Cable vs Dish

[getsome]

Just wondering how many folks have Dish Network or Direct TV and how you like it...The reason is I'm thinking of changing from Comcast to satellite...Now Comcast gives pretty good service and the picture quality is great but last night I stayed up a little late after Leno was over and realized I'm paying $115.00 a month to watch mostly advertisments and infomercials although some of those are pretty funny...There is one for a magnetic bracelet that after you put it on you become super strong and you cant be knocked or pulled over...I thought what kind of fool would buy something stupid like that...Well it came in the mail the other day and I tried it on and guess what, nothing happened so I put it around the dogs neck for a collar and she is happy with it...Oh well live and learn...There is another one for some kind of mystery cream you rub on your neck and they claim it firms, smooths, rejuvinates, takes years off your looks, tightens wrinkles and restores that youthful appearance so I'm thinking Hmmm, if it works on your neck I wonder where else it might be useful for a little firming up...I'm thinking of a spot but it ain't my jowls...It was only $39.95 for a one month supply so I'll let y'all know how it works...Oh I gotta go, Shopping Network is on and they have those automatic flab buster things on sale that make you look like Charles Atlas without doing any work at all...I'm down!!! see ya later folks....:cool:

[Bawanna]

I'm in tears of laughter here dude. Ain't life funny when you sit back and take a gander at it for the most part. I didn't think of the dog collar deal on that bracelet. Wonder if it'll fit my beagle.

[dusty10]

I'm still with the rabbit ears for antenna. Yes I miss alot of good stuff but I'm $110/month richer. Year in, year out. :D Those commercials you describe do sound kinda funny though.

[Indigo]

I have had directv for 5 years. I pay 79 a month for their 200 or so channel package but it's for only 2 tv's with 2 dvr boxes. Obviously the cable companies have colluded to screw over all Americans. You can get ten channels for ten bucks but there's no package between 10 and 200 channels so it's all or nothing, then you get to pay extra every month to rent boxes, dvr service, and remote controls for each room. I love my directv quality but if you live somewhere where it rains forget it, service goes out. Good luck.

[Bawanna]

The frustrating part for me is you get 200 channels and there's still nothing to watch. If you want Showtime or Cinemax that's extra big bucks and then theres still not always something worth watching.

[slowpoke]

I switched from comcast to direct an couldn't be happier. Comcast is ok till something goes wrong and I just got tired of arguing with the non-english speaking “techs” they kept sending out here to fix the cable. Camcast has non-english speaking “techs” for underground cables and of course has non-english speaking “techs” for above ground cabels. And the people that I kept calling to get it fixed had no idea what cable that “they” installed so even after I told them several times what cable I had, they still kept sending the wrong non-english speaking “tech”. So I finally got pissed and called direct and I had TV the next day. And yeah, sometimes I loose TV when the weather gets real bad but I'd rather put up with that than have to deal with comcast again..
For movies I use netflix and am real happy with them also..
Oh yeah, and the techs at direct speak english.

[kahrseye]

I got Directtv 2 years ago. I have the local cable....Time Warner as a backup. I have almost everything Directtv offers including NFL Sunday Ticket. My Sat bill is like $215.00 a month, but I love it. Picture quality is good and I'm never bored.

[OldLincoln]

I got fed up with Comcast a couple years ago as they kept moving channels arround to more costly packages. So I went to Direct TV and the picture is much better and it very seldom goes down. When it does the box reboots for a few minutes and all is well for another few weeks.

I did really like Comcast internet with 6mbs downloads, but that was $60/mth. So I got AT&T DSL 3mbs for $30/mth. Most of the time the servers at the other end don't even go 3mbs so I was paying for very little extra.

[jeepster09]

I have Dish and it sucks. Every time there is a storm it loses signal.

[yqtszhj]

I've had cable twice, I had Dish net and it was good and I have cable again now since I moved. And I also had rabbit ears for 4 years as recent as 10 years ago.

I hate paying the basic digital cable price of $67 dollars but I'm hooked on Hi-def Discovery, History, Nat Geographic, and all that stuff. Let;s me see places I cant afford to go to.

Man, I just realized something. $67 is 6 boxes of 9mm ammo..... now what to do.....

[Jeremiah/Az]

I'm out in the boonies, so there is no cable. I have Directv, just the basic & the NFL Sunday ticket.

If you really like to hear non-English speaking people, get Hughs Net high speed for your computer like I have. I speak English & Spanish, but they don't!

