DirectTV

[tazinib1]

Ok so I've had it with the local cable company (COX) and am seriously debating on switching to DirectTV. They have a bomb ass special right now giving me 150 channels (including local and NFL Network) for $29.99 a month for 12 months with 2 free DVR upgrades. Thats a pretty sweet deal. Being in sunny San Diego, I'm not too worried about weather interfering with my service. But, for those that have or have had there service, what are some of the pro's and con's that I may not know about?

Edited May 25, 2010 by tazinib1

[skylive5]

Ok so I've had it with the local cable company (COX) and am seriously debating on switching to DirectTV. They have a bomb ass special right now giving me 150 channels (including local and NFL Network) for $29.99 a month for 12 months with 2 free DVR upgrades. Thats a pretty sweet deal. Being in sunny San Diego, I'm not too worried about weather interfering with my service. But, for those that have or have had there service, what are some of the pro's and con's that I may not know about?

 

Have had DirecTV for ever and ever. Have no con's. Excellent customer service over the years. Always getting free stuff because I have been a long time customer. Including free receiver upgrade boxes with each change.

[rajncajn]

Better than the deal I got, I may see if I can re-up early and get the deal myself. I've liked them so far. it took a while getting used to not having the local channels, but getting an antenna is an easy solution.

[kpholmes]

Ok so I've had it with the local cable company (COX) and am seriously debating on switching to DirectTV. They have a bomb ass special right now giving me 150 channels (including local and NFL Network) for $29.99 a month for 12 months with 2 free DVR upgrades. Thats a pretty sweet deal. Being in sunny San Diego, I'm not too worried about weather interfering with my service. But, for those that have or have had there service, what are some of the pro's and con's that I may not know about?

Great company... but they don't joke around with their two year contract, so you better be willing to put two years into it.

 

The only way out of that is to buy it out, or move to a place with no line of sight. (Or TELL them you moved to a place with no line of site, and use your friend's house )

[sundaynfl]

Love my Direct TV!!

 

PM me and I will send you my account number so you can say I referred you and get my 100 bones for the referral!

[rajncajn]

Love my Direct TV!!

 

PM me and I will send you my account number so you can say I referred you and get my 100 bones for the referral!

 

I think that should go to the first to reply.

 

 

 

Oh wait... that's Sky :oldrazz:

[Azazello1313]

I like directv quite a bit. always been very pleased with their product and customer service.

[Atlanta Cracker]

I'm actually kind of pissed at DirecTV right now. They recently added multi room viewing capability to their DVRs if they were networked and I was stoked. Turns out this was a beta period and now it's $3/month for the service plus they want to sell you their own home networking solution even if you already have one.

 

The nickel and diming for DVR service, HD service, Multi room now, etc is starting to piss me off. I will probably call them and get some concession that will keep me happy enough not to change but I would seriously look at Dish Network as well when comparing the two prior to install.

 

It just kind of annoys me that I have to call them to get some concession rather than it being given automatically. All the great promotions for new customers you constantly read about grate on me as a long time subscriber. In addition having to politic for Sunday Ticket being priced fairly each year is also a pain.

 

/rant

 

Never had any signal issues, channel selection is good, Sunday Ticket is great if you have time to watch it. Don't think you'll regret it but it may grate on you over time. I also get local channels through DTV but that may be a function of what market you are in.

[rajncajn]

The nickel and diming for DVR service, HD service, Multi room now, etc is starting to piss me off. I will probably call them and get some concession that will keep me happy enough not to change but I would seriously look at Dish Network as well when comparing the two prior to install.

That they do. The price you see on the web site is rarely ever what you actually pay. I would decide on what features you want, how many room, what extra channels (including locals) and get a total quote including all the extra taxes & monthly fees & then compare to Dish. I think in the end you will come out with better service/features for the money with DTV, but it's worth looking into before taking that 2 year plunge.

 

Also, make sure your installer knows their ****. All the satellite networks subcontract their installations. if you don't like how it's going down then immediately call DTV & they will get someone else out there.

Edited May 25, 2010 by rajncajn

[SayItAintSoJoe]

These are the pros and cons when I compare it to my old cable company

 

 

Pros

• Great channel line-up a lot more HD channels than cable
  
• Great website that makes it very easy to order PPV, change service plans, pay bill etc.
  
• DVRs are much better (more space, better menus) than what I got with cable.
  
