Dish vs Cable opines

[Splint Eastwood]

Anyone switch from Cable to Dish, if so, pros cons.

Currently with TWC, but not happy (restrictive pricing )Thiking of switching to Dish.

Any and all comments/opinions welcome


Thanks

 

[Mike Davis]

Small indoor antenna, one time expenditure. Never had dish, cable, satellite or any thing but antenna. Still watch too much.

 

[Brantnative]

Had cable, switched to Directv then back to cable. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. The advantages I have with cable are that I can bundle phone, cable and internet for less than I'd pay three separate companies. I like the fact that a big storm (and haven't we had a few of those) doesn't knock out cable. The dish is an eyesore. It will eventually rust and need to be replaced or painted (they don't recommend it). Both have TV packages that are too big for my needs. I only watch about 10% of ther channels. Both keep raising their prices. Although recently I called Time Warner to complain and they magically found a cheaper package for me.

 

[merrill77]

I haven't had Dish, but I've had DirecTV twice in the past 14 years. I was happy with it on both occasions. Their DVR is better than TWC's equivalent unit. The "dish is an eyesore" was never an issue for me, as the dish was on the front of the chimney on the back side of the house - rather difficult to see at all. I rarely had disruptions - only during very heavy downpours. Cable disruptions due to a cut cable or other problems were almost as common in my experience...and I don't watch that much TV anymore. FWIW, I'm now on UVerse and it is competitive with both. I chose it due to higher upload speeds on the internet side. The DVR was better than DirecTV or TWC at the time, so I am still with UVerse for TV.

 

[cpw]

Small indoor antenna, one time expenditure. Never had dish, cable, satellite or any thing but antenna. Still watch too much.

I'm kinda in the same camp as Mike. Been years and years since I had cable. Never had satellite. Too lazy to put and antenna on the roof and "rabbit ears" isn't going to cut it with the TV in the basement. I watch Netflix Instant ($8/month), DVDs, some free stuff on Hulu (considering Hulu Plus for another $8/month), just recently discovered Crackle. Like Mike, I still watch too much.

My parents have AT&T U-verse and all they ever watch is local news, some PBS, and Fox News. Big waste of $$, but it's theirs to waste. There are about 5-6 programs on Discovery or TLC that I really enjoy, but if none of those are on I find that Springsteen song going through my head, except it's more like "257 Channels and There's Nothing On."

 

[CarvedTones]

Although recently I called Time Warner to complain and they magically found a cheaper package for me.

I had a similar thing happen. The person who answered the call at the main TWC number said they were transferring me to the "retention department", so they have some sort of process/plan in place to deal with current customers who are sick of hearing all these deals advertised that sound better than what they give people who have been there a long time. So try that first - call them and tell them you are researching a switch and want to make sure you have their best price for your current level of service. Then price against that and when you beat it, call back and they will magically find another package that "just became available" for the same price as your other alternative.

 

[rcarmac]

My recommendation, if price is the only concern, is to call up TWC and say you want to cancel your account. When they ask why, say you are going with Dish or whoever because they have a cheaper price. Each time, they offered me a 12 month contract at a cheaper price than all the other companies.

 

[DanR]

I switch back and forth every few years to get the latest equipment and deal. If you want a good deal on DirecTV I can walk you through what I just did a few months ago. Right now they are giving $200 back in a Costco card and low prices for the first year or so, with some discounts that last for 3 years.

 

[gfernandez]

Here's what I did based on feedback from someone who actually worked at TWC:
You need to call and actually cancel your service. Tell them you want it cut off on a certain date about 2 weeks out. Once you actually cancel the service, your name and number goes out to a retention "team", and they will call you with much better deals than you could get otherwise.

How much better? I am paying $85/month for phone/cable and internet service, and that price was guaranteed for 2 years.

Good luck!

 

[Ralrick]

Matt -

I just recently switched from TWC to DISH. I frankly just got tired of TWC with their deal for 6 months then raise the price and have to wait 30 days and then call back for them to magically find another deal so they can be competitive on price. I finally switched when DISH offered to provide us service on two houses for the price of about what I was paying for TWC at one house. The bigger advantage is the number of HD channels offered by DISH and their DVR is far superior. I have the Hopper package and it will record the 4 main channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) and two additional programs at once and then I have the ability to watch the programs from any TV in the house. In my opinion, the DISH service, programming and product is much better than anything we ever had from TWC. We now rarely watch any TV that has not been pre-recorded so that we can skip the commercials.

