Dish Network or DIRECTV?

I have had Comcast in recent years, and they're an incredibly poorly run company. But I'm hung on their fast internet service @ $29.99 mo.

I switched to Dish when we moved, and have very comprehensive service. The rate's locked for 2 years. Dish now has a deal where you can buy channel groupings for $39.99 each--depending on your needs, and the pricing is locked for 2 years. That's without any contract too.

I have AT&T internet service at my daughter's house for $50 per month. She says it's much, much faster than Comcast. (She only watches Netflix so I didn't spring for television service.)

You might want to check with AT&T to see if their ultra fast cable tv and/or internet service is available. If not, they'll hook you up to their DirectTV dish service.
 
We switched from DirecTv to DISH last March. We've had no issues with Dish, have a 3 yr price lock, a yr of Netflix free. It's a bit of a learning with the Hopper. & navigating the features, but overall we are quite satisfied. It's about $20 cheaper/month. We switched mainly because of price & felt we got more features when compared to Direct. Some variations in their packages.
We too were aggravated with Diect's price hikes. When I called them to cancel, well THEN they wanted to throw offers our way. Too late! The thing that really ticked me off was as the CS rep was going thru the cancellation process, he found that we had replaced a bad receiver some months previously & because of that, effectively we were now in a new 2-yr contract & would have an early termination fee of ~$100! We had been with them 14 years! I called BS. But got NOWHERE speaking to 2 higher supervisors. I hung up & used my friend Google & found others with this complaint which lead to a phone # to call. Ultimately we paid no early termination fee.
We get mailings from Direct every month wanting us to return, gift card offers, yada, yada. The fact they're hooked to ATT lowers them in my estimation, as I detest ATT, but unfortunately have no options in that regard.
 
REWahoo said:
Anyone out there a current or recent Dish customer?
Click to expand...

Yes... we have had Dish Network for probably 6-8 years.

We originally got it because we had two homes and could have one of our "rooms" be at our seasonal home for the additional cost of a dish and installation. As a result, we only had one cable bill and the savings quickly exceeded the cost of the additional dish and installation.

A couple years ago our contract was up and I shopped around. I called Dish and told them that if they would offer me the same deal as a new customer (new equipment, $25/month credit for the first 12 months, etc.) that I would agree to a new two-year contract... otherwise I was going cable or Direct. Surprisingly, they agreed. My installer guy couldn't believe it... he was concerned that he wouldn't be paid for the install of the new equipment and I had to get him and Dish on the line to confirm it for him.

We really like PrimeTime Anytime, which you can easily configure to record all shows on any of CBS, ABC, NBC or Fox between 8pm and 11pm... they stay on the DVR for a week and then get erased. If you want a particular show for more than that week then you can just record it. We also like the Hopper that hops over commercials for certain recorded shows.

We recently elected for the lowest level of programming called Welcome Pack that is $20/month... you have to call and ask for it and you can't sign up for it online like most other Dish programming. See https://www.mydish.com/upgrades/english-packages/welcome-pack It works perfect for us because we don't get OTA so it provides our locals and HGTV for DW. While we miss USA and TNT, we can get them via our cable package at our winter condo which is Comcast.

We have one DVR that serves 4 tvs. We like the convenience of any TV in the house being able to view the same programming and recorded shows but our equipment cost for the DVR and boxes for the 3 extra tvs is $39/month.

So for 4 tvs with a centralized DVR and basic programming (Welcome Pack) we pay $59/month... $63/month after fees and taxes.

The other thing we like is that when we are at our winter home we can put Dish on vacation hold for $5/month.
 
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We have had Dish for over 10 years. I have no complaint. Like all, they will not volunteer new deals, but I have never had a problem getting them. We are currently out of contract. We have two TV's off one Hopper and a Joey. When I switched to the Hopper, they did it at no installation charge and it took the better part of the day for the tech to switch it over..
 
I had Direct TV for about 10 years but switched to Dish about 10 years ago because they had my local channels in HD long before Direct got around to it. I have some relatives that still have Direct and about all I can say is that Dish's Hopper DVR is far superior to the DVR they have with Direct.
 
How poor is your internet service, we certainly don't have good service but can get by with streaming at 5MGS..10 is better we pay for 10 but a lot of time don't actually get 10..even at 5 there is little to no buffering.
 
ivinsfan said:
How poor is your internet service, we certainly don't have good service but can get by with streaming at 5MGS..10 is better we pay for 10 but a lot of time don't actually get 10..even at 5 there is little to no buffering.
Click to expand...

I'd love to have those speeds as our internet service is lousy. We pay for 3Mbs but only see speeds close to that in the wee hours of the morning - prime time we are lucky to get 1Mbs. Sadly, streaming just doesn't work for us.
 
Nodak said:
I have some relatives that still have Direct and about all I can say is that Dish's Hopper DVR is far superior to the DVR they have with Direct.
Click to expand...

That was my experience also, I had the DirecTV Genie receiver and had to regularly reset the receiver because of slow performance. They eventually sent me out a new receiver but it ended up having the same issue. From reading the dbstalk forum it seemed to be a common problem. I haven't experienced any of that with the Hopper that I've been using for the past year.
 
One other big positive that I forgot to mention in my previous post... I love the 30 second forward and 10 second back remote buttons... much better than scrolling through commercials than the fast forward button (we have that in Florida).

Also, wonderful for speed watching football games... if I hit the 30 second forward button when the play ends then more often than not I catch it just before the next snap unless the offense is in a hurry up mode or a call is being challenged... and if it advances too far then I just hit the 10 second back button. It is amazing how quickly you can watch a recorded game if you scroll through huddles, time outs, half-time and commercials... I especially like it when Jon Gruden is the color guy since I don't have to endure his "insights" on the game.
 
