Cable? Dish? Satelite? Other? Help!

[forHISglory]

We have cable TV. I'm not a huge fan of TV, but Hubby likes his shows and it's handy for watching news, and we can afford it. So this isn't a thread about cutting corners and getting rid of cable, or on the evils of TV. (Not that I would disagree with you, but that's another thread!)

Our cable is pretty basic. We get local channels and somewhere around 25-30 other channels. We don't get any pay-per-view, or premium channels or movie channels. And a couple of channels that we would really like to have aren't included, like DIY and Fine Living channels. So we are thinking of changing and here's where I could use your expertise and advice.

Cable is getting pretty expensive: $47 a month. It frequently goes out and the company is pretty slow about fixing the lines. I was looking at an ad for a dish, and they advertise $29 a month for a year. But I don't know what it would go to after the year is up. The ad looked like there would be many more channels than we now get, but I don't know about local channels (and we would like to keep our local channels). I also don't know about upkeep and maintaince on a dish. I don't know if it would work out here in the country with all of our trees.

If you have experience with anything besides cable, I'd be glad to hear it. I'm interested in learning about the costs, the upkeep and repairs, the service, the amount of channels, etc. Is there anything else we would need to consider?

Thanks!

[acox68]

We used to have satellite (DirectTV) and liked it up to a point. We liked the variety in channels, but our satellite kept going out every time it rained or we had bad weather. It was SO annoying! I don't know if it was in the installation of the dish or what, but we couldn't get TV during emergency weather. Plus, the prices kept going up and up...we ended up paying about $80 for the channels we had which was just basic "plus". When we finally gave up on DirecTV and called to discontinue the service, the customer service representative actually told us "that's OK, you'll be back". We said to ourselves (and to the rep) that we would never get DirecTV again.

Now we have our phone, cable and internet through WOW cable and we pay just about as much as we did for the DirecTV for all three services. It is SOO much better and we get the same channels that we had before.

Andrea

[Palooka]

I have Dish and love it. I like it so much better than the Cable. The 29 for a year is a good deal, but after that it will jump way high. We pay about 80 a month. The package I have does not include HBO and movie channels like that but it does have a few. This is like the middle deal package and I love the DVR. We still have tons of stations.

The down side is that when it storms it goes out but they are super fast about fixing it and you don't even have to call them.

Also you have to make sure everything is plugged in the outlets the proper way or they will charge you five bucks more.

We have two boxes so that does cost more but you would not have to do that if you didn't want. Our DVR is set to our upstairs and downstairs so we can record shows at the same time. In the other rooms it does not have DVR.

[nvmommyx6]

We had direct tv for a couple of years, after being ripped pff and treated like $hit by them we switched to Dish, go to their website and look at their packages, we have had them for about 3 years now, they are cool if you let them know your going to be late on the bill, they are cool with getting issues straightened out "right now" and we have the 160 channel package, thats with 1 dvr box with 200 hour memory and 2 tv's set up, it is $49 a month!
It has tons of the home cooking shows and channels too I love it!! And I am a TV hater!!! I rarely watch any TV at all but this package and company I do like!

[misscas]

You might want to send off for the converter box coupons and buy a cheaper antenna at Radio Shack. You will be amazed at the quality of the picture. It looks just like cable. I was just paying for the basic networks from the cable company for $13 a month. I am saving $156 a year now.

[The Muse]

I watch most network shows online and have one of the cheap Netflix memberships where I can get the stuff that isn't online. If your current service is very basic and you mainly watch network TV, this may be an option for you.

[Lady_V]

I say get DishNetwork...
(hey, I have to keep the Old Man employed after all )

Now that I got that shameless plug in... we actually have cable here right now but may get Dish soon now that they have a new satellite, but we have to see if it will cost more per month.

We have the barest bone cable and internet and it comes to less than $60 combined. (add in the magicjack for telephone) and it's still under $60/month.

DishNetwork get Dish...You WANT Dish okay... I did my part DN, now give the Old Man a raise!

[rainbowgc]

OK a couple of questions on TV online. Can you run it through to your home TV?
Has anyone purchased the Apple DVR and if so how's it going?
TIA

[freyadog]

Dh and I watch most of the programs that we like online. Most national channels have their movies and shows online including history and scifi. We are debating on getting rid of cable even though we just have the basic. But it so expensive here where the local telephone company has everything sewed up. So not a choice as to what we can get in packaging. We enjoy the stations online and will probably get rid of our cable if the economy keeps going the way it is.

[57plymouth]

I have Direct TV. I have never had any problems with customer service. I only loose signal in extremely heavy weather. I mean, weather so bad I am usually unplugging the computer to prevent lightning strikes. If you get the dish set perfectly, it will keep the signal in heavy storms.

Of course, cable is not an option where I live.

[SaucyCranberry]

We have had both Dish and DirecTV and never really had any customer service issues with each. I switched companies because of a bonus with MyPoints.

We currently have DirecTV because I prefer their kids programming. (When we switched, Sprout wasn't available on Dish). Anyway, yes, you will lose your signal when the cloud cover is super heavy. During severe weather I just switch back to the rabbit ears (now converter box) and its good enough.

I love the channel variety that it offers, because we use the music stations as much as the programs. We use our DVR every day. Ours isn't the most economical package, but we have no pay movie channels and along with a cheapie Netflix, it is our entertainment budget. (I've been to one movie at a theater since my kids arrived almost 7 years ago.)

One thing I would highly recommend, regardless of which company you go with, is if you are a part of a bonus site, like MyPoints or Ebates, sign up through them. And if you aren't already, sign up before you get the service. You can get some nice points or cash back that way and they are always pushing first-time satelite offers. (Edited to add--I just checked and Ebates is offering $40 for first time DirecTV sign ups).

[miss_thrifty]

we have eastlink cable here on pei. and not competition. but really good serivce for cable. very rarely ever out.
Yeras ago we had in the country bells exspress vu satelite bought ourself and for all the channels in pkg deal years ago it was over $50 a month. Now its more exspensive for satelite whether to buy or ent.
look at ur area what they haev to offer for deals and bundles. when we came to townfor eastlink it was high speed internet+long distance+digital cable all channels =$90 month. thats agood deal but when we moved a year later we couldnt get the cable there until months later(town probs with new townhouse issues) so we cut it out.
see what ur are has to offer and go online to see the channel differnece or make phone calls for the satelite pkgs and deals they may have on. print out like we did what channels u get names etc cause very pkg themes in satelites are differnt, and cable too.