Dish Network: I *may* get it...

[Anistorm]

So, today, my parents were "in the talks" of switching satellite providers. Switching... as in switching from DirecTV to Dish Network. I'm very mixed about it. But it could give our budget a break.

I'll be a bit explicit here. I pay more than $200 a month for satellite TV. We don't have HBO/Showtime/Starz, nor we signed up for any event. (Heck, we don't even do Pay Per View  ). My dad has his stupid Sports Pack which is pointless to watch sometimes, and my mom has the 400's (the exclusive Spanish channels). We don't have HD either. Me? I only care for the following: TWC, ESPN, CurrentTV, the music channels, and Food Network.

It could be good for me, because it's my chance to get TWC in HD. Two of the house's TV's can do HD.

My questions are: How is Dish Network (in terms of service, and in general)? Are the HD channels good? What about the DVRs? Is the price for the basic package worth it? I'm also looking for opinions from some of you guys since I know plenty of you have Dish.

I could get it by the end of next month. (Maaaaaybe. )

[curtjr4]

I have heard that DirecTV is much, much better then Dish. But, if it's for the money, I'd say it's a better value.Dish offers free HD (to my understanding), 1 or 2 free HD recievers, and a pretty low price. You may benefit from it

[twcclassics]

My questions are: How is Dish Network (in terms of service, and in general)? Are the HD channels good? What about the DVRs? Is the price for the basic package worth it? I'm also looking for opinions from some of you guys since I know plenty of you have Dish.

1) Terrible compared to the Cox cable I had prior to.
2) Don't know - I don't have HD.
3) Don't have this either.
4) Yes

Unless the person doesn't have a choice, I wouldn't recommend Dish to anyone. It's satellite, so whenever it sprinkles, the channels drop out. Also, every now and then (for no apparent reason), I loose about half my channels. Oddly enough, it's always the same ones. I can get them back by "resetting" the system once or twice, but WTF!?

Now when I say "resetting," I mean unplugging the receiver, waiting five minutes, plugging it back in, and then waiting another ten minutes for everything to load back up. So if it does this while you're watching a show that's on a channel that disappears, you're pretty much screwed. By the time everything is working again, the show is over.

The on-screen guide also has a habit of memory loss. By memory loss, I mean that it often has to "download" the guide. Which takes at least five minutes - each time. And 99.9% of the time, I have to download it 5, 6, 10 times before it actually works.

And don't bother calling customer service. They'll likely just tell you to reset the receiver when it happens. Maybe my standards are too high, but I don't think I should ever have to wait to watch something I'm paying for.

[Zach]

Bleh. I hate DirecTV as well and if my parents got rid of it Dish would be crossed out. If Dish was their only option wed go with OTA TV

[Jonathon]

Bleh. I hate DirecTV as well and if my parents got rid of it Dish would be crossed out. If Dish was their only option wed go with OTA TV

What about Bright House? 

[Zach]

"if Dish was or only option"

I hate BHN anyways. TWC isnt on basic and you get less than 50 HD channels

[Jonathon]

"if Dish was or only option"

I hate BHN anyways. TWC isnt on basic and you get less than 50 HD channels

Now I get it. WOW!'s like that too with the HD channels around here. I just want TWC HD! And WOW! doesn't carry Weatherscan either. Is there any other cable operators around there?

[TWCToday]

"if Dish was or only option"

I hate BHN anyways. TWC isnt on basic and you get less than 50 HD channels

Now I get it. WOW!'s like that too with the HD channels around here. I just want TWC HD! And WOW! doesn't carry Weatherscan either. Is there any other cable operators around there?

Most areas have one cable company per region. FIOS/UVERSE not counted.

"if Dish was or only option"

I hate BHN anyways. TWC isnt on basic and you get less than 50 HD channels

For a smaller cable company thats not bad

So, today, my parents were "in the talks" of switching satellite providers. Switching... as in switching from DirecTV to Dish Network. I'm very mixed about it. But it could give our budget a break.

I'll be a bit explicit here. I pay more than $200 a month for satellite TV. We don't have HBO/Showtime/Starz, nor we signed up for any event. (Heck, we don't even do Pay Per View  ). My dad has his stupid Sports Pack which is pointless to watch sometimes, and my mom has the 400's (the exclusive Spanish channels). We don't have HD either. Me? I only care for the following: TWC, ESPN, CurrentTV, the music channels, and Food Network.

It could be good for me, because it's my chance to get TWC in HD. Two of the house's TV's can do HD.

