Cable Versus Dish
 

I searched, but didn't see this one.

We are ticked because our Cable is out. So we called the Dish people. Seems like a good deal.

Any thoughts on which is better Cable or Dish? Anything I should look out for?

Thanks

I switched from cable to dish on my last move. Both have pro's and con's.

Cable:
- Not as many channels with basic cable as I have with basic dish
- I didn't get a lot of channels I like such as Comedy Central, MTV2, Science etc.
+ Everything was on local time.

Satellite:
- Channels are on East Coast time. This is not so much a problem since I also have TiVo but it was a big problem when I didn't have it. Local channels are on local time.
+ A lot of channels for basic service. I get everything I wasn't getting before and then some.
+ TiVo! Also known as DVR. If you can get this, GO FOR IT! I love TiVo so much. It records TV with no hassle at all so you can watch your favorite shows whenever you want. You can also pause live tv and customize it any way you want.
* I have heard that people have problems with their dish's going out when it rains or if it's windy, this has never been an issue for me. I'm counting this as a neutral point since you may or may not have this problem.

Overall, I'm glad I have a Dish instead of cable just because Comcast cable was crap when I had it with very limited channel selection. Now I have Dish+Tivo and I couldn't be happier.

I don't know if it's cool to link to the site where I bought my dish/TiVo from so if you want the link, just PM me. They have great deals.

If I wasn't stealing cable I would probably go for a dish. Make sure you have a clear path for your dish, if you have any trees in the way its a nightmare. One thing I didn't like about the dish, and digital cable for that matter, is the small delay when you flip through the channels.

One thing I have to get used to you have to watch the program you are recording. Unlike Cable where you can watch one thing while record another. Unless there is a way to watch and record something else, and I haven't figure it out yet.

You have to get a dual LNB dish. That way you can watch one thing and record another. If you only have a single, you have to watch what you're recording.

Even with cable, though, there are differences. We had TimeWarner digital before we moved; good price, all the premium channels, an excellent onscreen guide, and decent selection of channels.

Since our move, we now have RCN digital. They have a better selection of channels, but they're more expensive and their remotes are finnicky, plus their onscreen guide isn't all that great.

I've never had a dish, so I can't say how they are.

Go with a dish, you'll never go back to cable.

I know they were promoting some deal with a PVR, but can't remember exactly what it was.....If you could grab one, I don't see any reason not to jump to DISH.

I've been a customer for little over 2 years now and I think they're great. They answer all my questions, I can add or subtract programming at whim, and it's still cheaper than cable here.

It does go out, but only if it's fixing to storm real bad. Oddly enough only right before it rains....it almost always comes back on in a few minutes. To be fair, however, when I was with Cox Communications it went out just as much if not more.

I've had cable went to dish and went back to cable. Sure the dish companies have improved somewhat but I have alot fewer problems with cable than I did with dish. Of course it depends on what cable company you go with also..

I've had the dish for 2 months, and I love it. It's not as expensive as cable, and I get more channels.

college football > NFL football

therefore...

cable > dish

I had both, enjoy both

I got satellite for NFL, and the price per channel is lower than cable

Line of sight issues with the dish and the satellite have always been problematic for me, though. With the trees around my place now, satellite is impossible

I have TV, internet, and phone service from Comcast, and they give me $15 off per month for having all three. The phone service is cheaper than SBC, too. The cable is more expensive than DirecTV, but the discount offsets that. I can watch almost anything I usually watch with OnDemand, and that works for me.

The only drawback I ever had with satellite was the brief time I lived in Hell, er um, Mississippi, and my DirecTV suddenly became supplied by a "local" provider called Pegasus TV. And they were GOD-AWFUL!! Apparently, some parts of the country get their DirecTV directly from the DirecTV company, while other parts have their DirecTV provided through another company which is NOT owned or connected to DirecTV in any way. Pegasus TV was located in Maine, yet they provided DirecTV to Mississippi (go figure that one). They were NEVER in their offices and constantly billed us incorrectly and switched our coverage packages back and forth incorrectly (and at random, from what I could tell). Before that, when we lived in Iowa, we got our DirecTV directly from DirecTV, and they were super-marvelous to deal with.

