Question for DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers

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I wrote a column last week, pointing out that the heat from subscribers would be on our local cable provider if they didn't pick up three channels _ ESPNU (Iowa's season football opener last Saturday was on there), the NFL Network and the new Big Ten Channel, which starts next year.

Well, they didn't get ESPNU in time for Saturday's game, pissing off a whole lot of people, who naturally called here to complain. And they also apparently have no desire to add the NFL Network.

Today, on a local radio segment I do, the host read for me an e-mail from someone I assume works for the cable provider (he didn't identify himself as such, but he knew an awful lot about the situation), explaining why ESPNU wasn't on, and why the NFL Network probably won't be. He also threw out the statement "With a dish, you lose the signal every time it rains or snows or there's high wind."

So here's my question _ is that true? My brother, who's a Dish subscriber, said that's never happened.

(A side note: The e-mailer didn't explain why my cable was out for six hours last Sunday).

 

yeah, it's true, but it has to be a pretty good storm and some prertty high winds.
but i gladly put up with it so i can have nothing to do with cable. directv customer service has been pretty good to me.

 

I've only had mine go out for a couple minutes at a time in the middle of a fierce storm a few times a year. It doesn't go out every time it rains. That line seems to be the cable companies' standard response.

 

Rare when my dish goes out. I won't give it up either because the alternative is cable and I want no part of them.

 

I got rid of the dish for cable six months ago when I got the big-screen and all that. All I can say is that cable has really improved over the past 10 years with the advent of digital.

But as far as storms, it's as some others have said. It's got to be a pretty big rain storm to knock it out. If it's snow, 3-4 inches will interrupt your signal until you reach up with a broom or something and knock the snow off the dish.

 

It happens occasionally... not "every time it rains." has to be a severe thunderstorm. Don't know about snow, as I live below the ol' Mason-Dixon line.
But customer service is out-fucking-standing.
When we moved out of state, they sent a technician to our new house to install it there, free.
I've had 2 reciever boxes go cuckoo on me, and they've sent me a new one UPS within 2-3 days each time, no questions asked. And a postpaid label to send the old one back to them.
I'd never give up DISH. About the only thing I wish they had was NFL Sunday Ticket, but I'm a college writer who does a lot of follow-up work on Sundays, so that's not an absolute killer.

 

I only rarely have problems with DirecTV and that is only in the worst of thunderstorms and if it is moving right at the dish.

The cable companies know that lying is basically their only defense against the customer service and wide range of programming. If half the dolts buy that "every time it rains" crap then they've done their job in protecting their market share.

 

My total downtime with Dish Network in five years is still counted in hours and that's with Nor'Easters and Texas heavy thunderstorms (and hail) in the mix.

My total downtime with cable in the previous 15 years would be counted in weeks, including two stints of more than five days at a time. The cable contracter did such a poor job of burying the cable in the backyard at our first house that I cut it with the lawnmower after a year. It had floated to the surface. I spliced it myself figuring it would take less time and I called Dish that day. When I got Dish the next day, I pulled the cable out of my yard to discover it was never at a depth of more than about six inches.

And Dish customer service is excellent. And Dish is half the price where I live now.

 

My cable provider had ESPN Classic on their Platinum Service, which cost me $90 per month. I now have DirecTV and the added sports pack -- read: every channel available on the cable Platinum Package plus a bunch more -- for $60 per month. Customer service has been flawless in the year I've had it and the only time I have lost a signal was when the dish iced up in a particularly bad ice storm. Took the windshield scrapper to it and it was back ... and I live in an area with really nasty weather.

 

I have DirecTV and have had little problems. It went out for brief moments during a bad storm. Other than that, it's been flawless.

I even got the Iowa/Montana game last week when my parents in eastern Iowa did not. They didn't understand.

 

I've been a DirecTV subscriber for 8 1/2 years now and can't ever imagine going back to cable. Sure, you're inconvenienced for a few minutes in really strong storms, but back when I was a cable subscriber it went out for much longer periods for no good reason.

I've got ESPNU and the NFL Network and I look forward to having the Big Ten Channel when it arrives. The one drawback I can think of is that digital cable has about 20 HBOs, while I only have seven (and three of them are "Wests."

And the customer service for cable has never compared to DirecTV's.