With that said, if I could get any type of reception at the lake with a standard antenna, I would drop my service and just go with OTA programming.

 

[Berta]

I had TWC in before we moved. It isn't available where we live. We have dish. The tv does go out when it rains, our cable used to go out when the wind blows. Our Internet is fast enough. I know cable is faster. They have not raised my rates. We have lived here 5 1/2 years. It is cheaper than cable. I do not have a dedicated land line.

 

[DIYGUY]

Well - for me I personally have never wanted nor had a need for cable or Dish. When we moved into our present home 20 years ago we noticed something interesting. Because we did not have cable hooked up right away, the kids weren't interested in TV. Aha! Having saved over $20,000 many years later, we are perfectly happy with an OTA antenna that feeds three Internet TVs around the house. We routinely rely on Hulu and Netflix for most of our programming. The reception on occasion is problematic, mostly weather related. Strange thing about that is the wind is more often the culprit than severe weather. Go figure. In the event, an OTA antenna is not for everyone. We don't watch much TV outside of PBS and the news. Could care less about what passes for entertainment these days, IMHO it's mostly smut for juvenile minds.

 

[Jeff]

We've had the Direct TV basic package with just a few selected add-ons since 1990. We probably don't even view 80% of what we have in that package. Not overly cheap but neither is the competition so it's a wash IMO.

Very few equipment/maintenance issues and those were handled promptly, professionally, and courteously.

Hurricanes and ice storms usually don't interrupt the service whereas the cable folks are SOL until the lines are restrung on the poles.

 

[Trent Mason]

Well Matt,

Having just spent the better part of a day on the phone with TWC, DirectTV and Uverse, let me see if I can help you out. :gar-La;

We've had Uverse for two years or so now and have been happy with it. It is the same deal as TWC. I put a mark on the calendar for when they are about to jack our prices up and I call them and say I'm going to cancel. As others have mentioned, they will then transfer you to the "retention" department and get you a better deal. A few weeks ago, I spoke to a guy in that department that I really got along with. :elvis: He gave us 100 more (HD) channels and dropped our bill from $145 to $115 per month (good for a year). :swoon: We have HD cable (300+) channels, DVR and regular speed internet.

I spoke to a very nice lady at TWC that same day to compare prices. When it came right down to it, they were more expensive. They throw out these low rates, but it is for a bare bones package. Once you add more channels, HD, etc, it ends up being close to $150 per month. TWC is not the way to go. :thumbs_do:thumbs_do

As for DirecTV, they are actually working with AT&T Uverse now (the Uverse guy offered me DirecTV service as an option). For a comparable plan to what we have now, it would have been $91.00 per month for the first year and $111.00 for the second year (two year contract required).

I've never had Dish before, so I can't comment on that.

OK, let me sum all of this up: So from my research, if I owned the house I was living in and planned to live there for at least two years (because of the contract), I would go with DirecTV (also given your satellite dish has an unobstructed view of the sky). Since we are currently renting, and don't plan to be here for two years, we stayed with Uverse, for a little bit more per month. TWC is just plain robbery. Hope this helps. :icon_thum

 

[peteb301]

Since switching from TWC to Dish - never been more pleased !!!
Took me at least 2 hours to get rid of twc - one retention person after another reading their scripts, all the while me saying disconnect, disconnect , disconnect.
Dish is far superior, Most channels in HD , sports in HD - wow what a difference. Yes it costs more than twc but you get what you pay for.
Echo the part with the Hopper - most programs go on the DVR for watching at my leisure and being able to skip 10 minutes of commercials is a real plus.

Matt -

I just recently switched from TWC to DISH. I frankly just got tired of TWC with their deal for 6 months then raise the price and have to wait 30 days and then call back for them to magically find another deal so they can be competitive on price. I finally switched when DISH offered to provide us service on two houses for the price of about what I was paying for TWC at one house. The bigger advantage is the number of HD channels offered by DISH and their DVR is far superior. I have the Hopper package and it will record the 4 main channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) and two additional programs at once and then I have the ability to watch the programs from any TV in the house. In my opinion, the DISH service, programming and product is much better than anything we ever had from TWC. We now rarely watch any TV that has not been pre-recorded so that we can skip the commercials.

