DirectTV deal VS Dish Network deal

[mikef292004]

So Windstream has a deal where you can get DishNetwork, Internet, and phone for only around $85.00 a month. Local channels are included and it is a Lifetime price, you pay $85.00 for the rest of your life.. ( Or probably until Windstream goes under )..

 

Does anyone know if DirecTV has anything like this....? I have DirecTV and a few nights ago they called ma and offered me a deal for only $3.50 more a month I get every channel and it includes NFL Sunday ticket.So my total bill would be around $69.00 until January and then if I cancel It foes back to the $65.00 or so and if I don't cancel ( There probably banking on me forgetting ) it goes up to $115.00 a month but that is everything.

[CarolinaBill]

stay with direcTV,dish sucks

[dhg]

stay with direcTV,dish sucks

 

Dish has Red Zone though

[CarolinaBill]

Dish has Red Zone though

Red zone channel? So does direcTV, and they have the ultimate trump card (aside from better programming) NFL SUNDAY TICKET.

 

Like I said, I have DirecTV, I love DirecTV, and I recommend DirecTV. I have friends and Family with Dish, they like it ok, but when asked, they almost always say "I probably shoulda gone with directv"

[billsfaninvgs]

So Windstream has a deal where you can get DishNetwork, Internet, and phone for only around $85.00 a month. Local channels are included and it is a Lifetime price, you pay $85.00 for the rest of your life.. ( Or probably until Windstream goes under )..

 

Does anyone know if DirecTV has anything like this....? I have DirecTV and a few nights ago they called ma and offered me a deal for only $3.50 more a month I get every channel and it includes NFL Sunday ticket.So my total bill would be around $69.00 until January and then if I cancel It foes back to the $65.00 or so and if I don't cancel ( There probably banking on me forgetting ) it goes up to $115.00 a month but that is everything.

 

 

They called you and offered that? Thats a good deal. I think since my bill is $115 amonth with out SUNDAY TICKET, I will be giving them a call. I am sure they want me to sign a new two year agreement. I would only go with dish if I didnt care about SUNDAY TICKET or if i didnt mind if my service kept losing the signal. Dish is famous for that

[Fezmid]

So Windstream has a deal where you can get DishNetwork, Internet, and phone for only around $85.00 a month. Local channels are included and it is a Lifetime price, you pay $85.00 for the rest of your life.. ( Or probably until Windstream goes under )..

 

Does anyone know if DirecTV has anything like this....? I have DirecTV and a few nights ago they called ma and offered me a deal for only $3.50 more a month I get every channel and it includes NFL Sunday ticket.So my total bill would be around $69.00 until January and then if I cancel It foes back to the $65.00 or so and if I don't cancel ( There probably banking on me forgetting ) it goes up to $115.00 a month but that is everything.

 

DirecTV has some bundle with Qwest- but I don't know the details, and it's only good if you're in an area serviced by Qwest (obviously ).

 

That said, if you're happy with DirecTV, why change? I know people who have Dish and like them a lot. They have less HD channels than DirecTV, but have different channels in their "base" package (for example, Dish has the Science channel, but you have to pay a couple of bucks more to get the tier with that channel on DirecTV).

 

One thing to note is that if you're paying $10/month for HD channels with DirecTV right now, call them up and ask to have that removed for the next 24 months -- Dish is giving away free HD, so DirecTV has been doing the same. You have to enroll in auto billpay, but it's an easy $10/month to save.

 

They called you and offered that? Thats a good deal. I think since my bill is $115 amonth with out SUNDAY TICKET, I will be giving them a call. I am sure they want me to sign a new two year agreement. I would only go with dish if I didnt care about SUNDAY TICKET or if i didnt mind if my service kept losing the signal. Dish is famous for that

 

They probably won't give that deal to you -- it seems to be a small percentage of people who are getting that offer. And I agree - it's an awesome one.

[Mike in Horseheads]

So Windstream has a deal where you can get DishNetwork, Internet, and phone for only around $85.00 a month. Local channels are included and it is a Lifetime price, you pay $85.00 for the rest of your life.. ( Or probably until Windstream goes under )..

 

Does anyone know if DirecTV has anything like this....? I have DirecTV and a few nights ago they called ma and offered me a deal for only $3.50 more a month I get every channel and it includes NFL Sunday ticket.So my total bill would be around $69.00 until January and then if I cancel It foes back to the $65.00 or so and if I don't cancel ( There probably banking on me forgetting ) it goes up to $115.00 a month but that is everything.

 

I switched to DISH in June and back to DTV in September. Plain and simple DISH SUCKS! I even paid the buy out fee to abandon ship.

