Ditchin' Cable: Which Satelite Provider?

I'm preparing to ditch Comcast Cable and aquire some sort of satelite service. It seems I can get somewhere between 50-75(ish) more channels as well as more HD channels for about the same price I pay for regular cable. I honestly don't watch much TV (outside of football season) but my other half who nice large tah-tah's insists we look into it.

Those of you have satelite:
Which service do you have?
Do you like the service you have?
How reliable is the signal?
Would you change/switch carriers?
Anything in particular I should know about?

Thanks in advance peoples. :thumb2:

 

I love directtv... I have had it for 3 years so far and I could not imagine going elsewhere.

Now I have only had problems when it snows and covers the dish but a small heating element has fixed that for good

 

Satellite Sux!!!

 

Yup...

We had satellite for a few years and switched back over to Cable.

I understand your motives for changing, but anytime you need work done, or equipment replaced, satellite charges you...

But, if you are hell bent on making the change, then DirectTV is probably the best rated.

 

I told Comcast Cable to lick my asshole... and I still feel that way. DTV FTW

 

Yup.

And you will REALLY begin to hate the clouds and bad weather!:cold:

 

Um. I like DirectTV the best...Dishnet is ok, and free-to-air generics cover the rest of the bases.

 

Thanks for the insight thus far but I honestly don't give two oop:

. . . but the person that watches the most TV here requests we look into it. As long as the internet stays cable I could really care less. I'm also dreading the upgrade to all the TV's for the 09 switch. I bought all new flat screens a few years (pre-HD). Now I got these nice flat screen TV's, but they're non-HD. I think downgrading the incoming signal would be stupid . . .

 

Also wanted to thank the US Satellite companies for all they do. We also have Bell ExpressVu which has some good sports but sucks in general.

 

I hate cable. Never had a good service provider. I've had satellite for about 6 years now. Started with Dish for the first 2 then went to Direct. I think Direct has the best HD service. I must have lucked out with a good installer b/c I never lose signal. Only in a Hurricane.

 

You will be able to buy digital conversion boxes for really cheap on Ebay. Wait and see.

 

I had a 4 digit customer ID number with DirecTV. We were one of the first test markets when they first launched the satellite. Paid $1200 for a single receiver. I hate the cable company with a passion.

Unfortunately, satellite sucks if you have too many TV's, so I had to cancel DirecTV and go back to cable. But if you're going satellite - go DirecTV.

 

Had DTV switched to TW cable because of the new HR20 problems, found myself back with DTV and happier.

Cable has nothing on satellite. If you have a HD tv then you know what I mean. Watch Discovery channel non hd quality in cable, then watch it with satellite, huge difference to sat just in non hd format. Now watch it in HD format even better. Cable doesn't allow for "custom" channels. DTV allows you to make your own custom channels. That in itself is worth it. DTV ftw.

 

Comcast themselves is the main reason I/we want to change. . .

For whatever reason last month's bill got lost in the mail (that still doesn't change the fact I owed for their services). I had to actually pick up the phone and call them and ask for the amount owed and explain to them that I did not receive a bill, or a late notice of even a phone call. They proceded to tell me that my service is scheduled for disconnect and I need to pay ASAP. Usually when money is owed to a company or corperation they hound the shit out of you, well for once they took no action to "hound" me. Whenever I called, they were rude as hell and wanted immediate payment for last month's bill (which I expected to pay) , and wanted me to make a "good faith" payment for the upcoming month since I let my account become past due. I've been with them for over 5 years, and never had a late payment and that's the thanks I get for being a good customer?

I wanted to tell the CS bitch to choke on my chicken while tonging my scrote . . .

 

I have Direct TV since the first day it came out (20+ years ago) with the same dish since day 1. I have 3 receivers (TV in 3 rooms) and I have replaced each reciever one time and one of them twice (they are cheap and they will sell you a refurbished one for next to nothing). Pretty reliable for 20+ years of service. I do not have too much problem with ice or snow but real bad thunderstorms (when you get real bad dark skies) probably effect it more. When they pass over, the picture comes back. Their customer service is pretty good. You have the usual wait on hold for the CSR but when they finally answer, they typically know what they are talking about and can talk you through any issues.

I can't get cable so I can't compare but I really have no complaints. Oh yeah, NFL Sunday Ticket is pretty cool and worth it IMO.

 

Had DirectTV for years, ended up having bad reception and then had a nightmare w the company when we cancelled the service! They lied, lied and lied some more, threatening legal action was the only way to finally recitify things. Went back to cable and couldnt be happier.

 

That's about my only fear, is the reception on a stormy day. We get quite a few stormy days here (today even). Nothing would piss me off more than trying to watch something and the signal be phucked up. . . That seems to be "everyone's" complaint about satelite.

My parents have DTV, and Cort's parents have Dish Network. Neither of them watch enough TV to lend good advice about the signal quality. To them, if the pictures comes in half-way clear it suits them.

 

Yeah we have alot of rain in S Fla and the signal faded alot, and the HD for the local channels would just go black or freeze up randomly and it usually was at a key point in a show, race or game lol...we have Comcast now and love it, and its cheaper

 

thats what i said hahahaha...I HATE COMCAST!!!!!...

went to direct TV...now i am back to Cablevision and like it...either way is good though...

 

AT&T is starting cable, internet (all wireless) and phone service as packages or seperately. We switched from the perennial cable provider to AT&T about 5 months ago. Good stuff after they worked out initial kinks. SUPPOSEDLY, they may go nationwide. BTW: all fiberoptic cable w/AT&T!

*we're in San Diego