Need advice FAST having to do w/ Cable vs Dish!

[J3ff]

Well, a cable vision lady came up to the door and is offering a deal a little too good to turn down.

Im sure some of you have heard of it. She offered for the "Satellite Winback Offer" Basically, she'll buy out my contract with dish (which i dont think i have a contract)... and give me Cable Modem + 200 Channels (17 HD) with a DVR (Basically EVERYTHING and more than i had w/ dish) + phone all for 119 a month for a YEAR with no contract.

The ONLY thing that she didnt mention was how much it would cost for 2 additional boxes. And thats about the only hole I can punch in this thing.

Dish raised my rate on top 120 and I dont even get movie channels, and this comes out to be sooooooo good looking..

Tell me experts, what would you advise... I am ALMOST sold on this. Just looking before I leap.

 

[Mr Tony]

you need to know how much the 2nd & 3rd box rental is...if its $10 bucks, then maybe not good deal

Also, ask what it goes to after that

If you lease with Dish, they will need the equipment back. Cable cant take it

 

[J3ff]

you need to know how much the 2nd & 3rd box rental is...if its $10 bucks, then maybe not good deal

Also, ask what it goes to after that

If you lease with Dish, they will need the equipment back. Cable cant take it

Just talked to her on the phone again.

it's free for the first HD DVR box.

9.99 for a second HD DVR box -or- 4.87 per regular DVR box. (Per month)

Tax is only done on the CABLE portion of the bill.

+ HBO On demand / Showtime on demand / Cinemax On demand for free for 3 months.


All of these prices are valid for a year. I am thinking I will jump to this for a year and in the 11th month re-evalute where we are at and jump to whatever the best deal is.

 

[J3ff]

ps. here is my dish bill for this month.

top 120/locals 42.99
additional receiver 5.00
DISH DVR FEE (Bullsh!t) 4.98
CT TAX 2.65
Local Tax 3.34

for a total of 58.96

Hmmmmmmmmm

Thats NO MOVIE CHANNELS!@@#

 

[J3ff]

ps. i have a Hi Def computer screen, do you think their HD box has a DVI out?

 

[JamesJ]

this should now be moved to the cable section, it has turned from a dish vs. cable to wanting to know about cable, sorry I just think your question MIght be better answered in the right forum

 

[Mr Tony]

moved to cable section

 

[J3ff]

i was lookin around the cable forum and posted the original question here because I wanted a PRO dish argument not a pro cable one, because Im starting to be pro cable

 

[Ilya]

The good thing about cable is that there is no contract. If you are not happy with the service or its price, you can always cancel.

Check for installation costs, though. Are you pre-wired for cable? If not, this may cost you extra. Especially if wall-fishing is required...

 

[korsjs]

if you have a good cable company then it will be well worth it. do you know someone who has what you might get? go over to their house and check out the picture quality etc. if they give you a scientific atlantic 8300 you will love it. it blows the dish 942 and diret tv models away. it works.

 

[J3ff]

I did give the go ahead...

For 106 a month im getting cable modem ( www.optonline.net ) with telephone service (free in the us and canada) and the silver package ( www.io.tv ) with 17 HD channels

this has ONE DVR (Non HD) and one regular HD box that I plan on hooking up to my computer and using with my HD Monitor (and hopefully putting in a PVR, i just like the way the computer dvr's work)

it cant be beaten for that price. and hey in 11months ill be back with whoever is better. not even gonna take the dish down.

 

[J3ff]

The good thing about cable is that there is no contract. If you are not happy with the service or its price, you can always cancel.

Check for installation costs, though. Are you pre-wired for cable? If not, this may cost you extra. Especially if wall-fishing is required...

Free Install, already wired... no problems there.

 

[korsjs]

hopefully you will enjoy it. i was hesitant about switch back to cable. i got a deal like you, a little bit better and could not be happier. i plan to switch to fios tv when it becomes available in my area.

 

[jergenf]

I would caution you on giving up your dish antenna and receiver because you'll loose the option to instantly revert back if you're dissatisfied for any reason.

Also understand that cable companies are only giving this deal on a temporary basis. Next year you'll get the real price.
Presently you're paying $59 with dish and will be paying $119 with cable that's $60 more. How much do you normally pay for telephone and are they including high speed internet in that deal? The movie channels are only free for 3 months and then what will that cost?

