Directv vs. Dish

**lovestoread** · 07-01-2009, 12:25 PM

i have been a subscriber to directv for well over 10 yrs...I am sick to death of paying the prices they charge....Why do all the new customers get such good deals while the old ones occasionally get a free weekend of HBO? Anyway, does anyone have dish and can you compare it to directv??? I know, we shouldn't be paying for this because it is not frugal, but we have no antenna, live in the country, and this is our only entertainment? Could someone please give me a comparison????

Thanks.....

**nodmicks** · 07-01-2009, 01:07 PM

You certainly shouldn't feel bad for having satellite as long as you can pay your bills. We sure don't.

We had dish for 8 years and went with direct because they wouldn't upgrade us free on the old equipment. Once I cancelled they offered up to 6 months free and every perk under the sun to stay. I had already had direct tv installed before I cancelled,

I turned out we liked dish much better than direct. Also our phone co. teamed up with dish on a bundle pack. So once our contract with direct was up we went back to dish. Guess what. Direct offered unbelievable incentives and deals to stay! We switch because we liked Dish better and we could bundle our services.

The only thing I liked better on Dish was the guide. It is much easier to read and went out on us less. Cost wise and chanel wise they were pretty close.

The point of my rambling is if you are really thinking of switching I'd call your current company to cancel and see what they offer you. We are still getting calls to switch back and the offers are phenomenal. The offers when I cancelled were phenomenal. You will likely get a great offer!

I know people that work for the cable and satellite co. They have lots of employees laid off because they have so many less customers currently. They seem to be fighting to keep the customers that try to cancel!

**jlaporte** · 07-01-2009, 01:17 PM

honestly i will NEVER go back to anything dish. we tried it for a while but getting rid of it was hell. i think all tv is in one way or another a rip off but dish is the worst..sorry my rant

**SixxOfDiamonds** · 07-01-2009, 01:38 PM

Here's a trick that I have.

I, too, have DirecTV. Every two months or so I call and tell them I am unsatisfied with service, etc. and thinking about switching to cable.

I currently have free Starz, a $15 refund each month and 250+ channels. After taxes I pay about $70.

A few months ago, we had about 150 channels and only paid $35/month! But I upped our channel count recently.

There are ways to get your discounts. It takes some time being spent on the phone, but it works! I also have 5mbps internet and phone and pay only $45/month with Embarq. Originally they were charging me $80 for the SAME thing!

It's possible to get discounts, I've found pestering works the best on that. Good luck!

**Palooka** · 07-01-2009, 03:44 PM

Dish, end of story.

**lovestoread** · 07-01-2009, 06:08 PM

did you find they had most of the same channels...there are a few we regularly watch and would hate to lose....

**craftypam** · 07-01-2009, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by lovestoread

i have been a subscriber to directv for well over 10 yrs...I am sick to death of paying the prices they charge....Why do all the new customers get such good deals while the old ones occasionally get a free weekend of HBO? Anyway, does anyone have dish and can you compare it to directv??? I know, we shouldn't be paying for this because it is not frugal, but we have no antenna, live in the country, and this is our only entertainment? Could someone please give me a comparison????

Thanks.....

I have not had either one; but I heard one rents the equipment and the other you own it. The one you own you have to pay for repair. I found this out while looking into get one of them

**Trishagirl** · 07-01-2009, 07:48 PM

We have had dishnetwork for 15 yrs and if we have a problem we just call them & let them know. We just have the basic pkg.

**nodmicks** · 07-01-2009, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by lovestoread

did you find they had most of the same channels...there are a few we regularly watch and would hate to lose....

yes very close. You can check the channels on their websites.

We owned our equipment with both companies. Neither wanted it back after termination.

**McD** · 07-01-2009, 10:26 PM

I also do what Whitney does. Whenever my promo rate is getting ready to expire, I call them and reference a comparable package at a discounted rate from another service provider. I also reference my outstanding payment history, as well as the fact that while I am very happy with their products and services that I will be unable to stay with them unless they can do some sort of a price match or discount.

**frugalfranny** · 07-05-2009, 12:17 PM

No one here has mentioned any problems with the wind and dish.......is this a problem? Do you live in a windy area?

I was thinking about it but my friend has problems with the wind.....guess it moves the equip. then you have to re-set it. We can get horrible winds.......and I don't want to mess with this. (and it would be a 'cross-wind' for me)

**SixxOfDiamonds** · 07-05-2009, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by frugalfranny

No one here has mentioned any problems with the wind and dish.......is this a problem? Do you live in a windy area?

I was thinking about it but my friend has problems with the wind.....guess it moves the equip. then you have to re-set it. We can get horrible winds.......and I don't want to mess with this. (and it would be a 'cross-wind' for me)

We had a hurricane come through last year and didn't have a problem. That being said, we do get some decent winds, but I haven't fond that they shift the equipment. That may be problems for some people, ours is put in the ground on the side of our house, not sure if it matters or not.

**old_lady_in_the_shoe** · 07-06-2009, 12:19 AM

I have had dish for 14 years and it was the same with us...even though we were good customers, we never could get new equipment or upgrades like the "new customers" without a hassle. I got tired of always "being behind" on equipment. We owned all our own equipment and they only lease the new stuff now. I do think that dish has better/easy to read guides than direct, imho but that is about the only difference.

If you do decide to change, make note that they are commiting new customers to a contract of at least a year now. If you currently do not have one and are month to month, that may weigh in on your decision to change or not.

We recently quit our dish service and now only get "tv" over the internet for free. We purchased a computer that is hooked directly to the tv and we use hulu, fancast, and netflix. We watch almost everything the same as we did with dishnetwork. YOu have to have a good/fast connection to the internet to do this though.