Reliability of DirecTV vs Dish Network

[Mosey]

I have a DirecTV dish and it has been very reliable for over 5 years now. But, I just found out Dish Network is cheaper, about $35 per month for their base package. So, I can get all the channels I need for about $10 a month less, including local channels for that price (right now I use an antenna for those and some barely come in). Can anyone report back on the reliability of Dish Network service?

[Pat]

I can only offer annecdotal evidence from friends and other hearsay. Seems that DirecTV users are more satisfied A N D... do a careful compare chanel by chanel between basic and upgrade packages as what may sound the same are not neccessarily equal between Dish and DIrectTV.

They are pretty competitive in that they offer about the same stuff at the same price but may package or describe it differently. If there were a clear economic advantage (chanels/$) then EVERYONE would go to that vendor.

If you have been subscribing to one of the services (either one) for a long time, switching may look attractive because both companies offer deals and different packages at different prices to new customers. Do your research and then call them to terminate your service. You will end up with an ample opportunity to talk to someone who will try to offer you incentives to keep your buisness.

I suggest you should run this tactic at least once a year to keep them honest. They will give new customers a better deal than old because most of us just pay the bill and are clueless about rate changes given to others.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

I have the Dish Network and three receivers. One has the DVR built in. But the DVR can only record one channel. You can't record one and watch another one. You can however record one and watch a program previously recorded. Might be an upgrade available, need to check.

I'm told that DirectTV's DVR will actually learn what type of programs you like and record them with no user input.

I've had the system for 9 months with no problems. Not a long term report I know.

I get my Internet through Starband. It uses the same dish as the TV does. It is a larger, oval, dish.

[mfaley]

We have DISH and like it. We looked at both for a while and went with DISH because they had the best programing for what we were after and we could get started with them more easily.

I have called them for support a couple of times and they had exceptionally good customer service. They were very patient and helpful in diagnosing my errors.

Based on our experiences it would take a bit to get us to switch.

Mark

[Stoneheartfarm]

We've had Dish for several years and the only problem we've had is the dish came loose on its mounts once. A quick call to Dish and they had a couple of installers out here to fix it.

The only other thing I can tell you is they did get into a price war with CBS awhile back and we lost a few channels for a few days. During that time, they gave us replacement channels for free and credited our accounts. I was kind of glad they went to bat for me, otherwise the service would have ended up costing more.

[fivestring]

I've had DirecTV since 1994.
The only problem I ever had was a lightning strike that knocked out the even channels on the receiver.
I just upgraded one receiver to TiVo.
The only comment on Dishnetwork is that all but two people that I know that had Dish, ended up switching to DirecTV.

[chrisjbell]

I used to have DirecTV and it was just fine. Good selection, service worked almost all the time (occasional weather outages, but that happens with both). I wanted a DVR and tried to get DirecTV to give me some kind of deal. The best they'd do was some lame $50 off and free shipping [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]. Still would have cost me at least 150 bucks. New customers could get 'em for free, but not me since I'd been a DirecTV customer for six years.

So I switched to Dish, since they would give me a free DVR. The Dish DVR is not a Tivo, which is what DirecTV offers. Tivo is more better - features, ease of use, you name it. But my DVR was free (to me) which made it the ideal choice [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img].

Ironically, the day they installed Dish and we called DirecTV to cancel DirecTV said they'd give us a free DVR to stay. But considering that the old dish was down and the new one up and running we left. They did tell us they'd be happy to offer us equipment to come back, so when I upgrade to a digital receiver for HDTV I'll probably switch back to get the free stuff. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[poorboy]

For us it was simple. When we finished the house and called direct it was going to cost us I think $75 but I think it was more. New customers were installed for free though. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] This was a move of less than a quarter of a mile. I could have moved it myself but it wouldn't have been their installation. They had also given us the run around for six months about picking up the local channels and also which we would be gettting and additional equipment costs to recieve them. Their service was great though and we didn't have any problems for 9 years.
We called Dish which we knew had been offering local channels for about a year. They said no problem and free installation. This was with four recievers. Two of these are UHF and are connected to the two other recievers but can watch different channels. They only charge for two recievers.

We decided to give direct a final call and they pretty much said they wouldn't budge about the moving fee and they hated to loose us but that was all. When we did go in to drop off the equipment there were twelve units on the floor. The girl at the desk was watching one of the local channels and we asked her if they had finally gotten the locals she said no it was cable.

After one year with Dish so far so good, I guess I'll find out if something goes wrong. I think alot of it depends on the local people who take care of the equipment. I do like the fact that I can have actually five TV's since the one in the basement is tied in with the reciever in the guest room and is UHF, the controller works from down there and I can hide out when thing get too hectic upstairs. I grin everytime when I hear ," Do you know where your father is?" [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Poorboy

[spunkey22]

I have Charter communications. It finally went to 50$ a month for 78 channels. I need to change !!!!!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[slapshot]

I've had both DirecTV (6 years) and Dish Network (1 year). I have noticed no difference in picture and customer service has been pretty good (I wish I could say that about Vonage).
Other than the different channel packages, I could see no difference.

-dave