Getsome, leave the cream for firmin' things up & get Viagra or Cialis & don't worry about that 4 hour seek medical help BS. It won't hurt a thing! It will make you kind of tired tho.

[wyntrout]

If you want to use DVRs... high definition, especially, DISH has the best auxiliary storage... your own USB2.0 external drives up to 750GB. After you pay a one-time fee for using external USB drives, you can download your DISH DVR recordings to an external drive and then upload them to another DISH DVR. You can use as many external drives as you want and move them from one DVR to another in your house. This is handy if you start running out of room on the DVR's hard drive and you can record it in one room and carry it to another room... of course, you need more than one DVR. I have two DISH HD DVR's that I have recording stuff and I can upload or download to/from drive to DVR. The DVR in my living room is always getting filled up. I offload series I haven't had a chance to watch, as well as movies. Hi Def recording uses up a lot of hard drive space fast... 5 to 10 gigabytes an hour, I believe.
DirectTV lets you add one external drive and it's melded with the DVR drive so that's the only way it can be used. If one drive goes bad, you lose everything... kind of a RAID deal... Redundant Array of Independent Drives.
I chose DISH for this reason... the more versatile external drive capabilities. I record a lot. With an external antenna for local channels, I can record three programs at once... 2 satellite and one over-the-air... AND I can watch a previously recorded program while doing that, on both DVR's.
The external drives are reformatted in such a way that they only work with the DISH DVRs, not with a PC... Windows OR Linux... copy-protection.
Wynn, TV addict and gadget junkie :D

[Indigo]

You all remember it wasn't even 10 years ago when we all had to actually BE in front of tv at a particular time to watch what you want unless it was on a grainy vhs tape recorder. DVR is right up there with life changing inventions like fire and the wheel.

[Bawanna]

You all remember it wasn't even 10 years ago when we all had to actually BE in front of tv at a particular time to watch what you want unless it was on a grainy vhs tape recorder. DVR is right up there with life changing inventions like fire and the wheel.

I still gotta be in front at the right time. I got one of them big radars on the roof too and pay too much money for it and stuff.
Maybe I should read the instructions. I tried once but they are about an inch thick and alot of computer talk that I didn't understand.
I went out and looked, it says dish on it. It's more like a bowl though, could put alot of grub on it for sure.

[wyntrout]

I thought I was going to go straight Over-The-Air with TV and bought a bunch of High Def OTA DVRs... a bunch! But... I realized we would miss many of our favorite shows on Satellite TV... so, I changed my mind. I pay over $130 a month for DISH with over 250 channels and Showtime... and 2 HD DVRs and one HD receiver for the bedroom. One of the DVRs is for two TVs, with the second TV standard definition in another room... that no one uses.
I have the following personal recorders:
two DISH PAL High Def. DVR's... dual tuner over-the-air ATSC recorders...none of these are satellite capable.
one Sony single tuner HD ATSC OTA DVR.
one Philips DVD/Hard Drive DVR with single OTA/ATSC tuner
one Panasonic DVD/DVD-RAM/VHS recorder with ATSC Tuner
and one NTSC only Panasonic DVD/DVD-RAM Recorder.

This doesn't include my non-recording Blue-Ray and other players... or computer, which can burn anything disky.

I really need to sell some of the stuff that I don't use... and buy some more stuff I want and will use. I have a lot of extra stuff and it's getting to be like one of those collectors <hoarders> you hear about... really.:rolleyes: I have an addiction... or two... or three... or more.

I DON"T save newspapers and magazines, though... gun magazines, yes.

Wynn:D

[jlottmc]

Well at some point in my life I have had all three of those. For internet use I prefer cable, for tv watchin', Direct TV all the way. Their picture and navigation are great. Never had a problem much in foul weather, (have more problems with cable in foul weather), Dish just never blew my skirt up. They duplicate channels, and are hard to navigate through the menus. Plus Dish dropped at the first sign of breeze, and foul weather was hit or miss.

[O'Dell]

I've had cable since it first became available, not primarily for TV, but for the internet. In fact since I seldom watch TV, I never had anything but rabbit ears, until I got the cable for internet access, and the TV was almost free at the time. [15 or 16 years ago] I don't know if Dish or Direct has anything similar, but on those occasions when I do watch TV, I nearly always use Comcast's "On Demand" so I can watch on my schedule, not theirs.

