Leaving for Comcast, hope to come back someday...

[Aqualung812]

I never understood the "Hey, I'm leaving Dish" threads, but here I am writing one. Sick, isn't it?

Anyhow, I'm even buying out the last 5 months of my contract to leave. I expected Indianapolis HD locals over a year ago, that's why I switched from Comcast. Learned my lesson about switching before the product is there! (Beware D* HD PROMISES AS WELL!)

Anyhow, I had Top200 with HD and locals. With Comcast, I'm dropping about $30 a month off my bill and going to what amounts to Top 250 with HBO! Yes, it is for a year, but there is no commitment.

I'll have VS in HD, so I'll get to see the tour. I'll have my locals back in HD. The only thing I give up is the ViP 622. I still think it is the best HD DVR out there, so I hate to see it go.

If anyone from Dish is reading, the one other thing that helped my wife and I change our mind within minutes last night was the customer sevice comparison. When we called Comcast, we talked to someone that CARED. She was easy to understand, and she took her time to explain everything. Even if it was an act, she didn't appear to be reading a script. She knew the products and gave off a sense of excitement. She was happy to talk with us, or at least made us feel that way.

Then we call to India. Let's be clear, I have been to India and have NO problem with anyone from there having jobs. However, I do have a problem with poor communication. The CSR we spoke to sounded as bored as she could be. Her words of "We would really hate to lose you as a ... valued Dish ...customer" were cold and scripted. I felt like she could care less.

If Dish gave their CSRs an attitude adjustment, better training in both communication and their products, AND THE ABILITY TO MATCH PRICES, we would have stayed.

Oh well. The pricing with Comcast is for 1 year, and there is no commitment. Maybe by that time Dish has made improvements. If not, I think AT&T's U-Verse is going to be here in about 9-12 months. Good for the consumer to have options!

I'll try to hang out in the Comcast area here. Satellite Guys are the best!

 

[Poke]

Yeah well good luck on cable. We will see you back soon .

 

[zaxxon2000]

If "ABILITY OF PRICE MATCHING" is your thing, go for it. It comes down to what matters most and in your case it seems to be price. Nothing wrong with that at all. I did it too!!!! There is no true way to compare services based on price alone.
I had Comcast too. It's just not worth it too change every 12 months when the regular bill kicks in. Simply put "When the discount ends-it's more expensive."
CSR's do what they are supposed to do. We are only 1 customer at a time and the policy they have is well documented. Spend more-get more.
Enjoy On Demand- it's truly a good product.

 

[Brandie]

"YOU'LL BE BACK!!!"

We had Dish and Time Warner offered a "hell of a deal." We went for it, as did our son who lives in Tampa (BrightHouse). T/W DVR was replaced 4 times and it still did not record what was programmed.

Near the end of our deal, Time Warner ceded territory to Comcrap here in St Augustine, FL. Well, we had Comcrap in Ft Lauderdale prior to moving up here. Florida Comcrap customer service has to be the worst folks to even try to connect with let alone get to talk to. Still true today...

Yea, we don't have Jax locals in HD yet on Dish, but we will, someday. Locals aren't the only thing worth watching anyways!!!

 

[Aqualung812]

Simply put "When the discount ends-it's more expensive."
CSR's do what they are supposed to do. We are only 1 customer at a time and the policy they have is well documented. Spend more-get more.
Enjoy On Demand- it's truly a good product.

I'm sure it might be, however I do know a few people that get the deal back when they say they're going back to Dish. Comcast has made the decision to try to keep customers that way, at least so my friends have said. I'll see when it comes time.

However, it isn't JUST about price to me. My wife won't pay $20 for an HD "toy". She doesn' see why we should have to pay extra for that, and I have a hard time fighting that fight.

It is more about value AND features. I CAN'T get HD locals on Dish. I CAN'T get VS in HD. I have to pay a great deal more to get HBO or VS on standard def.

Comcast doesn't have a line-item for HD. This might be smoke and mirrors, but it makes for fewer battles at home!

Poke, I do hope to come back. Dish does need to change for that though..

 

[digitalartifact]

Your right zaxxon.... On Demand is probably the best thing cable has going for it...

It sure is not the DVRs... If dish technical was smart they would retrofit the 622 (or even the 625 sd dvr unit) for cable use too and double or triple their profits... That is how lousy my experience was with the Motorola units!!!

 

[Poke]

Yeah well all boils down to what you want and cable is cheaper due to your getting less but I understand the money issue. Would be nice if all TV Service Providers would lower their prices but none of them do that.

 

[JEFFinINDY]

However, it isn't JUST about price to me. My wife won't pay $20 for an HD "toy". She doesn' see why we should have to pay extra for that, and I have a hard time fighting that fight.

Clearly this calls for a divorce!

It is more about value AND features. I CAN'T get HD locals on Dish. I CAN'T get VS in HD. I have to pay a great deal more to get HBO or VS on standard def.

It was my experience that VS rarely showed anything in HD (I had Comcast for a few years before switching to Dish Network). As for HD locals, if you live in Indianapolis, it's simple to connect an antenna to your ViP 622 and get them that way. All the local stations have strong signals and they are easy to pull in.

Comcast doesn't have a line-item for HD. This might be smoke and mirrors, but it makes for fewer battles at home!

You're in for a real treat with the Motorola 6412 DVR. Oh yes, indeed....

 

[tsduke]

You're in for a real treat with the Motorola 6412 DVR. Oh yes, indeed....

No doubt. It's a pure POS! Slow, lacks features, needs replaces every 3 or 4 months, remote sucks,...etc., etc.

 

[Van]

See ya next week,

 

[Aqualung812]

You're in for a real treat with the Motorola 6412 DVR. Oh yes, indeed....

