Would I be happy with Direct TV?

[Dovetails]

First of all I'm not trying to start a flame war between providers, but here's my situation. I'm currently a Dish sub (and have been for 11yrs). I've been thinking of upgrading to HD programing which would also require a couple of new receivers. Well, upon investigation I'm a little ticked at Dish because they want me to shell out 300.00 to upgrade to the receivers I'd want. (a 722 / 211 combo) Now, we've been 'model' subs to Dish for the entire 11 yrs. Never late / never missed! There is no way I am going to pay them 300 bucks up front and this has got me thinking about jumping ship I've had no complaints whats so ever with Dish up till now, but I feel this is no way to treat a long standing customer, especially when I'll be increasing my mth. bill to them by another $25.

So my question is .... will I be a happy camper in the D* camp? How reliable is the signal / equipment / service etc.? It will cost me a little more with D* in the long haul (once past promos) but I can live with that. Also, what happens when your with D* as a current sub and there comes a time to 'upgrade' equipment with them? Do they have any kind of program for that or do you have to antty up for that on your own??

As far as programing goes ..... we watch reg sat. programing only (usually mid level package) - NO premium / NO PPV / NO extras. So what do you all think, is this a smart move or will I eventually have the same issues with D* some day.

 

[Blueridge66]

A couple years ago when I decided to upgrade to HD, D* was having a promo for new customers. Basically no cost for a HD receiver and dish installation. I called CS and politely told them it would be nice if that same offer was extended to a long time customer.
It cost me $15 shipping for the new equipment.

 

[rad]

DirecTV has been giving free or low cost upgrades to MPEG4 HD gear for folks that have MPEG2 HD gear. I got a free HR20 to replace a HR10-250 while I've seen others say they had to pay $99. Right now if I check the DirecTV web site it says I can get any receiver for free except a HD DVR which would be $99.00. But like Dish if you call you might get a CSR that would give you upgrades for free or tell you to take a hike.

As for your question on signal reliabilty, you'll get rain fade like with Dish but you don't have problems like folks on the edge of the 129 foot print which see outages every now and then as the satellite wobbles around. As for hardware some folks will say it's POS's just like you can find E* customers that say their hardware is a POS. Others will say no problems at all with both providers, so the answer is YMMV I guess. I can say my four HD DVR's work.

Also check out the Cutting Edge section on this site, which allows DirecTV customers to test out new software and get a sneak peak at new features. You can see some of the things that might be coming soon which might help your decision.

You might also want to check out the PDF at http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=95242 which has a summary of the differences between D* and E* HD DVR's.

 

[AntDogg65]

I made the switch two weeks ago, and all I can say is wow to D*. I love the service, quality and most of all, the channels that I have with D*. Sure, Dish has travel HD and I miss it dearly, but everything else I want to watch; D* has it and then some. I have also done the math, after your promo year runs up, overall, you would probably end up saving more than 15 buck a month after your promo. At least, that is what I figured up. I got my HR23 for free and I paid 100 for a H23, so equipment price was not as bad as people said it would be. The only thing I would consider if I were you is this February mega launch that Dish is supposed to have. I waited since August, and that day never came for me. You may be more patient than I was, but I got tired of the run around that Charlie gave me. It is all on choice, I chose to save 23 bucks for my first year of service. It all depends on what you feel is important.

 

[Big Dawg 23]

First of all I'm not trying to start a flame war between providers, but here's my situation. I'm currently a Dish sub (and have been for 11yrs). I've been thinking of upgrading to HD programing which would also require a couple of new receivers. Well, upon investigation I'm a little ticked at Dish because they want me to shell out 300.00 to upgrade to the receivers I'd want. (a 722 / 211 combo) Now, we've been 'model' subs to Dish for the entire 11 yrs. Never late / never missed! There is no way I am going to pay them 300 bucks up front and this has got me thinking about jumping ship I've had no complaints whats so ever with Dish up till now, but I feel this is no way to treat a long standing customer, especially when I'll be increasing my mth. bill to them by another $25.

So my question is .... will I be a happy camper in the D* camp? How reliable is the signal / equipment / service etc.? It will cost me a little more with D* in the long haul (once past promos) but I can live with that. Also, what happens when your with D* as a current sub and there comes a time to 'upgrade' equipment with them? Do they have any kind of program for that or do you have to antty up for that on your own??

As far as programing goes ..... we watch reg sat. programing only (usually mid level package) - NO premium / NO PPV / NO extras. So what do you all think, is this a smart move or will I eventually have the same issues with D* some day.

A several years back I had Dish Network and wanted a two tuner DVR. They told me it was not available to me as a current subscriber. I stated then I will cancel so I did. Within in days of canceling they drafted the money for my two DVR out of checking account(took it off my payment history. Thats another story). I found Charles Egren email on the net and sent him a very length email about my disatisfaction. Two hours after sending the message I recieved a call from a higher up in charge of Customer Service. He apologized and refunded my money. He inquired why I canceled and he said that in the future to run things like this up the chain because it is not right for long time subscribers to get dismissed when it comes to new equipment.

So in short find his email address and explain they you are going to dump Dish Network because the demand on HD Recievers is unacceptable. Besure you examine all the channels you want to watch in HD to see that Direct has them. One the comes to mind which is popular is Travel Channel.

 

[joed32]

Yep, just go with the service that has the channels you want and don't worry about the petty stuff.

 

[Dovetails]

Thanks guys for all your suggestions ... perhaps I'll give Dish another try through their CEO e-mail address and see what happens, there equipment (2 tuner HD DVR w/RF in) fits my set up a little better, so this is one of the reasons I'd like to stay with E*, but, D* sounds like overall it is just as good as a provider, and if E* will not bend ............

