DISH vs DTV Anybody had both? Considering switching.

I have Dish now, Direct in the past. I'm sticking with Dish for 2 reasons that may or may not apply to you: (1) Dish has satellite channels I watch that Direct doesn't, and (2) OTA support gets subchannels that aren't part of the locals on the satellite.

Dish support for OTA is fairly good, Direct's is lousy. On the other hand, Dish has a few very annoying software (I assume) bugs leading me to think Direct's reliability is somewhat better. The UIs are different, I suppose 50% of the population prefers one, and the other 50%, the other.

Big Katuna wrote:
We have had DTV about 17 years. Never really had a bad experience but I always knew what was going on. Sure, a few times I knew I had a bad box and they still put me through the unplug, red button, jump through hoops **** but almost all tech companies do that as many people don't check the simple stuff.

My complaint about DTV (and Im sure DISH is the same) is kacking the rates up, negotiate them down for three months, then up they go.

As far as raising my rate in a year, it is a two year deal. Yes, I know they are going to raise my rate at the end but we are very aware of our bills.

Like I said, I really hope that at the end of two years, there will be enough options between Hulu, Prime, Netflix and others that one could cut the cord and hopefully the sat companies will be forced to unbundle.

I am thinking of doing the Good Sam/Dish offer that is advertised on this site. As far as I can tell, it is the same 49.99 price lock offer that is listed on the dish site. However, you get a $100 Good Sam gift card. That is about enough to buy a second reciever for the trailer.

Tell directv that you're moving and thinking of changing to dish. I bet they will offer you some nice incentives to stay.

The primary reason that satellite and cable rates go up each year, is the carriage rates they pay to the program providers that increase each year. Even the multi-year agreements typically contain annual increases. When the sat or cable companies take a hard line on a contract negotiation to try to control costs, and those channels go dark for a time, the customer outcry limits how long the companies can hold out. Local channels are particularly problematic, since the sat and cable companies are not allowed by FCC regs to supply an alternate channel from another market. As for unbundling, those same program providers control much of that as well, by negotiating placement in particular tiers as a part of the carriage contract, and requiring that all of their various channels be carried, regardless of a channel's popularity. The sat and cable companies also have overhead costs that escalate just as other costs do for all of us, and of course the stockholders expect a decent return on their investments.

We have had DTV about 17 years. Never really had a bad experience but I always knew what was going on. Sure, a few times I knew I had a bad box and they still put me through the unplug, red button, jump through hoops **** but almost all tech companies do that as many people don't check the simple stuff.

My complaint about DTV (and Im sure DISH is the same) is kacking the rates up, negotiate them down for three months, then up they go.

As far as raising my rate in a year, it is a two year deal. Yes, I know they are going to raise my rate at the end but we are very aware of our bills.

Like I said, I really hope that at the end of two years, there will be enough options between Hulu, Prime, Netflix and others that one could cut the cord and hopefully the sat companies will be forced to unbundle.

They are both some of the worst CS companies in the country. They will outright lie to you to sell you or if they don't know an answer. Both will try to take advantage of you not analyzing each bill and will jack rates sky high after the 1st year hoping you don't notice.
They will also make you do direct billing to your CC to get their best rates as they hope you will miss rate increases and extra charges.

Pick your poison.

Lots of good info here. My view from having switched back and forth a few times is that Dish is 'slightly' cheaper over all.... but they sometimes don't have certain sports channels on HD.... infrequently.
Only other thing is that you cannot get HD with DTV on small dishes and domes on RVs. The VuCube might also be a problem for HD with DTV.

The $49/mo two year package is 190 channels, no DVR or HD fee, one year Netflix, 3 mos HBO and Cinemax. $7/mo second tv. Locals included.

Oddly, the only channel I lose that I care about is Velocity and I can watch that online.
ESPN and SEC channels are included and are must haves.
We care nothing about NFL or NBA.

We are at $140/mo with DTV and I am tired of the calling and threatening to drop it every year. Time to quit.

Hopefully in two years pick and choose internet options will be here.

I had DTV for 20 years, in the end it was cheaper to get the everything package than all of the sports channels I wanted. It was $150 when we shut it off because no matter what they couldn't get the bill down any. Not until we left anyways.

Here at the house we get 60 channels OTA, 30 are even watchable. Where we camp has no reception so we have a Dish Tailgator. Like DTV, the more you spend, the more watchable channels you get.

I would say look at the packages and channels and pick the one that works best for you.

I'm too addicted to the NFL ticket that only Directv offers!