Comcast, Direct TV, or DISH????

FishFeeder · 10-22-2008, 08:01 AM

As of right now we have comcast and are paying $155 a month for internet, tv and phone. Due to financial hardship we need to look around for WAY cheaper service. Anyone have any comments on who the Perfer?

Thom Pirtle (just incase it was needed)

Joe C · 10-22-2008, 08:59 AM

If you're into high def, Directv has the most channels and the best quality of the 3. It's also a lot cheaper than comcast.

If you go that route, send me a PM, I'll get a referral discount and we can split it.

fishnhuntnfool · 10-22-2008, 09:57 AM

Depending on your location, check in to FIOS from Verizon. TV, Phone, Internet for around $120 depending on the TV package you chose. I would get it if it was available at my house and they have way more HD channels than the others, plus 11000 movies/shows on demand.

Joe C · 10-22-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishnhuntnfool

Depending on your location, check in to FIOS from Verizon. TV, Phone, Internet for around $120 depending on the TV package you chose. I would get it if it was available at my house and they have way more HD channels than the others, plus 11000 movies/shows on demand.

less hd channels than directv and dish, but better HD quality

chrome obsession · 10-22-2008, 11:22 AM

PM sent..

rrboy · 10-22-2008, 03:16 PM

I here ya..my promotion I had through comcast just expired, I had the same package you have and it was going to go up to 170 a month..so I asked if they could do anything and they said no of course..so I said cancel the phone and cable tv and am keeping the comcast cable cause they are really fast and just had direct tv come and do a hook up for 39.99 a month for basic cable and free movie channels..hbo, showtime and stars for the 12 months, so that might be a option for you. the heck with home phone..thats what cell phones are for...

JD77 · 10-22-2008, 03:30 PM

This can be really confusing. We went with Dish based on price and the really bad experiences of a friend with Direct TV. Dish still has the best prices, but the customer service can be quite bad. I think this is likely the same with all of these. If you call Dish Network you are routed to India and it can take a LONG time. I've had several differnet reps tell me entirely different stories.

I would look into the Verizon bundles, although in much of ORegon it is unavailable. I have purchased internet separately through Quest and have been happy with the service but quite unhappy with the cust. service as the price we were told is not the price we have seen on our bill despite our arguments.

Reel_Big_Fish · 10-22-2008, 03:45 PM

Our Comcast promotion bundle, which was a year long, recently went off. The bill went from $119 up to $170 or so. I called them up and asked what new promotions they had going. I did end up having to bump up plans, which gave us more channels. But we are now paying around $130 for the next 12 months. Yes the bill did go up $10 or so. But we added more channels and it is still about $40 less a month if we were to stay on the plan we had.

All and all, we've been happy with Comcast and whenever I've called they are friendly on the phone. Not that I've called Comcast very often though.

Maddie'sDaddy · 10-22-2008, 04:21 PM

I would say save your money and buy some nice fishing gear once a month instead, these days all there is on them things is crapola. If it wasnt for my Wife and daughter I would mount an antenna on the roof and whatever I got would be fine with me.

Oh by the way We have DISH and havent had a problem since we got it, I think we pay around 60.00 or something but we have HBO on there.

Just my

MD

sandman · 10-22-2008, 04:40 PM

I have dish and have been really happy with them.I pay $55 a month, i bought the receivers when i signed up.Theres a ifisher that sells/installs.He did an excellent job for me.His name is UTFA

Lou · 10-22-2008, 07:19 PM

Dish for me. I would never use Comcast, if you need to ask why your
bill went up, because of a promo deal, you don't need it.
Dish has India and folks in the Philipines on week ends....
But I've never had a problem that was not resolved.
Dish or Direct, both work well in our RV, also.

BornToFish360 · 10-22-2008, 09:36 PM

Man we should just put a tacked tread for this subject seems like we have this same conversation about 1 or two times a mth or every couple weeks.

Btf360

djb · 10-22-2008, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reel_Big_Fish

Our Comcast promotion bundle, which was a year long, recently went off. The bill went from $119 up to $170 or so. I called them up and asked what new promotions they had going. I did end up having to bump up plans, which gave us more channels. But we are now paying around $130 for the next 12 months. Yes the bill did go up $10 or so. But we added more channels and it is still about $40 less a month if we were to stay on the plan we had.

All and all, we've been happy with Comcast and whenever I've called they are friendly on the phone. Not that I've called Comcast very often though.

Comcast is always willing to drop your rate down to the latest promotion rate even when the ad stipulates that it only applies to new customers. That is customer service imho.

Troutinator · 10-23-2008, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe C

If you're into high def, Directv has the most channels and the best quality of the 3.

I'm confused. How does DirectTV have "best quality" HD? I am watching 1080P HD in Dish... what is DirectTV delivering that is better quality than that?

Soft Plastic · 10-23-2008, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Troutinator

I'm confused. How does DirectTV have "best quality" HD? I am watching 1080P HD in Dish... what is DirectTV delivering that is better quality than that?

No 1080P on Dish (I have it too). It is 1080i. Compare your local network signal on dish to the over the air signal. The over the air signal is better. Thats OK, 1080i looks great too.