[BroncoAZ]

I have Direct TV and cox cable for internet. I was talking to someone last week who told me that I could stream most of the network programming and most of the cable stuff the day after it aired using Netflix ($9/mo) with my Playstation 3. I currently pay $93 per month for the direct tv and watch maybe 10 of the 200 channels. I like mindless TV as much as ryoung, but for $84 saved per month ($1008 annually) I'm may be willing to have to go get it. My brother has been using just a media PC and the internet to go look for TV since he lost his job. It is annoying the way he does it using Hulu and other sites, maybe the netflix thing would work better.

[Bawanna]

The only thing I understand in this whole post is ryoung. How weird is that?
Hulu?
Lets face it, I'm just tecnologically dumber than a box of rocks.

[noslolo]

Hulu.com is a site, where you can watch TV shows.

[TD2K]

I've had DirectTV and Dish, finally got sick of the crappy customer service so we switched to AT&T U-Verse. We're very happy, been with them about 2 years now. I just wished they offered something like NFL Sunday Ticket (or equivalent) so I could watch mah Steelers here in Okie Land.

[joje]

some 3 years ago the cable guy pi**ed me off one time too many, so i dropped the subscription and bought a $60 old school roof antenna that is giving me some 15 channels of crystal clear picture, quality content and minimal commercial interruptions. and over the years it has saved me well over $3k too. and if i feel like watching the reality trash there is always hulu

best part was the dish kiddo that knocked on my door and asked me if i wanted to switch and save some money. when i told him i already had tv via the air and it was free, it left him completely speechless. i later realized that there are kids his age that honestly don't know that tv doesn't have to come from cable or a satellite.

[Bawanna]

I've had DirectTV and Dish, finally got sick of the crappy customer service so we switched to AT&T U-Verse. We're very happy, been with them about 2 years now. I just wished they offered something like NFL Sunday Ticket (or equivalent) so I could watch mah Steelers here in Okie Land.

Steelers? Those are the guys that bring their own officials right? They had them along when they beat Seattle in the Superbowl.

[TD2K]

yeah yeah yeah

[wyntrout]

Hi, TD2K. Nice to see you on here again. How was the birthday and how's the AR project going??

I just got something from AT&T in the mail today about U-Verse. I need to check that out. I switched to DISH from cable because they couldn't give me a good picture with cable. I had cable broadband, too. Now I have AT&T DSL (6Mb/s) and a bunch of their landline stuff, paying $97+ a month. We have two GoPhones... pay as you go that we now have renewed automatically every 3 months for $26.75 each including tax. This rolls over our time... I have about $384 and my wife $180+ (I let hers lapse a few times:rolleyes:). We don't talk much on the phones, unless we're out of town. I just got an LG Prime and replaced my dumb Motorola (had a camera, though). The Prime is pretty sophisticated for not being a "Smart" phone. I like gadgets and it does a lot, including playing music like an iPod.
Dang! Here I go again.
I'm wondering if that U-Verse is really faster for the Internet... with speeds up to 24Mb/s. I know that they need the throughput for video and the TV, but does it work for the Internet as well?

Wynn:)

[O'Dell]

Hi, TD2K. Nice to see you on here again. How was the birthday and how's the AR project going??

I just got something from AT&T in the mail today about U-Verse. I need to check that out. I switched to DISH from cable because they couldn't give me a good picture with cable. I had cable broadband, too. Now I have AT&T DSL (6Mb/s) and a bunch of their landline stuff, paying $97+ a month. We have two GoPhones... pay as you go that we now have renewed automatically every 3 months for $26.75 each including tax. This rolls over our time... I have about $384 and my wife $180+ (I let hers lapse a few times:rolleyes). We don't talk much on the phones, unless we're out of town. I just got an LG Prime and replaced my dumb Motorola (had a camera, though). The Prime is pretty sophisticated for not being a "Smart" phone. I like gadgets and it does a lot, including playing music like an iPod.
Dang! Here I go again.
I'm wondering if that U-Verse is really faster for the Internet... with speeds up to 24Mb/s. I know that they need the throughput for video and the TV, but does it work for the Internet as well?

Wynn:)

I check my internet speed every couple of weeks or so. Over the last year, I've averaged about 25 Mb/s on comcast. During that time period my fastest was just over 29 and my slowest was about 21. They only promise 12 Mb/s, but I'm obviously doing better.

