Dish Network?

Ataxrxes

I am in the market to get some kind of cable tv service hooked up and I keep seeing these ads for this deal that Dish Network has going on. I am wondering if anybody can tell me about their customer service, or if this package is a good deal?

This is the one I am referring to:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/offers/index.shtml

Ataxrxes

Nobody has ever used/uses Dish Network services for their cable tv needs?

darkgrue

I've used Dish. My initial "free" installation took about 6 months to resolve, many hours of my own time, and $250 out of my own pocket. Once that was over, it worked fine.

And then I upgraded to HD. The "free" upgrade installation took another month to sort out, because despite telling Dish that I never wanted to see the orginal installer here again, that's exactly who they sent to do the upgrade install. Which I didn't notice at first because the contractor trades under more than one name.

I won't do business with them again, and decided to go with the local cable vendor when I moved, who unlike Dish, offer service month-to-month, with no contracts.

ElJeffe

The quality of my Dish service sucked. The signal was spotty and went out often, there was a shit-ton of artifacting, and their customer service was non-existent. DirecTV is about $5/mo more, and the quality was leagues ahead. If you want satellite, I highly recommend DirecTV.

embrik

Another vote for DirecTV. Their new HD-DVR is great, too. I've had them for a couple months now, and the quality is excellent. We've had a couple major storms (with 90%+ cloud coverage), and I've not noticed any reception problems.

Unrelated side note to ElJeffe - I don't know if you remember your advice you gave me about the Paradigm speakers, but you were right on. I've got 5.1 now hooked to my new Onkyo receiver, and I'm blown away by the quality sound I'm getting out of it! Thanks!

Related to that, DirecTV carries Dolby Digital 5.1 on a large portion of their programming, which works very well.

Nighthold

My DISH install was a big hassle, but that was mostly due to a poor view of the southern sky and the ground being too frozen for a pole mount. Once it was all sorted out it works great.

I switched from DirecTV. Their DVR sucks. Slow, buggy, crashes often, wont record what you want consistently, etc. You could not count on it to record shows you want, so whats the point of having it? Managing it was a nightmare too. It wasn't just one box either. We went through 5 (FIVE) boxes until the technician admitted that their newer DVRs have big problems. A cursory search online confirmed this.

If you want to go satellite, I would say do DISH if you want DVR. If you dont care about that... I suppose either is good. Frankly I am already looking forward to IPTV.

Ataxrxes

Yikes. Now I am even more confused. I will check into the DirecTV and see if there are any local providers that seem good.

ElJeffe

embrik wrote: »

Another vote for DirecTV. Their new HD-DVR is great, too. I've had them for a couple months now, and the quality is excellent. We've had a couple major storms (with 90%+ cloud coverage), and I've not noticed any reception problems.

Yeah, their signal is remarkably stable in bad whether, based on my experience. I switched to cable for complicated reasons unrelated to dissatisfaction with DirecTV's service, and I sort of miss it.

Unrelated side note to ElJeffe - I don't know if you remember your advice you gave me about the Paradigm speakers, but you were right on. I've got 5.1 now hooked to my new Onkyo receiver, and I'm blown away by the quality sound I'm getting out of it! Thanks!

:^:

edit: Oh, and I have no experience with their DVR, so I can't comment on that. I had their low-end package (60 channels, or so?) and HD.

Etelmik

Where do you live, by the way? I used to work for Convergys (DirecTV) and I can tell you that DirecTV has its own share of problems. Weather will be a bitch if you get a dish. If you're in the South or California or whatever, fine, but if it snows or gets windy or really rainy where you are, expect seasonal problems.

I've had neither, but from the scores I've talked to, Cable > any dish and DirecTV > Dish Network. One thing about Dishes is that your receiver (the box) rarely lasts forever, needs to be replaced often, and most last no longer than 2 years. When you want it replaced, they make you resign a contract. When you buy someone else's receiver it either a. rarely works or b. they'll put you through hell to get it hooked up. No thanks.

And calm down, I know some people have not had good experiences with cable and with DirecTV--I'm using numbers of people, not just a single anecdote. (Cable, as we all know, can suck greatly).

ElJeffe

The one thing about cable that I love is their On Demand stuff. It's great to have access to a ton of kid's shows that I don't have to actually record and store forever, and watching random free movies is cool.

Ataxrxes

I live in Eastern Washington. It can be very windy here, electrical storms, etc. etc. So I dunno.