With that said, if I could get any type of reception at the lake with a standard antenna, I would drop my service and just go with OTA programming.

 

[Splint Eastwood]

Wow, great stuff! Thanks yall to responding! I see Im not alone in my pain and suffering :gar-La;

I basically watch just two channels ( CNN and Turner Classic Movies). We are "Bundled" ph, inet, cable. Ive been yanked by the so called retention dept. I've tried everything to try to lower with them. Every combo, seem to come out to the same monthly rate, no matter what.

I hate the idea of getting any where from a 2 to 5% yearly increase for no particular reason (other than to pay for An Executive Bonus) for increasing revenues.

To add insult to injury, Im basically paying a cable company to have sponsors pitch their products. Im paying for commercials! LOL

I will be reviewing these, and hopefully more responses with my wife, hopefully we can find the right combo of services and pricing which fits our needs.

Thanks All, and keep it coming!

 

[Vetteman9956]

Let me tell you about TWC. My wife worked there until she left them in March. One of the benefits we had was phone, internet, and cable for free, I refused to even let them put it in because of previous dealings.
I have had Direct TV for almost 15 years and have never had a reason to want to switch.

Well Matt,

Having just spent the better part of a day on the phone with TWC, DirectTV and Uverse, let me see if I can help you out. :gar-La;

We've had Uverse for two years or so now and have been happy with it. It is the same deal as TWC. I put a mark on the calendar for when they are about to jack our prices up and I call them and say I'm going to cancel. As others have mentioned, they will then transfer you to the "retention" department and get you a better deal. A few weeks ago, I spoke to a guy in that department that I really got along with. :elvis: He gave us 100 more (HD) channels and dropped our bill from $145 to $115 per month (good for a year). :swoon: We have HD cable (300+) channels, DVR and regular speed internet.

I spoke to a very nice lady at TWC that same day to compare prices. When it came right down to it, they were more expensive. They throw out these low rates, but it is for a bare bones package. Once you add more channels, HD, etc, it ends up being close to $150 per month. TWC is not the way to go. :thumbs_do:thumbs_do

As for DirecTV, they are actually working with AT&T Uverse now (the Uverse guy offered me DirecTV service as an option). For a comparable plan to what we have now, it would have been $91.00 per month for the first year and $111.00 for the second year (two year contract required).

I've never had Dish before, so I can't comment on that.

OK, let me sum all of this up: So from my research, if I owned the house I was living in and planned to live there for at least two years (because of the contract), I would go with DirecTV (also given your satellite dish has an unobstructed view of the sky). Since we are currently renting, and don't plan to be here for two years, we stayed with Uverse, for a little bit more per month. TWC is just plain robbery. Hope this helps. :icon_thum

 

[Jeff]

Good discussion for Splint E. I'm surmising that TWC and Dish don't cut it in the long term for programming, service, and $.

I still vote for DTV and the NSA for real time coverage.

 

[nn4jw]

While I really don't like TWC in general I do like Road Runner for my internet connection. Last time I checked it was still the fastest available in my area. I use Ooma for telephone and it's less expensive and has better features than anything else I looked at so I'm in no way impressed with anyone's bundle. If I didn't have tv's in just about every room and the shop I'd consider alternatives, but unless I missed something I can do more with my current setup than the competitors.

For example, we have 2 dvrs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Between the 2 we can record 4 channels just like hopper. What we can do that hopper can't (verified talking to that vendor) is be watching different channels in each room and use the 2 hour buffer to pause, backup, restart, etc the live channel. You can't do that independently with hopper.

We also have enough speed and bandwidth with Road Runner that I put in a wireless bridge in the shop, instead of running underground lan and phone and cable tv from the house, and have Ooma bridged for phone with their Lynx, a pc wired to the bridge and Roku for tv down there.

Yes, I hate dealing with TWC just as much as anyone else, but I can still get more out of it than anything else I've looked at.

 

[BKind2Anmls]

Dish is all digital. Cable has some channels digital and some channels not. The football package (whatever that is) is only available on DirecTV.