Directv/Dish network alternatives?

RonMar · Apr 7, 2008

I had been with dish for years, and upgraded to HD last year. Dish had sattelite problems and couldn't reliably deliver about half their HD product in my area(norhtwest) due to an annoying sattelite wobble with the 129 sattelite that interrupted the signal every 15 minutes. Well several technician visits and eqipment attempts later, they finally gave up, but their corporate never would admit the problem. The site techs all knew what it was, and it fit the symptoms. On their behalf, they did exhaust every avenue, and basically credited me for whole months of service while they were working on the problem. I wound up paying about 10 dollars a month for the 3 months they worked on the problem before releasing me from my contract. the only annoying thing is that they keep calling my cellphone number, trying to get me back, and I have yet been unable to get them to stop doing that

I went with Direct TV after that fiasco, and have had no issues with their support or product over the past year.

sunspot · Apr 7, 2008

Has anyone visited a satellite forum? There is lots of good information on them.
RonMar, your installers should of know how to fix the HD dilemma. They should of put in a Superdish. It's a second dish that points to the 62 deg satellite that most of the HD channels are on. And they do it for free in the NW.
I'm in the SE so the 129 is not so bad. I'm using a 1000.2 (Triple LNB) antenna and it's been trouble free.
I buy all my equipment from eBay and install it my self.

RonMar · Apr 7, 2008

sunspot said:
Has anyone visited a satellite forum? There is lots of good information on them.
RonMar, your installers should of know how to fix the HD dilemma. They should of put in a Superdish. It's a second dish that points to the 62 deg satellite that most of the HD channels are on. And they do it for free in the NW.
I'm in the SE so the 129 is not so bad. I'm using a 1000.2 (Triple LNB) antenna and it's been trouble free.
I buy all my equipment from eBay and install it my self.

That 129 bird had an antenna problem at launch and had no coverage in the NE, so they repointed it to get coverage there, and put the extreme NW on the edge of the sattelite footprint. This made the sattelite wobble noticeable enough to drop the sig level. They put up a larger dish pointing at the 129 only, to try and improve the S/N ratio so it wouldn't drop below the receiver low limit, but it wasn't enough.

I have been working with satcom systems for most of my career, so it was kind of interesting listening to the installers, or talking the phone service techs thru the problem. I actually told one of the local techs to quit wasting my time and sent him away after the second attempt at dropping a load of utter bull on me. I am sure he was a good installation tech, but he didn't know enough about the system to give a reasonable lie. His sup showed up at my house an hour after my call back to Dish and he worked the problem from then on out.

Because of my location, the 62 bird was not visible due to a rigeline across the valley. We looked into that option, but the supervisor wasn't willing to go 45' up into a tree to hang the dish

RockyMnt1 · Apr 7, 2008

I had been a very good Direct TV customer for about 5 years. As soon as Direct TV rasied their rates to pass the $40.00/month mark, I cancelled the subscription. I thought that it would be harder that it was. I got really tired of paying to watch commercials. I saw that the price kept increasing. I saw lots of incentives for new customers (but none for a 5 year good customer). When I called to cancel, thats when they offered the incentives!! I wanted to be able to pick my channels (a la carte), since I only really watched about 10-15 of the 100+ that were available.

It really seemed to free up a bunch of time/money. I didn't feel like I had to watch it all the time because I was paying for it. I occasionally glance at the Direct TV listings, and I have seen most of the movies/shows already. I am not a sports nut so that part doesn't appeal to me.

Next to buying the tractor, cancelling Direct TV was one of my better decisions....

dgl24087 · Apr 7, 2008

I've been a Directv customer since 1999, I will never go back to cable. I have had no problems with equipment, only reception problems have been during extreme downpours. I upgraded to HD last year.