 

[tridgley]

Happy I Switched

I was a 12 year Dish customer when I switched this last October. I don't watch PPV or get any premium channels and am very happy that I am with D. I feel the company is run much more professionally than E with better customer service. Have never had to explain my problems with CS to a person in another country and hardly ever put on hold when I called. D has remote programming of your receiver either through your cell phone or the website, which is another nice feature currently not available on E. They do have HD channels that E doesn't have and might not ever have and I am sure that E has some HD that D might not ever get. Rain fade is much less that with E for me. I am also very impressed with the broadcast of the Australlian Open and understand that this is typical of how D handles the big sport events. Costs for me will be about $20/month less after the promo period ends. The big difference is the receiver. With E I had a 622 and it was a far superior machine than the HR22 that I have now, but I have got used to it and it is not as big a deal as I thought it would be or that others make it to be. In the future I am sure that D will come out with a better receiver. As far as I know you can also hook up an external hard drive and they don't charge you a fee like E does. So overall I am much impressed with D and very happy that I switched and I agree with others here that you should look at the programming to fit your needs. One bit of advice. If you do decide to switch go to a local installer and not online. That's what I did and had my system installed two days after going into their office to sign up and got all of the same deals. Two weeks after the install he even came back to re sight to dish just to make sure that it was dead on and I did not call him out to do it. Just the way he ran his business!

 

[Aridon]

The key to it all is your expectations. The two services are pretty similar unless you are a geek like many of us and like to nit pick every little thing. So long as you don't treat your provider like it has a direct impact on the size of your wee wee you should in all honestly be happy with either, assuming they have the channels you want and services.

So my advice to you is to check out the channels you want, what packages they are in, HD availability, locals, and DVR comparisons.

These days they are pretty much neck and neck in all those. The DVRs are essentially a wash at this point they both work well enough and if you have no preconceived notions about them initially you won't notice any of the nit picks about them. One provider may require more dishes for all your stations, one may have slightly better reception dependin on the area of the country you are in but all in all they are going to both be pretty much neck and neck.

 

[riffjim4069]

Just my two cents...

You'll be happy with D* to varying degrees...better value with D* if you're a high-end customer, better value with E* if you're lower-tiered customers; E* had the superior HD DVR, but D*'s isn't too bad (much better than the Moto/SA used by Cable); D* also offers more Sports programming and better quality HD.

I hate the way E* treats their "most valued customers" - new customers usually get the better deals and long-time customers often have to write ceo@echostar.com or threaten to cancel service before the "new customer" offer is extended to them. To be honest, your best bet is to cancel your service at the end of your billing cycle (call 2-3 weeks in advance). You will be transferred to someone in customer retention who will ask you the reason for your terminating service. Tell 'em D* is providing you with all the necessary receivers...and tell 'em you shouldn't have to beg to receive a new customer promotion after being with Dish Network the past 11+ years. The odds are pretty good they will make you an acceptable offer. If not, rest assured someone from customer retention will contact you in the coming days and offer you an ever better deal...to include free programming and discounts.

You sound like you're pretty happy with Dish Network, so my suggestion is work the system to your advance. I think you'll fare better with customer retention than you will with the CEO email address. Again, I wish E* would just do a better job of taking care of the their long-term customers who often use the same receivers for 5 or more years. Back in November, I called Verizon (FiOS) to complain that I was not getting the new HD channels...and they offered to upgrade me to the HDExtreme Package (new customer promotion) and boost my Internet from 10/2 to 20/5 for no additiona charge. Plus, I was able to shave 5-months off my 2-year contract (new contracts are only 1-year), waive a $16 HD DVR charge for 3-months, free HBO-Max for 1-months, and additional $10 discount for 3-months all under the "new customer" promotion. Heck, I didn't even have to ask...much less beg! Again, I just don't see why Dish Network doesn't take better care of their truly "valued" customers.

 

[JosephB]

It's been a while since I have had any experience with Dish Network, but way back when we switched from Primestar to Dish and then to DirecTV, it seemed to me that Dish Network was run like a startup, not quite professional company. Sure, they had good service but their receivers didn't have quite the polish that the DirecTV ones did (of course DirecTV had major CE companies building their boxes at the time) and even down to the production values of DirecTV promos, the 101 how to channel vs. dish network's promos and intro channels made DirecTV seem more 'professional' or somehow more like a major player/corporation. To some people that's not important, and in the grand scheme of things to me it wouldn't be the deciding factor, but then factor in the constant programming arguments that Dish Network has (yet they still have price increases the same as DirecTV), it just seems like even through two ownership changes in the past few years, DirecTV seems to be better managed and better equipped to continue forward.

I'm moving soon and will be thankfully able to get satellite again and will be dumping cable. I'm getting DirecTV and hopefully I won't have to worry about what their upgrade plans are, etc. If I can get a stable setup, I don't want to think about switching, dealing with installs, etc. every year or 6 months like some people do..which is fine for them, but not really my cup of tea

 

[Zynergi]

You might also want to check out the PDF at Comparing the HR10-250, HR20-100/700, HR21-700 and ViP622/722 - DBSTalk.Com which has a summary of the differences between D* and E* HD DVR's.

That comparison isnt entirely accurate, the first problem is they group the HR22/23 with a HR21.. some quick things I noticed was on hide channels.. D* allows this and Adult Hide is the first option in the parental menu. Auto Record HD version, D* always defaults to the HD version of the channel unless you manually set it to the SD. Channels I Receive is now automatically grayed out for non sub channels.

Something to try is.. Call a E* CSR to cancel, tell them a Directv guy is there finishing up.. you will go to the next tier where they will finally offer you some deals. Sad that you would have to go that far.. but if you want to stay with Dish that may be something to try.

I was so impressed with D* at my parents house that I decided to start working for them.. I wasnt impressed with the run around E* gave them.