• Good customer service
  
• Better sports programming available.
  

Cons

 

 

• 2 year contract that is costly to get out of, no contract with cable company.
  
• $50 service call fee if they need to send a tech out to your house after the initial install, with cable they came out for free.
  
• No speedy flipping through the channels. There is a slight delay for the channel to come in unlike cable.
  
• If you cancel the service you have to ship the equipment back to them. (Not sure who pays)
  
• You need a box for each tv in the house that you'll pay a monthly fee for. With cable you can just hook up a coax cable directly to TV for those rooms (i.e. Guest Room) where you don't care about having a DVR or ordering PPV from.
  

So it has its pros and cons. I think both cable and DTV try to nickle and dime you to death like AC said. I can't wait till the day that Internet programming starts to give these guys a run for their money. Than we'll have some real choices as consumers.

Edited May 25, 2010 by SayItAintSoJoe

[tazinib1]

Some great advice here already. I know there have been other threads on this in the past, but damnit, I'm just not BJ and can't for the life of me figure out how to find them. At any rate, after clicking all the options I want, the total monthly price, as of now, is $50.23 per month. Still a pretty good deal for the services I want. I have been a STAUNCH proponent of cable tv for years, but recent events have soured me on them...especially Cox. So its ADIOS to cable and for that matter, cable internet as well. SCREW EM!! I'm very happy with my new Cricket wireless account for the laptop/pc.

[rajncajn]

Some great advice here already. I know there have been other threads on this in the past, but damnit, I'm just not BJ and can't for the life of me figure out how to find them. At any rate, after clicking all the options I want, the total monthly price, as of now, is $50.23 per month. Still a pretty good deal for the services I want. I have been a STAUNCH proponent of cable tv for years, but recent events have soured me on them...especially Cox. So its ADIOS to cable and for that matter, cable internet as well. SCREW EM!! I'm very happy with my new Cricket wireless account for the laptop/pc.

FWIW I stuck with the cable internet. Wireless is just too spotty for me, especially if you do any online gaming.

[Big John]

Some great advice here already. I know there have been other threads on this in the past, but damnit, I'm just not BJ and can't for the life of me figure out how to find them. At any rate, after clicking all the options I want, the total monthly price, as of now, is $50.23 per month. Still a pretty good deal for the services I want. I have been a STAUNCH proponent of cable tv for years, but recent events have soured me on them...especially Cox. So its ADIOS to cable and for that matter, cable internet as well. SCREW EM!! I'm very happy with my new Cricket wireless account for the laptop/pc.

You rang:

 

Several on this, more recent on opinions of DirecTV

[sundaynfl]

If you have Direct TV you can get an extra dish and take it anywhere you go! Tailgating, camping etc.... Watching whatever football game you want on a Sunday while ice fishing is priceless! I have even taken it over to a buddys house and hooked it up so we can watch an extra game. It only costs $5/month and you can turn the receiver off at any time and start again whenever you want!

[skylive5]

[*]$50 service call fee if they need to send a tech out to your house after the initial install, with cable they came out for free.

 

Huh. I have never paid for anyone to come out. Must be an area thing. But then.... they have only had to come out twice and one of those was when I upgraded to HD and they had to install a new Sat.

 

Also... I own all my own boxes so if I were ever to unsubscribe I would keep them.

[TimC]

Great company... but they don't joke around with their two year contract, so you better be willing to put two years into it.

 

This. You need anything from them out of contract and they'll re-sign you for another 2 years. I had to get my dish moved to the left 10 feet because of some patio work I'm going to have done eventually....another 2 year contract for me. Trying to aim the HD antenna on your own ain't happening.

 

Oh, and look into buying the $5.99 protection plan for their equipment. I have a box go out every year.

 

My main irritation with them is the $5.00 "leased receiver" fee they charge per box (I have 6)....ummm, I bought these f'n boxes.

 

But their customer service is great and their overall service is great.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

• $50 service call fee if they need to send a tech out to your house after the initial install, with cable they came out for free.

 

 

Huh. I have never paid for anyone to come out. Must be an area thing. But then.... they have only had to come out twice and one of those was when I upgraded to HD and they had to install a new Sat.

 

Also... I own all my own boxes so if I were ever to unsubscribe I would keep them.