Oh, I had it before. Yes, it blows. Better than nothing, though. The decision we were facing was go to top 100, no HD, and replacing the 622 with a SD DVR in order to get our costs down.

As for VS, my reason is only the Tour de France in HD. I don't know if I'll watch it for anything else. However, one thing Comcast did right is combine VS HD and Golf HD. Neither have enough HD content to have their own channel, so why waste? I think there are quite a few other stations that could do something like that on any provider, D*, E*, cable, whatever.

As to the point about locals, I'm in Columbus. Putting up an antenna is less than trivial here. Needs to be 30-40 feet up and be the biggest antenna with the best amp. Around $200 just for parts, and I don't have a ladder that I can get up that high with. Yes, if I were closer to Indy it would be different.

I just wish Dish had something to compete to this kind of pricing. Dish has the lowest "non-sale" price, I totally agree. However, if Comcast will keep offering this deal and Dish doesn't answer, I'm not going to pay extra. Like I said, I'm very intrested to see if AT&T gets into the mess too. I'll post again if/when they do to see what Comcast and AT&T do.

However, if both Comcast and AT&T will do deals with no contract and Dish won't, then I'll just keep switching between them. And if I ever win the lottery, I'll get Dish Plat with a nice OTA setup and be done!

 

[Shirke]

Im a Time Warner customer for last 11 years. but finally I switch back to dish network. I was amazed how well clarity of picture even my none HDTV resolution, clarity and brightness all combine to produce a fantastic picture. When I comparing the HD and none HD picture quality to Dish there is no comparison. believe me me theres a really big difference. I never go back to cable again.

 

[pduncan]

If not, I think AT&T's U-Verse is going to be here in about 9-12 months.

What town? I'm in Indiana also and the service sounds promising. Did you read that in print or was it a water cooler thing?

As to the point about locals, I'm in Columbus.

Didn't read your last post. I'm in Columbus too.

 

[Aqualung812]

What town? I'm in Indiana also and the service sounds promising. Did you read that in print or was it a water cooler thing?
.

Water cooler thing, but from AT&T data rep. I have a friend in Indianapolis that loves it. The plan is to hit the "high value targets" in Indy, then start doing places like Bloomington, Columbus, etc... All rumor though.

 

[kstuart]

My wife won't pay $20 for an HD "toy". She doesn' see why we should have to pay extra for that, and I have a hard time fighting that fight.

It sounds like you are not tuning the 622 to HD channels of interest to her. Did you ever show her Ultra-HD ?

PS Who exactly are you "talking to" in your post ? This is not Dish Network, it's just Satellite Guys.

 

[pduncan]

Water cooler thing, but from AT&T data rep. I have a friend in Indianapolis that loves it. The plan is to hit the "high value targets" in Indy, then start doing places like Bloomington, Columbus, etc... All rumor though.

I guess it's already in Bloomington. I have a brother there that's talking about getting it.

 

[JEFFinINDY]

Water cooler thing, but from AT&T data rep. I have a friend in Indianapolis that loves it. The plan is to hit the "high value targets" in Indy, then start doing places like Bloomington, Columbus, etc... All rumor though.

It's in many areas of Indy now. AT&T has been blanketing my neighborhood with marketing materials, and there was an AT&T truck at a neighbor's house a couple of Saturdays ago (all day), I'm guessing installing UVerse.

If they can remove the "1 HD stream at a time" limitation (supposedly next year) and boost the picture quality enough so somebody somewhere says the HD looks great on a 50"+ set, I'd definitely consider it. Those are two big ifs, however, given the technology (copper wire).

Aqualung - didn't realize you were in Columbus. That makes a difference for sure in terms of Indy HD locals.

 

[Aqualung812]

It sounds like you are not tuning the 622 to HD channels of interest to her. Did you ever show her Ultra-HD ?

PS Who exactly are you "talking to" in your post ? This is not Dish Network, it's just Satellite Guys.

Yes, however she usually uses one of the standard-def TVs around the house, not the HD in the main room. Not going to win that one.

As to who I'm talking to, I have two purposes. First, I know Dish does check out SG and reads the forums. Hopefully, my comments make it to someone that cares. Second, I like putting the conversation out there for the SG members to add their own perspectives.

In the end, it was a personal decision driven 75% by a need to reduce our monthly bills. However, I thought I would share my story about the differences between the two, at least from the sales and customer support POV. If anyone cares to read it, I'll post again in a week and let y'all know how it compares to what I'm used to. However, I can tell you what I remember when going from Comcast to Dish a year ago:

PQ on analog SD statons was worse with Comcast. Grain and static, at least on my 57". Didn't really notice on the 27" and down.

PQ on digital SD stations was better with Comcast. It shows how much Dish compresses the SD signal.

The motorola DVR box totally sucks compared to the ViP 622, but we already discussed that.

HD PQ was better and worse with Comcast. There seems to be more "macro-blocking" but higher resolution there. My guess is that they have true HD res, but compress the crap out of it.

Let you know more when I try again.

 

[pduncan]

didn't realize you were in Columbus. That makes a difference for sure in terms of Indy HD locals.

I had to put up a 30' tower and a big honkin antenna to get em consistently. Get ch 8 @ 100%,
6, 13, 59 @ +/- 85%. 23 comes in in the evening, loose it during the mid day. I'm about 5 miles s of Columbus.

I can get Louisville w/o much trouble.

 

[PilotS77]

Yeah well good luck on cable. We will see you back soon .

I doubt that - I left Dish for cable over six years ago and never looked back - the only reason I am firing up the boxes again is the fact that the ethnic programs I want are not available through cable. I agree with the Dish customer care - HORRIBLE and I have reduced my monthly entertainment bill by more than half by switching to cable.