Ok, I decided to try DISH out a couple months ago and just wanted to post my experience.
First off, I decided to go with them because they called me and said they had my locals now. I was really only interested in locals and HD (I liked VOOM before they shut down).
Anyway, my install got bumped a couple times and I had to call to find out what happened. Their excuse was they didn't have teh 622 in stock. Seems that would be shipped in advance since the install was 3 weeks after I signed up. I will say that the installer was pretty nice and seemed to know what he was doing.
Now to the programming. Once installed I wasn't happy at all to find out they only carry 2 local channels. So not only do I not get them in HD, I don't even get ABC. They were not willing to discount the extra fee for the locals either. If I could get OTA easily I suppose none of this would be an issue...but it is. Anyway, the first day they said they would put ina waiver for ABC. A few weeks goes by and I call in to check on it and they have no idea what I'm talking about...but they do say they will put a waiver in. I call a week later and they have no idea what I'm talking about so I explain this happened once already and they put another waiver in. One week later same situation...I haven't called back to check again...wanted to give them a little while but I am guessing they will have no idea what I'm talking about and not show the waiver.
On billing. Well the whole promo thing was pretty sneaky. They say they get my locals and they really don't....then the promo I sign up for has extra steps involved that weren't mentioned. I received two bills already and noticed I wasn't getting the $20/month off promo I signed up for. I called to find out what was going on and she tells me that I have to send in a rebate form first. I didn't receive the form in the mail or anything. I don't know if I'm going to get screwed on that deal or not because you have to get the form in 60 days after install and by the time I figured out what was going on it was right at 60 days. We will see if the postmark made it in under the wire I guess.
At any rate, I am not too happy about how the whole process went, especially about the lack of locals and the rebate thing.
On a positive note, Kung Fu HD is great and I haven't had any problems with the actual programming that I do get. The DVR is definitely not as nice as my Tivo but it is way better than TimeWarner's DVR. I had all sorts of problems with HD on TimeWarner cable.
So... much could be improved upon but if I had to pick between E* and D*, E* wins hands down. I think cable in some areas will definitely give E* a run for their money if they can get some Voom programming. When fiber starts to become mainstream then it will really get interesting.
First off, I decided to go with them because they called me and said they had my locals now. I was really only interested in locals and HD (I liked VOOM before they shut down).
Anyway, my install got bumped a couple times and I had to call to find out what happened. Their excuse was they didn't have teh 622 in stock. Seems that would be shipped in advance since the install was 3 weeks after I signed up. I will say that the installer was pretty nice and seemed to know what he was doing.
Now to the programming. Once installed I wasn't happy at all to find out they only carry 2 local channels. So not only do I not get them in HD, I don't even get ABC. They were not willing to discount the extra fee for the locals either. If I could get OTA easily I suppose none of this would be an issue...but it is. Anyway, the first day they said they would put ina waiver for ABC. A few weeks goes by and I call in to check on it and they have no idea what I'm talking about...but they do say they will put a waiver in. I call a week later and they have no idea what I'm talking about so I explain this happened once already and they put another waiver in. One week later same situation...I haven't called back to check again...wanted to give them a little while but I am guessing they will have no idea what I'm talking about and not show the waiver.
On billing. Well the whole promo thing was pretty sneaky. They say they get my locals and they really don't....then the promo I sign up for has extra steps involved that weren't mentioned. I received two bills already and noticed I wasn't getting the $20/month off promo I signed up for. I called to find out what was going on and she tells me that I have to send in a rebate form first. I didn't receive the form in the mail or anything. I don't know if I'm going to get screwed on that deal or not because you have to get the form in 60 days after install and by the time I figured out what was going on it was right at 60 days. We will see if the postmark made it in under the wire I guess.
At any rate, I am not too happy about how the whole process went, especially about the lack of locals and the rebate thing.
On a positive note, Kung Fu HD is great and I haven't had any problems with the actual programming that I do get. The DVR is definitely not as nice as my Tivo but it is way better than TimeWarner's DVR. I had all sorts of problems with HD on TimeWarner cable.
So... much could be improved upon but if I had to pick between E* and D*, E* wins hands down. I think cable in some areas will definitely give E* a run for their money if they can get some Voom programming. When fiber starts to become mainstream then it will really get interesting.
