Directv?

Peen · July 2014

I've been a "cable-cutter" for almost three years now and I love it, mostly. Most of the time. But I'm a big sports fan and I've moved out of my home team's market, so watching much of anything is tough. I'm increasingly tempted by DirecTv's offer of free Sunday ticket with some of their more expensive packages but I don't know anything about the actual service. Have any of you guys had DirecTv and can speak to how well it works? We live in the Metro DC area, on the Maryland side, so anyone around there would be great but really anywhere would be fine, I've never done the satellite TV thing and don't know if it's worth it.

This is ignoring the question of cost, which I'm aware of and have run the numbers and know how it's way more expensive than what I'm doing now. I'm purely interested in the quality of service.

NotYou · July 2014

For the most part, good quality service. I live in a big city in California and when it got windy outside, or stormy, or overcast, or SOMETHING occasionally the service would cut out for 5-10 second intervals.

Iruka · July 2014

We had Sunday ticket for a long time and it worked great. That being said there are rumors you'll be able to just buy it strait up this year (For nearly 400 if you want it on all of your devices but....) I've considered doing this for Hockey, as I will unlikely watch anything else on TV.

Unless you have a difficult property/HOA situation where the dish cant get a good view of the sky, you wont have a problem with signal unless the weather is absolute shit.

Pantshandshake · July 2014

Most of my family uses DirectTv, and they seem to like it quite a bit. Take that with a grain of salt, however, since the other option around here is Comcast which is... well, bad.

Veevee · July 2014

DirecTV is pretty good. It's no worse than most cable companies customer service wise, but it can have spotty service depending on weather which is also constantly getting better.

If you are getting DirecTV for just Sunday Ticket, and you can honestly afford it, then also ask yourself "If I went to buffalo wild wings (or any other sports bar that would show your team's game) for every game, would I spend less than the full yearly cost of DirecTV?" If yes, then just put that money that would have gone to DirecTV aside every month and have a great time with other fans every Sunday. If no, then I'd take the plunge.

Just remember, the monthly rate does go up for the second year of service, so make sure you find the actual amount you'll be paying after those increases.

Iruka wrote: »

That being said there are rumors you'll be able to just buy it strait up this year (For nearly 400 if you want it on all of your devices but....)

I've also heard rumors that this is only good for people who are not able to get DirecTV at all, due to HOA or sky blockages and such. So....

Iruka · July 2014

Veevee wrote: »

Iruka wrote: »

That being said there are rumors you'll be able to just buy it strait up this year (For nearly 400 if you want it on all of your devices but....)

I've also heard rumors that this is only good for people who are not able to get DirecTV at all, due to HOA or sky blockages and such. So....

That's a damn shame.

hsu · July 2014

Satellite sucks for internet service. Just warning you. The ping time to the satellite and back is horrendous, which makes online gaming very difficult, and even web surfing will feel slow.

Kick_04 · July 2014

In metro DC area I doubt they would use satellite internet. DirectTV around here doesn't even offer internet that I am aware of.

Over the past 4 years I have used/lived with TimeWarner, FiOptics, DISH, DirectTV... For sports DirectTV is the best option, which you are aware of the price. There is a ton of junk/advertisement channels with DirectTV, can barely go 10 channels without some info commercial channel shoved in somewhere.

Around here (Cincinnati area) I know people who lose their satellite tv during any time it rains. I have DirectTV right now and in the past 10 months it has gone out about 7 times, totaling ~2hours. Most of those were from strong thunderstorms, the one time was because the snow built up on the dish and borked up the single. Had to get a ladder out and a broom to clean it off (have looked into spraying some silicone/teflon spray on it to prevent build up next year).

Peen · July 2014

Yeah we've got cable internet and I wouldn't move away from that, Comcast is the best of a bunch of terrible options. I already checked the website and I'm not eligible to buy Sunday Ticket by itself, which I'd definitely consider if I could. Right now I'm just kicking the idea around and it's good to hear that for the most part the service works. Thanks all!

Thundyrkatz · July 2014

Its important to consider that you have a good unobstructed west to south western exposure to get the best signal. As for weather, it cuts out very occasionally for like 5 seconds, but no worse then the sputtering of Comcast was. Only ever had it cut out for like 10 minutes one time.

Customer service in my opinion has been extremely good, much better then Comcast. Nicer, more willing to help, more able to help.

Installation can be a pain depending on the quality of the technician that does the work. Ours was good, but i have heard that some are not as good. Your going to end up with a dish on your house if that's a problem for you. You can do the dish on a pole in your yard, but that is typically an extra cost and not included.

The TV signal is really good, the menu is nicer then Comcast in my opinion and with Genie, the option to have full service including on demand and DVR at all TV's in the house is nice.

The On Demand however is awful. There is no good way to segment the free stuff from the pay stuff. Also, searching outside of a specific name search takes forever and is a nightmare. Also, it takes a short bit to download and start an on demand show and it tends to have the worst signal of the experience, choppy.

Also of note, AT&T is buying Direct TV at some point here, so a great deal could change after that.

witch_ie · July 2014

We've had DirectTV for about 5 years and also got it for NFL Sunday Ticket. I agree that installation can be tough, depending on who you get. We had to have technicians come out 3 times to get ours properly installed initially. The third guy who came out did an awesome job. The customer service is great to okay depending on who you get. We've never had a bad experience. Also, it's good to ask about the deals they have. Sometimes, you can get premium channels at a discount few months and then just have to call to cancel to avoid the full charge. Perfect for when you want to watch a specific series like Game of Thrones. Interestingly enough, they won't uninstall your satellite if you ever need to do that. We ended up having to take ours off our old house at our landlord's request when we moved, and then take it to a local recycling yard.

Also, my understanding is that the deal with AT&T will only go through if DirectTV wins the bid for NFL Sunday Ticket which will impact the 2015 season. The good news is that it's only around $20/per remaining month of the contract to cancel if for any reason they don't win that bid or otherwise don't have access to Sunday Ticket, so that's around $200 if you sign up now for the standard 2 year contract. I think Google is the other primary bidder.

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