Once again I'm thinking about getting DirecTV or Dish Network and stop feeding the pig. Problem is I don't want to pay more than my current cable bill of $51.25/month. I subscribe to plain old standard cable. I priced up dishnetwork which seems to be the best for the $.

Americas Top 120
+Local channels
+DVR/2+ TV's (the one reciever deal with UHF output for other TV's)
=$40.97 for 10 months and then $50.97 thereafter.

What other charges would I expect to see every month?

4/25/2006 11:16:55 PM

Isn't sat' shitty as far as reception?

I remember my mom's shit would barely work if there was heavy coverage of clouds outside.


Is that still a problem with sat' service?

4/25/2006 11:51:40 PM

I probably have about 2 hours or so of total downtime a year. Only happens during extremely nasty weather, and not for a long time. I had more downtime on cable from construction and line problems. I think it really depends on your dish alignment though. Shitty alignment, poorly tightened bolts, etc. could cause it to more easily lose signal.

4/26/2006 2:34:42 AM

I am thinking if I get one to mount it on a pole on the ground about 3 feet off the ground, with a clear line of sight to the SE sky but put a bush in front of it so you can't see it from the street.

But seriously, how many little taxes and fees do they hit you with? If $50.97 turns into $58.97 then I can just [/thread] now.

4/26/2006 6:10:44 AM

My direct TV bill for total choice plus or whatever its called now comes to around 60 a month. That includes a 6 dollar charge for my tivo and another 4 bucks for the additional receiver in the bedroom.

4/26/2006 6:39:30 AM

Quote :

"Isn't sat' shitty as far as reception?"

Not so much any more. Just comes down to a tradeoff of superior quality vs. possible downtime compared to cable (inferior quality, no down time).

4/26/2006 10:43:28 AM

Yeah, overall the image and sound quality on most satellite channels is much better and more consistently so than even digital cable has been for me and my neighbors.

4/26/2006 12:30:24 PM

I think the thing that pisses me off most about Dish/DirecTV is the fact that DirecTV doesn't offer a dual-tuner HD DVR and both companies require you to keep a phone line connected to the unit or else you get charged lke an extra $5 a month. And the fact that both companies make you pay some insane fee (like $499) up front to "lease" their high-end DVR and THEN you pay a monthly rental fee after that. Gay.

I haven't had a landline phone in well over two years, and there's no way I'd pay the $20+/month to have one installed just to have satellite television.

[Edited on April 26, 2006 at 12:42 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2006 12:41:38 PM

WIth the direct tv items the up front fee is actually a purchase, not a down payment on a lease. The phone line connection is so that they know what pay-per-view movies you watched so they can charge you. It's really not a big deal to plug one in. Having a landline phone is generally a good idea though, if for nothing else other than emergencies.

But yeah, the place where satellite is currently weakest is HD. That's where cable's weakest too, but comparatively it's still a little better than satellite if you want HD.

[Edited on April 26, 2006 at 1:08 PM. Reason : ]

4/26/2006 1:07:28 PM

My Direct TV is $53.80 per month, I think. I almost never have downtime. Even in the big thunderstorm last night, it worked like a champ. Like someone else said, TWC was out more for maintenance and whatever else was going wrong.

Also, I reread and saw you mention Dish Network. I don't have any experience with them, but I can give anecdotal evidence on why I'd be very hesitant to go with those guys. My office has a UPS drop off area, and we see 2-3 dish network boxes per week being sent back because customers aren't happy for various reasons.

[Edited on April 26, 2006 at 1:28 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2006 1:27:09 PM

i have dish network here at my home in maryland.

i have AT120 + locals, pay an extra $6 (actually $5.98) for 625 DVR (dual tuner, not HD) and pay an extra $5 for a second dual tuner receiver (322 -- not HD, not DVR). Both the 625 and the 322 have to be connected to a phone jack to avoid an additional $5 fee per receiver. my monthly bill is $56 and change. my wife and i are very satisifed with it.

up until about three weeks ago we used our 105 superdish to "move" to greensboro, nc so we could get their local channels. this meant that we got fox sports net south as our RSN and we also got a market where the JP sports games would always be what we wanted to see. here in baltimore the "split signal" games always seem to involve the terps and of course they show those games up here. the gig is up, however. echostar launched a new satellite in february and just recently moved virtually all locals to spotbeam (see the dish channel chart at http://ekb.dbstalk.com/ ). so i can't see the greensboro locals anymore. i think the atlanta locals are still CONUS and i may be "moving" there once football season starts. for now, though, i'm happy to get Comcast Sports Net for tons of orioles coverage.

4/26/2006 1:56:08 PM