CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

stefuel

I no longer have any loyalty to any one provider. I was a long time Directv customer till they porked me. Fios seemed like a good deal but as they started adding new HD channels (non premium) they wanted more money to view them. I've got two months to decide who gets my money this time around. I guess the only choices are,

Fios
Comcast
Directv
Dish

Open for suggestions.

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

I'm in a similar situation. Was a long time D-tv customer but switched to FIOS when the neighborhood was connected, mainly because it promised slightly better quality and reliability, was cheaper (back then) and was rolling out HDTV channels at a faster rate than the satellite provider.
I now hear that my TV service is going up >10% in price so I've been looking at alternatives. I've hated the DVR system and the crappy Motorola FIOS box that crashes on a regular basis, from Day 1. I was spoiled by the superior Sony T60 TIVO unit I was using with D-tv. I have grudgingly lived with its deficiencies for the reasons listed.
I've thought about going back to D-tv but am changing my mind because 1) they make you sign up for a 2 year contract. When you average out costs FIOS still remains the cheaper option by approx $20/month with the services I need (extended basic channels plus HDTV access) 2) D-tv no longer has a relationship with TIVO and their standard DVR service sucks as much as the FIOS based system. There is discussion that TIVO will re-enter with a HD D-TV solution in the near future. This was supposed to be here by end of 09, but has been pushed back until 2010....so who knows.
At this point I'm going to hold off and stay with FIOS, at least until TIVO becomes a reality.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Comcast has bought our City Council and Senator Specter... so no Fios in the city of Phila Crying or Very sad

dturco · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:58 pm Post subject:

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

I'm not suggesting... I'm saying it. Why was Phila the last of the major markets to get Cable tv?

City council. Why was Comcast able to buy out all the other players? City Council.

Phila city council is TOTALLY CORRUPT!

dturco · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:31 pm Post subject:

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject:

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

I like my dishnet service. I love my dvr . I just feel the pricing is a little steep for the hd tiers.... Crying or Very sad

Kiev Savoie · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 432

My town is actually rolling out a Fiber to the Home service through our Utilities system for internet,TV and phone service (one of the first in the US to do so). When this idea was initially offered, the town took a vote on it after a strong grass-roots campaign which passed by 67% if memory serves me. Cox Cable and Bellsouth immediately sued with Anti-trust claims and held everything up for three years... after a public vote! They finally lost, but managed to buy themselves enough time to develop services that could compete with what Lafayette Utilities Service is offering. I hear that Cox has been pouring money into aggressive upgrades of it's Lafayette parish network while all but ignoring the rest of the state! Bastards!

http://lafayetteprofiber.com/OnBackground/FUD.html

Here are a few details of pricing for some of the services offered:

TV:
The highest tier of video service is just under $60 and includes DVR service with 250+ channels including about 40 HD channels.
In addition you can opt for Premium Movies Suites as well:
HBO $12.81
Cinemax $6.08
Showtime $8.47
Starz!/Encore $7.43

Internet-
Fast-10 Mbps (Download AND Upload)-$28.95
Turbo-30 Mbps (Download AND Upload)-$44.95
Extreme-50 Mbps (Download AND Upload)-$57.95

All Internet Services Include:

*** Access to the 100 Mbps Peer-to-Peer Community Intranet *** (emphasis mine)
*** Direct Ethernet connection (no modem needed) ***
Up to 7 email accounts with 2 GB storage each
Webmail access that includes personal calendaring, IM capabilities, and file sharing
Personal web space up to 70 MB
Security suite that includes virus protection, spam filter, pop-up blocker and more

And they have bundles that bring the cost down slightly if you want all three services.
I have heard varying stories about the quality of service from people in the areas it was first turned on, but what do you guys think about the pricing? does it sound fair?

stefuel · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:26 pm Post subject:

I never would have left D-tv had they played fair. I was a loyal customer from day one. I bought, paid for and istalled all my own equipment. When they launched the new HD equipment into space I discovered that I would not be able to recieve it. I was paying for the full HD package and only getting half of the programming. They told me I would have to buy new equipment. I really got pissed when they told me that I would have to cough up almost $600.00 for it and when I read the fine print, they still owned it. F U. I told them give me the equipment or watch me walk. I guess they thought I was kidding. Two days later, I had Fios installed and cancelled my D-tv acct. Two weeks later they offered to put up the new dish and provide new reciever at no charge. To late. I was under contract with Fios.

secstate · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 720

Kiev Savoie · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 432

That's what i thought. My only concern is reliability issues while they iron out all the kinks

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

+1 on FIOS internet service reliability. I think I've had only one 1hr period of downtime in over 2 years of service.

picree · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 351 Location: Johnson City, TN

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Chip,
I was with directv for four years and was going to stick with them. When I left, they allowed me to suspend my service. I ended up keeping it suspended for a year. When I went to do another six month suspension, they said I would have to reactivate or quit. I said quit, as I didn't have a place to install it. Well, they had re-upped me for the Sunday Ticket and nailed me for a months worth of service on that. I think it was around $100 in the end. Fortunately, I had a HD receiver and a regular receiver that I sold on ebay. I got most of it back and I kept the Tivo receiver with a bunch of movies I had recorded. It will take a lot for me to return to them.

In looking at your options, how much cable programming do you watch and what channels? I know a lot of people who are going with OTA and Netflix.

csamos · Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 59 Location: Austin, TX

I've had DirecTV since they just about started, but I've evaluated Dish Network and the local cable providers (Time Warner and Suddenlink) side-by-side over the years. Cable is by far the worst quality. I had a free month of TW's digital HD package, and I was convinced the signal was bad since the picture was so much worse than DTV, but a cable tech came to the house and determined there was nothing wrong with the signal. When I showed him the comparison, he just shrugged and said that's the best cable can do.

I prefer DTV or Dish mostly because of DTV's DVR service. I can't stand Dish's DVR. It's slow and the interface is ugly and not as intuitive. I resisted moving from Tivo to the latest DTV DVR, but I actually like their DVR better than Tivo. I think they looked at what Tivo did well and copied it, then added more functionality beyond it. I have 3 HR20-700s.

I watch nearly everything in HD, very little SD content. On my 64" Pioneer Elite PRO-730HD, the picture looks fantastic for the most part. I also watch some HD shows in my theater (Marquee 8500 and 110" 16:9 screen), and it also looks fantastic. Obviously with any service, the quality will depend on the content. I watch Survivor, the CSI shows, programs on Discovery and some live sports in the theater, and they all look great. SD content is pretty unwatchable on both, but I rarely do that anyway.

-Carl

ecrabb · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:53 pm Post subject:

Carl, do you watch Blu-ray? DirecTV looks pretty good until you compare it to Blu-ray. If BD is a 10 on my setup, then DirecTV is a 6, OTA is maybe a 7, and scaled SD DVD... a 2. Wink

I'm not as crazy about the new DVR's as you are, either... I have HR22's, and I think they're really sluggish... Not the menus like the old HR10-250's were (those were heinous, slowly scrolling lists..), but the responsiveness. Like, you're watching live TV, and you press the "LIST" button, and it takes a good second or two just to update the display... It's the first feedback you get that you even pressed the button. That, I really dislike. I definitely liked the TIVO-based machines better.

SC

csamos · Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 59 Location: Austin, TX

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270