Before getting DirecTV, check to see if your area is served directly by DirecTV or by a local provider.

dish can be a looooooooot cheaper. dish network is the best imo, but i won't get it because they don't support the YES station and we're all yankee fans over here.

When I built my house in 1996 the cable co wasnt interested in setting me up for cable....so I called primestar which was later bought out by Direct TV...while primestar was GREAT Direct sucked eggs big time so I called and switched to Dish I have never in my life been happier with any tv supplier than Dish Network, not only is what have with them cheaper than it would be with cable, I rarely have down time...like one poster said before..IF it goes it its right before a HEAVY rain (and until my power went out with IVAN I never lost my reception) and then its only out for...I think over the last 5 years its been 10 minutes at the most

Programming and price aside, since they vary from company to company, I have found the dish to have a much better signal, but trees can wreck havoc with the signal. After having a great many problems, the dish company put up a different dish and relocated it slightly and it has been fantastic ever since. The important thing is to make sure that there is clear line of sight from the dish to the sattelite and that if you have it installed in the winter, you have an installer with enough imagination to figure out where leaves will be.

In SoFL you do NOT want Dish network. I have friends who have subscribed, and as soon as the rain spits, they're done. I'd love to find an alternative to cable, but sattelite doesn't seem the way to go - yet.

I'd go with dish, have had directv for about 6 years now and never plan to go back. The only drawback I can think of is that there's an extra delay on anything, like a 5 second delay. It's only a drawback when someone in another room is watching the same channel and you here an echo.

Ex Dish retailer here. Cable has nothing on us. Nothing at all. Dish is giving out DVR's to new customers now. Giving out HD receivers. Programming is better and less expensive. Dish has everything but NFL Sunday Ticket. ESPN College Gameday will get you all the college football you can handle. You can get the model 522, dual tuner DVR receiver on the Digital Home Advantage plan. I'd be happy to address any other issues if anyone likes.

Pegasus is now gone. We had to have them where I live in North Dakota (you thought Mississippi was hell...pfff). They sucked just like you described. Over charged for channels too.

Now we have DirecTV through DirecTV. Great customer service, great picture quality. I love thier guide too. Far superior channel line-up compared to DISH too, at least I think so. You get to keep the equipment too instead of renting it from DISH.

Only signal problems I have ever had is due to lightining. That is where it will get messed up. Wind, snow, cold, and heavy rain has not ever had an effect on my signal. Only lightning has.

do you live in an apartment or house? sometimes apartments require you to take out insurance in case anything goes wrong and the satellite causes damage. the insurance isn't much. also, in some cases, the dish can not be attached to the apartment building, so you would have to buy a stand or rig it somehow. good luck

Now that's some of the best news I've heard in a long time. It couldn't have happened to a more sorry group of goofbags. I may drag that dish back out of the storage, now.

intersting info...

i just bought a house and have been debating the cable vs dish issue as well. i have a cable modem now in my apartment and i know that is one thing i will be getting at the house for sure.

as for tv, i was very dissappointed in mt time warner "digital" cable. they tell me its digital so i order it, they come in and hook it up to my 61" HDTV and it looks like dog crap. i tell the guy, man that doesnt look digital. the installer goes "oh well all of your basics are analog and only the premium services like HBO etc are in digital" which i didnt get so now im staring at 61" of analog garbage for $49 a month.

ao anyways, im going satellite now just not sure to go Dish N or Direct. im thinking Dish N because of the specials they have on. like 4 rooms installed, 2 PVR's and a free HD receiver. cant beat that!

well we'll see which i decide to go with after more research.

Well the questions I have about all of this are:

What about broadband? Once you pay for a dish and a seperate DSL line do the costs add up to be the same as the package deals you can get?

Also I don't use a home phone, I only have a cell and I heard for a dish you need a land phone line?

We had cable for 15+ years and Dish for the last 4. Hands down, Dish wins. More channels at less cost. Better quality and fewer outages.

mmiller,

ahhh thats right. home phone line. i havent had a home line for a few years now but i am thinking of getting one for the new house so that the alarm system can be monitored etc...

i will prolly spend more for the dish but i havent been happy with the raunchy analog signal i had at my apartment. dish wasnt an option there since my apt faced the wrong way etc.

oh well. cable modem is da shiznits yo!!