[Vinny4sum]

I have been with DirecTv for 10 years and their service is outstanding. Because I have been with them so long I get a lot of free items; game lounge, free movies, added channels and excellent customer service.

 

Just last weekend they turned me off completely, I am not sure what happened, but I woke up and it said to call Directv to purchase a package on my TV. I called and in less than 10 minutes they rebuilt my old package, apologized for the error and then put a supervisor on the line who took $80.00 off my NFL ticket, gave me 3 months free and upgraded me to the everything package for 12 months free. That is customer service and truly understanding the importance of customer loyalty.

 

Just a note, I grade all customer service toughly because I started as a customer service rep 20 years ago and I am now a VP of Customer Service Operations, so I do know great service when it happens which is not a frequent occurance.

[BobChalmers]

I have been with DirecTv for 10 years and their service is outstanding. Because I have been with them so long I get a lot of free items; game lounge, free movies, added channels and excellent customer service.

 

Just last weekend they turned me off completely, I am not sure what happened, but I woke up and it said to call Directv to purchase a package on my TV. I called and in less than 10 minutes they rebuilt my old package, apologized for the error and then put a supervisor on the line who took $80.00 off my NFL ticket, gave me 3 months free and upgraded me to the everything package for 12 months free. That is customer service and truly understanding the importance of customer loyalty.

 

Just a note, I grade all customer service toughly because I started as a customer service rep 20 years ago and I am now a VP of Customer Service Operations, so I do know great service when it happens which is not a frequent occurance.

 

I have always been happy with DirecTV service - going on 20 years now - if only my recent house didn't have all of these damned trees to the South/Southwest!!

[notwoz]

I've had DirecTV for about 10 years - got it for Sunday Ticket. If it weren't for Sunday Ticket I probably never would have gotten DirecTV. That said, I have no real complaints with their service or channel offerings.

Installers can be a dicey situation though, especially if you want something "beyond" the bare minimum, like fishing lines through walls. I've had three, two were decent to good -- the third was a loser. But I consider that my fault for not paying enough attention when he was working.

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

I would go with Directv, better and more HD, Sunday Ticket and better customer service and DVR

[thewildrabbit]

I would go with Directv, better and more HD, Sunday Ticket and better customer service and DVR

 

I concur

 

Every time I talk to Direct TV about leaving because of price-service they lure me back in with great discounts, besides the NFL package rules

 

I used to buy the NFL fan pack, but its included now in NFL package. If ya don't know what that is, on Monday and Tuesday you can watch every game with the commercials and BS taken out so they are condensed to 1/2 hour each.

[Vinny4sum]

I've had DirecTV for about 10 years - got it for Sunday Ticket. If it weren't for Sunday Ticket I probably never would have gotten DirecTV. That said, I have no real complaints with their service or channel offerings.

Installers can be a dicey situation though, especially if you want something "beyond" the bare minimum, like fishing lines through walls. I've had three, two were decent to good -- the third was a loser. But I consider that my fault for not paying enough attention when he was working.

 

I have had them here 4 times 3 great 1 not so great, but the last 2 were super and the last guy went on the roof to replace the dish, it was not working for high def, he also did 3 other things for me and the next day the supervisor came out and checked up on him.

[todzilla]

I've had Direct for over 10 years and love them. Even when they have screwed up, they always make it right and definitely reward my loyalty (money off the Ticket, free receiver and installation, etc...).

[Spiderweb]

stay with direcTV,dish sucks

 

Dish is actually pretty decent. It's my main viewing source and DTV is used only for the Sunday Ticket (yes, I have only the Sunday Ticket with DTV and have had only the Ticket from DTV for years).

 

Personal choices, and mine is that in general, I don't like DTV, and I have tried it for extended periods, twice, but poor equipment flexiblity (I like Dish Network's dual tuners.) pissed me off and DTV quality is no better, and may actually not be as good.

 

(Cue...The Fez....)

Edited September 10, 2010 by Spiderweb

[mikef292004]

They called you and offered that? Thats a good deal. I think since my bill is $115 amonth with out SUNDAY TICKET, I will be giving them a call. I am sure they want me to sign a new two year agreement. I would only go with dish if I didnt care about SUNDAY TICKET or if i didnt mind if my service kept losing the signal. Dish is famous for that

Yes they called me out of nowhere, and made the offer. But then again I have been a loyal customer for 10 years or so. My brother was ticked when I told him, so he called DTV and demanded ( Politely ) that he get that same deal and by golley he got it...! I love DTV...!

[TheMadCap]

I don't think I would disagree about DTV having the best service in terms of number of HD, and from what I hear thier DVR is light years better than anyone elses...