 

Believe me I bitched and moaned about the fee but they weren't budging. Just happened like 3 weeks ago. It's in the contract. Bastards.

[tazinib1]

If you have Direct TV you can get an extra dish and take it anywhere you go! Tailgating, camping etc.... Watching whatever football game you want on a Sunday while ice fishing is priceless! I have even taken it over to a buddys house and hooked it up so we can watch an extra game. It only costs $5/month and you can turn the receiver off at any time and start again whenever you want!

 

 

What?!?

 

This I did not know about. I wish I had known about that when I was stuck in the middle of no-where in Michigan last year for 4 weeks. I don't think I watched my first NFL game until week 8...I can't seem to remember when I was in Denver for the SD/Denver Monday night game either lol. Different gig though...but yeah that would be SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

 

Ok ok ok..its looking more and more likely that I will be getting this service by weeks end.

[matt770]

Didn't see anyone mention this -- DirecTV (like any dish) is subject to outages during thunderstorms. This can be a major pain if it's something you really want to watch. And over the winter when we had the two blizzards I had to navigate through massive snowdrifts with a broom duct-taped to a pole saw to knock the snow off the dish. I was lucky the dish was in an area I could reach with my contraption.

 

Another issue I have, only on my HD set -- audio problems on certain channels once in a while. Stuttering, or the sound doesn't sync with the people speaking.

 

Overall the service is decent but I would opt for one of the fiber-based services if they carried Sunday Ticket. The sound and picture quality seems better and I miss On Demand.

[tazinib1]

Didn't see anyone mention this -- DirecTV (like any dish) is subject to outages during thunderstorms. This can be a major pain if it's something you really want to watch. And over the winter when we had the two blizzards I had to navigate through massive snowdrifts with a broom duct-taped to a pole saw to knock the snow off the dish. I was lucky the dish was in an area I could reach with my contraption.

 

Another issue I have, only on my HD set -- audio problems on certain channels once in a while. Stuttering, or the sound doesn't sync with the people speaking.

 

Overall the service is decent but I would opt for one of the fiber-based services if they carried Sunday Ticket. The sound and picture quality seems better and I miss On Demand.

 

Living in San Diego, I'm not too worried about weather interrupting my service, unless you count partly cloudy as bad weather. And to be honest, I've experienced alot of sync problems with cable as well...especially on HD channels.

Edited May 25, 2010 by tazinib1

[Hugh 0ne]

Didn't see anyone mention this -- DirecTV (like any dish) is subject to outages during thunderstorms. This can be a major pain if it's something you really want to watch. And over the winter when we had the two blizzards I had to navigate through massive snowdrifts with a broom duct-taped to a pole saw to knock the snow off the dish. I was lucky the dish was in an area I could reach with my contraption.

 

Another issue I have, only on my HD set -- audio problems on certain channels once in a while. Stuttering, or the sound doesn't sync with the people speaking.

 

Overall the service is decent but I would opt for one of the fiber-based services if they carried Sunday Ticket. The sound and picture quality seems better and I miss On Demand.

 

My service NEVER goes out. Seriously, it's very reliable.

 

I also have an extra receiver that I use with my RV, I get all the channels I pay for anywhere I use it. Pretty sweet.

 

No complaints about DirectTV whatsoever. I'm very pleased and have had them for years, although the NFL package has gotten ridiculously expensive since they pretty much have the market cornered, especially if you want it in HD. This was the first year I did not subscribe to it because of the high cost.

[Gopher]

Some great advice here already. I know there have been other threads on this in the past, but damnit, I'm just not BJ and can't for the life of me figure out how to find them. At any rate, after clicking all the options I want, the total monthly price, as of now, is $50.23 per month. Still a pretty good deal for the services I want. I have been a STAUNCH proponent of cable tv for years, but recent events have soured me on them...especially Cox. So its ADIOS to cable and for that matter, cable internet as well. SCREW EM!! I'm very happy with my new Cricket wireless account for the laptop/pc.

 

- Weather can be an issue, but probably not in SD. Was occasionally a problem for me in South Dakota, but not really at all since move to CA six years ago.