Was on Cable for years but went to DirectTV when we bought our house. I am a fan of a team that is 1500 miles from here and had suffered with limited games during the NFL season for over a decate so I wanted NFL Sunday Ticket. As it turns out, DirectTV is cheaper than Cable was and I get more channels for my money. There is an issue with outages during bad weather (and I mean bad weather too) but those are still fewer than my cable outages had been.

In short, I am very happy with it and will not be going back anytime soon.

i would go dish the cable company in my city raises it's price a lot.

too bad directv is like "illegal here" i don't like the dish companies here they don't offer any good channels :(

It seems cable and dish service can vary widely from place to place. I get my cable service with full digital package, and internet service free so for now I'm staying with cable but if I had to pay I'd definately shop around. I've been fortunate in that in five years or so of service I've experienced only two outages that went on for any real length of time (thirty minutes or more) and both of those were during bad storms. I had a friend that had a satellite service and he often had problems even during light rain. However I've had friends that lived in different cities that have never had problems with the dish and other friends with cable that had their own horror stories. I suppose the best bet is to research your area, maybe talk to some people in your neighborhood that have satellite and see what they say.

I would suggest going with a dish. Trust me on this one, its a much better deal. The only reason I have cable right now is because they give me a discount for highspeed internet.

meh...get DSL, a dish and toss cable all together.

DirecTV with Tivo is the way to go. Just make sure you get a Dtivo that is a DirecTV tuner and Tivo integrated into one. It's the best 100 bucks you'll ever spend!

Looks like Best Buy has them for 80 bucks right now!

You only need it connected to a phone line if you plan on ordering pay-per-view alot, at least with Dish Network. And even that you can order via 800#. The channel guide/software updates are done straight through the sattelite feed.

I have always had cable. Cable TV and Internet. In our area, the cable would go out all the time, it was maddening. No TV, No Internet. The 'package' deal for getting both wasn't worth not having either if cable went out.

I bought a home and decided to give DirecTv a try (and a DSL line) ... WOW!, I will never go back to cable. The reception is so much crisper. I haven't had a single outage in 10 month of having it.... and if I did, well, heh, at least I can get on the Internet!! If you do get satellite, make sure you get Tivo or a DVR with it, definitely worth it.

I had direct TV for several years, mostly due to the NFL ticket. When I moved, I went to cable, for the discount on the cable modem ($17 a month.)

I am moving again, and am planning on going to the dish network. It is cheeper (even with paying an extra $17 form the cable modem.

I had very few issues with direct tv. I lost signal a few times,but only briefly and no worse that Cable.

I have seen 4 room dish net systems for free, with up to 2 free DRVRs.... hard to pass that up.

John

Couldn't agree more. Bought an HD Ready TV six months ago, and finally went with the Dish Network. The HD Receiver I have is amazing, what a picture! Especially watching ESPN college football . Boise State on the blue turf a few weeks ago was cool! Also got the DVR (same as Tivo) and one more receiver (three total). Also listening to Sirius radio on Dish Network is neat. Watching TV has never been so much fun.
Ridge

Both have pros and cons. Being the tight-ass that I am, I'm all about low cost. As such, I change back and forth with regular frequency (12-18 months at a time). Doing so you can basically end up paying close to half of what the regular world pays for service. Here's the effort involved:

1. Keep eye out for good deals (free 3-room hookup, 6-months half price OR free roadrunner for 6-months OR free DVR... stuff like that).
2. When you find a really good deal that is on the stuff you order anyway, then you call your existing carrier and select the "disconnect my service" option, and tell them about the deal you found and that because of that deal, you've decided to switch.
3. At this point, one of two things happen:
3A. They say, "can you wait one minute, Mr. Doe?" (long pause) "Mr Doe, I just spoke with my supervisor and she said I can give you your current package for $49/mo instead of $79/mo for the next 6 months - if we can do that will you stick with [cable/DTV]?" Of course the answer is yes, as this is the easy option.
3B. They say, "ok - what day you want service to end" at which point you follow through.
4. After 6 months, your current deal expires. Go to step 1.

3B happens more often than some people will have you believe, especially if you're a fickle customer like me - it's not like they don't have records and know what you're up to. So 3B is their way of calling your bluff - is why you do have to actually have a new plan to switch to.


