Cable vs Dish?

[Cumberland]

Anyone have any feelings about one vs the other? I dont know much about satellite tv. I always thought it was for tv junkies but it seems more mainstream now.

We do not need a home phone, which means we probably wouldnt want DSL but pretty much Comcast is our only cable option and I always hear bad things about them.

It looks like dish network makes you sign a 2 year agreement and comcast a one year agreement. I dont remember doing that in the past.

I wish we could just get plain old regular tv. I dont need 200 channels I will never watch.

I just read that the cost of cable has risen 77% in the last ten years.

[spotty_dog]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

I wish we could just get plain old regular tv. I dont need 200 channels I will never watch.

Why can't you? :huh:

Re: Cable vs Dish?

We've had both, and experienced a lot of weather-related outages in both Cleveland and KC when we had DSL.

[Deebs]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

We got dish for the first time when we moved here...and regretted it ever since. We have had service calls every couple of months, multiple outages in bad weather, and we paid extra to get HD boxes, and frequently the HD channels are "out." Now, we're stuck because we do have a two year contract, and we spent a bunch of money to get the boxes. I miss cable.

On the flipside, dish is cheaper. I just don't think it's worth it.

[Cumberland]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

I wish we could just get plain old regular tv. I dont need 200 channels I will never watch.

Why can't you? :huh:

They dont offer it, the cheapest package is 59.99 a month.

[Vanquisher]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

I have been pretty happy with DirecTV.

They have a $30 family package for 45 channels, including local channels. It's $5 for every receiver after the first one (common with satellite).

My DirecTV has gone out in bad weather on occassion, but it has been rare. When we had cable, it was out far more often, and for longer stretches of time.

I also have purchased old directv tivo receivers on ebay. They are the only company here, that I know of, that had a Tivo unit (not company DVR). They don't have new Tivo units anymore, but I love Tivo. It makes everything about tv viewing so much more enjoyable.

[poky]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

The *only* reason I would ever switch from DirecTV to cable would be because the latest (HD) TiVos are cable-only. And that's not enough incentive (yet). Cable companies are crap, especially Comcast. We have an old series1 TiVo with a lifetime subscription that's still going strong, so no point in changing now.

We got our directv for about $100, and that included free installation, and when we moved, we brought the receivers with us, left the dish, and they installed a new dish at the new place for free. We're currently paying $55/month after taxes and fees because I have to have my BBCAmerica, but they have cheaper packages with fewer channels.

Re: Cable vs Dish?

We've had both. In my experience, the cable has been reliable during bad weather, but the dish almost always went out (this was in Nashville) when it rained.

We have Time Warner cable now, and for cable (?-don't know how many channels but it's a lot, does include dh's premium channels that he's never here to watch), an HD box, and internet, it's $135/mo.

btw...I never had a problem with Comcast. I wish we could get it here.

Re: Cable vs Dish?

Poky - does your price include internet? I was hoping you'd chime in on this topic! Specifically about the internet connection...Time Warner internet leaves a lot to be desired.

[poky]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

Nope, sorry. Our internet is DSL through AT+T/Yahoo/SBC/whoeverthehelltheyarethisweek. It's been OK; we had some trouble with it going out in the first week or two, but they sent a guy out, and he did a hard reset of the modem, and that did the trick. Oh, and a few weeks ago, DH noticed that our connection speed was less than half what we're paying for. He called and complained, and it seems to be fixed now (they think the line filter we had the modem going through went bad; when DH removed it at their instruction, the speed shot back up).

I also meant to mention that the satellite going out in bad weather generally only happens if you don't have a really good solid signal in the first place, which does require a really *good* clear view of the southern sky (at least in Portland and here in Cleveland; it's possible that lower latitudes have more issues with this?); the *only* time we've ever had DirecTV satellite go out on us from weather was when snow accumulated on the dish and blocked the signal (and it was easy to brush it off).

[moonlight]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

When we lived in Shreveport for a little over 2 months we ordered cable. Comcast was our only option and of course they wanted a contract. It's funny what they'll say when you tell them that you just can't sign a contract. Amazingly we didn't need a contract after all.

On a side note, it's been the biggest PINA to cancel service with dish and comcast.

[spotty_dog]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

I wish we could just get plain old regular tv. I dont need 200 channels I will never watch.

Why can't you? :huh:

They dont offer it, the cheapest package is 59.99 a month.

Oh, by "regular TV" I thought you meant broadcast. That's free (well, you have to buy an antenna, LOL.) I'm so out of the loop!

Re: Cable vs Dish?

My DirecTV has gone out in bad weather on occassion, but it has been rare. When we had cable, it was out far more often, and for longer stretches of time.

Bad weather happens much less frequently in South Carolina than in Ann Arbor, MI. In Cleveland we'd lose the signal in heavy rain or in heavy snow.

[Vanquisher]

Re: Cable vs Dish?

My DirecTV has gone out in bad weather on occassion, but it has been rare. When we had cable, it was out far more often, and for longer stretches of time.

Bad weather happens much less frequently in South Carolina than in Ann Arbor, MI. In Cleveland we'd lose the signal in heavy rain or in heavy snow.

I don't know about that. We get rain neraly every other day in the summer. :huh: My satellite does not go down during every rain storm, only the really, really bad ones.

Re: Cable vs Dish?

[quote=spotty_dog]

Why can't you? :huh:

They dont offer it, the cheapest package is 59.99 a month.

Oh, by "regular TV" I thought you meant broadcast. That's free (well, you have to buy an antenna, LOL.) I'm so out of the loop! [/quote:62d04]

We did that the whole time we were in Denver. We were at a TV/stereo type place for something else and decided to get an antenna at the same time. It was pretty funny to go shopping for an antenna (a what? why?).

It seems like Comcast now makes you get that $59 cable package. One of the notices in our bill said they would no longer offer the super basic for 9.99 a month. Wankers.