 

- Customer service is very friendly, for the most part, but I have had a couple of bad experiences, where they were adamant that they couldn't follow through on a previous commitment because it wasn't "in their notes." In other words, anytime I now have them tell me that they're going to offer something... discount, free HBO/Showtime for 6 months, free RedZone channel with Sunday Ticket purchase, etc., I make sure they confirm that it's in their notes. Perfect example was last year... Opening day for NFL, I realized I had no HD, no RedZone Channel, etc. I called them all afternoon, but couldn't get through. Called again Monday, and after waiting for 15 minutes, was told that they had no record (in their notes) that they had previously offered me the free SuperFan package. Two months before that, I had told them that I didn't want the Sunday Ticket unless I got the Super Fan for free... they passed me to customer retention, and agreed to give me what I wanted. Two months later, they had no record of that conversation.

 

- They DO nickel and dime you... If you add up the services you want ($53 and change), does that include the $5 "additional receiver" fee that they charge, per receiver (after the first receiver)? I have the basics... no movie channels, two DVR's, a third non-DVR receiver in the bedroom, and just one "extra", which is the $12 sports pack (golf channel, all of the FSN channels, ec.). My monthly bill is right around $100 on "normal" months, but more often than not, it's more than that, due to NFL, March Madness, or UFC fights (although I purchase less of those now than I did a year or two ago). So, if you have three receivers, you'll be charged $5 each for #2 and #3. There is also the monthly DVR charge, as well as a monthly HD charge (I believe... don't have bill in front of me right now). The free DVR upgrade most likely means that they'll "lease" you a couple of DVR receivers, rather than charge you $99 each (or whatever it is) for each one... not that the monthly fees will be waived (I'm guessing).

 

- The last time I had a service call (dish had to be moved slightly and reinforced, due to wind moving it to where branches were causing service issues), they asked if, as a top valued customer, I wanted to use my one free service visit per year (I of course said yes). At the time, I just assumed that every customer was a "valued" customer, and everyone gets one free yearly call. Maybe that's not the case, and the hundreds thousands I have paid them for NFL/UFC puts me at an "elite" status?

 

- If they screw something up, they're very quick to offer you six months of free HBO or Showtime, rather than take something off your bill. Obviously, this costs them absolutely nothing, and just increases their chances of suckering you in to adding a movie package to your service once the six months run out (been there... it's hard to get rid of HBO once you're used to it). But, if you push them hard enough (tell them you have no interest in HBO, etc.), they will eventually cave and give you something better... like $10 off your monthly bill for six months. I've had them give me that a couple of times, for things that I wasn't happy with. Wasn't even necessarily something they messed up... Might have just been something I was happy with, that I claimed was unclear to me at the time. One example was when I realized that we had been getting charged the $5 "additional receiver" fee for a receiver that had been in our garage (unused) for over a year. They said they couldn't refund me the $5 (for who knows how many months), but they gave me $10 off for six months, as well as Showtime for six months. The downside of that was explaining to my wife that we were losing Showtime, six months later, after she had become a "Dexter" junkie.

 

I'll say this... Overall, I'm pretty happy with DirecTV. On the other hand, if it wasn't for the fact that they have exclusive rights to the NFL package (and I'm a MN fan living in the Bay area), I don't think it would be too difficult for me to justify going with another service. In this day and age, there are cheaper/better options, and I think DTV realizes that the NFL package is the only thing that allows them to nickel and dime customers (or at least customers who are NFL fans like me) like they do.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Gopher

[rajncajn]

As weather goes I live in one of the worst places for Summertime thunderstorms & in two years can probably count on one hand how many times I lost reception for more than a couple of seconds. It really has never been an issue any more than cable is.

[rajncajn]

Here's how my current charges read & basically what you can expect on your bill:

 

60.99 - CHOICE XTRA - no locals Monthly (locals are not available in my area)

10.00 - HD Access Monthly

2.50 - Network: NBC

2.50 - Network: CBS

2.50 - Network: FOX

5.99 - PPV: The Men Who Stare at Goats (HD)

 

Fees

1.50 - Phone System Transaction Fee

5.00 - Primary Leased receiver

5.00 - Leased receiver

 

Credits

-5.00 - Primary leased receiver

 

6.39 - Sales Tax

 

 

Total 97.37

 

The credit on the receiver is part of the plan I got when I signed up, I get my primary free of charge and they do this by crediting the account back the $5. My home antenna will pick up ABC, but I've got to get a better one to pick up FOX.

[frankf]

I love my direct t.v., the constant rise in prices is starting to get to me, but I guess that is going to happen with any provider you go with.