Troutinator · 10-23-2008, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soft Plastic

No 1080P on Dish (I have it too). It is 1080i. Compare your local network signal on dish to the over the air signal. The over the air signal is better. Thats OK, 1080i looks great too.

Dish website states what I was told... that the TurboHD VOD package is in 1080p. I think your right about the "regular" HD channels, they are 1080i.

baitsauce · 10-23-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soft Plastic

No 1080P on Dish (I have it too). It is 1080i. Compare your local network signal on dish to the over the air signal. The over the air signal is better. Thats OK, 1080i looks great too.

I have Directv, but like Dish, the picture quality isn't quite as good as it is over the air, but the only time you would notice that is when you switch from over the air to an HD channel from the satellite.

I have Directv and Qwest high speed internet bundled. Both services are great. I had to call the customer service once and I was pleasantly surprised to find I was speaking with an american here in america.

The DVR is great too. Besides recording programs then zooming through the commercials when I watch them, I also download stuff via the internet to the DVR receiver and watch it when it convienient.

And the NASCAR hot pass and the NFL sunday ticket is really cool too. (

My wife made bigtime points for that!!

) Every NFL game (in and out of market) and the dedicated drivers channel for the NASCAR races.

I love them both Directv and the internet from Qwest.

ET · 10-23-2008, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishFeeder

As of right now we have comcast and are paying $155 a month for internet, tv and phone. Due to financial hardship we need to look around for WAY cheaper service. Anyone have any comments on who the Perfer?

Thom Pirtle (just incase it was needed)

You want WAY cheaper? How about $100 per month less?

After looking at all of the money we spend on this stuff every month, I went hardcore....

First I put up a big antenna in attic....receive FREE HD signals of all major networks...ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS.... Picture is perfect to all TVs in the house....living room, family room, garage, bedroom....

Next I dropped our home phone completely. I have a cell phone for work so I just added a line for my wife and another for my daughter. Don't miss the home line at all.

So I pay Comcast for High Speed Internet.....$50 per month. Instead of cell phones, you can add MagicJack as your home phone and be WAAAAY ahead.

There you go....saved you over a thousand bucks a year!

Shark Bait · 10-23-2008, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ET

First I put up a big antenna in attic....receive FREE HD signals of all major networks...ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS.... Picture is perfect to all TVs in the house....living room, family room, garage, bedroom....

I wish that we didn't live in the shadow of the mountain as I would like to be able to do this, but we have never been able to get any over-the-air TV signals.

Myles · 10-23-2008, 12:51 PM

If you both have cell phones then get rid of your land line. Cut back on the amount of channels, there's nothing on them anyway

, and look for the best basic deal. Fios for internet, not cheap but dial up sucks.

Myles

Artwo · 10-23-2008, 01:00 PM

A little off topic here , but since I've been seeing a lot of advice to drop your home phone for cell phones on here I thought I would tell you our experience.............

We decided to drop the land line phone as well and go just cell phone. My wife makes the call to the phone company and they cut the service. About 10 minutes later we get a call from our security company stating they are showing an error on our system. Wife goes over to the security panel and sure enough it has error'd out. They ask us if we had done anything at home maybe to cause this and the wife tells them we just disconnected our land line phone service. Doh, come to find out, we have to have a land line phone for our security system to operate. So, we had to call the phone company back and get everything hooked back up but we took the lowest cost service we could get.

So, before you go and disconnect your land line service and you have a home security system you may want to check with your security provider to see what your system requirements are.

flapbreaker · 10-23-2008, 03:09 PM

I've been with DirecTv since 1996 and have not been dissapointed. I've never had an outage even through ice and snow. As Joe C stated they have the most HD channels. Also, in my opinion they have the very best DVR outside of any with the Tivo name on them but after having both I actually prefer the DirecTV DVR better. I have 3 DVR's two of wich are older Direct HD TIVO's that are sort of obsolete since Directv has switched to mpeg4 compression on their HD channels. I called them and they are giving me two of their HD DVR's for free since I've been with them so long. Not to bad in my opinion. Good luck with your choice.

FishinMission · 10-23-2008, 03:18 PM

I think if you cancel your Comcast package..then reinstate it a day or two later..saying you may be unhappy with their initial replacement..they may be able to set you up with the same bundle you initially had...calling it a "Win Back"...that's what I was told by a Comcast rep.

I got tired of the increase happening twice in two years because I forgot the year was gonna expire with each bundle. Switched my phone and internet to Qwest. Internet speed was slower than dial up...I canceled Qwest Broadband the day they hooked it up. Subsequently have been billed for two months broadband. then...when I lost my job..I dropped the Qwest phone service altogether, but they said for something like $2.50 or $3.50 they could forward my home phone to my cell phone. I called my home phone a day or two ago from an acquaintances home number and what I heard was.."We're sorry that number is no longer in service..." So if you ask me Qwest blew every aspect of customer service.

Geez.

Mark

Shark Bait · 10-24-2008, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artwo

So, before you go and disconnect your land line service and you have a home security system you may want to check with your security provider to see what your system requirements are.

That is a good reminder. Did you ask the alarm company about switching the system over to wireless? For some systems it is as easy as swapping out a card in the main panel.