Should I stick to satellite?

[PILMAN]

It seems that my cable provider has been growing and is now offering HDTV in my area. We had digital cable about 3 years ago and I wasn't too impressed with the picture. We have COX Communications here, they like to stereotype and exaggerate how "bad" satellite is. The picture on dish looks good on my standard tv's but on my plasma 42" the picture is horrible. It looks like a grainy VCD movie. HDTV content is beautiful, i've considered voom but now I'm uncertain about their future plus they don't have WWE PPV's. Some of my friends have come over and actually questioned why I have satellite as we don't live in a rural area yet theres a ton of people in our area with directv and cable (50:50). I'm not sure if cable picture would be worst on the plasma or better. I pay about $123.51 a month and that includes the 180 value pak with HBO/MAX Digital home plan with 3 receivers. That also has 2 additional receiver fees and the DISH HD package. Also 18 dollars in taxes. The bills not exactly cheap but for the ammount of channels we get i'd consider it pretty decent. Weather hasn't affected us at all unless it's really bad weather (like the hurricane). My mother seems to hate the dish in the backyard, always complaining how it ruins the scenery in the backyard, I asked her if she wanted it mounted and she's afraid if there was a hurricane it'd get torn off the house or wreck her roof (don't understand why she complains about it ugly, our old house had a massive antenna).

Anyways heres what COX is offering us.

Digital Deluxe +HDDVR $17.75
DVR Converter $9.95
HD DVR Converter $9.95
HBO: $11.00
Cinemax $11.00
Starz! $11.00
The Movie Channel $11.00
Standard Cable: $38.75
Digital Cable FREE for first month: -$17.75

This would be $102.65 for the first month and then after that
$120.40 a month

Stated it says that this excludes taxes but the prices come pretty close. The HDTV content is about the same as what dish provides but some channels are different than what DISH offers. I don't know if the high taxes are just satellite or if their similar to cable. Considering their offering me DVR service I would say that's a plus and they offer all the movie channels I have. My only concern is the ammount of channels and the quality, the thing killing me is taxes and the additional receiver fees. What do you guys recommend?

 

[dishrich]

Would you mind telling us where you're at (city/state) - would like to go to Cox's website to see what you all get.

Simple - why not give it a try for a month, alongside your satellite & compare for yourself. Since the cable companies normally don't make you commit for a certain period, you don't really have any risk, other than the month of service. (& most will refund that if you are not happy within like 30 days) I know that some people here will tell you DON'T DO IT & that you'll be sorry, (IMHO, some take this way too personal for some reason) but the truth of the matter is, many of the cable co. have come a long way since they had to start competing against DBS. This is NOT to say that it ALWAYS is better on the side, as it does vary from town to town, but the only way you'll find out is to try it out for yourself. Perhaps you could go to a friend's house that has the same setup & get a preview first.

In my case, Insight actually has better prog overall than either DBS provider, but their DVR's SUCK BIGTIME!!! They are only single tuner Motorola units & they do make the analog cable channels look like crap, even when fed with a clear analog signal. (we are supposed to be getting the dual-tuner units that are not supposed to have this problem, but not for several months - even then, I doubt if they'll be able to compete with my D-Tivo's) They also have all of our locals in HD, except for CBS & that is only because our local CBS is NOT HD yet.

At worse case, if cable is not all that, you just call & tell them to disco & keep the dish.

 

[PILMAN]

Fort Walton Beach, Florida

It's on the panhandle.

 

[dishrich]

Just looked at the lineup - I say give it a try! (with the disclaimers above)

 

[PILMAN]

Other than what they offer is there little reason to have satellite if cable is available in my area and the fact the pricing is pretty close? The only thing I see losing out on is the setup fee because I would have to pay for them to setup everything.

 

[dishrich]

Other than what they offer is there little reason to have satellite if cable is available in my area and the fact the pricing is pretty close? The only thing I see losing out on is the setup fee because I would have to pay for them to setup everything.

Well, you didn't tell us how MUCH it is, but since most of the time it is minimal, is it really a deal breaker? Also, did you asked them about any kind of "dish buy-back program" - if you find out you like this, you can get discounts that are usually given out over an extended period of time, like a year/18 months. Usually, if you just give them a cheap or old receiver, it'll qualify you for that.

Also, you didn't mention anything about this, but do you have any kind of high speed internet now? (like DSL, or are you on cable modem now?) If you have any interest in cable modem, they usually give you a break on pricing (bundled service) so you might be surprised how cheap you can get high-speed internet.

 

[PILMAN]

I wrote the price what I'm paying for dish, about 120.00 dollars a month. I have cable modem already, use it mainly for business purposes though.

 

[korsjs]

that doesn't seem like a very good deal to go from satellite to cable. other cable companies are offering much better deals. i pay around 55 dollars for all channels plus indemand and hd channels for the first year.

 

[dishrich]

I wrote the price what I'm paying for dish, about 120.00 dollars a month. I have cable modem already, use it mainly for business purposes though.

OK, but did you ask them if your cable modem charge would go DOWN (or if you would get some sort of bundle pricing) if you got digital cable? I'm just saying this could be a factor in your decision...

 

[PILMAN]

Yes, not much difference.