happy to assist you. Get it.


Get it now.


Seriously, we don't get much trouble during storms, if you do, just threaten to drop their service because of it, they'll offer you a free weather bubble for your dish. You get tons of channels (dish network cheaps out on channels and ends up being just as expensive) and the customer service is amazing.

We switched to Comcast once......we switched back 2 months later.

 

[Commander Quan]

PM Sent

 

[jlanger]

Dear sir, I have DirecTV and will be happy to assist you. Get it.


Get it now.


Seriously, we don't get much trouble during storms, if you do, just threaten to drop their service because of it, they'll offer you a free weather bubble for your dish. You get tons of channels (dish network cheaps out on channels and ends up being just as expensive) and the customer service is amazing.

We switched to Comcast once......we switched back 2 months later.

lol I did that too!

Be wary of people trying to get $50-$100 of you though trying to recommend Directv to you lol. It's nice to do that but I find it a little annoying when people ask advice

 

[Mojo88]

We had Direct TV bundled with Verizon, it was impossible to get a bill correct for the first year. The level of incompetence and lack of caring was unreal, I spent several hours on joint calls with Direct TV and Verizon.

If you decide to go with them you are entering a two year iron clad contract on service and equipment. If you add a piece of equipment (receiver) at any time, it is a new two year contract.

Our bill for all services went from 165.00/ month to over 250.00/month. I called and tried to negotiate, but was basically told to get lost. Two months after canceling they offered the original pricing.

We added a new receiver when we purchased a larger TV and had to pay for the final year of that new two year contract after we canceled service.. It came to 224.00 for that final year. I paid it through Verizon, but after we cancelled service I received a bill from Direct TV. I had proof that is was paid, but kept getting bills from Direct TV. I thought it was over until they sent me to collections and I paid the bill again because it was affecting my credit rating.

After canceling service it took three tries to get them to send the Fed-Ex return boxes out. When I dropped them off the Fed-Ex clerk commented on how many angry customers were sending back Direct TV equipment.

Make sure you read the contract carefully and find out what the bill will be after the initial contract is up. Read ALL the fine print.

 

[Bertilak]

I have had DirecTV for three years now and have no complaints other than wishing it was cheaper.

In those three years I can only remember two outages, both due to weather but I am probably forgetting one or two so let's estimate four outages. I had Time Warner cable until I moved out of their service area. I had as much and probably more outages with cable than with DirecTV. As the DirecTV guy told me -- Time Warner gets *their* signal from a satellite anyway!

DirecTV is better than TWC by a long shot -- a completely different league. Well, except that I need to get my Internet access separately.

 

[dwestenk]

I have had DirecTV for three years now and have no complaints ...

I have had DirecTV for probably 16 or 17 years in 2 different homes and have no complaints. Outages are very rare and only happen when it is really pouring down rain.

 

[jlanger]

We had Direct TV bundled with Verizon, it was impossible to get a bill correct for the first year. The level of incompetence and lack of caring was unreal, I spent several hours on joint calls with Direct TV and Verizon.

If you decide to go with them you are entering a two year iron clad contract on service and equipment. If you add a piece of equipment (receiver) at any time, it is a new two year contract.

Our bill for all services went from 165.00/ month to over 250.00/month. I called and tried to negotiate, but was basically told to get lost. Two months after canceling they offered the original pricing.

We added a new receiver when we purchased a larger TV and had to pay for the final year of that new two year contract after we canceled service.. It came to 224.00 for that final year. I paid it through Verizon, but after we cancelled service I received a bill from Direct TV. I had proof that is was paid, but kept getting bills from Direct TV. I thought it was over until they sent me to collections and I paid the bill again because it was affecting my credit rating.

After canceling service it took three tries to get them to send the Fed-Ex return boxes out. When I dropped them off the Fed-Ex clerk commented on how many angry customers were sending back Direct TV equipment.

Make sure you read the contract carefully and find out what the bill will be after the initial contract is up. Read ALL the fine print.

I tried bundling with qwest as well when I moved into our newest house, that was a disaster. I'm not sure but when you bundle, a separate party takes over of it all and it's was an absolute mess. Directv doesn't partner well as now that I just have them (and before when I was dealing with them directly) I had no issues.

 

[moonshine44]

We have had DirecTV for quite a few years, and we're very happy with their service. Don't let Dish Network fool you. We looked at them recently because they said that they were cheaper and we could bundle it with our telephone service, but in order to get all the channels that my wife wanted, we had to buy a package that would have cost the same as the DirecTV service we already had.

We've never had any outages due to weather, whether rain or snow (so to speak).

 

[bigred90gt]

I've never personally had Direct TV, or any satellite TV for that matter. I have a lot of friends who do, and they are all hit or miss with weather issues. Some of them lose a signal in a good wind, some rarely lose a signal. Technology has gotten better since it became common several years back.

My only real experience with truly bad weather and satellite TV came with Hurricane Ike blew in a couple of years ago. We were evacuated from our apartment near the bay, and chose to go to my mothers house (which incidentally, is near a different bay). We rode the hurricane out at her house, and aside from the point of the post, it was definitely a humbling (or pucker worthy) experience. Back to the point. They have Direct TV as their provider. The storm itself blew in somewhere around 6 or 7pm if I remember correctly (perhaps a bit later, I wasnt watching the clock). we sat in the living room watching TV until the power went out at just before midnight, and never lost the signal. Never even had any glitches in the signal. If it can withstand a hurricane, I cannot say anything bad about it. Of course, as with anything, YMMV.

 

[demaro]

I have it. Sometimes you lose signal for a little while in bad weather , but I would never go back to cable again. Much better picture and much better service.