[wyntrout]

Dang! That's pretty good. I just never liked the idea of shared bandwidth... the more people online in your area, the slower the speed. I would still be with Comcast if they could have given me decent service... reliable and consistent high def. I can get that over the air.
Comcast couldn't find the problem in the lines to fix mine. It wasn't on my property... proven by one tech hooking up a receiver and a monitor to the line out on the street and duplicating the problems.
I finally dumped them and went with DISH because they had better external drive features... any USB hard drive over 40GB and no more than 750GB. I have a 750 and a 500 that I use to free up space on the DVRs.
Wynn:)

[TD2K]

I have the medium tier internet (6mbps) with AT&T, no complaints. My husband plays PS3 online a lot, he doesn't complain either, so it's fast enough for us.

We really love the TV. We have all of the channels (U450), including all of the movie channels and premium HD channels in 2 rooms. We really enjoy the DVR and On-Demand features. Our combined cable/internet bill is about $165/month.

We had AT&T cell phones (iPhones) for years, but got sick of the dropped calls and horrible service, so we switched to Verizon back in August and got the new DroidX phones. LOVE. IT. No complaints, other than I wish I had done so years ago. The iPhone really is a drag, as is AT&T's wireless service.

[O'Dell]

Dang! That's pretty good. I just never liked the idea of shared bandwidth... the more people online in your area, the slower the speed. I would still be with Comcast if they could have given me decent service... reliable and consistent high def. I can get that over the air.
Comcast couldn't find the problem in the lines to fix mine. It wasn't on my property... proven by one tech hooking up a receiver and a monitor to the line out on the street and duplicating the problems.
I finally dumped them and went with DISH because they had better external drive features... any USB hard drive over 40GB and no more than 750GB. I have a 750 and a 500 that I use to free up space on the DVRs.
Wynn:)

I ran a test last night after I posted and got 23.6 download and 4.8 upload. The ping was 13. I don't know how many people are on my node. but I connect to the same box as my next door neighbor. She's out of town 90% of the time, so I know that's no problem.


As far as TV is concerned, I don't care that much. I haven't watched a movie in years, and only care that what little I do watch is in HD. I get about 140 channels + all the music channels that I never use, but probable watch maybe 20 at most. My monthly bill for TV and internet is $103.

[wyntrout]

The only reason we stick with AT&T is the rollover deal and now with the automatic refills, that's easier... $26.75 per phone every 3 months. Unfortunately, when we visit my wife's family in SW Colorado, AT&T doesn't work there. This just started a few years ago... sucks. We used to be able to use our cells and I made calls from her folks' house at 7,200 feet in the mountains. It helps to have a cell phone tower in your back yard... literally. They get $6K+ a year for a small part of their land's use because it's a high point in the area.
I considered switching to Verizon... actually bought the phone and $100 card... pay-as-you-go deal, but considered the time I would lose switching and how little time we would be without service, so I returned those to WalMart and stayed with AT&T... I like the LG Prime... almost a smart phone, and I have almost $400 time for it. I'll get to use some of that this Thanksgiving while in Illinois visiting my kids and my Ex. It sucks that IL is one of worst anti-gun states... probably the only one that I HAVE to visit.:(

We use the 25 cents a minute plan because we would have to pay a buck every time we use it at 10 cents a minute... adding $20 to $30 a month over our normal phone use. We're not bucket mouths on the phones. Not like I am online here.:D My wife calls me before leaving work so i know when to expect her... about 20x.25=~ $5 a month. And that's about all we use them for... quick messages when we're out and about.
Wynn:)

[MikeyKahr]

I'll get to use some of that this Thanksgiving while in Illinois visiting my kids and my Ex. It sucks that IL is one of worst anti-gun states... probably the only one that I HAVE to visit.:( I'm not sure why everyone around here thinks Illinois is such an anti-gun state. Read the paper or take a walk through the south side of Chicago and you'll see plenty - not sure what this anti-gun stuff is. Illinois is only anti-law-abiding-gun-owner. Might be the last state in the Union to allow right-to-carry too with Wisconsin finally coming to its senses:

NRA-ILA :: Wisconsin Court Finds State Carry Ban Unconstitutional -- Time for Voters to Act! (http://www.nraila.org/legislation/read.aspx?id=6059)

[wyntrout]