 

But we have been considering changing over to Verizon FIOS tv due to the excellent price with the bundle. I really don't care to get Sunday Ticket anymore (we have a two year old and like to do stuff with him on sunday), and FIOS has Red-Zone and NHL Center Ice. The internet/phone/TV price with HD-DVR, and two other SD boxes is $116 a month, which goes up to $135 once the 6-month free HD-DVR deal expires, and there is no service agreement. This HD package is approximately equivalent to my DTV package in terms of channels. Yes, I know they likely don't have as many HD channels, but I really only watch Sports, NGC, Discovery, Sci-fi, etc, so they are all there. Between what we pay for phone/internet and DTV combined now, we would save ~70 bucks by getting the bundle, which isn't chump change for me.

 

Does anyone else have any experience with FIOS tv, and can make recommendations? thanks!

 

MadCap

[Fezmid]

Personal choices, and mine is that in general, I don't like DTV, and I have tried it for extended periods, twice, but poor equipment flexiblity (I like Dish Network's dual tuners.) pissed me off and DTV quality is no better, and may actually not be as good.

 

(Cue...The Fez....)

Not going to disagree with any of that, except for the quality -- DTV isn't worse than Dish, I'd say they're on par from what I've seen.

 

DirecTV has more HD channels available. They have dual tuners, but only one decoder - so you can record two shows at the same time (and watch a third), but you can't watch two different recorded shows off the same DVR.

 

Of course DirecTV's "Whole Home DVR" is a better solution than Dish's "One HD, one SD feed from the same box," IMHO - but that's because I don't want SD at all. On the other hand, it's not free ($3/mo), and I haven't felt the need to pay for it myself. (I was in the beta and it was awesome though).

 

Dish, DirecTV, or FiOS, you can't go wrong.

[CodeMonkey]

I would go with Directv, better and more HD, Sunday Ticket and better customer service and DVR

The more HD depends on whose ad you are watching/reading.

DirecTV claims 160 channels and says Dish has less than that.

Dish claims over 200 HD channels compared to DirecTVs 160.

I know Dish has been adding HD like crazy and recently put up another satellite recently that will be for more HD channels when it goes into service sometime later this year.

 

In reality count doesn't matter as much as if they have the HD channels you want to watch. Which is largely personal preference.

 

I have had both as well as cable now (unfortunately). I think the service is about the same, and varies largely by the quality of local installers. I think the price of dish is a little lower in general, but probably not by enough to make that the decision point. I am pretty sure dish has more HD channels and should soon have quite a few more. But again, what is important is the channels themselves and not so much the count. Also a consideration is the quality of the HD channels. They are not all created equal. Compression has a huge impact. Dish has been adding capacity via new satellites. I'm not sure if DirecTV has added satellites, or just compresses more as they add channels. I know that both providers can and do change compression not just channel to channel, but between programs on the same channel which can be very annoying.

 

If the Sunday Ticket is important to you, then DirecTV is the only game in town. All the other sports packages are available on both providers.

 

Bottom line, don't believe what you read. Talk to friends who have both and look at their systems and decide what is best for you.

[Fezmid]

The more HD depends on whose ad you are watching/reading.

DirecTV claims 160 channels and says Dish has less than that.

Dish claims over 200 HD channels compared to DirecTVs 160.

I know Dish has been adding HD like crazy and recently put up another satellite recently that will be for more HD channels when it goes into service sometime later this year.

 

In reality count doesn't matter as much as if they have the HD channels you want to watch. Which is largely personal preference.

 

I have had both as well as cable now (unfortunately). I think the service is about the same, and varies largely by the quality of local installers. I think the price of dish is a little lower in general, but probably not by enough to make that the decision point. I am pretty sure dish has more HD channels and should soon have quite a few more. But again, what is important is the channels themselves and not so much the count. Also a consideration is the quality of the HD channels. They are not all created equal. Compression has a huge impact. Dish has been adding capacity via new satellites. I'm not sure if DirecTV has added satellites, or just compresses more as they add channels. I know that both providers can and do change compression not just channel to channel, but between programs on the same channel which can be very annoying.

 

If the Sunday Ticket is important to you, then DirecTV is the only game in town. All the other sports packages are available on both providers.

 

Bottom line, don't believe what you read. Talk to friends who have both and look at their systems and decide what is best for you.

DirecTV has been adding satellites as well.

 

Last I checked (a couple of months ago), DirecTV still had more unique HD channels. Dish claims they have more because they count PPV, OnDemand, things like that. Of course those numbers keep flopping every few weeks as everyone rushes to add content.

 

Like he said, look at the channel lineups and judge for yourself - they're both similar.