OT - Comcast vs Dish

[fijiblue]

Just curious as to who likes what better. Im personally sick of my comcast prices changing all the time without warning!

[Illuminati]

I have dish and love it. Make sure to get at least 1 DVR (Haven't seen a commercial in years).
In 3 years not 1 price increase.
I have the Top 100 channel package (ESPN, CNN, TBS, TNT, Discovery, etc...), all local channels, access to PPV ($1.99-$3.99/movie and the movies can be stored on your DVR and then recorded to a tape/DVD).
I pay less than $50/month.

The stories about the dish going out whenever the wind blows are exaggerated. I have had it cut out and reaquaire the signal (which takes 10 minutes) during big storms maybe twice....

[esdayal]

I have plans to switch my Dish Network to Comcast or something else... R there any deals going on nowadays ??

[mnestroy]

Dish / Viewsat FTA

[sellout007]

Why on earth anyone would choose Comcast is beyond me. Its over priced and their customer service is horrid.

My GF parents, just today, picked up a brand new HD/DVR box for their new plasma. I just spend the last 4 hours of the day trying to get the box to work, 3:30 of those hours were talking to 6 different customer reps.

All in all, no one could fix it. Their solution is the box we got is broken. The last guy I talked to also informed me that someone had made an appointment for sunday to come out and fix the "scrambled picture". We never made an appointment, but said thats fine come on out and make sure he brings another box.

Anyone want to guess what he told me? "Im sorry sir, he is not approved to bring out a new box to you, that would require another visit by another tech."

Also my brother-in-law went through 6 visits, and 4 boxes before he finally got his working. And his sound is still messed up to this day.

Oh and I have DishNetwork, I have 250 digital channels, Showtime, Cinemax, HBO, TMC, Encor, Flix, Sundance, Starz, and pay $99.

[clevername2000]

Well no one has brought up the issue that comcast has very little HD channels.

When i switched from comcast to dish my 56 plasma HDTV actually looked HD.

Currently there are CBS, NBC, ABC, WGN, WTTW on comcast that are HDTV.

[sellout007]

You can get the premium channels and ESPN as well and a few others. Last I heard DishNetwork had the most HD channels, but DirectTV was coming on strong and might now have the most.

[clevername2000]

Originally posted by sellout007

All in all, no one could fix it. Their solution is the box we got is broken. The last guy I talked to also informed me that someone had made an appointment for sunday to come out and fix the "scrambled picture". We never made an appointment, but said thats fine come on out and make sure he brings another box.

I had a similar story trying to get my box working. Took tons of calls and tons of visits and a COMPLETE Re-wiring of my house, to figure out that my sub woofer next to the box made my picture "fuzzy".

Of course this problem might have also happend with "dish" so i wouldnt count the full points against them.

[clevername2000]

Originally posted by sellout007
You can get the premium channels and ESPN as well and a few others. Last I heard DishNetwork had the most HD channels, but DirectTV was coming on strong and might now have the most.

Yeah i am going to switch in the next year to get Direct...they have a huge plan to change to HD

[Fish_wiz2]

Dude direct tv is the flow and the way to go because it comes with an HD receiver and it is cheap (i don't use it anymore though)

[jdhanover]

Dish and DirectTV are virtually identical when all is said and done unless you want to spring for the NFL pacakage (only on DirectTV). Both systems will have about the same HD channels. Dish has more 'oddball' channels that you can get (if you have some peculiar interest you might want to see if there is a channel that you can get). I think both run deals very often to include the installation and equipment. Dish's HD DVR is rated #1 (I have it but not yet recorded it) according to some stuff I read (better than TiVO).
Both cust service areas are overwhelmed right now and that will cause you a bit of angst (long wait, rep may not be that knowledgable). Suspect they will be less busy in January.
Comcast blows. Internet is all I use them for. Worst customer service I have ever had. Changed 7 years ago to satellite and never looked back

[jor8888]

I have dish b/c it has the international channels I want + I have 2 DVR to record stuff.

[mitlik1]

Some areas still allow the 14.99 for comcast cable. Pay $5.00 more with HD. $20 for TV is pretty good! I have comcast internet and when I don't use the cable box, I get all the expanded channel. There is no noticeable difference between the channels on basic and digital. HD also looks the same in both. I will switch to satellite once they extinct the basic cable.

[icenine2005]

It's the cable modem that makes me stick with comcast.

[69beetle69]

i have dish with DVR it's great

[fishgeeksrus]

Originally posted by icenine2005
It's the cable modem that makes me stick with comcast.

Us too. If it werent for this darn thing they call the internet, We wouldn't bother with comcast if it was the only thing available!!

[SlowCobra]

Originally posted by sellout007
Why on earth anyone would choose Comcast is beyond me. Its over priced and their customer service is horrid.

One simple word... trees.


Cramcast doesn't care that they are in the way of line of sight.