My son used to live in Milwaukee... just over a year ago he moved back to St. Louis and now he's just taken a new job in Columbus, OH. It used to be that my kids lived in non-carry states, but we still have our get-togethers in Marion, IL, where my Ex and my daughter live. They both have FOI's to just own guns. My Ex lives in a trailer and after a few "visits" she decided she needed protection and I helped her pick a stainless Taurus .38 for protection. She has a couple of small dogs that are noisy, and that saved her a few times.
About two years ago my son was attacked... blind-sided and cold-cocked... fell straight back and cracked his noggin. good thing he was too drunk to notice. Anyhow, I had to rush up there to Milwaukee and didn't even try to take anything with me flying, and in a hurry. I had planned to never go there, but I had to babysit him for 15 days(7 in the hospital and 8 in a motel with me... fall-risk from head injury... and lived on third floor or three flights of steep stairs) and hated feeling naked... unprotected in a high-crime area. Believe me, I was in a few and got accosted by deadbeats ( I did carry my assisted-opening Gerber 3" knife) If I had had the time, I would have driven and carried weapons.

Wynn:)

[steve666]

I used to have cable and had nothing but trouble. Changed to DirectTv for years and loved it. My apartment complex decided that they didn't want to allow dishes so I had to change back to Brighthouse cable. I've had it for the the past year there have been no major problems, but it's a little more expensive.

[O'Dell]

I used to have cable and had nothing but trouble. Changed to DirectTv for years and loved it. My apartment complex decided that they didn't want to allow dishes so I had to change back to Brighthouse cable. I've had it for the the past year there have been no major problems, but it's a little more expensive.

I've been through three companies starting with Media One who was bought out by AT&T whose operation was bought by Comcast. I've never had any real problems over 15 or 16 years, except the AT&T's CS was terrible.

Do you know who coined the term " An armed society is a polite society"? A hint: He was also the first to say "There's no such thing as a free lunch"

[O'Dell]

I've been through three companies starting with Media One who was bought out by AT&T whose operation was bought by Comcast. I've never had any real problems over 15 or 16 years, except the AT&T's CS was terrible.

Do you know who coined the term " An armed society is a polite society"? A hint: He was also the first to say "There's no such thing as a free lunch"

I can't believe that no one picked up on the quotes thing since he's a well known gun enthusiast. It was Robert Heinlein, my favorite SF writer when I was a kid.

[wyntrout]

Heinlein, Norton, and Asimov since I could read... by the second grade, I was an avid reader.
My Sci-Fi favorites now include David Weber, John Ringo, Eric Flint, Herbert... father and son... all Dune novels. And CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series... on her 4th trilogy now... Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey, of course. And many others!
Weber is my favorite by far... I have EVERYTHING he's written alone, or collaborated on.

I hung back so someone else could answer your question.

Wynn:)

[Bawanna]

I must lead a sheltered life, I never heard of a single one of them guys. I kind of figure if Louis Lamour didn't write it, I don't need to read it I guess.
I had a go round with my kids teacher a few years ago, she wouldn't let him do a book report on one of his books. Said they were all the same, just different names, sent her a few to read that were out of the norm.

[O'Dell]

Heinlein, Norton, and Asimov since I could read... by the second grade, I was an avid reader.
My Sci-Fi favorites now include David Weber, John Ringo, Eric Flint, Herbert... father and son... all Dune novels. And CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series... on her 4th trilogy now... Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey, of course. And many others!
Weber is my favorite by far... I have EVERYTHING he's written alone, or collaborated on.

I hung back so someone else could answer your question.

Wynn:)

Asimov was the master. He wrote over 400 books [I think I've read just about all] on every thing from SF to mysteries to two guides on the Bible. I particularly liked his collections of essays on the various sciences. He could take the most complex concepts and theories and explain it in a way that the average reader would understand. I remember that he died on the same weekend as Sam Walton, and all the news was about Walton, but no one mentioned Asimov.

[wyntrout]

I forgot some of the classics... Jules Verne, HG Wells, E.R. Burroughs... I think someone's going to start making movies based -- loosely, I'm sure -- on the John Carter Series. Dang, I had better stop reminiscing... it's about time for a nap... I was dragging hoses to water the yard most of the night. I have timers to shut them off, so at least I don't leave them on all night accidentally... anymore.
I just got another UPS shipment of Tees and polos for CCW from Duluth... fast and on sale. One of these days we'll have a garage sale and I'll get rid of all of those Van Heusen and Izod shirts that shrunk up and got wider... I have to baby those things too much... watch the heat and stretch them to make them longer again... IF I haven't over-dried them too much.

Dang! I was hoping for Peter Jackson as the director...

http://screenrant.com/john-carter-of-mars-begins-release-date-rob-41777/

Wynn:)