Personally I've been offered a far better deal ($50 for all 200 channels for a year) from my local cable if I'm willing to turn in my dish equipment. But they wasn't able to quote what I would have to pay after that year is over.

Before I had dish I had cable for nearly 20 years and their rates always went up about 8% every year. With dish very few increases because I'm grandfathered to the original price for my movie channels and superstations. Only the AT packages have increased and I would approximate it to be close to 1% a year (plus I pay on an annual basis to save even more).

Finally carefully examine the channels you'll be getting and loosing, that's the most important of all decisions, even more important than the money issue.

 

[J3ff]

I would caution you on giving up your dish antenna and receiver because you'll loose the option to instantly revert back if you're dissatisfied for any reason.

<<Thank You I will not be cancelling untill everything is set up>>

Also understand that cable companies are only giving this deal on a temporary basis. Next year you'll get the real price.
Presently you're paying $59 with dish and will be paying $119 with cable that's $60 more

<< You do realize that this 60 dollars more is covering the phone (29.99) and cable internet (29.99), I dont think you get it, i am paying 119 EACH MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS, the prices dont change and the deal doesnt change>> (currently cable internet is costing 44 a month and phone is costing 42 a month)

. How much do you normally pay for telephone and are they including high speed internet in that deal? The movie channels are only free for 3 months and then what will that cost?

<<I am only doing this for a year, then I will go for whoever has the best deal at the time>>
<<I am paying 59 for dish with NO MOVIE CHANNELS, and I will be paying cablevision 119 FOR EVERY CHANNEL THEY OFFER, for 12 months, This includes unlimited phone to anywhere in the us and canada and a cable modem>>

Personally I've been offered a far better deal ($50 for all 200 channels for a year) from my local cable if I'm willing to turn in my dish equipment. But they wasn't able to quote what I would have to pay after that year is over.

<<If you really want to get into it, im paying 42.20 a month for every channel listed at www.io.tv for a year, including every HD channel>>

Before I had dish I had cable for nearly 20 years and their rates always went up about 8% every year.

<<again im not staying past the year>>

With dish very few increases because I'm grandfathered to the original price for my movie channels and superstations. Only the AT packages have increased and I would approximate it to be close to 1% a year (plus I pay on an annual basis to save even more).

<< i signed with dish and they jacked up prices 3 months later>>

Finally carefully examine the channels you'll be getting and loosing, that's the most important of all decisions, even more important than the money issue.

<<again i must not being clear, i am not loosing anything, i am gaining 17 HD channels that are FREE with the deal, and about what 40 movie channels?>>

 

[AlaJoe]

Cable strong points
1)Can have as many TVs as you want at no extra cost although the ones without the digital boxes did not get all channels
2)And this is a big one. Channel changing is instantaneous with cable. You can change channels as fast as you can push the button and the picture is on screen immediately. With Dish from the time you hit the button till the next channels picture is on screen is Three seconds which is painfully slow. I will likely go back to cable over this one issue at the end of my one year agreement.
3)No ridiculous upgrade fees. I you want a HD DVR you just tell them you want it and start paying the monthly fee. With Dish you would have to pay around $500 for the DVR and pay the monthly fee.
Dish strong points
1) In my case it was cheaper
2) Clearer picture. This is likely Dishes strongest point. When they first put in my dish I almost thought I had got a HD TV the picture was just that much better than I was getting with cable.
3) More reliable. I have had dish about 4 months now and not once has my service gone out, not even for 5 seconds. With cable I would typically loose service once or twice a month for at least an hour.

 

[J3ff]

i let ya know how it turns out

 

[korsjs]

what model dvr did you get?

 

[graffron]

I also switched from Dish Network to Comcast Cable using one of their deals ($60/month for Digital with HBO/MAX/Starz/Showtime, + $9/month for 2nd box + $10/month for HD DVR (Moto 6412). The deal is for 6 months, no commitment in the Phila. area.

However, I was surprised that many of my favorite channels were in analog (1-100) Sci-Fi, Discovery, History, etc.) The PQ of analogs is variable, but the digital is on par with E*. But the HD DVR, 'free HD', certainly beats E*!
I am surprized that the PQ of the HD channels is not outstandingly better than the SD. Yes it is better, but not night and day. The HBO, Max, have the HD and SD channels next to each other so it makes comparisons easy.

After 6 month, maybe E* will have lease only for the 942, or a similar deal with mpeg4.

 

[J3ff]

what model dvr did you get?

install is tuesday... im hoping a good one