dish Vs. direct tv.

[3W-lonerider]

got a quick question. i don't want a lenthy debate from people that have had one and not the other. would kinda end up like the harley vs. honda thing..know what i mean.
 so here goes. i have dish now. i got it when our phone company decided to do a triple play, well our phone company has switched from dish to direct tv.
 now i can still have my dish in the triple play because i was grandfathered in which is no problem. i have no problems with dish at all. kinda like it.
 but for those that have had one and switched to the other
1. why the switch, cost, quality, more HD channels or something else
2. now that you have switched do you wish you had'nt.

just would like to hear peoples opinions on which one they like better since they've seen both. service, quality. and the amount of HD channels..

[R J]

I had Dish for awhile.   Loved it except for when there were severe storms in the area.    It kind of fogged out our reception.

Neighbor kids didn't like it cause I parked in my driveway and kind of blocked their walkout basement door.

They came over and bitched one time, and I told them directly.

My driveway was in long before your walkout door was put in.

Guess it pissed some of their buddies off and they decided to vandalize the Dish.

Deputy going by happened to witness this, as I was in Minneapolis at the time.

I don't remember what the exact charge was, but it cost their families a shade over $3,000, in fines, Court costs and Dish repair.    It took too damn long to get them in Court and I switched to Regular TV, as I also use my Computer on the later system.    Dish repair went into my pocket.   I think they had to buy the Dish itself off of the Dish Company.   All I remember is it ended up being a Felony charge.

Would I go back, VERY VERY doubtful, but, that is just me.   Wife liked the Dish better.

You are the  one who has to make this decision, not us.    Sorry.

[KSDragonRider]

I have directv, and used to have dish.  

I liked dish great in the begining, and all was well, but then i started having problems, called and called and called.  They would send out a new box every couple months.  I had the home insurance through them and told them every time send out a person to fix it, figure it out.  They never would, said it was the box.  Half of the time the box they sent was not even for my area.  It was so aggravating.

When my 2 year contract was over, i called directv, they where out the next day, installed all the stuff and as they were putting it together, they found that dish had run the cables over something sharp and the cable was cut most of the way through. I have never had to call directvs customer service in the year i have had it now.

I think that the directv is a clearer picture than dish was, and i like their equipment alot better.

The one complaint i had for directv is that when i got it, it was cheap, and was to go up 10 bucks after 1 year, and another 10 bucks after 2 years.  We just got our bill a month or so ago for the 13th month, and it went up almost 20 bucks.  I called and asked WTF and they said it was cause they had gotten in a fight with Fox and had to pay Fox more money to keep them, so our rate went up over $5 a month to keep Fox.  If you dont know about Fox, they own all the channels we watch the most. National Geo, History, Speed, and some others, most of the tv we watch are on these channels.

I have also noticed with Directv that we dont have the dish outages for bad weather, snow, thunderstorms and whatnot like we did with Dish.  Rather than once a month, it is down to 2 times in the last year.

[3W-lonerider]

yep..i understand i have the decision to make..but just need opinions on what people prefer that have had both

[fudgie]

I had both. Directv was far easier to work with. Dish costomer service sucked.

[DavRed]

I had Direct TV when we first move in here 12 years ago. Then after we started seeing ads for free dual room DVR and such. I called them and asked if I could get that. NOPE. That was only for new customers. I tried to explain that DISH Network was offering the same thing, and I had been a customer for 7 years. Long story short. I switched to dish and got the DVR's. Never will understand why they won't do that kind of stuff for existing customers. Would switch back if the same thing came up again. Have been happy with both. Cable is not available out here in the desert.

[Thunderbolt]

Both are out to get your money and MORE of it any way they can.  DirecTV put Speed in the next higher cost group of channels so I would have to pay more, just my opinion of course.  One thing that bugs me about DirecTV is that when you pull up the guide and press the up button on the remote, you go down in channels.  I want them to let me turn that around.  Maybe I just need to read the directions.
All in all, I think I like Directv better.  For one thing, my dish setup with a DVR had a fan that ran continuously, the DirecTV does not.  I don't know about the new electronics with Dish, but my DVR with Directv if hooked to my lan, can download movies or other shows from the internet to watch later.  These are not the new stuff, but the reality shows, or series and older movies.
Plus if anyone that you know wants to switch to DirecTV, you can give them your customer no. and when they switch, they get $100 off their service and you also get $100 off.

[mrider]

i started with direct, when we moved we swith to dish more bang for the buck and no i don't regret it. 

[3fan4life]

Had DISH for almost 10 yrs.

Left them because their customer service started to SUCK (NO English speaking reps),

Have had Direct TV since 2008 and like them better except for the price.

I do experience less outages with Direct and they do have more HD channels than Dish.

[GA Mike]

I had Dish for 12 years and dropped them because of poor customer service. Switched to Directv and couldn't be happier. Fewer problems with outage in storms and their customer service is great. The biggest factor was the customer service rep said he like Valks. 

[cookiedough]

Had both and are both about the same.  I keep switching back every 2 years back and forth to save 20-25 bucks off my bill for the first 12 months of the 2 year contract committment.  Dish network is cheaper by about 5 bucks per month or so equally equipped, but their eqmt. is a little more outdated and tends to have more issues vs. directv.  That being said, not always true since my caller id feature in my current directv HD receiver does not work showing on the TV screen vs. my dish network receiver called id worked just fine on the TV.  Have had good and bad customer service on both depends on who you get that day I think.  Directv has slightly more HD channels but that is no big deal to me.  What sucks for me is dishnetwork has in the similar priced package the outdoor channel and directv does not have and must pay an extra 5 bucks more per month just to get the outdoor channel.  Here is what I do though - Sometimes if you are a good standing paying customer say with directv or dish and call up and ask to cancel after the 2 year committment and going to switch to dish network or vice versa, I have had both of them try to keep me and offer 20 bucks off per month for the next 12 months.  I do this all the time just to save money since both are darn near equals in my opinion.

[RP#62]

I have cable in the house and dish on the bike.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
-RP

[flcjr]

I have had both but now have cable with the web service and only perfer it because of the web serviece otherwiise I think its a wash with a small lean towards direct tv.

[wiggydotcom]

I have cable in the house and dish on the bike.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
-RP

That "RAM" handlebar mount musta cost a fortune to hold a satellite that size, RP!

[BIG--T]

My experience is different than most. I was a happy dish customer for 15 years. We moved an I switched to directv and made the biggest mistake ever. I have HD and picture quality was the same . My problem which is still not resoved is billing. It was a set amount monthly and was to increase to $15 in a year. Well it has tripled in price in 8 months!  With dish I knew what my bill was every month, so for me- it is dish. BTW, great customer service. 

[cookiedough]

big-t,  my experience in past 12+ years switching back and forth is that directv like I said is always higher slightly and directtv raises their rates first by 2-4 bucks every 1-2 years and then 1-2 months later dishnetwork also raises their price usually the same amount or a little less.  Maybe your area they charge differently though, not sure why?

[BIG--T]

big-t,  my experience in past 12+ years switching back and forth is that directv like I said is always higher slightly and directtv raises their rates first by 2-4 bucks every 1-2 years and then 1-2 months later dishnetwork also raises their price usually the same amount or a little less.  Maybe your area they charge differently though, not sure why?

Yeah I believe it differs by location. Dish never went up but a few times in 15 years and would send a letter stating so. Directv, no letters and consistantly went up every month with no explanation!

[Kidd]

I had both. Directv was far easier to work with. Dish costomer service sucked.

Ditto