Thanks to all of you who responded. Based on what I've heard here I've decided to make the switch to Dish next month.

It appears I can save even more than I initially thought by taking advantage of the Dish Flex Pack which allows you too add or delete groups of channels at any time. This will permit me to opt for the National and Regional sports packages only for the four months I actually watch them (football season).
 
Just curious... how much do you expect to save annually? And is that compared to your current bill or to what it would cost if you were a new Direct TV customer?
 
I calculate I will save $350 annually over keeping my current DirecTV service - and that's building in a potential $20/mo credit from DirecTV. I did not calculate any savings due to the Dish price guarantee nor the savings in frustration from not having to play the annual "I'm leaving if you don't give me a better deal" game with DirectTV.
 
Update:

I made the switch from DirecTV on the 12th and am very happy with our new Dish Network service. As a couple of you mentioned, the Dish Hopper is superior to the DirecTV DVR, both in terms of recording capacity and convenience. DW and I both really enjoy how it auto-skips commercials on playback of many (not all) prime time network programs.

No surprise, when I called to cancel DirecTV offered to discount my bill by $40/mo if I signed a new 12 month agreement. I considered it but knew in a year I would be seeing another price increase, plus have to call again to negotiate my expiring discounts - no thanks. After factoring in that $40/mo discount I'm still saving more than $200 a year with Dish, plus have a two-year price guarantee. And thanks to RunningBum, he and I will both get a new customer reference discount ($10 credit for 10 months) starting this month. Icing on the cake.

Once again, thanks for your input.
 
Just curious, did Dish take the Direct TV dish down or did Direct TV come out and get it? I have an old Direct tv dish on the side of my house I wish was off. Previous owner had it. I just use PS Vue via Comcast internet and can't see ever needing or wanting Direct tv.
 
Dish wouldn't touch any of DirecTV's equipment, including the sat dish on the side of our house. I had to remove it or Dish would have installed theirs next to it.

DirecTV wanted their receivers back and sent a prepaid shipping box. No mention of their sat dish so it's going in my scrap metal pile.
 
REWahoo said:
Dish wouldn't touch any of DirecTV's equipment, including the sat dish on the side of our house. I had to remove it or Dish would have installed theirs next to it.

DirecTV wanted their receivers back and sent a prepaid shipping box. No mention of their sat dish so it's going in my scrap metal pile.
Click to expand...

I guess that explains the 2 sat dishes on my neighbor's house. Thanks for the info.
 
REWahoo said:
Dish wouldn't touch any of DirecTV's equipment, including the sat dish on the side of our house. I had to remove it or Dish would have installed theirs next to it.
Click to expand...

Must be a local thing, I switch between Dish and DirecTV every couple of years and they always remove the old sat dish as part of the install, it only takes a minute to remove.
 
REWahoo said:
Thanks to all of you who responded. Based on what I've heard here I've decided to make the switch to Dish next month.

It appears I can save even more than I initially thought by taking advantage of the Dish Flex Pack which allows you too add or delete groups of channels at any time. This will permit me to opt for the National and Regional sports packages only for the four months I actually watch them (football season).
Click to expand...

How are things going? What do you like/not like?
 
Things are going well - I'm a happy Dish customer.

The install and account set-up was painless.

I really like the Hopper DVR and the auto recording of Prime Time programming for major networks. The memory is huge and I don't think I've used more than about 40% capacity at any time - (Prime Time programs are automatically deleted after 7 days unless you opt to save). The auto-skip for commercials on replay is really nice, too.

Glad I made the switch.

If anyone else wants to sign up, PM me and I'll give you a code that will save both of us $10/mo for 10 months.
 
REWahoo said:
Things are going well - I'm a happy Dish customer.

The install and account set-up was painless.

I really like the Hopper DVR and the auto recording of Prime Time programming for major networks. The memory is huge and I don't think I've used more than about 40% capacity at any time - (Prime Time programs are automatically deleted after 7 days unless you opt to save). The auto-skip for commercials on replay is really nice, too.

Glad I made the switch.

If anyone else wants to sign up, PM me and I'll give you a code that will save both of us $10/mo for 10 months.
Click to expand...

Looking at the Dish package deals, I see that they include some premium channels for three months and some kind of Silver Protection plan for 6 months. My experience with that "free stuff" is that it is difficult to get them to turn it off after the free period, if you desire to do so. I ran into this with Comcast. Any thoughts on the free stuff or do you want to continue it with increased fees after the free period?
 
I generally never accept it to begin with. I'm afraid that I won't remember to turn it off after the end of the free period. However, changing your programming with Dish is super easy.... just log in and a few clicks and you're done.
 
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Been a Dish customer for about 15 years. Right now having huge problems with DVR recordings. The DVR isn't keeping recordings at all. I think we have a bad disk. DH has been calling and has been pretty stern, managed to get a refund but they say the recording problem is a "known" problem they're working on but we don't believe it. It'll be my turn to call next. Usually they've been very good so this has been a surprise. I like the app too, and the channel guide. I wish there weren't so many useless channels though.
 
aja8888 said:
Any thoughts on the free stuff or do you want to continue it with increased fees after the free period?
Click to expand...

pb4uski said:
I generally never accept it to begin with.
Click to expand...

+1

I declined all the free trial stuff except the 6 month protection plan. I'm cautiously optimistic I'll be able to prevent them charging me when the trial period ends - but I'm ready to do battle if necessary. :)
 
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