My questions are: How is Dish Network (in terms of service, and in general)? Are the HD channels good? What about the DVRs? Is the price for the basic package worth it? I'm also looking for opinions from some of you guys since I know plenty of you have Dish.

I could get it by the end of next month. (Maaaaaybe. )

Ok what the heck are you getting to get your bill to over $200 a month??? You must be signed up for something thats eating into your bill. Do you have a gazillion DVRs or something? You should look at your bill and find out what is costing you an extra 100 bucks or so.

[Zach]

Since i cant quote on the mobile, in response to Bright House its really a branch of Time warner. They just use their bandwidth more on internet than TV and have no plans to go all-digital for now

[Anistorm]

My friends also tell me that Dish is really bad in terms of service. But the only good thing is that you do get the local channels included. When we first got DirecTV, they did NOT include the local channels. So the only way to watch the local news here is to switch signals. Having one of my uncles switch to the Riverside DirecTV feed was a good idea, because I can watch my old LA affiliates. Still, I'd be satisfied if my local channels (the ones from Yuma and EC) were on DirecTV.

In terms of billing, looking at my previous bill, looks like we're paying for the receivers. Three of which are brand new and one is really, really old (not sure if we're still paying for that one).

[Jonathan]

So, today, my parents were "in the talks" of switching satellite providers. Switching... as in switching from DirecTV to Dish Network. I'm very mixed about it. But it could give our budget a break.

I'll be a bit explicit here. I pay more than $200 a month for satellite TV. We don't have HBO/Showtime/Starz, nor we signed up for any event. (Heck, we don't even do Pay Per View  ). My dad has his stupid Sports Pack which is pointless to watch sometimes, and my mom has the 400's (the exclusive Spanish channels). We don't have HD either. Me? I only care for the following: TWC, ESPN, CurrentTV, the music channels, and Food Network.

It could be good for me, because it's my chance to get TWC in HD. Two of the house's TV's can do HD.

My questions are: How is Dish Network (in terms of service, and in general)? Are the HD channels good? What about the DVRs? Is the price for the basic package worth it? I'm also looking for opinions from some of you guys since I know plenty of you have Dish.

I could get it by the end of next month. (Maaaaaybe. )

DISH is wonderful if you don't have to call customer service. (We've called them three or less times in ten years, if that says anything.) IMO, DISH has better signal than DirecTV from what I hear from my friends.

I don't have HD, so I can't help you there. I hear it's nice. Although be cautious with the DVR...ours spontaneously crashed and we lost everything we had recorded last night. (It's worth it...we rarely record stuff.) Timers to record or just to automatically switch to the channel a program is on are SUPER easy to set up...and the UI just looks a lot better than DirecTV's horrendously ugly UI.

I could go on many more rants on how DISH treats us well...but that's not applying for everyone. We've been customers since at least 1998...I think. We threaten to switch to DirecTV and they'll give us an American CSR and we'll get a nice deal from there!

It's satellite, so whenever it sprinkles, the channels drop out.

We've had a case where we were in the polygon of a tornado warning and we STILL had service. It blipped sometimes, but that is a common misconception. The clouds have to be VERY thick for you to lose service; unless, of course, your dish is set up incorrectly.

The on-screen guide also has a habit of memory loss. By memory loss, I mean that it often has to "download" the guide. Which takes at least five minutes - each time. And 99.9% of the time, I have to download it 5, 6, 10 times before it actually works.

You must have had an older receiver. The older ones do have a higher rate of failure than modern boxes. When did you last have DISH? It does that automatically in the wee hours of the morning now...at least, it does on this type of DVR.

[Trevor]

When we first got DirecTV, they did NOT include the local channels. So the only way to watch the local news here is to switch signals.

LOL We switched from Dish to DirecTV because Dish did not carry local channels 

[Jonathan]

When we first got DirecTV, they did NOT include the local channels. So the only way to watch the local news here is to switch signals.

LOL We switched from Dish to DirecTV because Dish did not carry local channels 

They carry our locals. KY3 (NBC), KOLR (CBS), KOZK (PBS), KSFX (FOX), and KSPR (ABC).

[Zach]

You guys have to realize that Trevor was referring to older times when satellite were fairly new. I got locals with Directv in 1999 cuz i lived inside of Hillborough County but only the major networks and not independent ones. We got all the locals by 2001 or 2002 and deppending on where you live is where your locals come from. And last year WWSB was added to my lineup which is the Sarasota, FL ABC affl.

[Bryan]

I really don't have any complaints with Dish.  I don't have HD or DVR's.