We dumped comcast for directv

[propita]

Comcast had their ballyhooed "we're going hd" thing and sent us a big hd receiver and two little ones (we don't have a box for movies, just a cable). Anyway, we get this, I hook it all up...and it sucks.

You can have a list of favorite channels, but can only surf "up" the list. To be able to go "down" meant you had to go through ALL channels. All the sports, shopping, Spanish, news, religion, etc. And there was no image of the channel you were on when you used the guide.

That got old within a day.

So Hubby and I were out and stopped at AT&T. That's when he also got me an iphone. We signed up for directv. The guy spent four hours setting things up, attaching a dish to our chimney--evidently, it can't be over a living space and our house has tiny eaves. Works beautifully. DVR? Much easier to setup than vhs (yeah, I've still been using that) and easier to delete stuff I don't want or did watch.

The only problems are things I'll get used to: All the channels have been renumbered, but since the guide is easy to use, that's not a big problem.

Yeah, kinda wish we had switched before, but I was happy with comcast until they did this.

Oh, and we can't get att dsl. Not in our area, our house isn't wired for it, and the tech said we wouldn't want it anyway because he measured our comcast internet as 4x faster than at&t would be.

 

[1001001]

DirecTV is awesome. The DVR will change your TV viewing experience forever. You'll wonder how people get along without one.

Welcome to the family!

 

[Spot's Meow]

I wish I could get satellite where I live. When we move in a couple of months that will be my first choice. However, anything besides Comcast would be okay with me. We switched to AT&T Uverse a few months ago and I like it WAY more than Comcast's crappy interface. Comcast's DVR would also randomly drop set recordings sometimes and would just turn off in the middle of a recording to update the guide. Basically, it was a piece of shit. Glad you're enjoying the switch.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The problem I found is, all these companies are effectively the same. They do great deals to get customers, but do nothing to keep those customers.
And in fact will screw existing customers every chance they get.

I had DISH network for several years, then moved and these yo-yo's didn't have a satellite anywhere but over Texas for the main (SD) channels.
DISH uses DirectTV's satellites in that area.

Also, DISH started charging $90 when you need to move, instead of doing it for free.

Then, DirectTV claimed they had something in the S or SE, but then said that was only the HD programming.

I ended up having to go with Comcast, who lied about being able to copy programs from the DVR beforehand, then later said it was impossible.

 

[Snaploud]

I'll stick with cable. I had satellite internet years ago. It was a pain having lower (or even lost) connections whenever it got cloudy.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ That might have been helped by better aiming.

With DISH, I only ever lost (TV) signal during extremely bad electrical storms. And then, only for a little while.

That said, the speed to cost ratio for Comcast that I have (12M) is better than I ever saw from satellite internet.

 

[Harvey]

Comcast does suck. When I move in a few months they surely won't be my first choice as television or internet providers.

 

[tomalak301]

I wish my family would switch to DirectTV. Comcast (Or as I call them Crapcast) is horrible.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

In the end, they're all horrible, they really are. In fact, pretty much all customer service, anywhere, sucks donkey balls.

Everything always seems good in the beginning. Great "new customer" deal, maybe even a reasonable price after that, then you have some kind of problem and you have to deal with the clueless assholes on the phone. Then you're wondering why you went with these guys in the first place.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

If anyone is switching to DirecTV, always contact someone you know with the service. Get there customer number and give it when you sign up. Both you and the existing customer will save $100 on there monthly bills.

If you don't know anyone, PM me and I'll give you my number.

Also sign up through either AT&T or DirecTV, not a local company. If there are any install issues you will generally get better and quicker service.

As for customer service, the two times in seven years I had to call DTV the service was great. They were able to reset and fix the issue remotely. Then they gave me three free months of HBO as an apology.

One other suggestion - put your receiver on a UPS. If your power flickers out, a reboot takes around 10 minutes. A UPS will help prevent that.

 

[propita]

I'm still liking it. Some of the shows are at different times...east coast feed?...but that's solved by dvr-ing the season.

We like "Sarah's House" on HGTV, so we're taping them all and deleting them after watching or checking that they're repeats. That is SOOOOO much easier!

I did like comcast enough to stick with it all this time--until they switched over to the new stuff.

 

[1001001]

I'm still liking it. Some of the shows are at different times...east coast feed?...but that's solved by dvr-ing the season.

Yes we get the east coast feed here in California.