I miss the days when the phone companies would send me $30 checks to switch LD providers - holy cow what a bunch of suckers.

Pharmacies still do it - take full advantage of that.

I should write a tight-wad guide for dummies.

In my experience, cable almost always looks a ton shittier than satellite...

Even though I hate giving my money to Murdoch, dish is absolutely better than cable right now. it sucks some when the weather gets bad, but make sure you get TIVO regardless of system...it is a godsend!

Due to how common cablemodems are now, what do all you dish people do for internet, I am curious? I saw a few people list, DSL, etc. Does the dish service include the DSL? What kind of rates? 256 up and down? In my experience, satt. internet is fine for internet, but the latency makes it a no-go for any kind of low-ping gaming. If it's not sidetracking the thread, thoughts?

Believe it or not, I have neither....so I can think outside the box. The important issues should be cost, ease of use, and personal taste. 200 channels is just 195 more channels of f*ck.

DirecTV because:

1) NFL Sunday Ticket
2) HDTivo
3) Less $ per channel
4) Did I mention HDTivo?

I worked for Dish Network for about two years in their phone support department. Before you rush off to buy your dish, let me tell you a few things.

1. You WILL be pointing this dish yourself, so dear god make sure the installer puts it in a place you don't mind going. Yes, you heard me right, you WILL learn how to point a satellite dish and you WILL do it yourself. Frequently. Your signal strength will decrease as time goes on from natural causes, or your dish might be blown to china by a heavy storm. No matter what the cause, just understand that YOU will be the one to fix it. Service calls for alignment issues cost $99 and take a minimum of 48 hours.

2. 90% of problems with the receiver can be solved by pulling out the Smart Card and putting it back in. Newer receivers don't have cards... push the Power button on the receiver in for five seconds and release instead.

3. Satellite TV comes with a lot of hidden fees. The cable commercials don't lie. Every receiver you have in your home after the first costs an extra $5/mo. That means that every television in your house that you would like to watch television on at some point will cost you extra. Sure, you can split one receiver to multiple TVs, but both TVs will have to be on the same channel and you'll need a $50 remote control to change channels in the remote room. You're also assessed fees for warranties, receiver rental, and/or service calls, depending on your contract.

4. What? Contract? Yes, contract. You're going to sign a contract. Your contract WILL be longer than the warranty period on the equipment. That means that if your receiver breaks 9 months after you get it, you're buying another one out of pocket. There are options to get service without a contract, but you'll pay a much higher monthly rate. More hidden fees.

5. Getting proper phone support from Dish Network is akin to gambling. In fact, we referred to calling tech support as "playing CSR roulette." Some people will be intelligent. Some people will be butt-ass stupid. Some people you speak to will know less about the system than you do. Most won't care about your problem. See, the #1 stat they track in the tech support call center is known as "handle time," which is a euphemism for "how fast can you make the customer hang up the phone?" It's more important to Dish Network that you be off the phone in under nine minutes than it is to get your problem fixed. When a CSR picks up the phone, start your watch... you have about nine minutes before they get antsy to get rid of you. Our favorite tactic was "perform this troubleshooting step and call back if it doesn't work." That means "there's a 25% chance this will work, and a 100% chance you'll get someone else when you call back and THEY can walk you through the rest of the steps." Oh... by the way, the #2 stat they track is "upselling," which is a fancy word for "convincing the customers to buy HBO." You will be sold to, on every call, regardless of the reason for the call. If anyone at Dish Network asks if you like to watch movies (or what your favorite movie is), either say NO or be prepared for a sales pitch.

Possibly the worst company I ever worked for in terms of employee treatment, and their mishandling of "warm resources" (read: employees) is what motivates me to type out these warnings on every forum I'm a part of :P

As far as pirating goes:
Digital Cable can't be cracked at the moment, (Don't fall for the filters you will get charged eventually)

Direct TV cards can be cracked and emulated etc, but it's a perpetual thing always have to stay ahead of the company etc. Also, only pay cash for equipment, or find a place that doesn't keep records (Learned the hard way on this one)

but other than that, if you want a cable modem, go with the cable tv as well, if you want dish internet, go with dish on both, As to minimize cost.

Dish offers more channels but is reliant on good weather.

Cable is reliant on good service.

Which ever you choose get the tivo. It rules.