As some of you know, I have no TV service at my house and I don't own an antenna. DirecTV is currently running a deal that I'm interested in. I've been flopping back and forth on whether I want to get it. What are people's experiences with DirecTV or any other satellite TV really. How was the reliability? How was the picture? How was the service?

 

LOVE IT!!!


reliability is the same as cable IMO. MIGHT get some static or loose signal for a minute or two in HEAVY HEAVY rain. I have had cable go out intermitently too, so to me it is a wash.

Price is great.

Picture is the same or better.

channel selection is untouchable by comcast standards.

 

I love it, Erick.

The ONLY time you ever have problems with reliability is during a HEAVY
rain, like at the height of a severe thunderstorm.

The most it has ever been out for me was like 20 minutes.

Believe it or not, snow doesn't effect it at all, even heavy snow, or at least
that's been my experience.

I don't have HD so I can't comment on that but the picture quality for
me is very good.

And as I mentioned in a previous thread, the price doesn't go up seemingly
every month like cable does, and I believe Directv has more channels.
The cable company in my town is DROPPING channels rather than adding them.

The only cost at the time I had it installed was the shipping costs for the
receivers, around $15 apiece. Everything else was free.

If you are going to do it, let me know! Because if I refer you, I think
we both get $50!

 

Oh, 1 more thing. They will send someone out to check the strength of
your signal before they install anything so if you don't have a good signal,
you don't get roped into having it installed.

 

and if you do have to remove that big tree in the back yard - let me know as the dish has to face south west in our area

had dtv and dish for years - and i agree it's just the same as comcast except during heavy rains then it will freeze up but not too often

now keep an eye on the deals and make sure it has everything you want ie locals, high def and movies and such - and they will charge you extra for extra tvs

comcast does have much better service if something does go wrong

also - i have a high def box and dish in the basement of you need it (for free)

 

I've added it up. The extra fees are what are giving me pause, I'd have DirecTV right now it it weren't for the added fees. I'm particularly interested in the deal they have now where you sign up for the NFL Sunday Ticket package and they give you their $75 programming package for free for 4 months. On the surface that deal seems great, I get just about every channel including movie channels and every football game for 4 months at $75 a month. After that, I'd just drop my service to a cheaper plan. If you want HD, you pay more though. They charge another $10 a month for HD. On top of that... if you want the football games in HD, you pay another $100 for some superfan package or something. So I'm looking at $85 a month for 4 months and another $100 on top of that to get it how I'd like it.

 

I looked into replicating my current Cable package with a DirecTV or Dish network and it would cost me more to keep the available channels I have now.

I have Time Warner though and not comcast or whoever you have.

 

i love it also. i pay about the same a month with directv and have a box in each room of the condo. i get speedvision without having to get a crazy package like comcast. i also get starz and encore.

 

Erick, the sports and HD packages are additional no matter what service you go with.

 

Negative. I get about 50 HD channels included with the price of my digital cable service.