[ieatchinese]

I tried Comcast two times in the past.....both times went back to Directv. Even considered Dish Network at one time, but when looking into it found that I couldn't even buy the receivers and anteneas and set it up my self in the same day.....had to have them come out with all of the equipment and set it up.

I have three of the new DirecTV HD DVR's and HD tv's hooked to all of them. At first the interface had some annoyances, but their first software update took care of that. My only complaint right now is that you must still have a POTS land line hooked up for the Pay Per View. I have taken advantage of the Ethernet ports on the units and was hoping that this would do away with the telephone line requirement, but not as of yet. BTW, the ethernet hook up enables the video on-demand feature. This has been great and they have a good selection of movies and shows that can be downloaded over your high speed connection for viewing later.

DirecTV all the way!

[sellout007]

Originally posted by fishgeeksrus
Us too. If it werent for this darn thing they call the internet, We wouldn't bother with comcast if it was the only thing available!!

Ive had comcast in the past for both cable, and internet. I did not like either. My internet was down far to often, it became quite slow during peak times. And again, customer service. I switched to AT@T DSL years ago and have never thought twice about going back. I pay $15.99.

Not like the introductory offer from comcast, then jacks up to double.


An update for my GF's comcast cable issue. The guy was supposed to come between 8-12 and never showed up. Never even a phone call. They called comcast and they had no clue why he didn't show and are now "trying to track him down".

[clevername2000]

If your a heavy internet user (200Gig month) then you cant beat the internet and tv package.

[adamjr]

Since my last name is not Slowsky I am a comcast customer. DSL in my area was non-existant and why I hate Earthlink could fill this forum but that is a different OT. Plenty of HD channels for me (about 25) on Comcast and directly through the box without need for an off-air antenna as with Dish Network.


I had Dish for my TV service and was paying $110 a month due to the premium charges for HD and wanting HBO and being hooked up to 3 sets. Customer service was abysmal when there was an issue. I have a lot of trees (my neighbor does) and when the wind blew and they swayed I was without service. Switch boxes to combine multiple sattelite signals into one flaked out often causing a loss of half of my channels to the point I always kept two extras on hand.

In the past I had DirectTV but that was ages ago and I can't comment because they appear to have changed significantly for the better.

Comcast triple play with HBO and Howard Stern In Demand costs around $135 a month and when the intro pricing is over it will be around $175 a month. Weigh that against what I was paying; $110.00 Dish, $65.00 AT&T, $39.99 Earthlink DSL (Damned Slow Link) I am far and away ahead of the game.

And I have never had any problems with customer service at Comcast. I was a subscriber years ago and left them to get Dish.

I had gotten a great deal on Dish where I got a standard box and a standard def box with a DVR, the Dish 500 dish and all the hardware and cables to hook it up for nothing. It became my equipment free and clear after 2 years of service. At the end of those two years plus a little time I bought a HD TV. I called Dish about upgrading my equipment. Since I owned my equipment there was no upgrade option. Leasing was not an option either. In spite of the deals advertised with 4 free boxes of which two could be HD and one could be a DVR none of that was an option at any price for an existing customer.

Me:"How much is an HD box if I want to purchase one?"
Dish Rep:"$400.00"
Me:"But I've been a loyal customer paying you $100.00 a month for three years. Isn't there some sort of incentive, rebate, or discount for my years of commitment to your service?"
Dish Rep: after a lenghy pause and being put on hold so she could ask a supervisor "Based on your years as a loyal customer we could offer you the HD Dish receiver (No DVR) for $379.99 plus a $49.99 installation charge."
Me: "Why would there be an installation charge when all that is necessary is to remove the existing box and plug the new box into the wall and reattach the antenna cable? I can do that myself."
Dish Rep: "It is a requirement to be switched over to HD service that your equipment has to be verified for operation with the HD receiver."
Spoke to a supervisor, no change.

I bought a box on eBay for $200.00 and hooked it up with no issues other then those already mentioned and was running well for close to 2 years until one of the transducers went on the dish antenna. I got Comcast around Super Bowl time last year.

[Steverino]

When I added my HD to my Dish system, I had a second dish mounted. The HD dish points lower west, whereas the regular dish points high south.

[mhurley]

Struggling with this battle myself. Comcast owns me right now. 2 phone lines, internet and HD cable runs me about $210 a month.

I've got 3 tvs in the house, 2 HD's only 1 needs a DVR. Last TV is standard with a DVR (currently a Tivo with a lifetime subscription).

I'm just not sure I can unbundle all this and get it for the same cost with better service.

I got sick of being mugged by SBC on the phone service. DSL was fine when I used it and I'd go back to it, but I'm really, really not interested in working with SBC again on the phone.

I do think Dish is a better option, but for me, it's not just a cable decision, it's a lot more complicated than that.

[aiko670]

oopsie

[aiko670]

Comcast for Internet-DSL sucks
Comcast for TV(I don't have Hi-Def(too expensive but I don't have an ugly dish on my roof, I hate looking at those things)
Vonage for phone(cellular backup for alarm)