Ok, I'm in the process of moving. I like Road Runner, but I'm not a big fan of Time Warner cable (even less so since they changed guides), so I'm considering changing over to a satellite company. Who do you use and who's good? I was reading the DirectTV site and they say I need (or should have) a working phone line, do they all require it? What about HD channels? On Demand?
No phone line is needed. They have more HD channels available than cable and Dish Network combined. There is NO On Demand. They have their version of "on demand" but it's not the cable version. I changed over just last month to DirecTV specifically for their abundance of HD channels. ***No phone line just means you have to order PPV online or over the phone. That's the only downside to not having a phone line.
I've had Directv for about 7 years and like them. Their customer service seems good, and haven't had any problems. I'll admit, I don't use a lot of "extra" services, so can't really answer a lot of your other questions. I did just upgrade to HD, but that was for hubby, I don't care about that stuff. I also just got my first DVR, which is what I have wanted for years, and LOVE IT! it works wonderfully, and am so happy I have it now, don't know how I lived without it! Anyway, that's my .02. Oh - and they don't raise their price on you like Time Warner, which is why I switched years ago. Time Warner was raising prices every few months it seemed. My price hasn't changed since I started with them, unless I upgrade, like I just did, and that wasn't for my program, just for the HD monthly fee and DVR monthly fee.
We have had Directv for for 3 years and love it! We went with them again when we moved since TWC wanted to charge a crazy amount of money to run line to our house. In these last 3 years the only time our price has changed has been if we have changed our services.
They say that, so you can order pay per view stuff or something, but we used DirecTV in our motor home, and we certainly did not have a working phone line in it.
Been a DIRECTV customer since 1994. Have the DVR-HD tuner and it is great, customer service no problem....and I don't have a working phone line.
I have Directv and they are the worst company I have ever used. If not for our contract I would drop them. I have yet to get a bill that I have not had to call and ask them what my charges are for. Their customer service department will tell you one thing and when you get your bill, it will say another thing. I signed up for a $49.99 package. Since then, every bill has been ranging from $77.00- $99.00, with no PPV ordered. We have four recievers and are charged $4.99 for three of them. One I bought when we moved. They still charge me $3.99 for that one being hooked up. ANd when a big cloud comes, the screen goes dead or flickers in and out. ...........Good luck, some may have had a better experience with Directv, but mine has not been so great. Hope that helps! No phone line needed unless you order PPV by the remote. .
Thanks for the info. A couple of new questions... How does "High Speed Internet" work for y'all? (Those of you who have it, that is) One problem I am having it that there are three shows that come one the same day/time. With TWC, I can record two, but can't watch the third while the other two are recording. Is it the same with DirectTV, or can I record two and watch a third? Back when I first moved to NC, I had satellite and, at that time, you could only have two receivers per dish. Is it still the same?
Same deal: If you're recording two programs at the same time, you can't watch another channel. You can watch something you've recorded off the DVR but not another channel. I have a regular digital receiver in the bedroom for said instances and for the wife. I kept Road Runner for hi speed. The down side is that when you only have RR it's the full 49.99 price. But you can't beat the speed so I'll pay it.
e :iagree:completely, and also with HD you will have a more consistent signal, you may lose HD signal during bad storm but regular signal will be there so you can contiue to view shows just not HD. And my main reason for Direct is the TICKET love me some football. I've had Direct for 6 plus years and customer service like everyones depends on who you get and how good they are. Also I don't recall Direct ever being in a tussle with airing some stations due to pricing like you find cable operators always doing. Definately go Direct lot more HD and quite a few satellites to draw from.
I have Bell South (AT&T now) high speed internet, works great! I only have 1 DVR receiver, the other 2 recievers are just HD recievers. I can only record 1 show at a time, but watch anything else while recording. We can have up to 4 recievers (I think) but we only need 3, so that's what we have. I have no idea if I've answered your questions or not!
I have high speed internet via Earthlink using Roadrunner and only pay $41.95 per mo. Have had it for several years and it's great. I've had Directv and now I have DISH. As far as DVR's go DISH has it all over Directv. I have two VIP 622 receivers that give me service into four rooms. The extra two rooms are picked up via an antenna on the back of each 622. On each 622 I have the option of recording three shows at one time and watching one taped show. The 622's have a built in OTA tuner that allows me to pick up all of our local digital channels. This way I can record one OTA and two Sat shows at one time. The other feature I really like is that if I want to pick up the tv in the guest bedroom and put it in the bonus room I don't have take a receiver with me and I don't have to run new wiring. If you are into watching all the sports channels then go with Directv. If those aren't your primary concern, go with DISH. As far as HD content I am perfectly happy with what I have. The major addition I would like to see DISH add is Spike HD but then again, if there isn't any HD programming being done on a channel, what's the sense of having it? Both DISH and Directv are one upping each other on a monthly basis. Eventually both companies will have what the other does. JMHO. One other thing. DISH does charge you an additional $5 per month if you don't have a phone line. But, you can also hook it up to your high speed internet line and avoid this charge. On another note, DISH also supports external hard drives. Not sure if Directv does or not. This is a really valuable tool when recording HD content. Seems like HD takes up around 6 times more space than SD recordings do.
Never had it but I can tell you the latency is horrible. Stick with dsl or cable. DTV PVR's only have dual tuners so yes, two is max. You can link as many as you like via switches, I currently have 10 connected to one dish. The main pros for DTV are they offer the NFL package (or even the superfan package which offers all the games, all in HD) and they have the most HD channels. They just started offering VOD. I'm not sure how cable is but with DTV you have to download the movie you want. Once enough has been buffered depending on your speed, you can watch the movie.
I have RoadRunner for $49 for Internet and Dish Network. I have the old DishAbsolute, all HD (now it's called Dish Turbo) 1 dish/1 receiver 2 TV's. I have found that storms do cause problems *one thing i have found is that even though i canceled all my TimeWarner channels, I can still pick up the local HD channels on my HDTV which is nice if the dish is acting flaky during storm, (plus I get all 3 channels that the locals broadcast, not just the main one like I get on dish) I don't know if TWC will stop that after 2/19/09 but for now, I do get them even though i don't use them.
I just got directTV not too long ago and so far, so good. We will see how well we continue to like it as time goes by.
That's because you are getting over the air channels in HD which is standard. Same thing people did before cable with rabbit ears. In fact, the truest HD signal available is over the air......not with TWC or satellite.
No, what I was saying is that you still get local HD channels from TWC even if you don't order a TV package, but you have cable modem coming to your house. Since I previously had cable, I still had the wiring but I supposed you could split it your self if you had it. I agree that the only way to get 1080p is over the air, but from where I am, I only get can pick up about 5 HD channels and those not real good. when I looked at getting all the HD channels on Cable or Direct, I had to have one of their high end packages first and then add HD on to it, Dish was the only one to off only HD. as far as the number of channels on Dish vs Direct, I "love" the way that they count all the RSN and Premium channels to come up with a count, Dish says that they are supposed to have 100 HD channels now and 150 by EOY, the last time they added channels, I think I got two added to my lineup and one has already gone away. I am happy with what I got, kids wish we had NickHD but it don't hurt my feelings to miss spongebob.