Wayne County Hose · Apr 7, 2008

I was a Directv customer since they first came out, about 1994. I left them because of poor customer service about 2 years ago. The tv service was great, their people were the pits, or so I thought. I went to Dishnetwork. My house burned down Nov. 28, 2007. They are still pulling money from my account for the monthly service. Will never do autopay again. We have called numerous times, get the same idiots that can't seem to comprehend that their equipment went to appliance heaven and will not be returning. We need a bill to submit to insurance for the equipment to get reimbursed. They deducted $690 from our account and still will not send us a bill. We have spoken to supposed high ups and account managers, can't get anywhere. We even called a local TV station consumer affairs guy. He has gotten nowhere. Our next step is our state attorney general.

If you deal with Dishnetwork, you have been warned. You are on your own. If you doubt anything, shoot me a pm and I'll provide way more details.

Alternatives? I wish. My opinion, Directv stinks less.

jwstewar · Apr 8, 2008

Andy you and I have talked before about our house fires. We didn't do the auto-pay, but when I called to cancel our Dish Network the only thing they were concerned about was their equipment. I told them that it burnt in the fire. About 3 days later a box showed up at the house for me to ship the equipment back in. I went in the house and found their boxes. I didn't clean them up or anything sent them back with the insulation and whatever else was on them. I made sure I put them back in the plastic bag "to protect them." I did not ship the LNB back. Haven't heard another peep out of them. Now, who knows what will happen when next month we call them to start service up again. Might have to put the service in Monica's name or go with DirecTV. We'll see.

How is your house rebuilding coming?

Wayne County Hose · Apr 8, 2008

Hello Jim,

We started building Sunday. I didn't realize how big I designed this thing, just shy of 2500 square feet. The old one was 1150. I think I can fit both tractors, the dozer, my 4 wheeler, and a couple other pieces in the living room.

You know, I wish there was something to send back. I could have shoveled some ashes into the box. I can't tell you how many times we called them. Just can't get anywhere. They deducted the money for the equipment from our account in February. We got a message on our answering machine last week saying if we didn't return the equipment, we would have $690 deducted from our account. Ummmm, people, you already deducted the money! What gets me is that when you call, you always get a different person. Yet, none of them can comprehend the situation. Like nobody's house ever burned before. All I ever asked for was a bill for the equipment so we can be reimbursed from the insurance company. We can't even get that. Today I had to cancel my debit card and the bank will issue a new one with a different number to stop them from removing more money. Ugh.

So am I correct that you're moving to the new house next month?

jwstewar · Apr 10, 2008

Sorry it took so long to respond Andy. I started to yesterday when the site problems hit.

Yep, you are correct. We are hoping to move in on May 10th. The builder is planning an open house for May 4th. They installed all of the cabinets Tues & Weds. Finish guys got there yesterday and started installing the doors & finish trim. Stone guy is supposed to be there today to put the stone around the fake chimney on the vent-free gas fireplace. We went from 2100 Sq. Ft. to about 3028 Sq. Ft. + 1600+ sq Ft. basement + 2 car garage. We are starting to get pretty excited to move into the house. The builder has done a pretty good job of staying on top of the subs to make sure things are done when and how they are supposed to be.

You can see pics of our house building here: Picasa Web Albums - Jim - House Building

Good luck with your project. Hope it goes as well as ours has gone.

Wayne County Hose · Apr 10, 2008

Hello Jim,

Yea, I guess we all experienced the site problems yesterday. I actually figured out a backdoor way around it.

I'm happy and excited for you. As you know, it's a long hard road. We have the floor deck down and the first floor walls up. Yesterday I took a picture of the wife in the kitchen.

We were underinsured, our fault. So we are doing much of the work ourselves and with the help of some very good friends. It's a time like this when you find out who your friends really are. We are blessed with some wonderful people in our lives. My BIL is a licensed electrician and my brother has been an electrician and counter manager at an electrical supply house for over 20 years, so they volunteered to do the electric. My brother started talking about all the latest technology they are putting in my house. It's great that this is just one less thing to worry about.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack, Andy.